BURNET'S
HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIME.
BURNET'S)
HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIME:
FROM THE
RESTORATION OF KING CHARLES THE SECOND
TO THE
TREATY OF PEACE AT UTRECHT, IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.
Ifrfe €Mtimt,
WITH HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
ILontrDtt:
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1875.
JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
PAGE
THE distractions during King James's minority . 1
The practices of the House of Guise . . ib.
King James in iV" interest of England . . 2
A censure of Spotswood's History . . ib.
King James studies to gain the papists . . 3
And to secure the succession to the crown of Eng-
land . . . . ib.
That king's errors in government . . ib.
He sets up episcopacy in Scotland . . ib.
With a design to carry matters further . . 4
Errors of the bishops . . . ib.
Prince Henry \vas believed to be poisoned . . ib.
The Gunpowder Plot . . ib.
King James was afraid of the Jesuits . . 5
The Elector Palatine's marriage . . ib.
The affairs of Bohemia . . ib.
The disorders in Holland . . .6
Some passages of the religion of some princes . ib.
King James parted with the cautionary towns . 7
King James broke the greatness of the crown . ib.
Other errors in his reign . 8
His death . . . . ib.
The puritans gained ground . 9
Go wry 's conspiracy . . ib.
King Charles at first a friend to the puritans . 10
He designed to recover the tithes and church lands
in Scotland to the crown . . . ib.
He was crowned in Scotland . .11
Balmerinoch's trial . . 12
He was condemned . . .14
But pardoned . . ib.
A liturgy prepared . . ib.
The feebleness of the government . . 15
Saville's forgery prevailed on the Scots . ib.
The characters of the chief of the covenanters . ib.
The Scots came into England . .16
Great discontents in England . . . jb.
The ill state of the king's affairs . .17
An account of the Earl of Strafford's being given
up by the king . . 19
The new model of the presbytery in Scotland . 20
The chief ministers of the party . ib.
Their studies and other methods , . 21
Their great severity . . ib.
Conditions offered to the Scots . 22
Montrose's undertakings . ib.
Rood advices given to the king . . 23
But not followed . . ib.
Vntrim's correspondence with the king and queen 24
The original of the Irish massacre . . 25
Cromwell argues with the Scots concerning the
king's death ib.
The opposition of the general assembly to the par-
liament . *. .26
The ministers made an insurrection . . ?b.
The treaty in the Isle of Wight . . 27
Cromwell's dissimulation . . . ib.
The men chiefly engaged in the taking the king's life 28
The king's behaviour . ib.
The affair of Rochelle . . 2f
A design of making the Spanish Netherlands a
commonwealth . . 30
The ill effects of violent counsels . . ib.
The account of Etxcbv BcuriXix)) . .31
The Scots treat with King Charles II. . . 32
Montrose's offers . . .34
And death . . ib.
The defeat at Dunbar - . .35
Disputes about the admitting all persons to serve
their country . . 36
Great hardships put on the king . . 37
Scotland was subdued by Monk . . 38
A body stood out in the Highlands . . ib.
Sir Robert Murray's character . 39
Messages sent to the king . . . ib.
The state of Scotland during the usurpation . 40
Disputes among the covenanters . . ib.
Methods taken on both sides . . .41
Some of Cromwell's maxims . . 42
His design for the kingship . 44
Cromwell's engagement with France . 46
The king turned papist . 48
Cromwell's design on the West Indies . 49
His zeal for the protestant religion . . 50
A great design for the interest of the protestaut
religion . . . .51
Some passages in Cromwell's life . . ib.
His moderation in government . - .52
His public spirit . . . . ib.
All the world was afraid of him . . 53
The ruin of his family . . . 54
Great disorders followed . . . ib.
All turn to the king's side . . 56
Care taken to manage the army . .57
A new parliament . 58
They iall home the king without a treaty . 59
BOOK II.
1660.
MANY went over to the Hague . . . 60
The nation was overrun with vice and drunkenness . ib.
The king's character . 61
Ciareudon's character • • 62
viu CONTENTS.
PAGE
Ormond's character • • .63
Southampton's character • , . ib.
Shaftesbury's character . • .64
Anglesey's character • . . 65
Hollis's character . • . ib.
Manchester's character . " . . 66
Roberts's character . • . ib.
Clarges's character . . . . 67
Morrice's character . • . ib.
Nicolas's character . . . . 68
Arlington's character . . . ib.
Buckingham's character . . . 69
Bristol's character • . ib.
Landerdale's character . 70
Crawford's character . . . ib.
Rothes's character . . , . 71
Tweedale's character . . . ib.
Duke Hamilton's character . ib.
Kincardine's character . . « ib.
The general character of the old cavaliers . . 72
Primrose's character . . . ib.
Fletcher's character . . ib.
Advices offered in Scottish affairs . . ib.
For a general indemnity . • .73
Argyle sent to the Tower . . . ib.
The citadels of Scotland demolished . . ib.
Disputes concerning episcopacy . . 74
A ministry settled in Scotland . 75
A council proposed to sit at court for Scottish
affairs . . . . .76
The committee of estates meet in Scotland . . 77
A parliament in Scotland . . Ub.
1661.
The Lords of the articles • 78
The acts passed in this session • ib.
An act rescinding all parliaments held since the
year 1633 • • 79
It was not liked by the king • • 80
The presbyterians in great disorder • • 81
Argyle's attainder • • 82
And execution • • 84
The execution of Guthry, a minister • • ib.
Some others were proceeded against • • 85
Middleton gave an account of, all that had passed
in parliament to the king • • 86
It was resolved to set up episcopacy in Scot-
land . . . . 87
Men sought to be bishops • • • 88
Bishop Leighton's character • 89
The Scottish bishops consecrated • • 92
1662.
The meetings of the presbyterians • • 93
The new bishops came down to Scotland • 94
They were brought into parliament • • ib.
Scruples about the oath of supremacy • 95
Debates about an act of indemnity • • 96
It was desired that some might be incapacitated • 97
Lorn condemned . • 98
Some incapacitated by ballot • • 99
The king was displeased with this • • ib.
Great pains taken to excuse Middleton • 100
The presbyterian ministers silenced • • ib.
A general character of them » -102
Prejudices infused against episcopacy • -103
1660.
The affairs of England • < -104
Clarendon's just and moderate notions • • ib.
Vernier's fury • ib.
The trial and execution of the regicidei • 105 I
1661. PAGK
Vane's character . . . 1^7
And execution . . .108
The king gave himself up to his pleasures « ib.
The act of indemnity maintained • -112
1662.
The king's marriage • • • ib.
An alliance proposed from France • • 113
The Duke of York's marriage • • • ib.
The duke's character • -114
The duchess's character • . -115
The Duke of Gloucester's character • -116
The prospect of the royal family much changed . ib.
Schombcrg went through England to Portugal • 117
Dunkirk sold to the French • « ih.
Tangier a part of the queen's portion • . ik,
The manner of the king's marriage • • 1 1
The king lived in an avowed course of lewdness • lid
1660.
The settlement of Ireland . . ib.
The bishops who had then the greatest credit • 120
Debates concerning the uniting with the presby.
terians . . . '.121
A treaty in the Savoy . . . 122
1661.
The terms of conformity made harder • 124
The act of uniformity • . • 125
The great fines then raised on the church estates
ill applied • . • -126
Divines called Latitudinarians • • 127
Hobbes's Leviathan • • . 128
A character of some divines . • '129
The way of preaching which then prevailed • 131
1662.
The act of uniformity executed with rigour • ib.
The royal society . • ib.
Consultations among the papists • • 133
A declaration for toleration • • ib.
Designed for the papists • • ib.
1663.
Bristol's designs • • . 134
He accused Clarendon in the House of Lords . 135
A plot discovered • • .136
The design of a war with the States . • ib.
The affairs of Scotland • • -137
Middleton was accused by Lauderdale • • ib.
And turned out of all . . • 139
Warriston's execution • • • ib.
An act against conventicles • . ib.
The constitution of a national synod . • 140
An act offering an army to the king • ib.
1664.
Sharp drove very violently • • • 141
Lauderdale gave way to it • . ib.
Burnet archbishop of Glasgow . ib.
A view of the state of affairs in Holland atd
France • • • . ib.
Sharp aspired to be chancellor of Scotland • . 142
Rothes had the whole power of Scotland put in his
hands .... 143
1665.
Illegal and severe proceedings in Scotland . « ib.
Turner executed the laws in a military way • 144
Sharp studies to bring Middleton into business
again • • . . 145
More forces raised in Scotland • •
CONTENTS
1666.
Some eminent clergymen offended at these pro-
ceedings • • •
Some of the grievances of the clergy laid before the
bishops . . . .
1664.
Affairs in England
The Dutch war
1665.
The plague broke out at the same time
The victory at sea not followed •
An account of the affairs in Holland •
The parliament at Oxford • •
The designs of the commonwealth party
The Duke of York's jealousy •
His amours •
1666.
The fleet almost quite lost, and happily saved by
Prince Rupert • • .
The fire of London • • •
It was charged on the papists •
A strong presumption of it • • •
Disorders in Scotland . • •
A rebellion in the west
The defeat given the rebels at Pentland Hill
Severe proceedings against the prisoners •
.1667.
The king is more gentle than the bishops
A change of counsel, and more moderation in the
government . •
The Dutch fleet came into the Frith •
And went to Chatham, and burnt our fleet
A great change in Lauderdale's temper
Scotland was very well governed •
Great complaints made of the clergy •
Affairs in England •
Clarendon's disgrace . • •
Southampton's death • •
The Irish sought the protection of France
The Duke of Richmond's marriage •
Bridgman made lord keeper
The French king's pretensions to Flanders
Clarendon's integrity
He was impeached in the House of Commons
The king desired he would go beyond sea •
He was banished by act of parliament •
The character of his two sons
The king w-w much offended with the bishops
1668.
A treaty for a comprehension of the presbyterians
The city of London r< built
Designs for putting away the queen .
A divorce enacted for adultery
A great dissolution of morals in court •
Many libels written by the best wits of that time •
Sir William Coventry's character
/The government of Ireland changed • .
The committee of Brook House
Halifax's character • .
1669
Many parliament men gained by the court •
Coventry's nose was cut
A new prosecution of conventicles • • .
The king went commonly to the House of Lords •
The Prince of Orange came to the king •
The affairs of Scotland
PAGE
146
147
148
ib.
149
151
153
ib.
ib.
154
155
ib.
ib.
157
158
159
ib.
160
161
163
ib.
164
165
166
16.7
ib.
ib.
168
ib.
170
171
ib.
172
ib.
173
ib.
17-5
ib.
176
ib.
177
178
179
180
181
ib.
ib.
182
ib.
183
184
185
ib.
A treaty for an accommodation with the pres'oy-
terians in S-otland • . . \£5
An indulgence proposed • • . 187
An attempt to murder Sharp • • ifc.
Sharp proposed the indulging some ministers thfct
did not conform • • • • 185
Propositions for the union of the two kingdoms • 189
The king gave orders for the indulgence . « ib»
This complained of as against law • • 1 90
A parliament in Scotland • • • 191
The supremacy carried very high • • ib.
An act for the county-militia • • • 192
Burnet turned out, and Leighton made Archbishop
of Glasgow • • . -193
The state 1 found things in at Glasgow • • ib.
A committee of council sent round the west • ib.
1670.
Instructions for an accommodation • 194
Leighton's advice to his clergy • - ib.
A conference between Leighton and some presby-
terians • • . «195
New severities against conventicles • -196
The presbyterians resolved to reject the offers made
them . . . .197
Some conferences upon that subject • -198
At last they refused to accept of the concessions • ib.
Censures passed upon this whole matter • • 199
1671.
The memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton were
written by me at that time . . ib.
A further indulgence proposed • • • 200
Foreign affairs • • • • 201
An alliance with France set on foot . . ib.
The Duchess of Orleans came to Dovor . ib
Soon after was poisoned . • • ib
Some of her intrigues • • . 202
The treaty with France negotiated • . 203
Loclthart sent to France • • • ib.
Pretended reasons for the Dutch war t 204
1672.
The shutting up of the exchequer . • ib.
The attempt on the Dutch Smyrna fleet • • 205
A declaration for toleration • • ib.
The presbyterians gave the king thanks for the
toleration . . . 206
The Duchess of York died . . 207
The first crisis of the proteatant religion • 208
The second crisis • . . ib.
The third crisis • ib.
The Spanish fleet came not as at first intended • 209
The fourth crisis . . • 210
Differences between Maurice, Prince of Orange,
and Banieveldt . • .211
Prince Henry Frederic's wise government • '212
His son's heat • ib.
The errors of De Wit's government • .213
The Prince of Orange made general • • 214
The fifth crisis • • • ib.
The French success ' • ib.
But followed by an ill management . -215
The Dutch in great extremities • '216
Ambassadors sent to England • ib.
The tragical end of De Wit • .217
The Prince of Orange made stadtholder « • ib.
The English ambassadors were wholly in the inte-
rest of France • • -218
The character of Fagel - ib.
Prince Waldeck - -219
Dyckvclt . ib.
X
CONTENTS.
PACK
The character of Halewyn . • .219
The prince studied to correct the errors he fell into
at first • • ib.
Van Beuning's character • • 220
Errors committed by the town of Amsterdam • ib.
T.he prince animates the States to continue the war ib.
The( French king goes back to Paris • • 221
The' Dutch saved by some extraordinary provi-
dence • • • 222
Ossory intended to surprise Helvoetsluys . ib.
An army from Utrecht came on the ice to Hol-
land • • • • 223
Driven back by a sudden thaw • • ib.
Painevine's sentence • ib.
A French mistress made Duchess of Portsmouth • 224
The affairs of.Scotland • ib.
Lauderdale's great insolence • • 225
He expected addresses for a toleration . • ib.
Designs from Holland to raise a rebellion in Scot-
land • • • • ib.
A further indulgence • • • 226
Leigh ton resolved to retire, and to leave his see • ib.
BOOK III.
1673.
<5reat jealousies of the king . • • 228
Schomberg brought to command the army • ib.
The court was much divided • • • 229
A session of parliament . • ib.
The declaration was voted illegal • ib.
A bill for a new test • • ib.
The prudence of the dissenters . • • 230
Debates in the House of Lords • • ib.
The variety of opinions in the king's council • 231
The French advise the king to yield to the parlia-
ment . • • • ib.
The king went into that suddenly • . ib.
Clifford disgraced • • » • ib.
Osborn made lord treasurer • . 232
A great supply was given • • • ib.
The duke laid down all his commissions • 233
The duke treats fora second marriage • • ib.
A treaty opened at Cologne • • 234
Lord Sunderland's character • • ib.
The treaty broke off 235
The affairs of Scotland • . ib.
Lauderdale's design . • « 236
The king liked my Memoirs • • • ib.
And showed me great favour • • ib.
My conversation with the duke . • ib.
I carried Dr. Stillingfleet to him • . 237
The duke's marriage opposed by the Commons • 239
A parliament in Scotland • • 240
A party formed against Lauderdale . • ib.
He offers to redress grievances in council • • 24 1
1374.
A dispute raised about the lords of the articles . ib.
The proceedings in the parliament of England . ib.
Finch's character • 242
A peace concluded with the States • • . 243
The king became the mediator of the peace • 244
The duchess's character • ib.
Coleman's character • . . 245
The affairs of Scotland . • • ib.
The parliament was prorogued • . ib.
Dalrymple's character « • • ib.
The clergy was much provoked • • ib.
A great distraction in Scotland • . 246
Lauderdale's proceedings there - • ib.
PAGE
I was disgraced • • 247
The ministers turn to the church • • 248
Correspondence with Holland discovered • 249
Jealousies of the Prince of Orange • • ib.
Drummond was ordered to prison • * ib.
The battle of Seneff .... 250
Arlington went to Holland • . .251
Temple sent ambassador to Holland • ib.
1675.
Affairs in England . . • 252
I was examined by the House of Commons . ib.
Sir Harbottle Grimstone's character • • 253
Dauby attacked, but in vain • • • 254
Seymour's character • • . ib.
Debates concerning a test • • • 255
A dispute about appeals and privileges • • 256
The session broke upon it 257
A session of parliament • • . • ib.
The characters of some parliament men • 258
1676.
A long interval between the sessions of parliament 260
An account of some passages of Lockhart's courage
in France • . • ib.
Management in France • • 261
The character of some bishops • • ib.
The projects of the papists • • • 262
Coleman's intrigues • • . 263
A conference between Coleman and some divines 264
I undertook to write the History of our Reformation ib.
The earl of Essex's character . • . ib.
His employment in Denmark • • ib.
And his government of Ireland • • • 265
The affairs of Scotland • . . 266
1677.
A question raised in England about the legality
of a prorogation . . . 267
The Lords that moved it sent to the Tower . 268
Proceedings in parliament . . . 2G9
Affairs in Flanders . . ib.
The French King declined a battle when offered by
the Prince of Orange . ib.
Cambray and St. Omer taken . . 270
The House of Commons pressed the king to engage
in the war . . ib.
Danby declared against France • .271
The Prince of Orange came into England . 272
He married the Duke's daughter . . 273
1678.
Supplies given towards the war . . 274
The French take Ghent . ib.
The affairs of Scotland . . . ib.
Mitchell's trial . . ib.
And condemnation . . . 276
The administration there grew very violent and
illegal . . . . 277
An army of Highlanders sent to the west upon
free quarter . . . ib.
Many of the nobility came up to complain to the
king . . . .278
But the king would not see them . . ?b.
A convention of estates gives money, and justifies
the administration . . . 279
Affairs in England . . ib.
The House of Commons grew jealous of the Court ib.
Affairs abroad . . . 280
The popish plot . . . 281
Oates's character . . . 282
His discovery . . . . ib.
CONTENTS.
Colcman and his papers seized
Coleman's letters confirm it
Godfrey is murdered
His body was found
Gates made a new discovery
Bedlow's evidence
PAGE
283
ib.
284
285
ib.
286
Other proofs that seemed to support the discovery 287
Carstairs's practices . . . . ib.
Staley's trial . . . ib.
The queen was charged as in the plot . . 288
A law passed for the test to be taken by both Houses 289
With a proviso for the duke • . ib.
Coleman's trial . • . . ib.
And execution . . . 290
The king's thoughts of this whole matter . ib.
Danby's letters to Montague are brought out . 291
And he was impeached of high treason . 2.92
The parliament was prorogued . . ib.
The trial of F. Ireland and some others . . 294
Dngdale's evidence . . ib.
Prance discovers Godfrey's murder . . 295
Some condemned for it, who died denying it . 296
Scroggs was then lord chief justice . . 297
Jenuison's evidence . . . , ib.
Practices with the witnesses discovered . 298
Reflections upon the whole evidence . . 299
1679.
A new parliament . . 300
The duke sent beyond sea . . ib.
Danby pardoned by the king, but prosecuted by
the House of Commons . . . 301
A new council ... . 302
Debates concerning the exclusion . . 303
Arguments used for and against the exclusion . 304
Danby's prosecution . . * 306
A great heat raised against the clergy . ib.
The occasions that fomented that heat . . 307
Arguments for and against the bishops voting in
the preliminaries, in trials of treason . ib.
Stillingfleet wrote on this point . . 308
The trial of five Jesuits . ib.
Langhorn's trial .... 309
And death . . . ib.
Wakeman's trial • . . . . 310
He was acquitted . . . .311
Debates about dissolving the parliament . . ib.
The affairs of Scotland . . . 312
The Archbishop of St. Andrews is murdered . ib.
A rebellion in Scotland . . .313
Monmouth sent down to suppress it , . ib.
They were soon broken ' . . .314
The king taken ill, and the duke comes to court . ib.
The many false stories spread to raise jealousy . 315
A pretended plot discovered, called the Meal-tub
plot , . . . ib.
Great jealousies of the king . . .316
Monmouth's disgrace . . . ib.
Petitions for a parliament . . . ib.
Great discontents on all sides . .31?
Godolphin's character -. . ib.
1680.
An alliance projected against France
The election of the sheriffs of London
The bill of Exclusion taken up again
Passed by the Commons
But rejected by the Lords
ib.
318
319
ib.
320
The House of Commons proceeded against some
with severity . . . . ib.
An association proposed . . .321
Expedients offered in the House of Lords . ib.
PAGE
Duchess of Portsmouth's conduct in this matter
little understood . ... 322
Stafford's trial . ... 323
He was condemned . . . 325
He sent for me, and employed me to do him service ib.
His execution . . . . 326
1681.
Motions in favour of the nonconformists . ib.
The parliament was dissolved . . . 327
A new expedient of a prince regent . . ib.
Fitzharris was taken . . ib.
The parliament of Oxford was soon dissolved . 328
A great change in affairs . . .329
The king's declaration . ib.
Addresses to the king from all parts of England . ib.
Fitzharris' s trial . . . 330
Plunket, an Irish bishop, condemned and executed ib.
Practices on Fitzharris at his death . 33 1 , 332
A protestant plot . . . ib.
Colledge condemned and died upon it . . ib.
Shaftesbury sent to the Tower . . 333
Practices upon witnesses . ib.
I was then offered preferment . . ib.
Halifax carried me to the king . . . 335
Shaftesbury was acquitted by the grand jury . ib.
1682.
Turbervill's death . . . 337
The affairs of Scotland . . ib.
A parliament in Scotland . . . 338
Several accusations of perjury stifled by tne duke 339
A test enacted in parliament . . 340
Objections made to the test . . .341
Many turned out for not taking it . . ib.
Argyle's explanation . . . . 342
He was committed upon it . . ib.
Argyle is tried and condemned . . . 343
He made his escape . . ib.
The duke comes to court . . . 344
A new ministry in Scotland . . . ib.
They proceeded with great severity . . 345
Affairs in England . . . 346
All charters of towns were surrendered to the king ib.
The dispute concerning the sheriffs of London
Carried by the court . . . . 348
Changes in the ministry, and quarrels among them ib.
The arguments for and against the charter of London 350
Judgment given in the matter . .351
Some other severe judgments . . ib.
1683.
All people possessed with great fears . . 352
Monmouth and Russel at Shepherd's . . ib.
Monmouth and some others meet often together . ib.
They treat with some of the Scottish nation . 353
Other conspirators meet at the same time on designs
of assassinating the king . . . 355
A plot » discovered ... . 356
A forged story laid by Rumsey and West . ib.
Russel and some others were put in prison upon it 357
Monmouth and others escaped . . . 358
Howard's confession . . • .359
The Earl of Essex was sent to the Tower . 360
The Lord Russel's trial . . . .361
He was condemned .... 362
His preparation for death . ... 363
The trial and execution of Walcot and others . 364
Russel's execution . . • . ib.
Russel's last speech . ... 365
Prince George of Denmark married the Princess
Anne , . .366
Xll
CONTENTS
PAGE
The siege of Vienna . ... 366
The Author went to the court of France . 367
Characters of some he knew there . . ib.
Affairs in England . . . 369
Jefferies and other judges preferred . . ib.
1684.
The railing a parliament proposed, but rejected . 370
Suspicions of Essex's being murdered . . ib.
Sidney's trial . . ... 371
His execution and last paper . . • 372
Monmouth came in, and was pardoned . . 373
But soon after disgraced . . . 374
Hampden's trial . • . . ib.
Halloway's execution . . . ib.
Armstrong's death . . • . 375
Great severity in Scotland • • 376
A breach in the ministry there . . .377
The duke governed all affairs . . 378
The cruelty of the duke, and of his ministers, in
torturing . • . . ib.
Proceedings against Baillie . . 379
And his execution . • 380
Leigh ton's death . . • .381
The promotion of some bishops . . 382
Danby and the popish lords bailed . . 383
Some removes made at court . . 384
The bombarding of Genoa . . . ib.
Tangier abandoned . . . 385
Affairs beyond sea . • . . ib.
The hardships the author met with . . 386
Trials for treason of Roswell and Haies . . 387
Strange practices, and very unbecoming a king . 388
Papists employed in Ireland . . . 389
Suspicions of the king's declaring himself a papist 390
1685.
A new scheme of government . ib.
The king's sickness . . . 391
He received the sacrament from a popish priest 392
His death ... 393
His character 394
BOOK IV.
A reign happily begun, but inglorious all over . 398
The king's first education . ib.
He learned war under Turenne . , 399
He was admiral of England . . . ib.
He was proclaimed king . . ib-
His first speech . . ib.
Well received . . . . ib.
Addresses made to him . ib.
The Earl of Rochester made lord treasurer . 400
The Earl of Sunderland in favour . . ib.
Customs and excise levied against law . . ib.
The king's coldness to those who had been for the
exclusion . . . 401
He seemed to be on equal terms with the French
king . . . ib.
The king's course of life . ib.
The Prince of Orange sent away the Duke of Mon-
mouth . . . . ib.
Some in England began to move for him . 402
Strange practices in elections of parliament men . ib.
Evil prospect from an ill parliament . . ib.
The Prince of Orange submits in everything to the
king . . 403
The king was crowned . . . . ib.
I went out of England . . .404
Argyle designed to invade Scotland . . ib.
PA of
The duke of Monmouth forced upon an ill-timed
invasion «... 404
These designs were carried on with secrecy . 405
Argyle landed in Scotland . . . ib.
But was defeated, and taken . . .406
Argyle's execution . . . ib.
Rumbold at his death denied the Rye plot . ib.
A parliament in Scotland . • . 407
Granted all that the king desired . . ib.
Severe laws were passed . . .408
Oates convicted of perjury . • . ib.
And cruelly whipped . . . ib.
Dangerfield killed . . . ib.
A parliament in England „ . . .409
Grants the revenue for life . ib.
And trusts to the king's promise . . . ib.
The parliament was violent . , ib.
The lords were more cautious . . .410
The Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme . ib.
An act of attainder passed against him . . ib.
A rabble came and joined biui . .411
Lord Grey's cowardice . . . ib.
The Earl of Feversham commanded the king's army 412
The Duke of Moumouth defeated . '. ib.
And taken . . . . ib.
Soon after executed . . .413
He died with great calmness . . . 414
Lord Grey pardoned . . . . ib.
The king was lifted up with his successes . .415
But it had an ill effect on his affairs . . ib.
Great cruelties committed by his soldiers . ib.
And much greater by Jefferies . . . ib.
With which the king was well pleased . 416
The execution of two women . . . ib.
The behaviour of those who suffered . .417
The nation was much changed by this management ib.
Great disputes for and against the tests . 418
Some change their religion . , . ib.
The Duke of Qiieensborough disgraced . ib.
The king declared against the tests . .419
Proceedings in Ireland . . . ib.
The persecution in France . ib.
A fatal year to the protestant religion . , 420
Rouvigny's behaviour . . . . ib.
He came over to England . . .421
Dragoons sent to live on discretion upon the pro-
testants . ib.
Many of them yielded through fear . . ib.
Great cruelty everywhere . . . ib.
I went into Italy . . . . 422
And was well received at Rome . . ib.
Cardinal Howard's freedom with me . . 423
Cruelties in Orange .... 424
Another session of parliament . ib.
The king's speech against the test . . ib.
Jefferies made lord chancellor . . . 425
The House of Commons address the king for
observing the law • . . • . ib.
The king was much offended with it . . ib.
The parliament was prorogued . 426
The Lord Delamere tried and acquitted . . ib.
1686.
A trial upon the act for the test . . 427
Many judges turned out . ib.
Herbert, chief justice, gives judgment for the king's
dispensing power . . . ib.
Admiral Herbert's firmness . . . 428
Father Petre, a Jesuit, in high favour . 428
The king declared for a toleration . . ib.
The clergy managed the points of controversy with
great zeal and success . . ib.
CONTENTS
PAGE
The persons who -were chiefly engaged in this . 430
Dr. Sharp in trouble . ib.
The Bishop of London required to suspend him . ib.
"Which he could not obey . . ib.
An ecclesiastical commission set up . . ib.
The Bishop of London brought before it .431
And was suspended by it . . . 432
Affairs in Scotland . . ib.
A tumult at Edinburgh . . ib.
A parliament held there . . . 433
Which refused to comply with the king's desire . ib.
A zeal appeared there against popery . . 434
Affairs in Ireland . . . . ib.
The king made his mistress countess of Dorchester ib.
Attempts made ou many to change their religion . 435
Particularly on the Earl of Rochester . . ib.
He was turned out .... 436
Designs talked of against Holland . . ib.
I stayed some time at Geneva . . . 437
The state and temper I observed among the re-
formed . . . ib.
I was invited by the Prince of Orange to come to
the Hague . . . 438
A character of the Prince and Princess of Orange ib.
I was much trusted by them . . .439
The prince's sense of our affairs . . . ib.
The princess's resolution with respect to the prince 440
Perm sent over to treat with the priuce . .441
Some bishops died in England . . 442
Cartwright and Parker promoted . . ib.
The king's letter refused in Cambridge . 444
The vice chancellor turned out by the ecclesiastical
commissioners . . . ib.
An attempt to impose a popish president on Mag-
dalen College ... . ib.
They disobey, and are censured for it . .445
1687.
And were all turned out ... ib.
The dissenters were much courted by the king . 446
Debates and resolutions among them . . 447
The army encamped at Hounslow Heath . ib.
An ambassador sent to Rome . . ib.
He managed everything unhappily . 448
Pope Innocent's character . ib.
Disputes about the franchises . . . 449
Queen Christina's character of some popes . ib.
D'Albeville sent envoy to Holland . . 450
I was, upon the king's pressing instances, forbid to
see the prince and piincess of Orange . . ib.
Dykvelt sent to England . . ib.
The negotiations between the king and the prince 451
A letter written by the Jesuits of Liege, that dis-
covers the king's designs . . . 452
Dykvclt's conduct in England . ib.
A proclamation of indulgence sent to Scotland . ib.
Which was much censured . . . 453
A declaration for toleration in England . . ib.
Addresses made upon it . . . ib
The king's indignation against the church party . 454
The parliament was dissolved . ib.
The reception of the pope's nuntio . . 455
The king made a progress through many parts of
England . . . ib.
A change in the magistracy in London, and over
England . . . . ib
Questions put about elections of parliament . 456
The king wrote to the Princess of Orange about
religion . . ... 457
Which she answered ... . 45fi
Reflections on these letters . . 45 £
A prosecution set on against me . . 460
Albeville's memorial to the States
The States' answer to what related to me
Other designs against me . .
Pensioner Fagel's letter . .
Father Petre made a privy councillor
The confidence of the Jesuits
The pensioner's letter was printed
The king asked the regiments of his subjects in the
States' service ....
Which was refused, but the officers had leave to go
A new declaration for toleration
Which the clergy were ordered to read
To which they would not give obedience
The archbishop and six bishops petition the king
The king ordered the bishops to be prosecuted for it
They were sent to the Tower
But soon after discharged
They were tried . « . .
And acquitted
To the great joy of the town and nation
The clergy were next designed against
The effect this had everywhere .
Russel pressed the prince . * .
The prince's answer . .
The Elector of Brandenburgh's death
The queen gave out that she was with child .
The queen's reckoning changed . .
The queen said to be in labour . .
And delivered of a son
Great grounds of jealousy appeared . .
The child, as was believed, died, and another was
put in his room ....
The Prince and Princess of Orange sent to congra-
tulate . .
The prince designs an expedition to England
Sunderland advised more moderate proceedings
And he turned papist . .
The Prince of Orange treats with some of the
princes of the empire . . .
The affairs of Colen . .
Herbert came over to Holland . .
The advices from England
The Lord Mordaunt's character
The Earl of Shrewsbury's character
Russel's character ...
Sydney's character . . .
Many engaged in the design
Lord Churchill's character
The court of France gave the alarm
Recruits from Ireland refused
Offers made by the French
Not entertained at that time . . .
The French own an alliance with the king
The strange conduct of France .
A manifesto of war against the empire .
Reflections made upon it . . . . .
Another against the pope .
Censures that passed upon it .
Marshal Schomberg sent to Cleve . .
The Dutch. fleet at sea . .
The Prince of Orange's declaration
I was desired to go with the prince .
Advices from England . . .
Artifices to cover the design
The Dutch put to sea . .
Some factious motions at the Hague . .
The army was shipped . • .
The princess's sense of things . • .
The prince took leave of the States
We sailed out of the Maes • • •
But were forced back . . •
Consultations in England • • •
xni
FACE;
461
462
:b.
463
464
ib.
465
ib.
ib.
466
ib.
467
ib.
468
469
ib.
ib.
470
ib.
473
ib.
474
ib.
ib.
475
477
ib.
478
ib.
ib.
479
ib.
480
ib.
481
ib.
483
484
ib.
ib.
485
ib.
ib.
486
487
ib.
ib.
488
ib.
489
ib.
490
ib.
491
ib.
492
ib.
ib.
493
494
ib.
ib.
495
496
ib.
ib.
ib.
ib.
XIV
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Proofs brought for the birth of the Prince of Wales 497
We sailed out more happily a second time . 499
We landed at Torbay . . . ib.
The king's army began to come over to the prince 501
An association among those who came to the prince 502
The heads of Oxford sent to him . . ib.
Great disorders in London . • 503
A treaty begun with the prince . » . ib.
The king left the kingdom . •' ' . 504
He is much censured . • • 505
But is brought back . . . ib.
The prince is desired to come and take the govern-
ment into his hands . . . ib.
Different advice given to the prince concerning the
king's person . • 506
The prince came to London, and the king went to
Rochester . . . . 508
The prince was welcomed by all sorts of people . 509
Consultations about the settlement of the nation . ib.
The king went over to France . ; • , • ib.
The affairs of Scotland . ib.
The affairs of Ireland . ' - * -'• . 510
1689.
The prince in treaty with the Earl of Tyrconnel 51 1
The convention met . . . 512
Some are for a prince regent . . .513
Others are for another king . .514
And against a regency . ib.
Some moved to examine the birth of the Prince of
Wales . . . 516
But it was rejected . . .517
Some were for making the prince king . . ib.
The prince declared his mind after long silence . 51 8
It was resolved to put the prince and princess both
on the throne . . . 519
They drew an instrument about it . .521
The oaths were altered . . . 522
The ill sense that was put on the new oath . ib.
The princess came to England . . 523
The conclusion . . . 524
BOOK V.
The hopes of the new reign . . 525
The effect of the king's ill health . . ib.
A new ministry . . . ib.
The Earl of Nottingham's advancement unaccept-
able to the Whigs . . . 526
The judges well chosen . . . 527
The convention turned to a parliament . 528
Some bishops leave the parliament . . ib.
I was made Bishop of Salisbury . . . 529
Debates concerning the oaths . . 530
An Act of toleration . . ib.
A motion for a comprehension . . ib.
An ill humour spread among the clergy . . 531
Great gentleness towards papists . . ib.
War proclaimed against France . . . 532
Debates concerning the revenue . . ib.
The chimney money discharged . • . ib.
A Bill concerning the militia . . ib.
Debates concerning an Act of indemnity . 533
The Bill of rights . . . . ib.
King James's Great Seal found in the Thames . 534
The state of affairs in Ireland . . ib.
King James came over thither . . . 535
The siege of Londonderry . . . ib.
Was at last raised . . . 536
Duke Schomberg with an army went to Ireland . ib.
Affairs at sea ... 537
Affairs in Scotland . ; . 537
Debates in the convention there . . ib.
A rising designed in Scotland . . ib.
King James was judged there . . . 538
They pass a claim of rights . . . ib.
Episcopacy by this to be abolished . . ib.
A ministry in Scotland . . ib.
A faction raised in Scotland . . . 539
A rising in Scotland . . . 540
Foreign affairs . . . . 54 1
A jealousy of the king spread among the English clergy ib,
A comprehension endeavoured . . 542
A convocation met, but would not agree to it . 543
A session of parliament . . . 54*
The king grew jealous of the Whigs . . ib.
A conspiracy against the government . .545
Discovered to the Author . . . 546
A Bill concerning corporations . . ib.
1690.
A new parliament . . .547
A Bill recognizing the king and queen, and the
Acts of the convention . . . 548
The revenue given for years . . . 549
Debates for and against an abjuration of King
James . . . . 550
The Earl of Shrewsbury left the court . ib.
The king's sense of.affairs . .551
The king's tenderness for King James's person * . ib.
The king sailed to Ireland . . . 552
Advices given to King James . . ib.
The queen in the administration . . ib.
Affairs at sea . . . 553
A cannon-ball wounded the king . . ib.
The battle of the Boyne . . ib.
The battle of Fleurus . . . 554
An engagement at sea . . 555
The French masters of the sea . . ib.
The queen's behaviour on this occasion . 556
The king came to Dublin . ib.
A design to assassinate the king . . ib.
The siege of Limerick . . . 558
The siege is raised . . . . ib.
The equality of the king's temper . . 559
The Earl of Marlborough proposes taking Cork and
Kinsale in winter, and effects it . . ib.
The French left Ireland . . ib.
Affairs in Scotland . . ... 560
A parliament there . . ib.
A plot discovered . . ib.
Affairs abroad .... 562
A session of parliament in England . . ib.
Ireland much wasted by the Rapparees and the
army there . . ib.
A Bill concerning the Irish forfeitures . 563
The Earl of Torrington tried and justified ib.
Designs against the Marquis of Carmarthen . 564
Lord Preston sent over to France . . ib.
Taken, tried, and condemned . . . 565
Ashton suffered . . ib.
Lord Preston was pardoned . ib.
The behaviour of the deprived bishops . ib.
A congress of princes at the Hague . . 566
A new pope chosen after a long conclave . ib.
The siege of Mons . . . 567
Affairs settled for the next campaign . . ib.
Affairs in Scotland . • . ib.
Some changes made in Scotland . . . ib.
The vacant sees filled . . . 568
Many promotions in the church . • . ib.
The campaign in Flanders . • . 570
Affairs at sea . • • • ib.
CONTENTS.
The campaign in Ireland . •
Athlone taken . . ,
The battle of Aghrem . .
1691'.
Limerick besieged . .
The Irish capitulate . . . .
The war there at an end . «
Affairs in Hungary . . .
The maxims of the court of Vienna .
The state of the empire . .
A ninth Elector created
Affairs in Savoy . . ...
The Elector of Bavaria commanded in Flanders
A session of parliament in England
Jealousies of the king
1692.
Affairs in Scotland
Tho affair of Glencoe
The Earl of Marlborough disgraced
A breach between the queen and the princess
Russel commanded the fleet
A descent in England designed by King James
A great victory at sea near La Hogue
Not followed as it might have been
A design to assassinate the king
Grandval suffers for ft, and confesses it
Namur taken by the French -. .
The battle of Steenkirk . .
Affairs in Germany . . .
And in Hungary . • .
And Piedmont . . . .
A great earthquake . •
A great corruption over England .
A session of parliament . . .
Jealousies of the ministry . • .
1693.
Complaints in parliament . .
A Bill to exclude members of the House of Com-
mons from places . .
Another for triennial parliaments .
A change in the ministry
Factions formed against the court
Affairs in Flanders . . .
And in the empire . ...
And in Piedmont ...
The battle of Landen
Cliarleroy taken by the French .
Attempts for peace . ...
Our affairs at sea . .
The Turkish fleet in great danger
Great jealousies of the king's ministry
The state of the clergy and church .
Affairs in Ireland
The q-ueen's strictness, and pious designs
Affairs in Scotland . ...
A session of parliament there
The Earl of Middleton went to France
The Duke of Anjou offered to the Spaniards
Ti.e Duke of Shrewsbury again made secretary of
state .
A bank erected . . . .
The conduct of the fleet examined .
1694.
The government misrepresented , .
The bishops are heavily charged . .
Debates concerning divorce . , .
The campaign in Flanders . , .
Ou the Rhine
PAGE
571
ib.
ib.
ib.
572
ib.
573
ib.
ib.
ib.
574
ib.
ib.
ib.
575
576
577
578
ib.
ib.
579
580
ib.
581
ib.
ib.
582
ib.
583
ib.
584
ib.
585
ib.
586
ib.
587
589
ib.
590
ib.
591
ib.
ib.
592
ib.
593
595
596
ib.
597
ib.
598
ib.
ib.
599
ib.
600
ib.
ib.
601
ib.
The campaign in Catalonia
Our fleet lay at Cadiz
A design on Camaret
It miscarried
The French coast bombarded
Affairs in Turkey . .
Attempts for a peace
A session of parliament in England
An act for triennial parliaments
The queen's administration
Archbishop Till Olson's death
Bancroft's death
Tennison succeeded .
The queen's sickness
And death
BOOK VI.
The proceedings in parliament . .
The ill state of the coin . .
A bill concerning trials for treason .
Trials in Lancashire . . .
Complaints of the Bank
Inquiries into corrupt practices
And into presents made by the East-India Company
Consultations about the coin . .
Consultations amongst the Jt.cobites . .
A design to assassinate the king
A government in the king's absence
The death of some lords . ...
The lords justices, who
The campaign in Flanders
The siege of Namur ....
Brussels bombarded by the French
Namur taken by King William
Casal was surrendered
Affairs at sea
The losses of our merchants
Affairs in Hungary . . .
A parliament in Scotland
The business of Glencoe examined
An act there for a new company
Affairs in Ireland . . .
A new parliament called in England
The state of the coin rectified
An act for trials in cases of treason
Acts concerning elections to parliament
Complaints of the Scotch Act
Scotland much set on supporting it . .
A motion for a council of trade . . .
A conspiracy discovered
Of assassinating the king
And to invade the kingdom
1696.
Many of the conspirators seized on
The design of the invasion broken
Porter discovered all . .
Both houses of parliament enter into a voluntary
association ....
A fund granted on a land bank
Charnock and others tried and executed
King James was not acquitted by them
Friend and Perkins tried and suffered
They had public absolution given them
Other conspirators tried and executed
Cook tried for the invasion
The campaign beyond sea feebly carried on
A peace in Piedmont . . .
Affairs in Hungary . ...
Affairs at sea . . .
XV
PAGE
601
602
ib.
ib.
603
ib.
604
ib.
ib.
ib.
605
ib.
606
ib.
607
ib.
ib.
609
610
ib.
611
612
ib.
ib.
613
ib.
ib.
614
ib.
ib.
615
616
ib.
ib.
617
ib.
ib.
618
ib.
619
ib.
620
ib.
ib.
ib.
621
ib.
622
ib.
623
ib.
624
ib.
625
ib.
626
ib.
627
ib.
ib.
628
ib.
629
ib.
xvi
CONTENTS.
Affairs in Scotland . . - ,«
A treaty of peace set on foot by the French
A session of parliament in England .
Fenwick's business . . . ,
Many delays in it . « •
Practices upon the witnesses . » • - •••
A bill of attainder against Fenwick
Reasons against it . » »« . .
Reasons for the bill . • , -,
1697.
The grounds upon which such a bill was necessary
and just • •».- •
The bill passed ....
Practices against the duke of Shrewsbury
Fenwick's execution . ...
Affairs in Flanders ....
Barcelona taken by the French
A French squadron in the West Indies
The King of Poland's death . .
The Elector of Saxony chosen King of Poland
The Czar travelled to Holland and England
The Prince of Conti sailed to Dantzic
The treaty at Ryswick . . •
The king of Sweden's death
His sou is mediator at the treaty of Ryswick
The peace made, and the treaty signed . «
Reflections on the peace . • , ^
The Turks' army in Hungary routed ,« «
The peace of Carlowiiz . . .-"»
The duration of the Turkish wars .»
The king came back to England
Consultations about a standing army • •
The matter argued on both sides
A session of parliament • • - •
A small force kept up
J698.
The earl of Sunderland retired from business
The civil list settled on the king for life
A new East-India Company
The \vhigs lose their credit in the nation • •
The king of Spain's ill state of health •
The duke of Gloucester put in a method of education
The progress of Socinianism . •
Different explanations of the Trinity
Dr. Sherlock left tbe Jacobites
Dr. South wrote against him
The king's injunctions silence those disputes
Divisions amongst the clergy
Divisions amongst the papists •
The Scotch settle at Darien
Great disputes about it •
The present ministry's good conduct
A new parliament ....
The forces much diminished
A partr opposed the king with great bitterness
1699.
A debate concerning grants of Irish estates
The Czar of Muscovy in England
The affairs of Poland
And Sweden ... .
A treaty for the succession to the crown of Spain
he Earl of Albeinarle's favour
The death of the Duke of Bolton
And of Sir Josiah Child ....
The Archbishop of Cambray's book condemned
The Bishop of St. David's deprived for simony
I published an exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles
The growth of popery • • .
An act against papists
PACK
630
ib.
ib.
631
632
ib.
ib.
633
ib.
635
636
ib.
637
638
ib.
ib.
639
ib.
640
ib.
641
ib.
ib.
642
643
644
ib.
ib.
645
ib.
ib.
646
ib.
ib.
ib.
647
ib.
ib.
648
649
ib.
ib.
650
b.
ib.
651
ib.
652
ib.
ib.
653
654
ib.
655
ib.
ib.
656
ib.
657
ib.
ib.
ib
658
({59
ib.
MM
Affairs in Holstein • • . 659
A wai raised against the King of Sweden • 660
The King of Poland's designs • « • ib.
The partition treaty • . ib.
The affairs of Scotland • . -661
Great discontent upon the loss of Darien • 662
A session of parliament • ' , -•" - . • 663
A complaint made of some pirates • • ib.
1700.
Debates concerning forfeited estates in Ireland • 664
An act vesting them in trustees « • ib.
A change in the ministry • • • 665
Lord Somers is turned out • ' 666
A fleet sent to the Sound • . . 667
Peace between Denmark and Sweden . • 668
Censures passed on the partition treaty • . ib.
The death of the Duke of Gloucester • • ib»
The temper of the nation • « . • 669
Divisions among the dissenters • . ib.
And among the quakers « . • 670
A division in the church • . ib.
Debates concerning the Bishop of St. David's . 671
The death of the King of Spain • . 672
Clement XI. chosen pope . • • ib.
The King of Spain's will is accepted . • ib.
The duke of Anjou declared King of Spain • ib.
A new parliament summoned . . • 673
A new ministry • . ib.
The King of Sweden's glorious campaign • • 675
1701.
Great apprehensions of the danger Europe was now
in . • ib.
A party for France in the parliament • • 676
Partiality in judging elections • • • ib.
The partition treaty charged in the House of Lords 677
The Lords, advised with in it, opposed it . ib.
An address to the king about it . « .678
Memorials sent from the States • • ib.
A design to impeach the former ministry • 679
They are impeached • • 680
The Lord Somers heard by the House of Commons ib.
Contrary addresses of the two houses • 68 1
The king own8 the King of Spain • • • ib.
Negotiations in several places • . 682
An act declaring a protestant successor • • ib.
An act explaining privilege • • . 684
Proceedings upon the impeachments • . ib.
And first the artrcles against the Earl of Orford . ib.
The Earl of Orford's answer • • ib.
Articles of impeachment against Lord Somers • 685
Lord Somers's answer . « ib.
Articles of impeachment against Lord Halifax • ib.
Lord Halifax's answer • . ib«
The proceedings of parliament much censured • ib.
The Kentish petition • • • 686
Messages passed between the two houses • • ib.
The lords tried and acquitted • . • 688
A convocation of the clergy met • . • 689
They dispute the archbishop's power of adjourning
them ..... 690
They censure Brooks • • ib.
And complain of my Exposition • • 691
The king was still reserved . • • 692
Prince Engene marched into Italy • . ib.
His attempt upon Cremona • • . 693
King Philip at Barcelona • • ib
The war in Poland • • . 694
Several negotiations • ib.
A parliament in Scotland • • . • ib.
Affairs in Ireland • . * ib.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
King James's death • . • 695
His character • . • 696
The pretended Prince of Wales owned King of
England by the French court • • ib.
The English nation inflamed at it . 697
A new parliament called • • ib.
The king's last speech • ib.
All were for a war • • • ib.
The pretended Prince of Wales attainted . 698
An act for abjuring him • • • ib.
Affairs in Ireland ... gyg
1702.
The king's illness and fall from his horse . 700
His death . • . • 701
His character , • 702
BOOK VII.
QUEEN ANNE succeeds • • • 704
Her first speech to the privy council • . ib.
She pursues the alliance and the war • • ib.
A bill for the public accounts • • 705
A ministry formed . . • . ib.
Few refused the abjuration oath • • 707
The union of both kingdoms proposed • . ib.
The war with France proclaimed • • ib.
A false report of designs against the queen . ib.
The parliament is dissolved • . • 708
A convocation sat • « « ib.
Societies for reformation • ... 709
Affairs in Scotland • . ib.
A session of parliament there • • -711
Affairs in Germany • • • • • ib.
The war in Poland • . ib.
A treaty with the house of Bavaria . • ib.
The siege of Keiserwaert • . • 712
The siege of Landaw • • ib.
Keiserwaert taken . ib.
The Earl of Maryborough commands the confede-
rate army • • • .713
Is taken by a party of the French, but gets out of
their hands • • • 714
Landaw was taken • ' ib.
The elector of Bavaria declares for France • ib.
The war in Italy • • 715
King Philip went to Italy • . ib.
Affairs in Poland • . . '716
An insurrection ia the Cevennes • . ib.
The English fleet sent to Cadiz • : • ib.
They landed, and robbed St. Maries . .717
The galleons put in at Vigo • * • ib.
But are burnt or taken by the English • 718
The English fleet tame home • ib.
A new parliament • • • -719
Great partiality in judging elections • . ib.
All the supply agreed to • • . 72 )
A bill against occasional conformity • • ib.
Great debates about it ... ib.
The two houses disagreeing, the bill was lost • 721
A bill in favour of Prince George . • 722
Debates on a clause that was in it « • . ib.
A further security to the protestant succession • ib.
The Earl of Rochester laid down his employment 723
Rook's conduct examined and justified . • ib.
The inquiry made into the public accounts • 724
The clamour kept up against the former reign • ib.
Is examined by the lords, and found to be ill.
grounded • • . • • 725
Some new peers made • • • 726
The proceedings in convocation • • ib.
Great distractions among the clergy • .• 727
1703.
Preparations for the campaign
Bonne taken
Earthquakes in Italy
The battle of Eckeren
Huy, Limburgh, and Guelder, with all the Coudras,
taken
The success of the French on the Danube
Litcle done in Italy . . .
A war begun in Hungary
Disorders in the emperor's court
Augsburg and Landaw taken by the French
A treaty with the King of Portugal
The high wind in November
The new King of Spain came to England
He landed at Lisbon
The Duke of Savoy came into the alliance
The secret reasons of his former departure from it .
The French discover his intentions, and make all
his troops with them prisoners of war
Count Staremberg joined him
The insurrection in the Cevennes continued .
The affairs of Poland .
Affairs at sea ....
A fleet sent into the Mediterranean . »
Another to the West Indies
They returned without success . .
Our fleets were ill-victualled
The affairs of Scotland
Presbytery was confirmed . .
Debates concerning the succession to that crown .
Practices from France . . .
A discovery made of these
Reflections on the conduct of affairs in Scotland .
The affairs of Ireland
An act passed there against popery
Jealousies of the ministry
A bill against occasional conformity
Passed by the House of Commons
But rejected by the Lords
The clergy out of humour
The Commons vote all the necessary supplies
Inquiries into the conduct of the fleet .
The Earl of Orford's accounts justified
1704.
A bill for examining the public accounts, lost be-
t-ween the two houses . . .
A dispute concerning injustice in the elections of a
member of parliament for Aylesbury
The Lords judge that the right to elect, is a right
tryable at common law
The queen gave the tenths and first-fruits for an
augmentation to poor livings
An act passed about it . .
A plot discovered
Disputes between the two houses in addresses to
the queen . . .
The Lords order a secret examination of all that
are suspected to be in the plot
The Lords' opinion upon the whole matter .
An address justifying their proceeding
An act for recruits
An address concerning justices of peace
The ill-temper of many of the clergy .
The Duke of Marlborough went to Holland in the
winter . . . . .
The Earl of Nottingham quits his employment
The Earl of Jersey and Sir Edward Seymour are
turned out . . .
The Duke of Marlborough conducts his design with
great secrecy
xvu
PACK
727
728
ib.
ib.
ib.
729
ib.
ib.
ib.
ib.
730
731
732
ib.
ib.
ib.
733
ib.
ib
734
ib.
735
ib.
ib.
736
ib.
ib.
ib.
737
ib.
738
ib.
739
740
ib.
ib.
741
ib.
ib.
ib.
ib.
742
ib.
743
744
745
746
747
748
750
ib.
ib.
751
ib.
ib.
752
ib.
ib.
xvm
CONTENTS.
PAGE
He marches to the Danube 752
The battle of Schellenberg j, *' - 753
Tlie battle of Hocksted or Blenheim . . 754
The Duke of Marlborough advanced to Triers 755
Affairs at sea . . f: '•-"• :.„ 756
Gibraltar was taken . .. ; •- » • 757
The affairs of Portugal . ib.
A fight at sea . .- • ' • ., ib.
The siege of Gibraltar by the French . 758
Affairs in Italy . 759
And in the Ce \rennes v . « ib.
Affairs in Hungary ib.
The affairs of Poland - -=:. . 760
The pope wholly in the French interest ib.
The affairs of Scotland -".'." »' 761
Debates about the succession . 762
The settling it put off for that session . ib.
A money bill with an odd tack to it . ib.
The ministers there advise the queen to pass it 763
It was passed . • •_••-•* *b.
Censures upon it . . ib.
A session of parliament in England , 764
1705.
The occasional bill is again brought in and endea-
voured to be tacked to a money bill . ib.
The tack was rejected . « 765
Debates concerning Scotland . . ib.
Complaints of the Admiralty . . . 766
The bill against occasional conformity debated and
rejected by the Lords . . . ib.
Bishop Watson's practices . . . 767
Some promotions in the church . . ib.
Designs with relation to the electoress of Hanover 768
The House of Commons imprison some of the men
of Aylesbury . . ib.
The end of the parliament . .. . 770
Bills that were not passed . . ib.
Proceedings in the convocation . .771
The siege of Gibraltar raised . ib.
The Duke of Marlborough marched to Triers . 772
Expecting the Prince of Baden . ib.
Who failed him . . . ib.
The Duke of Marlborough broke through the
French lines . . ib.
The Dutch would not venture a battle . 773
The Emperor Leopold's death and character . ib.
Affairs in Germany . . .774
And in Italy , ib.
Affairs in Spain . . ib.
A fleet and army sent to Spain . . .775
They landed near Barcelona . ib.
King Charles pressed to besiege it . . ib.
Fort Monjui attacked . . .776
And taken . , . 777
Barcelona capitulated . . . ib.
King Charles's letters . ib.
Affairs at sea . . . . ib.
The siege of Badajos raised by the French » . ib.
Affairs in Hungary . . . 778
And in Poland . . ib.
A parliament chosen in England . . ib.
Cowper made lord-keeper . . . 779
An act for a treaty of union passed in Scotland . 780
The state of Ireland . . . ib.
A parliament in England . . .781
A speaker chosen . . . ib.
Debates about the next successor . . ib.
A bill for a regency on the queen's death . 78
Great opposition made to it . . 783
A secret management in the House of Commons .
The act of regency passed . . .785
The danger of the church inquired into .
A vote and address to the queen about it . .
1706.
omplaints of the allies rejected . .
The act against the Scots repealed . .
The public credit very high . .
An act for the amendment of the law . .
omplaints of the progress of popery . .
A design for a public library . . .
3roceedings in convocation . . .
Preparations for the campaign . . .
A revolt in Valentia . . .
Barcelona besieged by the French . .
Alcantara taken by the Earl of Galway .
The Germans are defeated in Italy . .
The treaty for the union of the two kingdoms .
The siege of Barcelona raised . . .
An eclipse of the sun . .
The Earl of Galway advanced into Spain . .
£ing Philip came to Madrid, and soon left it .
The Earl of Galway came thither, but King Charles
delayed his coming too long .
The battle of Ramillies . , .
A great victory gained there . . .
Glanders and Brabant reduced . .
Ostend and Menin taken . . .
The Duke of Vendome commands in Flanders .
Dendermond and Aeth taken . • .
Designs of a descent in Franco . .
The siege of Turin . .
Prince Eugene marches before it . .
The French army routed and the siege raised .
The King of Sweden marched into Saxony .
The treaty of union concluded here . .
The articles of the union . . .
Debated long in the parliament of Scotland .
1707.
At last agreed to by both parliaments . •
The equivalent disposed of . . .
Reflections on the union . . .
The supplies were granted . . .
Proceedings in convocation . . .
Affairs in Italy . . .
And in Poland . .
The character of the King of Sweden . .
Propositions for a peace . . .
The battle of Almanza .
The design upon Toulon . . .
It failed in the execution . . .
The siege of Lerida . . .
Relief sent to Spain . .
The conquest of Naples by the emperor .
Affairs on the Rhine .
The King of Prussia judged Prince of Neufcliatel .
The King of Sweden gets the protestant churches
in Silesia restored . . .
A sedition in Hamburgh . . . .
The campaign in Flanders . . .
Affairs at sea . .
Proceedings with relation to Scotland . .
A new party at court . . .
Promotions in the church . . .
Complaints of the Admiralty . . .
Examined by the House of Lords . «
And laid before the queen in an address . .
Inquiry into the affairs of Spain . .
1708.
Discovery of a correspondence with France . .
An examination into that correspondence .
ib.
ib.
786
ib.
787
ib.
788
ib.
789
790
ib.
ib.
791
ib.
ib.
793
ib.
ib.
ib.
ib.
794
ib.
795
ib.
ib.
ib.
796
ib.
ib.
797
798
ib.
ib.
799
801
803
80-4
805
806
807
ib.
808
ib.
ib.
809
810
811
ib.
812
ib.
813
ib.
814
ib.
ib.
815
816
ib.
818
ib.
819
82C
821
822
CONTENTS.
xix
PAGE
Proceedings with relation to Scotland . . 823
A descent intended upon Scotland . . 824
A fleet sailed from Dunkirk . ib.
Reports spread by the French . . 825
The parliament stands firmly by the queen . . ib.
The French fleet got again into Dunkirk . ib.
The designs of the campaign are concerted . . 826
The princes of France sent to the army in Flanders ib.
The Duke of Orleans sent to Spain ' . ib.
Tortosa besieged and taken . . ib.
Supplies sent from Italy to Spain . . 827
Ghent and Bruges taken by the French . ib.
The battle of Oudenarde . ib.
Lisle besieged . . .828
The French drew lines along the Scheld . . ib.
A new supply sent to Ostend . . ib.
A defeat given the French when they were three
to one . . . . 829
The convoy from Ostend came safe to the camp . ib.
Leffinghen taken by the French . . ib.
A misunderstanding between the Duke of Burgundy
and Duke of Vendome . . ib.
Affairs on the Upper Rhine . ib.
The Elector of Bavaria sent to attack Brussels . 830
The Duke of Maryborough passed the Scheld and
the French lines . . ib.
The Elector of Bavaria drew off from Brussels , ib.
The citadel of Lisle capitulated . ib.
Reflections upon that siege . . ib.
Ghent and Bruges are retaken . . .831
A very hard winter . . ib.
Sardinia and Minorca reduced . ib.
The pope threaten a the emperor with censures and
a war . . . ib.
The Duke of Savoy takes Exiles and Fenestrella . 832
The pope is forced to submit to the emperor . ib.
And acknowledges King Charles . . ity.
Affairs in Hungary . . ib.
And in Poland . . ib.
Affairs at sea «, • . 833
Prince George's death and character . . ib.
Some new ministers taken in . . 834
The new parliament opened . . ib.
1709.
Debates concerning the election of Scotch peers . ib.
A Scotch peer created a peer of Great Britain, is to
have no vote in the election there . . 835
Other exceptions were determined . . ib.
A faction amongst the Scots . ib.
An act concerning trials of treasons in Scotland,
and on what occasion • . • 836
The heads of that act . . . ib.
The forms of proceeding in Scotland . . ib.
Of the forfeitures in cases of treason . . 837
Amendments to the act . . . 838
Is passed in both houses . ib.
An act of grace . . . ib.
An enlargement of the fund of the bank . . ib.
Great riches come to Portugal from America . 839
An act for a general naturalization of all foreign
protestants . . ib.
An address to the queen concerning the terms on
which a peace might be made • . ib.
The convocation prorogued . . . ib.
A faction amongst the clergy in Ireland . ib.
An ill temper amongst the English clergy . . 840
Negotiations for peace . . ib.
The preliminaries agreed on . . 84 1
The King of France refuses to ratify them . ib.
The war went on ... 842
In Portugal . . ib.
PAGE
The war went on in Spain . . 842
In Dauphiny . . , 843
In Germany . . . . ib.
And in Flanders . . ib.
Tournay is besieged and taken . . ib.
The battle of Blareignies . . . ib.
Mons is besieged and taken . . 844
Affairs in Italy . . . . ib.
Affairs in Spain . . . ib.
The King of Sweden's defeat at Pultowa . . ib.
He flies into Turkey . . . ib.
His character by Dr. Robinson . . .845
Affairs in Denmark . . . ib.
Our fleet well conducted . . . 846
A session of parliament . . . ib.
Sacheverell's sermon . . . ib.
Many books wrote against the queen's title . 847
Dr. Hoadley's writings in defence of it . . ib.
1710.
Sacheverell was impeached by the House of Com-
mons .... 848
And tried in Westminster Hall . ib.
Great disorders at that time . . 849
The continuation of the trial . . . 850
Sir John Holt's death and character . . ib.
Parker made lord chief justice . ib.
Debates in the House of Lords after the trial . ib.
He is censured very gently . . . 85 1
Addresses against the parliament . . 852
The queen's speech at the end of the session . ib.
The Duke of Shrewsbury made lord chamberlain . ib.
The author's free discourse to the queen . . 853
Doway is besieged and taken . . ib.
The history continued to the peace . . ib.
Negotiations for a peace . . . 854
The conferences at Gertruydenberg . . 855
All came to no conclusion . . ib.
A change of the ministry in England . . 856
Sacheverell's progress into Wales . . ib.
The conduct in elections to parliament . . 857
A sinking of public credit . . ib.
The affajrs in Spain . . . . ib.
The battle of Almanara . . ib.
King Charles is at Madrid . . . 858
The battle of Villa Viciosa . . ib.
The disgrace of the Duke of Medina Celi . . ib.
Bethune and Aire taken in Flanders . . ib.
Affairs in the North . . . 859
The new parliament opened . . ib.
1711.
The conduct in Spain censured by the Lords . ib.
The strange way of proceeding therein . 86 1
Some abuses in the navy censured by the House
of Commons . . . 862
Supplies given for the war . ib.
The Duke of Marlborough commands the army in
Flanders . . ib.
Complaints of the favour shewn the Palatines . ib.
A bill to repeal the general naturalization act, is
rejected by the Lords . . . 863
A bill for qualifying members passed . . ib.
An act for importing French wine . . ib.
An attempt on Harley by Guiscard . . 864
A design against King William's grants miscarries • 865
Inquiries into the public accounts . . ib.
The dauphin and the emperor's death . . 866
War breaking out between the Turk and the czar . ib.
The convocation met . . . ib.
Exceptions to the licence sent them . . ib.
A new licence .... 867
CONTENTS.
FAGE
A representation of the lower house . . 867
Whiston revives arianism . . . ib.
The different opinion of the judges as to the power
of the convocation . . . 868
Whiston's doctrines condemned t . ib.
An act for the south-sea trade . ... 867
Reflections on the old ministry cleared . ib.
Affairs in Spain . . . . ib.
King Charles is elected emperor . ib.
The Duke of Marlborough passed the French lines 870
He besieged Bouchain, and took it . . ib.
An expedition by sea to Canada . . .871
It miscarries . . . . ib.
Affairs in Turkey . . . . ib.
And in Pomerania . . . 872
Harley made an Earl, and Lord Treasurer . ib.
Negotiations for a peace with France . . ib.
Preliminaries offered by France . . . 873
Count Gallas sent away in disgrace . . ib.
Earl of Strafford sent ambassador to Holland . ib.
Many libels against the allies . ib.
Earl Rivers sent to Hanover, but without success . 874
The States are forced to open a treaty . . ib.
Endeavours used by the court before they opened
the parliament . . . ib.
The queen's speech, and reflections on it . . 'ib.
The Earl of Nottingham moved, that no peace
could be safe, unless Spain and the West Indies
were taken from the House of Bourbon . 875
His motion agreed to by the Lords in their address
to the queen . . . . ib.
The queen's answer . . . ib.
A bill against occasional conformity . . ib.
Passed without opposition . . .876
Duke Hamilton's patent as a British peer . ib.
Examined, and judged against him . . 877
The Lords' address, that our allies may be carried
along with us in the treaty . . ib.
Pretended discoveries of bribery . ib.
The Duke of Marlborough aimed at . • ib.
He is turned out of all his employments . . 878
Twelve new peers made . . . ib.
1712.
The queen's message to the Lords to adjourn, is
disputed but obeyed . . . ib.
Prince Eugene came to England . . . 879
His character . . . . ib.
A message from the queen to both houses . . ib.
A bill giving precedence to the House of Hanover . ib.
A debate concerning the Scotch peers . . 880
Walpole's case and censure . . ib.
The censure put on the Duke of Marlborough . ib.
Many libels wrote against him . ib.
His innocence appeared evidently . .881
The Scotch lords put in good hopes . . ib.
A toleration of the English liturgy in Scotland . ib.
Designs to provoke the presbyteriana there . 882
Patronages are restored . . . ib.
The barrier treaty . . ib.
It was complained of . . . 883
And condemned by the House of Commons . ib.
The States justify "themselves . . 884
The self denying bill is thrown out . . ib.
The treaty at Utrecht opened . . ib.
The French proposals . . . ib.
The death of the two dauphins . . 885
The character of the dauphin . . ib.
An indignation in both houses at the French pro-
The demands of the allies
Preparations for t.'ie campaign
The Pretender's sister died . . .
Proceedings in the convocation
The censure on Whiston's book not confirmed by
the queen . . .
An inclination in some of the clergy towards popery
Dodwell's notions
The bishops condemn the re-baptizing dissenters .
But the lower house would not agree with them .
Great supplies given for the war .
The Duke of Ormond ordered not to act offensively
A separate peace disowned by the lord treasurer .
The queen, by the Bishop of Bristol, declares she
is free from all engagements with the States
The queen laid the plan of the peace before the
parliament . . . .
Addresses of both houses upon it
The end of the session of parliament
The Duke of Ormond proclaims a cessation of arms,
and left Prince Eugene's army .
Quesnoy is taken . . . .
Landrecy besieged . .
A great loss at Denain brought a reverse on the
campaign . . .
Distractions at the Hague .
The renunciations of the succession in Spain and
France . . . .
Duke Hamilton and Lord Mohun killed in a combat
The Duke of Shrewsbury is sent to France, and
Duke d'Aumont comes to England . .
The affairs in the North
The emperor prepares for the war with France
A new Barrier Treaty with the States .
The Earl of Godolphin's death and character
The Duke of Marlborough went to live beyond sea
We possess Dunkirk in a precarious manner
The Barriei Treaty signed
Seven prorogations of parliament . .
Affairs of Sweden . . .
1713.
The King of Prussia's death .
The King of Sweden's misfortunes
The treaties of peace signed, and the session of par-
liament opened
The substance of the treaties of peace and of com-
merce ....
Aids given by the Commons
The Scots oppose their being charged with the duty
on malt ....
And move to have the union dissolved
A bill for rendering the treaty of commerce with
France effectual
A speech prepared by the author, when the appro-
bation of the peace came to be moved in the
House of Lords . . . .
A demand for mortgaging part of the civil list
Reasons against it
But it was granted
An address of both houses, that the Pretender be
removed from Lorrain . . .
The death of some bishops
The queen's speech at the end of the session
THE CONCLUSION
PAGS
ib.
886
ib.
886
ib.
ib.
887
ib.
888
ib.
ib.
889
ib.
ib.
890
ib.
ib.
ib.
891
ib.
ib.
ib.
892
ib.
ib.
ib.
893
ib.
ib,
ib.
894
ib.
ib.
ib.
ib.
895
ib.
ib.
897
ib.
ib.
898
899
901
ib.
ib.
ib.
902
ib.
904
INTRODUCTION.
APPILY for his own mental tranquillity, but unfortunately for
his contemporary fame, Dr. Gilbert Burnet * was a firm advocate
for universal toleration. Living at a period when political parti-
sanship and religious bigotry were stimulated to frantic excesses,
it ceases to be a cause of astonishment that he was never
entirely trusted, or unreservedly praised, by either of the extreme
parties who then convulsed the nation — each was then struggling
to obtain supreme dominion over the other, in the civil and
religious institutions of our constitution. Dr. Burnet was a bishop, and he stood unflinch-
ingly by the episcopal church : so far he was approved by the high church or Tory party ;
but he found fault with the conduct of the bishops, who were forced upon, and who rode
rough-shod over the Scottish people ; at the same time he deprecated the persecution of men
whose only offence was that they preferred a presbyterian form of church government.
This was enough to convince those, who lay it down as a principle that an opponent
must be wrong in the superlative, that Burnet was a presbyterian at heart, though an
episcopalian from interest : they, therefore, never trusted, much less did they advance him.
He supported their measures when he approved of them, and was drily thanked: he
reproved them, not even sparing the monarch for his sins, and in return was hated.
As the advocate of toleration for all political and religious creeds, he was admired and
courted by those who suffered by the laws and government, which were actuated by a con-
trary spirit ; yet he did not go far or fast enough to satisfy them : he would not have them
punished, or even deprived of their civil rights, merely because they differed with him in
certain opinions; but as he did not prefer a presbyterial to an episcopal church — as he
always held it as a fixed principle, that resistance to an established government is not lawful
* Dr. Burnet's father was the younger brother of a
family distinguished for its antiquity, and considerable for
its influence, in the shire of Aberdeen. He was educated
for the profession of a civilian ; and although his excessive
modesty prevented him appearing to advantage at the bar,
yet he was generally esteemed a proficient in the know-
ledge of the civil law. He was eminent for probity and
generosity in his practice : from the poor he never took a
fee, nor from a clergyman when he sued in the cause of
his church. In the year 1637, when the troubles in Scot-
land were breaking out, he censured so warmly the con-
duct of its bishops, and was so remarkable for his exem-
plary life, that he was generally called a puritan. But
M-hen he saw that, instead of reforming the abuses of the
bishops, episcopacy itself was struck at, he declared himself
its supporter with zeal and constancy. He as firmly main-
tained the rights of the crown against the attacks of the
party which afterwards prevailed in both nations ; for,
although he agreed with Barclay and Grotius that resist-
ance is lawful when the laws are broken through by a
limited monarch, yet he did not think that was then the
case in Scotland.
Dr. Burnet's mother was very eminent for her piety
and virtue. She was a sister of the celebrated sir Archi-
bald Johnston, called lord Warriston, who, during tho
civil war, headed the presbyterian party. Of their reli-
gious discipline she was a zealous admirer ; but neither her
influence, nor the exercised power of her brother, could
ever induce her husband to swerve in his adhesion to tho
cause of monarchy and the episcopal church. Exile, and
the offers of preferment made to him by Oliver Cromwell,
were alike unavailing ; so that, when permitted to return
to Scotland, he lived retired upon his own estate, until the
Restoration. He was then made one of the lords of session.
Under his parents, the early education of our author
was pursued, and the fruits of their instruction and exam-
ple are apparent throughout his career. — Life by the
Author's Son.
b
ii INTRODUCTION.
on account of its single acts of injustice, unless it strikes at the very basis of tlie constitu-
tion * : the enemies of the monarchy and of the established church always esteemed him to
be as much their enemy as their friend t. The marquis of Halifax, whose mental acumen
was better qualified to judge of other men's characters than to regulate his own, thus wrote
his estimate of our author . —
" Dr. Burnet J, like all men who are above the ordinary level, is seldom spoke of in a
mean, he must either be railed at or admired ; he has a swiftness of imagination, that no
other man comes up to ; and as our nature hardly allows us to have enough of any thing
without having too much, he cannot at all times so hold in his thoughts but that at some
time they may run away with him ; as it is hard for a vessel, that is brim-full, when in
motion, not to run over ; and therefore the variety of matter, that he ever carries about him,
may throw out more than an unkind critic would allow of. His first thoughts may some-
times require more digestion, not from a defect in his judgment, but from the abundance of
his fancy, which furnishes too fast for him. His friends love him too well to see small faults ;
or, if they do, think that his greater talents give him a privilege of straying from the strict
rules of caution, and exempt him from the ordinary rules of censure. He produces so fast,
that what is well in his writings calls for admiration, and what is incorrect deserves an
excuse ; he may in some things require grains of allowance, which those only can deny him
who are unknown, or unjust to him. He is not quicker in discerning other men's faults,
than he is in forgiving them : so ready, or rather glad, to acknowledge his own, that from
blemishes they become ornaments. All the repeated provocations of his indecent adversaries
have had no other effect than the setting his good-nature in so much a better light, since his
anger never yet went farther than to pity them. That heat, which in most other men raises
sharpness and satire, in him glows into warmth for his friends, and compassion for those in
want and misery. As dull men have quick eyes in discerning the smaller faults of those
that nature has made superior to them, they do not miss one blot he makes, and being
beholden only to their barrenness for their discretion, they fall upon the errors which arise out
of his abundance; and by a mistake into which their malice betrays them, they think that
by finding a mote in his eye, they hide the beams that are in their own. His quickness
makes writing so easy a thing to him, that his spirits are neither wasted nor soured by it.
The soil is not forced, every thing grows and brings forth without pangs ; which distin-
guishes as much what he does from that which smells of the lamp, as a good palate will dis-
cern between fruit which comes from a rich mould, and that which tastes of the uncleanly
pains that have been bestowed upon it. He makes many enemies, by setting an ill-natured
example of living, which they are not inclined to follow. His indifference for preferment, his
contempt not only of splendour, but of all unnecessary plenty, his degrading himself into the
lowest and most painful duties of his calling, are such unprelatical qualities, that let him be
never so orthodox in other things, in these he must be a dissenter. Virtues of such a stamp
are so many heresies, in the opinion of those divines, who have softened the primitive injunc-
tions, so as to make them suit better with the present frailty of mankind. No wonder, then,
if they are angry, since it is in their own defence, or that from a principle of self-preservation
* "The presbyterian zealots," says his son, "hated f Life by his son.
him, as apprehending that his schemes of moderation would, J The copy from which this is printed was taken from
in the end, prove the sure way of establishing episcopacy one given to the bishop, in the marquis of Halifax's own
amongst them. The episcopal party, on the other hand, hand-writing, which was in the possession of the author's
could not endure a man who was for exempting the dis- son, the year that George the First began to reign,
senters from their persecutions."
INTRODUCTION. [ft
they should endeavour to suppress a man, whose parts are a shame, and whose life is a
scandal to them."
Such was the estimate formed of Dr. Burnet by one of the most talented of his contem-
poraries ; we shall be better able to judge of its justice when we have traced a few of the
leading events of his life ; and as these will be found to be every way worthy of him as a
teacher of Christianity, the reader of his work will thence be predisposed to believe, that he
who acted and suffered for that which he considered just, would not knowingly write that
which is false.
The life of Dr. Burnet extended from 1643 to 1715, a series of years during which occurred
the most memorable events in our national history. In those seventy-two years, Charles the
First died upon the scaffold ; our government passed through every grade of change from the
most open republicanism to the most uncontrolled despotism — there Was the despotism of
the army and the despotism of Cromwell. It was the era of the war-struggle for supremacy
between protestant episcopacy, protestant dissent, and popery, in which James the Secon1
was ejected from the throne, and a new dynasty was admitted. All which events were the
consequences of the great principle that came then for ever to be decided — whether the will
and the interests of the people, or of the king, are to bo most consulted in the conduct of our
national affairs.
The first important question, arid it was one dangerous and delicate, upon which our author
had to declare his opinion, was concerning his own competency to fulfil the duties of the
clerical office. There is no law of Scotland limiting the age at which a minister may take
upon himself the cure of souls ; consequently, having passed all his examinations and his
probation, when he was offered by his kinsman, sir Alexander Burnet, an excellent benefice
in the centre of his family connections, he had no restraint upon his decision but such as was
dictated by his own heart. Burnet was only eighteen, but he was victor over the tempta-
tion ; for, feeling that this was an age at which he could not conscientiously accept so respon-
sible an appointment, he declined the living, though his father was the only one of his
relations who did not importune him to accept it.
It was well for him, in many respects, besides the satisfaction of his conscience, that
he thus decided ; for it left him leisure to visit the English universities, and to travel in
continental Europe. Whilst at the former, and when in London, he acquired the friendship
of Dr. Cudworth, Dr. Pearson, Dr. Fell, Dr. Pocock, Dr. Wallis, Dr. Tillotson, Dr. Stilling-
fleet, Dr. Patrick, Dr. Lloyd, Dr. Whitchcot, Dr. Wilkins, sir Robert Murray, and Mr. Boyle ;
names deservedly great in the history of our national worthies. From such men as these he
gained knowledge, and in their example obtained confidence to maintain the cause of truth
in all things. His acquaintance, whilst in Holland, with the chief members of the Arminians,
Lutherans, Unitarians, Brownists, Anabaptists, and Papists, whose forms of worship and
belief are all tolerated in that country, enlarged his mind, and saved him from being the slave
of sectarian bigotry. Amongst all those families of the Christian tribe, " he found men of
such real piety and virtue, that there he became fixed in that strong principle of universal
charity, of thinking well of those who differed from him, and of invincible abhorrence of all
persecutions on account of religious dissensions ; which have often drawn upon him the
bitterest censures from those who, perhaps by a narrower education, were led into a narrower
way of thinking." Dr. Henry More, who bore the highest title of dignity, being called
" the Intellectual Epicure," was one of his acquaintances, and, like him, paid more attention
to the contents of a book than to its binding — estimated the value of a man's mind, not that
b 2
iv INTRODUCTION.
of his coat — believed in Christianity, not in its priestcraft. One of Dr. More's observations
upon church ceremonies and rites made great impression upon Burnet. " None of these,"
said the doctor, " are bad enough to make men bad ; and I am sure none of them are good
enough to make men good."
Upon his return to his native country, Scotland, he was appointed to the living of Saltoun,
but he declined accepting it until, after a four months' probation, he was unanimously
requested to do so by his parishioners. He was then, in the year 1665, ordained priest by
the bishop of Edinburgh. " During the five years he remained at Saltoun, he preached
twice every Sunday, and once more during the week ; he catechised three times during the
same period, so as to examine every parishioner, old and young, thrice in the compass of a
year : he went round his parish from house to house, instructing, reproving, or comforting
the inhabitants as occasion required ; those who were sick he visited twice a day ; he admi-
nistered the sacrament four times in the year, personally instructing all that gave notice they
intended to receive it : all that remained above his own necessary subsistence, in which he
was very frugal, he distributed in charity. A particular instance of his liberality was
related by a person who then lived with him, and who afterwards was with him at Salisbury.
One of his parishioners was distrained upon for debt, and came to our author for some small
assistance, who inquired how much would again set him up in his trade. The debtor named
the sum, which a servant was immediately ordered to pay him : — ' Sir,' said the domestic,
4 it is all we have in the house.' — ' Well, well,' replied Burnet, ' pay it to this poor man ;
you do not know the pleasure there is in making a man glad.' Thus, as he knew the con-
cerns of his whole parish, treated them with tenderness and care, and set them a fair example
of every article of that duty which he taught them, he soon gained their affections, not
excepting the presbyterians ; although ho was then the only man in Scotland that made use
of the prayers in the English church liturgy *."
In 1669, the University of Glasgow elected him to be the Professor of Divinity, and the
admirable Dr. Leighton succeeded in persuading him to quit his parish and accept the chair.
His son thus relates our author's exertions to fulfil the duties that now devolved upon him.
" As his principal care, in this new station, was to form just and true notions in the students
of divinity, he laid down a plan for that purpose, to which no other objection could be offered
but that it seemed to require the labour of four or five, instead of one man ; yet he never
failed executing every part of it, during his residence at Glasgow. On Mondays he made
each of the students, in his turn, explain a head of divinity in Latin, and propound such
theses from it as he was to defend against the rest of the scholars ; and this exercise con-
cluded with our author's decision of the point in a Latin oration. On Tuesdays he gave them
a prelection in the same language, wherein he purposed, in the course of eight years, to
have gone through a complete system of divinity. On Wednesdays, he read them a lecture,
for above an hour, by way of a critical commentary on St. Matthew's Gospel, which he
finished before be quitted the chair. On Thursdays the exercise was alternate : one Thursday
he expounded a Hebrew psalm, comparing it with the Septuagint, the vulgar and the
English version ; and the next Thursday he explained some portion of the ritual and con-
stitution of the primitive church, making the apostolical canons his text, and reducing every
article of practice under the head of one or other of those canons. On Fridays he made
each of his scholars, in course, preach a short sermon upon some text he assigned ; and when
• Life of Dr. Burnet, by his sou.
itw
INTRODUCTION.
t was ended, he observed upon any thing that was defective or amiss, showing how the text
ought to have been opened and applied. This was the labour of the mornings ; in the
evenings, after prayer, he every day read them some parcel of scripture, on which he made
a short discourse, and when that was over, he examined into the progress of their several
studies, encouraging them to propose their difficulties to him upon the subjects they were
then reading. This he performed during the whole time the schools were open, thereby
answering the duty of a professor, with the assiduity of a schoolmaster ; and in order to
acquit himself with credit, he was obliged to study hard from four till ten in the morning ;
the rest of the day being, of necessity, allotted either to the use of his pupils, or to hearing
the complaints of the clergy, who, finding he had an interest with the men in power, were
not sparing in their applications tc him."
Our author was thrice married. His first wife was Lady Mary Kennedy, a daughter
of the earl of Cassilis ; the second a Dutch lady, of the name of Scott ; and the third.
Mrs. Berkley, — all women eminent for their piety ; the third being author of " A Method
of Devotion," edited after her death by Dr. Goodwyn, archbishop of Cashel. Of Dr. Bur-
net's conduct in the relationships 01 a husband, a father, a friend, and a master, we have his
son's testimony : — " He was a most affectionate husband. His tender care of his first wifc,
during a course of sickness that lasted for many years, and his fond love to the other two,
and the deep concern he expressed fo» their loss, were no more than their just due, from one
of his humanity, gratitude, and discernment.
*' His love to his children, perhaps accompanied with too much indulgence, was not exerted
in laying up for them a hoard of wealth out of the revenues of the church, but in giving
them a noble education, though the charge of it was wholly maintained out of his private
fortune. At seven years old he entered his sons into Latin, giving each of them a distinct
tutor, who had a salary of forty pounds a-year, which was never lessened on account of any
prebend the bishop gave him. After five or six years had perfected his sons in the learned
languages, he sent them to the University ; the eldest, a gentleman commoner, to Trinity
College, in Cambridge ; the other two, commoners, to Merton College, in Oxford, where,
besides the college tutor, they had a private one, to assist them in their learning, and to over-
look their behaviour. In the year 1706, he sent them abroad for two years to finish their
studies at Leyden, whence two of them took a tour through Germany, Switzerland, and
Italy. The eldest and youngest, by their own choice, were bred to the law, and the second
to divinity.
" In his friendships our author was warm, open-hearted, and constant : from those I have
taken the liberty to mention, the reader will perceive that they were formed upon the most
prudent choice, and I cannot find an instance of any one friend he ever lost, but by death. It
is a common, perhaps a just observation, that a hearty friend is apt to be as hearty an enemy ;
yet this rule did not hold in our author : for though his station, his principles, but, above all,
his steadfast adherence to the Hanover succession, raised him many enemies, yet he no sooner
had it in his power to have taken severe revenges on them, than he endeavoured, by tho
kindest good offices, to repay all their injuries, and overcome them, by returning good for
evil.
" The bishop was a kind and bountiful master to his servants, whom he never changed but
with regret, and through necessity. Friendly and obliging to all in employment under him.
and peculiarly happy in the choice of them, especially in that of the steward to the bishopric
and his courts, "William Wastefield, Esq , (a gentleman of a plentiful fortune at the time of
vi INTRODUCTION.
his accepting this post,) and in that of his domestic steward, Mr. Hackney. These were both
men of approved worth and integrity, firmly attached to his interests, and were treated by
him, as they well deserved, with friendship and confidence."
Four times did our author refuse a bishopric. At length, when king "William was esta-
blished on the throne, the see of Salisbury became vacant, which Dr. Burnet solicited for his
old friend, Dr. Lloyd, then bishop of St. Asaph. The king coldly answered, " I have
another person in view :" and the next day Burnet found that he himself was nominated to
the vacant see.
His son has dwelt at some length upon his conduct as a diocesan. " His primary visita-
tion could only be regulated by the practice of his predecessors, who contented themselves
with formal triennial visitations of their diocese, in which they used always to confirm ; but
when he perceived the hurry, the disorder and noise that attended these public meetings,
he thought them wholly unfit for solemn acts of devotion ; they seemed much more proper
for the exercise of an ordinary's jurisdiction, according to law, than for the performance of
the more Christian functions of a bishop. These were inconsistent with that pomp and
show which, perhaps, the other required. He had always looked upon confirmation as the
likeliest means of reviving a spirit of Christianity ; if men could be brought to consider it,
*ot as a mere ceremony, but as an act whereby a man became a Christian from his own
choice ; since upon attaining to the use of reason, he thereby renewed for himself a vow,
which others had only made for him at baptism. He wrote a short directory, con aining
proper rubs how to prepare the youth upon such occasions ; this he printed, and sent copies
of it, some months beforehand, to the minister of every parish where he intended to con-
firm. He every summer took a tour, for six weeks or two months, through some district of
his bishopric, daily preaching and confirming from church to church, so as in the compass of
three years (besides his former triennial visitation) to go through all the principal livings in
his diocese. The clergy, near the places he passed through, generally attended on him ;
therefore, to avoid being burthensome in these circuits, he entertained them all at his own
charge. He, likewise, for many years, entered into conferences with them upon the chief
heads of divinity : one of which he usually opened at their meeting, in a discourse that lasted
near two hours ; and then encouraged those present to start such questions or difficulties
upon it as occurred to them. Four of these discourses, against infidelity, socinianism, popery
and schism, were printed in the year 1694. When our author had published his c Expo-
sition of the Thirty-nine Articles,' conferences of this nature seemed in some measure need-
less : he therefore discontinued them, in order to apply himself wholly to the work of confirm-
ation. To be more useful in it, he disposed his annual progress, during the last ten years
of his life, in the following manner: — He went through five or six of the considerable
market towns every year ; he fixed himself for a whole week in each of them ; and though
he went out every morning to preach and confirm in some parish, within seven or eight miles
of the place, yet at the evening prayer, for six days together, he catechised the youth of the
town, in the principal church there, expounding to them some portion of the church cate-
chism every day, until he had gone through the whole : and, on Sunday, he confirmed those
who had been thus examined and instructed, and then, inviting them all to dine with him,
he gave to each a useful present of books. As the country flocked in from all parts to
hear him, he was in hopes this would encourage the clergy to catechise more, and would
raise an emulation in Christian knowledge among the inferior sort of people, who were
ignorant to a scandal.
B INTRODUCTION, vii
tie intervals of parliament, when the bishop was not upon this progress, his usual
was at Salisbury ; there he preached the Thursday's lecture, founded at St. Thomas's
church, during the whole time of his stay; ho likewise preached and confirmed every
Sunday morning *, in some church of that city, or of the neighbourhood round about it :
and in the evening he had a lecture in his own chapel, to which great crowds resorted,
wherein he explained some portion of scripture, out of the gospels and epistles in the
liturgy. He generally came down from London, some days before Lent, on purpose to
prepare the youth of the two great schools for confirmation, by catechising them every
week, during that season, in the cathedral church, and instructing them in the same manner
as he did those in the other towns of his diocese. And to render this task of instruction
more easy to the rest of his clergy, he at length published ' An Explanation of the Church
Catechism, in the Year 1710.'
" The bishop's consistorial court being much cried out against, as a grievance both to
the clergy and laity, he endeavoured to reform it, and for some years went thither in
person ; but though he might do some little good by this attendance, it was so little,
that he at last gave it over ; for the true foundation of complaints was, the dilatory course
of proceedings, and the exorbitant fees, which the bishop had no authority to correct : nay,
he could not even discharge poor suitors who were oppressed there with vexatious prosecu-
tions, any otherwise than by paying their fees himself, as he frequently did.
" No part of the episcopal office was more strictly attended to by him than the examination
of those who came for orders ; in this matter the law has left the bishop entirely at liberty
to admit or refuse. He never turned them over to the care of a chaplain or archdeacon,
farther than to try their skill in the learned languages. He examined them himself as to the
proofs of the Christian religion, the authority of the scriptures, and the nature of the gospel
covenant. If they were deficient in those, he dismissed them at once, with proper directions
how to be better prepared for a second trial : but if they were competently knowing in these
essential points, he went through the other heads of divinity with less strictness. "When he
was once satisfied with their capacity, he next directed his discourse to their conscience :
he laid before them the baseness of taking up a sacred profession, merely for the lucre, or
subsistence, it might afford : he gave them a distinct view of all the branches of the pastoral
care (of which he published a Treatise, for the use of his diocese, in 1692) ; and endeavoured
strongly to dissuade them from entering into holy orders, unless they were firmly resolved to
perform all the duties of their function ; more particularly to lead such lives as might not
contradict the doctrines they were to teach. A day or two before ordination, he submitted
all those whom he had accepted to the examination of the dean and prebendaries, that so
he might have their approbation.
" In the admission of presentees, he could not be so strict ; the law having in some measure
taken the judgment of their qualifications out of the ordinary; yet in this he went unusual
lengths, of which I shall mention one singular instance -f-. In the latter part of the reign of
queen Anne, the lord chancellor presented the younger son of a noble family in Oxfordshire
* He was so punctual in this, that no change of weather overturned in the water, and his own life hardly saved by
could ever induce him to disappoint any congregation where a miller, who jumped in and drew the bishop out of the
he was expected ; and this assiduity had well nigh cost water ; for which seasonable service our author paid him
him his life, in the year 1698. For having appointed to a yearly gratuity all the rest of his life.
preach and confirm, at the parish church of Dinton, within f This 1 had from Mr. Mackney, as a fact well known
twelve miles of Salisbury, on a pre-fixed Sunday, the rains to himself, and to some others now alive. — Note by
that fell on that day, and for some days before, had so Author's Son.
swelled a brook which he was to cross, that his coach was
viii INTRODUCTION.
to a parsonage within his diocese, which was in the gift of the crown. Upon trial, -our
author found him so ignorant, that he refused to institute him ; the ministry threatened him
with a law-suit, -but, finding him resolute, they at length acquiesced under the refusal.
Thereupon the bishop sent for the young gentleman, and told him, ' That as his patrons had
given up the contest, and he had no design to do him any personal injury, if he could prevail
on his friends to keep the benefice vacant, he himself would undertake the charge of quali-
fying him for it.' Accordingly he took such happy pains in his instruction, that, some months
after, the presentee passed examination with applause, and had institution given him to the
living.
" As the pastoral care, and the admitting none to it who were not duly qualified, was always
uppermost in his thoughts, he concluded that he could not render a more useful service to
religion, to the church, and more especially to his own diocese, than by forming under his eye
a number of divines, well instructed in all the articles of their duty. He resolved therefore,
at his own charge, to maintain a small nursery of students in divinity at Salisbury, who might
follow their studies till he should be able to provide for them. They were ten in number,
to each of whom he allowed a salary of thirty pounds a-year : they were admitted to
him once every day, to give an account of their progress in learning, to propose to him
such difficulties as they met with, in the course of their reading, and to hear a lecture from
him, upon some speculative or practical point of divinity, or on some part of the pastoral
function, which lasted above an hour : during the bishop's absence, the learned Dr. Whitby
supplied his place, in superintending and directing their studies. By this means our author
educated several young clergymen, who proved an honour to the church : but as this came to
be considered as a present provision, with sure expectations of a future settlement, he was
continually importuned, and sometimes imposed upon, as to the persons recommended to be
of this number ; and the foundation itself was so maliciously exclaimed at, as a designed
affront upon the method of education at Oxford, that he was prevailed upon, after some years,
to lay it wholly aside.
" Our author was a warm and constant enemy to pluralities of livings ; not indeed where the
two churches lay near each other, and were but poorly endowed, for in that case he rather
encouraged them, as knowing the ' labourer was worthy his hire.' But whensoever
non-residence was the consequence of a plurality, he used his utmost endeavours to prevent
it, and in some cases even hazarded a suspension, rather than give institution. In his charges
to the clergy he exclaimed against pluralities, as a sacrilegious robbery of the revenues of the
church. A remarkable effect of his zeal upon this subject may not be improper to be here
related *. In his first visitation at Salisbury, he urged the authority of St. Bernard, who
being consulted by one of his followers, whether he might not accept of two benefices,
replied, ' And how will you be able to serve them both ? ' — ' I intend,' answered the
priest, ' to officiate in one of them by a deputy.' — ' Will your deputy be damned for
you too?' cried the saint. ' Believe me, you may serve your cure by proxy, but you
must be damned in person.' This expression so affected Mr. Kelsey, a pious and
worthy clergyman there present, that he immediately resigned the rectory of Bemerton,
worth two hundred pounds a-year, which he then held with one of a greater value. Nor
was this Christian act of self-denial without its reward ; for though their principles in
church matters were very opposite, the bishop conceived such an esteem for him, from this
* This fact was told me by Mr. Wastefield, and is well known at Salisbury. — Note by Author's Son.
INTRODUCTION. ix
action, that he not only prevailed with the chapter to elect him a canon, but likewise made
him archdeacon of Sarum, and gave him one of the best prebends in the church.
" In the point of residence, our author was so strict that he never would permit his own
chaplains to attend upon him, after they were once preferred to a cure of souls, but obliged
them to be constantly resident at their livings. Indeed he considered himself as under the
same obligation as pastor of the whole diocese, and never would be absent from it but
during his necessary attendance on parliament ; from which, as soon as the principal business
of the nation was despatched, he always obtained leave to depart, in order to return to his
function. And though king "William, upon his going over to Ireland or Flanders, always
enjoined him to attend upon queen Mary, and assist her with his faithful counsel on all
emergencies, yet he would not, upon such occasions, accept of lodgings at Whitehall, but
hired a house at Windsor, in order to be within his own bishopric, and yet near enough to
the court to pay his duty twice a week, or oftener, if business required it.
" No principle was more deeply rooted in him than that of toleration ; it -was not confined
to any sect or nation, it was as universal as Christianity itself : he exerted it in favour of a
nonjuring meeting-house at Salisbury, which he obtained the royal permission to connive at ;
and when the preacher there, Dr. Beach, by a seditious and treasonable sermon, had incurred
the sentence of the law, our author not only saved him from punishment, but even procured
his pardon, without the terms of a public recantation, upon which it was at first granted ; as
may be collected from the following letters, the one from the earl of Nottingham, then
secretary of state, the other from Dr. Beach himself : —
4 MY LORD *, ' Whitehall, 29th March, 1692.
* I have acquainted the queen, at the cabinet council, with what your lordship writes in
behalf of Dr. Beach ; and though her majesty is always inclined to show mercy, and espe-
cially to such as your lordship recommends to her favour, yet since the crime, and the
scandal of it, has been very public, her majesty thinks the acknowledgment of it should be
so too, and therefore would have him make it in the church. When this is done, your
lordship's intercession will easily prevail. I am, with great respect,
< My lord,
' Your lordship's most humble and faithful servant,
4 NOTTINGHAM.'
4 MY LORD t,
* With all due deference of honour, and with all the respectful regard that can be corre-
spondent to the no less generous than acceptable messages which I received from your lord-
ship by Dr. Geddes, I humbly tender this to your lordship, hoping it may be favourably
received in lieu of my personal attendance, which shall be readily paid (as U is due) at any
time. Dr. Geddes has delivered me the desirable tidings of your lordship's free resolution'
to rescue me from the further prosecution of that unhappy verdict I labour under. It is my
desire, being freed from this troublesome storm, to live in peace and quiet, without disturb-
ance of the government in general, and of any person in particular. And I cannot but
deeply resent your obliging readiness to relieve me, because it is not clogged with any bitter
conditions or reserves that would lessen the favour. What your lordship has resolved is
* The original was in the hands of the author's son. "f" Ibid.
x INTRODUCTION.
what I humbly desire, and do not doubt but your lordship will pursue. The sooner the
favour can be accomplished, and with the less noise before terra, the more it will be endeared
to, and challenge all gratitude from,
' My lord,
Your much obliged and obedient servant,
' WM. BEACH*/
" Yet when this spirit of moderation, of which the nonjurors felt the good effects, was
extended to the dissenters, our author's enemies represented him as betraying the church
into their hands ; though he was really taking the most effectual means to bring them over,
not indeed by compulsion, but by the more Christian methods of charity and persuasion : in
which he was so successful, that many dissenting families, in his diocese, were by him
brought over to the communion of our church ; and of two presbyterian preachers, who were
well supported when he first came to Salisbury, one was soon after obliged to quit the
place, and the other but poorly subsisted in it.
" He perceived that the chief strength of the sectaries lay in the market-towns ; the livings
there were most commonly in the gift of the lord chancellor ; and as the lord Somers, during
his enjoyment of the seals, left the nomination to those in the diocese of Sarum to the bishop,
he endeavoured to place in them none but learned, pious, and moderate divines, as being the
best qualified to prevent the growth of schism. But as the benefices were generally small,
and a poor church will be too often served by as poor a clerk, our author determined to
obviate this difficulty, by bestowing upon these cures the prebends in his gift as they
became vacant ; and till such a vacancy happened, out of his own income he allowed the
minister of every such church a pension of twenty pounds a year t : when the prebend
itself was conferred upon him, the bishop insisted on his giving a bond to resign it, if ever
he quitted the living. Though this matter had been laid before the most eminent prelates
and divines of our church, as well as the most learned among the canonists, who highly
approved the design ; yet it was so warmly opposed by some of the clergy, that, in order to
raise no farther strife in the church, our author was prevailed on to relinquish this project,
and give up all the bonds he had taken. But as he could not, without the tenderest con-
cern, behold the destitute condition of these poor benefices, most of which were attended
with the largest cure of souls, so his disappointment in this scheme he had formed for his
own bishopric, only gave occasion to a more universal plan, which he projected for the
improvement of all the small livings in England, and which was liable to no exception. This
he pressed forward with so much success, that it terminated at length in an act of parliament,
passed in the second year of queen Anne, ' for the augmentation of the maintenance of the
poor clergy.' **
Thus fulfilling the duties of his sacred station ; actuated by such conciliating principles ; it
might be expected that in his episcopal character he was at least free from the aspersions of
his enemies ; but in this expectation the reader is deceived. Dr. Burnet had formed a very
high and dignified opinion of the conduct that should be adopted by the head of a diocese :
he comprised it in one sentence. — " A bishop ought to be the leader of no particular class of
*In a " Letter to T. Burnet," published in 1736, this Dr. Beach, whom, as in duty bound, he had detected in
transaction is stated somewhat differently ; but it on the seditious declarations.
whole confirms the fact, that the bishop interceded for "t This appears from his steward's accounts, and was
con firmed to his son by Mr. Wastefield.
INTRODUCTION. xi
persons, but the head and father of the people in his diocese." In accordance with this, we
have seen he was anxious for the comfort and well-being of every denomination of Chris-
tians— his creed was based on toleration, and he strove to unite all the sects within his
diocese, in ascertaining the only essential object of the Gospel, viz. instructing " man to do
justly ; to love mercy ; and to walk humbly with God/' To effect this, he knew full well
the most efficient means was to secure a faithful, pious, parochial clergy ; to accomplish this
he put aside all the considerations of interest, and turned a deaf ear to the solicitations, the
compliments, and the abuse that he incurred. He is not the true friend of an estab-
lishment, that is blind to all its defects ; but he who duly appreciates them, and dares to risk
the obloquy of endeavouring to remove them. The decay, the corruptions, of an eccle-
siastical system, above all others, will sooner or later be detected ; it is connected with man's
most awful interests, it is scrutinised by those of its own communion as well as by sectarians ;
it is wise and dignified, therefore, for it to take the lead in, rather than to be dragged
to self-reformation. Burnet fully understood this ; he had been born, educated, and had
lived in manhood amongst the most strict dissenters from our church ; he knew the plague-
spots to which they had pointed the finger, and against which they had shaken the head ;
he was obliged to confess that the parochial clergy in his time "had less authority, and were more
in contempt, than any other church in Europe ; and that they would never regain the influence
they had lost, until they lived better and laboured more." His reprehensions were not con-
fined to the subordinate ministers of the establishment ; he wrote against the conduct of the
Scotch bishops, and he was far from praising the conduct of the whole English episcopal
bench. This was sufficient to raise against him a host of assailants ; and he is to this day
considered by those who think that reproof springs always from hatred, and reform
from a wish to destroy, as a heterodox bishop — an episcopalian by interest, and a pres-
byterian at heart. Those who so esteem him we may refer to his conduct as a bishop, and
his successful efforts to increase the incomes of the small livings of our country. If such
conduct is heterodox; if an indefatigable effort to do his duty kindly, charitably, and
tolerantly, yet with dignity, deserve this exclusive epithet, we may wish without prejudice
to the interests of our church, that all may similarly stray. Burnet does not stand in the
rank with those brilliant characters who have enriched our theological and polemical
literature — he will never be instanced among those whose text has been " Orthodoxy,"
and their principle " Intolerance." But he was one of those who may always be quoted
as an example how the duties of a Christian bishop ought to be performed.
The best defence of Burnet's religious principles are contained in some of the opening
passages of his last will. They amount to a confession of his faith, — a faith actuated by a
spirit which, if it inspired all Christians, would put a final end to bigotry and uncharitableness.
" I live and die," says the bishop in this his last record, " a sincere Christian, believing the
truth of that gospel which for many years I have preached to others. I am a true
protestant according to the church of England ; full of affection and brotherly love to all
who have received the reformed religion, though in some points different from our consti-
tution. I die, as I all along lived and professed myself to be, full of charity and tenderness
for those among us who yet dissent from us, and heartily pray that God would heal oui
breaches, and make us like-minded in all things, that so we might unite our zeal, and join
our endeavours against atheism and infidelity, that have prevailed much ; and against popery,
Ie greatest enemy to our church, more to be dreaded than all other parties."
It remains to be considered how Dr. Burnet conducted himself as a politician in the
xii INTRODUCTION.
momentous constitutional changes of the period, but this will here be clone very succinctly,
because the following work is a narrative of his conduct, and in the notes to some of the
transactions of which he is the historian, opportunities will occur of considering his public
conduct in detail.
Charles the Second and the duke of York, afterwards James the Second, very frequently
consulted him ; but so far from cultivating their patronage, he wrote to the first, urging him
to change his course of life : and, together with Dr. Stillingfleet, had a conference with two
popish priests in the presence of the duke, in order to convince him of the errors of their
creed. He was the friend and associate of lord William Russell, the earl of Essex, and
their party, but was never involved in any of their plots. These facts were enough to
render both Charles and James his enemies, so that when the latter acquired the crown,
Burnet retired to the continent ; but even here, Stuart hatred could not let him rest, for the
king insisted that he should not be entertained by the court of Holland. He was even pro-
j secuted on a charge of high treason. Of the Revolution in 1688, he was one of the most
efficient promoters ; as he was in securing the succession of the house of Hanover.
In every effort of his public career, in every vote as a member of the senate, he showed
himself the friend of Christian charity, and the fast foe of all intolerance. He wrote and atted
unflinchingly in the cause of the protestant religion, episcopacy, and civil liberty ; undeterred
by the threats, uninfluenced by the proffered bribes, of dissenters and papists.
But though he so acted, and consequently co-operated in general with the Whigs, yet he
was no partisan ; he never gave a vote because it agreed with those of a political cabal ; he
voted for what he considered the right, he opposed that which he esteemed obnoxious, with-
out any inquiry as to the men by whom it was supported. In sustaining his opinions ; in
reprobating the conduct of those whom he thought blameworthy, he acted and he writes with
ardour and energy ; his eye seems fixed upon the object, his blows are heavy both in number
and effect ; and he seems determined by main force to drive in the wedge, careless who may
suffer by the necessary cleavage : yet the reader seldom feels that he is needlessly violent
or severe — as the conviction always accompanies his attacks, that he conscientiously thought
' them deserved, and that they would be productive of good. They are occasionally wrong ;
they are sometimes tinted by egotism ; they are frequently biassed, but you are quite sure
they were not thought so by the writer, they are fearless, candid, honest. He strips off the
skin, and though he may sometimes say the carcass is black when it is fair, he at all events
enables his readers to judge for themselves ; he shows you what he saw himself — he tells
you what he was told — he says who said it — he warns you of his prejudices — if you are
deceived, it is your own fault.
Burnet has recorded as his opinion, that " the more abstracted bishops live from the world,
from courts, from cabals, and from parties, they will have the more quiet within themselves,
and, in conclusion, be more respected by all ; especially, if an integrity and a just freedom
appear among them in the House of Lords, where they will be much observed, and judgments
will be made of them there, that will follow them home to their dioceses. Nothing will
alienate the nation more from them, than their becoming tools to a court, giving up the
liberties of their country, and advancing arbitrary designs." After the opinion given in the
opening of this paragraph, just and admirable as is the whole, it may be asked, how can his
conduct be defended, since he was so actively employed in the political struggles of his
times ? But two improper motives could actuate him —ambition or avarice. Now, neither
of these were his failings. He did not pursue the path, which he knew would lead to the
INTRODUCTION. xiii
gratification of both ; he was no flatterer, he was no party man, he declined promotion, he
declared he should be ashamed to raise fortunes for his children out of the revenues of his
bishopric. What then could be his motives to mingle actively in the political contests of
those eventful days ? In that word " eventful," I conceive we have the clue to extricate
him from even the appearance of inconsistency. Foes as well as friends agree that he had a
powerful understanding ; that he was well acquainted with the history and statistics of all
Europe : and was thoroughly informed in the law of nations, and the systems of govern-
ment. He must then have felt himself armed, and capable for the political arena. When,
therefore, the liberties of his country, its civil and religious rights, its church establishment,
its protestant government, were invaded, and attempted to be subverted, he had to consider
whether this was not an exception to the general rule which he entertained. He decided in
the affirmative ; and those who know that the hope of restoring a popish monarch did not
cease to be cherished by a state-party until long after the decease of our author, will not con-
sider him to blame, for combining the duties of his episcopal office with those of an active
guardian of the liberties and religion of his country.
Reglancing over his character as it is developed by his writings and his conduct — view-
ing him devoted to his duties as a parish priest, as a public professor, and as a bishop ; and
finding that in private life he was exemplary as a husband, as a parent, and as a master, we
need not ask what were the opinions of his contemporaries ; for if they united in vilifying him,
we might without prejudice consider, that there is less danger of us being biassed judges
than of them being biassed witnesses. It is impossible that a lover of truth, as Burnet
unquestionably was, would write anything knowing it to be false. It is probable that as a
lover of the episcopal reformed religion, and acting with a party who were similarly
influenced, he may have been prejudiced, so as to be too favourable in observing their errors,
and not equally perspicacious in discovering the merits of their opponents, or in finding
allowances for their follies and mistakes. In such instances, the editor has endeavoured to
concentrate from other authorities a correcter light. On the other hand, where the author's
statements have been carelessly impugned, the editor has been as watchful to strengthen
his narration by testimonials similarly concentrated.
Throughout the work, notes illustrative of the actors, and explanatory of the trans-
actions in which they were engaged, have been added from worthy authorities ; and no efforts
have been spared to make the work a full and faithful history of the Revolution and its con-
tinging periods.
With the text no other liberty has been taken than to alter the spelling and grammatical
construction according to more modern usage.
^ Dr. Burnet's style of writing history is characterised by its simplicity. It carries with
it the conviction, that he is telling what he believed to be true — a conviction that is strength-
ened by his always stating his authorities, and by his speaking doubtingly when he was
himself unsatisfied. Mr. Higgons objected to his work, that he relates so much upon hear-
say— hearsay is a synonym for the testimony of another, and if this is excluded, Pyrrhonism
must be universal. Such testimony the bishop certainly records abundantly, but he as con •
stantly apprises his reader of the authority upon which he has to depend
Of the language and composition of the work, it is giving it no common character to
say that it is sober English. Burnet is a writer of that class so well described by bishop
Taylor, when he said " their thread is not fine, but it is plain, and strong." He aims at no
ornament to render his style elegant, or even smooth ; he estimates a character acutely,
xiv INTRODUCTION.
and judges of transactions sensibly ; and he relates his estimate and his judgment openly and
blandly. His periods are never involved, though sometimes too lengthy ; his language ia
never inflated ; and perhaps no English historian can be quoted who appears to have written
so entirely for the purpose of enabling his readers to remember his facts. He never employs
words that savour of the dictionary, when more usual words would express his meaning as
well ; yet he is never insipid, though often careless in his diction. His narrative in general
glides on colloquially ; and the reader has the continued satisfaction of feeling that, if he
believes the incidents, he only does what was done by the relater himself*.
It was almost a necessary consequence that Burnet's work gave birth to many and very
virulent criticisms. His theme was the conduct of contemporaries, and these would generally
consider that his vituperations, as well as his praises, were misplaced and of erroneous inten-
sity, accordingly as they were applied to themselves or to their opponents. The transactions
of which he was the historian were no petty court intrigues, involving merely the ephemerals
who were engaged in them, and whose exposure would give pleasure to many more than it
would annoy. They were transactions involving the happiness of every Englishman ; the
whole nation was uproused : every man's hand grasped, or was ready to grasp, the sword in
the cause of the party he conceived to hold the right. Liberty of conscience, the political
rights of Englishmen, the prerogative of the crown, the limits of obedience, the resistance
to executive oppression, were now to be decided ; and at such a season every Englishman
must be, and was, roused to a bold declaration and active maintenance of his opinions. Of
these, our author, strenuously engaged in them himself, undertook to be the critical historian,
and can any one expect that, in so doing, he should be without one tint of prejudice ? If he
had been so immaculate, he must have been more than man. It is true he undertook the
task of his own accord, and as he himself tells us, " with a design to make both himself and
his readers wiser and better, and to lay open the good and bad of all sides and parties as
clearly and impartially as he himself understood it, and to represent things in their natural
colours without art or disguise, without any regard to kindred or friends, to parties or inte-
rests ; " therefore we have a right to expect of him the integral truth of which he had the
knowledge ; we have a right to expect that he shall use no casuistry to defend what he knew
to be wrong ; no attributing of motives that he knew were not the actuating ones ; an equal
freedom and candour when speaking of the living and the dead ; an obedience to the
consciousness, to use our author's own words, " that a lie in history is a much greater sin
than a lie in common discourse." We have a right to expect all this of Burnet, but we have
no right to require that he shall never be mistaken, either in his facts or his inferences ; and
are too totally of a wrong spirit to be able to judge of his merits, if we attribute all his
errors to a wish to deceive. Let it be confessed that he is often mistaken, often prejudiced
in his conclusions ; yet there is no well-regulated mind that has studied the history of his
period will dissent from the conclusion of Dr. Routh, the editor of the Oxford edition of
this work, that " his history is one which will never lose its importance, but will continue to
furnish materials for other historians, and to be read by those who wish to derive their
• knowledge of facts from the first source? of information. The accuracy of his narration has
often been attacked with vehemence, and often, it must be confessed, with success ; but not
so often as to overthrow the general credit of his work. On the contrary, it has, in many
•In the course of the preceding pages the editor Las opinions there expressed — unconsciously, because he has for
quoted from some very able " Remarks upon Bishop Bur- years entirely coincided with them. From the same writer
net's History of his own Times," published in a praise- we may expect fora still more extended tribute to Burnet's
worthy quarterly journal called " The Analyst.'' In other merit,
instances the editor finds he has unconsciously adopted the
INTRODUCTION. xv
instances, been defended ; and time has already evinced the truth of certain records which
rested on his single authority."
Occasionally he is wrong in his dates ; and his calumniators, with a logic most consonant
with their other misprisions, have thence concluded that the facts connected with them are
also false. Where these errors occur, those best acquainted with his work will perceive that
they generally are owing to his following the consequences of an event in one connected
narrative. Sometimes he is absolutely wrong ; but if he is to be dismissed without mitiga-
tion, as unworthy of any credit for these mistakes, what is to be the fate of Clarendon ?
Clarendon rarely gives the chronology of his history, and repeatedly reverses the order of his
events, if not designedly, always with a most happy effect, in screening the errors of those
whom he wished to be in the right.
It is but fair to examine the characters and works of those who most prominently attacked
our author. Mr. Bevil Higgons led the van with his " Historical and Critical Remarks on
Bishop Burnet's History of his own Times." Mr. Higgons was a firm adherent to James the
Second ; retired with him, and died in exile ; he must therefore have been liable to the most
illiberal prejudices against our author. That he was infected with them needs no other
proof than the perusal of his work. I have not a fear of contradiction when I state, that no
volume in our language exists so full of unsubstantiated assertions, and groundless abuse.
One extract will suffice to enable the reader to estimate the credit due to this Aristarchus.
He commences by saying, that Burnet's work contains " such an uninterrupted series of
untruths as will astonish ; not mistakes proceeding from negligence or human infirmity, but
from a corrupt design to impose on posterity ; not from misinformation or error of judgment,
but from a deliberate act of the will, what the logicians call a volition to do mischief, by not
only misrepresenting matters of fact, and setting them in a false light, but positive assertions
of several things which he must have known in his conscience to be absolutely contrary to
truth ; so that, if we may judge by the whole tenor of the book, we may venture to affirm
that nothing can equal his insincerity but his malice ; and, if possible, exceed both, but his
vanity." Whatever errors Mr. Higgons succeeded in pointing out have been noticed in
the notes to this edition; their extreme deficiency in number arid importance prove the
virulence of the critic who could introduce them with a malevolence like the preceding.
Dr. John Cockburn was the author of " A Specimen of some free and impartial Remarks
on Public Affairs and particular Persons, especially relating to Scotland, occasioned by Dr.
Burnet's History of his own Times." He was an episcopalian, and, like Mr. Higgons,
attached to the fortunes of James the Second, whom he followed into exile.
This gave rise to " A Vindication " of Dr. Burnet, and this Vindication called forth " A
Defence of Dr. Cockburn."
An anonymous work appeared about the same time, entitled " A Review of Bishop
Burnet's History of his own Times, particularly his Characters and secret Memoirs, with
critical Remarks showing the Partiality, Inconsistency, and Defects of that Political History."
Mr. Lawrence Braddon in 1725 published a pamphlet entitled " Bishop Burnet's History
charged with great Partiality and Misrepresentations, to make the present and future Ages
believe that the earl of Essex in 1683 murdered himself." But the memory of the earl is here
vindicated, and it is proved that his lordship was murdered the third morning after his confine-
ment. Mr. Braddon in 1683 was prosecuted and fined 2,000/., and ordered to give security
for his good behaviour, during life, for endeavouring by lawful means to discover this
murder, and he was imprisoned five years, before the Revolution discharged him. In 1688
xvi INTRODUCTION.
and 89, Mr. Braddon prosecuted that inquiry before a secret committee of lords, and nearly
sixty witnesses were examined, of which examinations an abstract is here published ; the
reasons the lords came to no resolution ; and observations upon the supposed poisoning of
Charles the Second."
This condensation of the title-page may serve as the table of its contents.
Having read the evidence given by Mr. Braddon, I cannot but conclude that there are
justifications for the suspicion that the earl was murdered ; but on the other hand there are
many considerations which render it very improbable. The evidence on either side is too
extended to be even epitomised ; the reader who wishes for further information must consult
the statements in Mr. Braddon's book, the evidence at his trial, &c. ; and, after having
done so, will probably conclude, with the editor, that the case is at present incapable of
decision either way. Some further notice will be made of this affair in a future page.
The earl of Lansdowne in 1732 attacked our author's work, in " A Letter to the Author
(Mr. Oldmixon) of the Reflections, Historical and Political, &c." This was replied to by
the bishop's son, Thomas, who was the author of the life usually prefixed to this work, and
from which extracts have been given.
These, and others, only assail our author upon certain detached statements ; granting the
entire of which to be wrong, the work will still remain, as a whole, among the most impartial
and most correct of our national histories.
THE
HISTORY OF MY OWN TIMES
BOOK J.
A SUMMARY RECAPITULATION OF THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN SCOTLAND, BOTH IN CHURCH
AND STATE; FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE TROUBLES, TO THE RESTORATION OF KING
CHARLES THE SECOND, 1660.
HE mischiefs of civil wars are so great and lasting, and the
effects of them branching out by many accidents, that were not
thought on at first, much less intended, into such mischievous
consequences, that I have thought it an inquiry that might be of
great use both to prince and people, to look carefully into the
first beginnings and occasions of them, to observe their progress,
and the errors of both hands, the provocations that were given,
and the jealousies that were raised by these, together with the
excesses into which both sides have run by turns. And though
the wars be over long ago, yet since they have left among us so many seeds of lasting feuds
and animosities, which upon every turn are apt to ferment and to break out anew, it wTill be
an useful as well as a pleasant inquiry to look back to the first original of them, and to
observe by what degrees and accidents they gathered strength, and at last broke forth into
a flame.
The Reformation of Scotland was popular and parliamentary. The crown was during
that time, either on the head of a queen that was absent, or of a king that was an infant.
During his minority, matters were carried on by the several regents so as was most agreeable
to the prevailing humour of the nation. But when king James grew to be of age, he found
two parties in the kingdom. The one was, of those who wished well to the interest of the
queen his mother, then a prisoner in England. These were either professed papists, or
men, believed to be indifferent as to all religions. The rest were her inveterate enemies,
zealous for the reformation, and fixed in a dependence on the crown of England, and in
a jealousy of France. When that king saw that those who were most in his interests
were likewise jealous of his authority, and apt to encroach upon it, he harkened first
to the insinuations of his mother's party, who were always infusing in him a jealousy of
these his friends ; saying, that by ruining his mother, and setting him in her room while a
year old, they had ruined monarchy, and made the crown subject and precarious; and
had put him in a very unnatural posture, of being seised of his mother's crown while
she was in exile and a prisoner ; adding, that he was but a king in name, the power being
in the hands of those, who were under the management of the queen of England.
Their insinuations would have been of less force, if the house of Guise, who were his cousin
germans, had not been engaged in great designs, of transferring the crown of France
from the house of Bourbon to themselves ; in order to which it was necessary to embroil
England, and to draw the king of Scotland into their interests. So under the pretence of
keeping up the old alliances between France ?rid Scotland, they sent creatures of their own tc
2 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
be ambassadors there ; and they also sent a graceful young man, who, as he was the king's
nearest kinsman by his father, was of so agreeable a temper that he became his favourite,
and was made by him duke of Lenox. He was known to be a papist, though he pretended
he changed his religion, and became in profession a protestant *.
The court of England discovered all these artifices of the Guisians, who were then the
most implacable enemies of the Reformation, and were managing all that train of plots
against queen Elizabeth, that in conclusion proved fatal to the queen of Scots. And when
the English ministers saw the inclinations of the young king lay so strongly that way,
that all their applications to gain him were ineffectual, they infused such a jealousy of him
into all their party in Scotland, that both nobility and clergy were much alarmed at it.
But king James learnt early that piece of king-craft, of disguising, or at least denying
every thing that was observed in his behaviour that gave offence.
The main instance in which the French management appeared, was that he could not be
prevailed on to enter into any treaty of marriage. It was not safe to talk of marrying a
papist ; and as long as the duke of Guise lived, the king, though then three and twenty,
and the only person of his family, would harken to no proposition for marrying a Protestant.
But when the duke of Guise was killed at Blois, and that Henry the third was murdered
soon after, so that Henry the fourth came in his room, king James was no more in a
French management : so presently after he married a daughter of Denmark, and ever
after that lie. was wholly managed by queen Elizabeth and her ministers. I have seen
many letters among Walsingham's papers that discover the commerce between the house
of Guise and him t : but the most valuable of these is a long paper of instructions to one
Sir Richard Wigmore, a great man for hunting, and for all such sports, to which king
James was out of measure addicted. The queen affronted him publicly : upon which he
pretended he could live no longer in England, and, therefore, withdrew to Scotland. But
all this was a contrivance of Walsingham's, who thought him a fit person to get into that king's
favour : so that affront was designed to give him the more credit. He was very particularly
instructed in all the proper methods to gain upon the king's confidence, and to observe and
give an account of all he saw in him ; which he did very faithfully. By these instructions
it appears that Walsingham thought that King was either inclined to turn papist, or to be
of no religion. J And when the court of England saw that they could not depend on him,
they raised all possible opposition to him in Scotland, infusing strong jealousies into those
who were enough inclined to receive them.
This is the great defect that runs through archbishop Spotiswood's history, where much
of the rude opposition that king met with, particularly from the assemblies of the kirk,
is set forth ; but the true ground of all the jealousies they were possessed with, is sup-
pressed by him. After his marriage they studied to remove these suspicions all that was
possible ; and he granted the kirk all the laws they desired, and got his temporal authority
to be better established than it was before : yet as the jealousies of his fickleness in
religion were never quite removed, so they gave him many new disgusts : they wrought
" Tliis was Esm£ Stuart, Lord d'Aubign£, in France. Elizabeth. In that capacity he only carried letters, tiiey
According to Robertson, he was the earliest, best beloved, never trusting him to be their representative. Sir Anthony
and most deserving, though not most able of James's Wcklon says, he was a native of England, probably of
favourites. Honours were poured upon him with the Cheshire, and an honest free-hearted man, but ill-
accustomed rapidity and profusion. Within a few days educated. He told Weldon, that he never came to deliver
after his first appearance at Court he was created Lord letters to the Queen, without being placed in the ante-
Abcrbrothic, and soon were added to this the titles of room, in such a situation that he could see her dancing
Earl and Duke of Lenox, with the offices of Governor to the music of a fiddle. This was done that he might
of Dumbarton Castle, Captain of the Guard, first Lord of tell his master how little likely he was to come to the
the Bed chamber, and Lord High Chamberlain. Bui-net English crown. When Sir Roger Aston came from
seems to have erred when he coincided in the popular James to the English council upon the death of the
Scottish belief that the Duke died a papist. Spotiswood Queen, they courteously inquired how he was, to which
and Caldcrwood agree that on his death-bed, when the he replied, " Even, my lords, like a poor man, who after
hypocrite is always detected, he declined the attendance wandering above forty years in a wilderness and barren
of the papal priests, and professed that he died in the soil, am now arrived at the Land of Promise." He
communion of the Scottish Church. -was made Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Master of the
•f* That is, between the house of Guise and King James. "Wardrobe, and was always much courted as having great
J Sir Roger Aston, King James's barber, was the only influence over his master. He left his daughters very
person employed as a messenger from that King to Queen lame fortunes. Weldou's Court of James, p. 5.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 3
in him a most inveterate hatred of presbytery, and of the pov/er of the kirk ; and he,
fearing an opposition in his succeeding to the crown of England from the papist party, which,
though it had little strength in the House of Commons, yet was very great in the House
of Lords, and was very considerable in all the northern parts, and among the body of
the people, employed several persons who were known to be papists though they complied
outwardly. The chief of these were Elphinston, secretary of state, whom he made lord
Balmerinoch ; and Seaton, afterwards chancellor and earl of Dunfermline. By their means
he studied to assure the papists that he would connive at them. A letter was also written
to the pope by him giving assurance of this, which when it became to be published by
Bellarmin, upon the prosecution of the recusants after the discovery of the gunpowder plot,
Balmerinoch did affirm, that he out of zeal to the king's service got his hand to it, having
put it in the bundle of papers that were signed in course, without the king's knowing any
thing of it. Yet when that discovery drew no other severity but the turning him out
of office, and the passing a sentence condemning him to die for it (which was presently
pardoned, and he was after a short confinement restored to his liberty), all men believed
that the king knew of the letter, and that the pretended confession of the secretary was
only collusion, to lay the jealousies of the king's favouring popery, which still hung upon
him, notwithstanding his writing on the Revelation, and his affecting to enter on all
occasions into controversy, asserting in particular that the pope was antichrist.
As he took these methods to manage the popish party, he was much more careful to
secure to himself the body of the English nation. Cecil, afterwards earl of Salisbury,
secretary to queen Elizabeth, entered into a particular confidence with him : and this was
managed by his ambassador Bruce, a younger brother of a noble family in Scotland, who
carried the matter with such address and secrecy, that all the great men of England, without
knowing of one another's doing it, and without the queen's suspecting any thing concerning it,
signed in writing an engagement to assert and stand by the king of Scots' right of succession.
This great service was rewarded by making him master of the rolls, and a peer of Scotland :
and as the king did raise Cecil and his friends to the greatest posts and dignities, so ho
raised Bruce's family here in England.
When that king came to the crown of England, he discovered his hatred to the Scottish
kirk on many occasions, in which he gratified his resentment without consulting his interests.
He ought to have put his utmost strength to the finishing what he but faintly begun for the
union of both kingdoms, which was lost by his unreasonable partiality, in pretending that
Scotland ought to be considered in this union as the third part of the isle of Great Britain,
if not more. So high a demand ruined the design. But when that failed, he should then
have studied to keep the affections of that nation firm to him : and certainly he, being secure
of that kingdom, might have so managed matters, as to have prevented that disjointing which
happened afterwards both in his own reign, and more tragically in his son's. He thought to
effect this by his profuse bounty to many of the nobility of that kingdom, and to his domestic
servants : but as most of these settling in England were of no further use to him in that
design, so his setting up episcopacy in Scotland, and his constant aversion to the kirk, how
right soever it might be in itself, was a great error in policy ; for the poorer that kingdom
was, it was both the more easy to gain them, and the more dangerous to offend them. So
the terror which the affections of the Scotch nation might have justly given the English was
soon lost, by his engaging the whole government to support that, which was then very con-
trary to the bent and genius of the nation.
But though he set up bishops, he had no revenues to give them, but what he was to
purchase for them. During his minority all the tithes and the church lands were vested in
the crown : but this was only in order to the granting them away to the men that bore the
chief sway. It is true, when he came of age, he, according to the law of Scotland, passed a
general revocation of all that had been done in his infancy : and by this he could have
resumed all those grants. He, and after him his son, succeeded in one part of his design :
for, by act of parliament a court was erected that was to examine and sequester a third part
of the tithes in every parish, and so make a competent provision out of them to those who
served the cure ; which had been reserved in the great alienation for the service of the
4 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
church. This was carried at first to a proportion of about thirty pounds a year, and was
afterwards in his son's time raised to about fifty pounds a year; which, considering the
plenty, and the way of living in that country, is a very liberal provision, and is equal in
value to thrice that sum in the southern parts of England. In this he had both the clergy
and the body of the people on his side. But he could not so easily provide for the bishops :
they were at first forced to hold their former cures with some small addition.
But as they assumed at their first setting up, little more authority than that of a constant
president of the presbyters, so they met with much rough opposition. The king intended to
carry on a conformity in matters of religion with England, and he begun to buy in from the
grantees many of the estates that belonged to the bishoprics. It was also enacted, that a
form of prayer should be drawn for Scotland : and the king was authorised to appoint the
habits in which the divine offices were to be performed. Some of the chief holy-days were
ordered to be observed. The sacrament was to be received kneeling, and to be given to the
sick. Confirmation was enacted : as was also the use of the cross in baptism. These things
were first past in general assemblies, which were composed of bishops, and the deputies
chosen by the clergy, who sat all in one house : and in it th^y reckoned the bishops only as
single votes. Great opposition was made to all these steps : and the whole force of
the government was strained to carry elections to those meetings, or to take off those who
were chosen ; in which it was thought that no sort of practice was omitted. It was pre-
tended that some were frighted, and others were corrupted.
The bishops themselves did their part very ill. They generally grew haughty ; they
neglected their functions, and were often at court, and lost all esteem with the people.
Some few that were stricter and more learned did lean so grossly to popery, that the heat
and violence of the reformation became the main subject of their sermons and discourses.
King James grew weary of this opposition, or was so apprehensive of the ill effects it might
have, that, what through sloth or fear, and what by reason of the great disorder into which
his ill conduct brought his affairs in England in his latter years, he went no further in his
designs on Scotland.
He had three children. His eldest, prince Henry, was a prince of great hopes ; but so
very little like his father, that he was rather feared than loved by him. He was so
zealous a protestant, that, when his father was entertaining propositions of marrying him
to popish princesses, once to the archduchess, and at another time to a daughter of Savoy,
he, in a letter that he wrote to the king on the twelfth of that October in which he died,
(the original of which Sir William Cook shewed me) desired, that if his father married
him that way, it might be with the youngest person of the two, of whose conversion he
might have hope, and that any liberty she might be allowed for her religion might be in
the privatest manner possible. Whether this aversion to popery hastened his death or not,
I cannot tell. Colonel Titus assured me that he had from king Charles the first's own
mouth, that he was well assured he was poisoned by the earl of Somerset's means *. It is
certain, that from the time of the gunpowder plot, king James was so struck with the terror
of that danger he was then so near, that ever after he had no mind to provoke the Jesuits ;
for he saw what they were capable of.
And since I name that conspiracy which the papists in our days have had the impudence
to deny, and to pretend it was an artifice of Cecil's to engage some desperate men into a
plot, which he managed so that he could discover it when he pleased, I will mention what I
* It is certain that King James thought himself from this ill opinion. He was subsequently proved to be
eclipsed by his son, and that the latter, as Wilson says, guilty of another murder, from the penalty of which crime
was "too high mounted in the people's love;" this jea- James released him and his still more guilty wife. Prince
lousy was notorious, and ought to have prevented the king Henry had openly expressed his mortal detestation towards
omitting any of the usual demonstrations of gri(;f. This him. Wilson, one of the most unprejudiced of the contem-
however was done, and by royal mandate, directions were porary annalists, sanctions the charge (History of James,
given that " no man should appear in the court in mourn- 62). Weldon does the same (Court of James, 84, 85). It
ing." The excuse for this was that the elector palatine was insinuated in a sermon preached at St. James's ; and
•was here to marry the princess Elizabeth. There is not hinted at by sir Francis Bacon in open court (Well-
the remotest suspicion entertainable that the king rejoiced wood's Memoirs, by Maseres, 21). The post-mortem
at, much less that he accelerated, his son's death. But report of the physicians neither confirms or refutes the
his favourite, the earl of Somerset, is not so free charge. Rapin believed it.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION.
myself saw, and had for some time in my possession. Sir Everard Digby died for being of
the conspiracy ; he was the father of the famous sir Kenelm Digby. The family being
ruined upon the death of sir Kenelm's son, when the executors were looking out for writings
to make out the titles of the estates they were to sell, they were directed by an old servant
to a cupboard that was very artificially hid, in which some papers lay that she had observed
sir Kenelm was oft reading. They looking into it, found a velvet bag, within which there were
two other silk bags, (so carefully were those relics kept), and there was within these a col-
lection of all the letters that sir Everard wrote during his imprisonment. In these he
expresses great trouble because he heard some of their friends blamed their undertaking ; he
highly magnifies it, and says if he had many lives he would willingly have sacrificed them all
in carrying it on. In one paper he says, they had taken that care that there were not above
two or three worth saving, to whom they had not given notice to keep out of the way ; and
in none of those papers does he express any sort of remorse for that which he had been
engaged in, and for w^liich he suffered.
Upon the discovery of that plot there was a general prosecution of all papists set on foot :
but king James was very uneasy at it • which was much increased by what sir Dudly
Carlton told him upon his return from Spain, where he had been ambassador ; (which I
had from the lord Hollis, who said to me that sir Dudly Carlton told it to himself, and was
much troubled when he saw it had an effect contrary to what he had intended.) When he
came home, he found the king at Theobald's hunting in a very careless and unguarded manner :
and upon that, in order to the putting him on a more careful looking to himself, he told the
king he must either give over that way of hunting, or stop another hunting that he was
engaged in, which was priest hunting : for he had intelligence in Spain that the priests were
comforting themselves with this, that if lie went on against them they would soon get rid of
him : queen Elizabeth was a woman of form, and was always so well attended, that all their
plots against her failed, and were never brought to any effect : but a prince who was always
in woods or forests would be easily overtaken. The king sent for him in private to inquire
more particularly into this : and he saw it had made a great impression on him : but
wrought otherwise than he intended. For the king, who resolved to gratify his humour in
hunting, and in a careless and irregular way of life, did immediately order all that prosecution
to be let fall. I have the minutes of the council books of the year 1606, which are full of
orders to discharge and transport priests, sometimes ten in a day. From thence to his dying
day he continued always writing and talking against popery, but acting for it. He married
his only daughter to a protestant prince, one of the most zealous and sincere of them all, the
elector palatine ; upon which a great revolution happened in the affairs of Germany. The
eldest branch of the house of Austria retained some of the impressions that their father
Maximilian II. studied to infuse into them, who as he was certainly one of the best and
wisest princes of these latter ages, so he was unalterably fixed in bis opinion against per-
secution for matters of conscience : his own sentiments were so very favourable to the pro-
testant doctrine, that he was thought inwardly theirs. His brother Charles of Gratz was on
the other hand wholly managed by the Jesuits, and was a zealous patron of theirs, and
as zealously supported by them. Rodolph and Matthias reigned one after another, but without
issue. Their brother Albert was then dying in Flanders : so Spain with the popish interest
joined to advance Ferdinand, the son of Charles of Gratz : and he forced Matthias, to resign
the crown of Bohemia to him, and got himself to be elected king. But his government
became quickly severe : he resolved to extirpate the protestants, and began to break through
the privileges that were secured to them by the laws of that kingdom.
This occasioned a general insurrection, which was followed by an assembly of the States,
who together with those of Silesia, Moravia and Lusatia joined in deposing Ferdinand : and
they offered their crown, first to the duke of Saxony who refused it, and then to the elector
palatine who accepted of it, being encouraged to it by his two uncles, Maurice, prince of
Orange and the duke of Bouillon. But he did not ask the advice of king James : he only
gave him notice of it when he had accepted the offer. Here was the most probable occasion
that has been offered since the reformation for its full establishment.
The English nation was much inclined to support it : and it was expected that so near a
6 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
conjunction might have prevailed on the king: but he had an invincible aversion to war:
and was so possessed of the opinion of a divine right in all kings, that he could not bear
that even an elective and limited king should be called in question by his subjects : so he
would never acknowledge his son-in-law king, nor give him any assistance for the support of
his new dignity. And though it was also reckoned on, that France would enter into any
design that should bring down the house of Austria, and Spain by consequence, yet even
that was diverted by the means of De Luynes ; a worthless but absolute favourite, whom
the archduchess Isabella, princess of the Spanish Netherlands gained, to oblige the king*
into a neutrality by giving him the richest heiress then in Flanders, the daughter of Peguiney,
left to her disposal, whom he married to his brother.
Thus poor Frederick was left without any assistance. The jealousy that the Lutherans
had of the ascendant that the Calvinists might gain by this accession had an unhappy share
in the coldness which all the princes of that confession shewed towards him ; though Saxony
only declared for Ferdinand, who likewise engaged the duke of Bavaria at the head of a
catholic league to maintain his interests. Maurice prince of Orange had embroiled Holland
by the espousing the controversy about the decrees of God, in opposition to the Arminian
party, and by erecting a new and illegal court by the authority of the States general to judge
of the affairs of the province of Holland ; which was plainly contrary to their constitution,
by which every province is a sovereignty within itself, not at all subordinate to the States
general, who act only as plenipotentiaries of the several provinces to maintain their union
and their common concerns. By that assembly Barnevelt was condemned and executed :
Grotius and others were condemned to perpetual imprisonment : and an assembly of the
ministers of the several provinces met at Dort by the same authority, and condemned
and deprived the Arminians. Maurice's enemies gave it out that he managed all this on design
to make himself master of the provinces, and to put those who were like to oppose him out
of the way. But though this seems a wild and groundless imagination, and not possible to be
compassed, yet it is certain that he looked on Barnevelt and his party as men who were so
jealous of him and of a military power, that as they had forced the truce with Spain, so they
would be very unwilling to begin a new war ; though the disputes about Juliers and Cleves
had almost engaged them, and the truce was now near expiring ; at the end of which
he hoped, if delivered from the opposition that he might look for from that party, to begin
the war anew. By these means there was a great fermentation over all the provinces, so
that Maurice was not then in condition to give the elected king any considerable assistance ;
though indeed he needed it much, for his conduct was very weak. He affected the grandeur
of a regal court, and the magnificence of a crowned head too early : and his queen set up
some of the gay diversions that she had been accustomed to in her father's court, such as
balls and masks, which very much disgusted the good Bohemians, who thought that a revolution
made on the account of religion ought to have put on a greater appearance of seriousness and
simplicity. These particulars I had from the children of some who belonged to that court.
The elected king was quickly overthrown, and driven, not only out of those his new domi-
nions, but likewise out of his hereditary countries : he fled to Holland, where he ended his
days. I will go no farther in a matter so well known as king James's ill conduct, in the
whole series of that war, and that unheard of practice of sending his only son through France
into Spain, of which the relations we have are so full that I can add nothing to them.
I will only here tell some particulars with relation to Germany, that Fabricius, the wisest
divine I knew among them, told me he had from Charles Lewis the elector palatine's own
mouth. He said, Frederick II. who first reformed the palatinate, whose life is so curiously
written by Thomas Hubert of Liege, resolved to shake off popery, and to set up Lutheranism
in his country. But a counsellor of his said to him, that the Lutherans would always depend
chiefly on the house of Saxony ; so it would not become him who was the first elector to be only
the second in the party : it was more for his dignity to become a Calvinist : he would be the
head of that party : it would give him a great interest in Switzerland, and make the
huguenots of France and in the Netherlands depend on him. He was by that determined
* It is plain here must be meant by king the king of France.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 7
to declare for the Helvetian confession. But upon the ruin of his family the duke of New-
burgh had an interview with the elector of Brandenburgh about their concerns in Juliers and
Cleves : and he persuaded that elector to turn Calvinist ; for since their family was fallen,
nothing would more contribute to raise the other than the espousing that side, which would
naturally come under his protection : but he added, that for himself he had turned papist
since his little principality lay so near both Austria and Bavaria. This that elector told with
a sort of pleasure, when he made it appear that other princes had no more sense of religion
than he himself had.
Other circumstances concurred to make king James's reign inglorious. The States having
borrowed great sums of money of queen Elizabeth, they gave her the Brill and Flushing,
with some other places of less note, in pawn till the money should be repaid. Soon after his
coming to the crown of England he entered into secret treaties with Spain, in order to
the forcing the States to a peace : one article was, that if they were obstinate he would
deliver these places to the Spaniards. When the truce was made, Barnevelt, though he had
promoted it, yet knowing the secret article, he saw they were very unsafe while the keys of
Holland and Zealand were in the hands of a prince, who might perhaps sell them, or make an
ill use of them : so he persuaded the States to redeem the mortgage by repaying the money
that England had lent, for which these places were put into their hands : and he camo over
himself to treat about it. King James, who was profuse upon his favourites and servants,
was delighted with the prospect of so much money ; and immediately, without calling a par-
liament to advise with them about it, he did yield to the proposition. So the money was
paid, and the places were evacuated. But his profuseness drew two other things upon him,
which broke the whole authority of the crown, and the dependence of the nation upon it.
The crown had a great estate over all England, which was all let out upon leases for years, and
a small rent was reserved. So most of the great families of the nation were the tenants of
the crown, and a great many boroughs were depending on the estates so held. The renewal
of these leases brought in fines to the crown, and to the great officers : besides that the fear
of being denied a renewal kept all in a dependence on the crown. King James obtained of
his parliament a power of granting, that is selling, those estates for ever, with the reserve of
the old quit-rent : and all the money raised by this was profusely squandered away. Another
main part of the regal authority was the wards, which anciently the crown took into its
own management. Our kings were, according to the first institution, the guardians of the
wards. They bred them up in their courts, and disposed of them in marriage as they thought
fit. Afterwards they compounded, or forgave them, or gave them to some branches of the
family, or to provide for the younger children. But they proceeded in this very gently : and
the chief care after the reformation was to breed the wards protestants. Still all were under
a great dependence by this means. Much money was not raised this way ; but families
were often at mercy, and were used according to their behaviour. King James granted
these generally to his servants and favourites ; and they made the most of them. So th?t
what was before a dependence on the crown, and was moderately compounded for, became
then a most exacting oppression, by which several families were ruined. This went on in
king Charles's time in the same method. Our kings thought they gave little when they dis-
posed of a ward, because they made little of them. All this raised such an outcry, that Mr.
Pierpoint at the restoration gathered so many instances of these, and represented them so
effectually to that house of commons that called home king Charles the second, that he per-
suaded them to redeem themselves by an offer of excise, which indeed produces a much
greater, revenue, but took away the dependence in which all families were held by the
dread of leaving their heirs exposed to so great a danger. Pierpoint valued himself to me
upon this service he did his country, at a time when things were so little considered on either
hand, that the court did not seem to apprehend the value of what they parted with, nor the
country of what they purchased *.
* Mr. Picrpoint seems to have arrogated too much the transaction was only that of a general supporter of the
to himself, when he considered he was the means of ob- abolition. He was not even the originator of the propo-
taining the abolition of the Court of Wards. From the sition that the revenue to the crown in exchange for it
ournals of the house of commons, it appears his part of should be secured by an «xcis* duty upon ale, &c. Sir
a A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
Besides these public actings king James suffered much in the opinion of all people by his
strange way of using one of the greatest men of that age, sir Walter Raleigh ; against whom
the proceedings were at first much censured, but the last part of them was thought both
barbarous and illegal. The whole business of the earl of Somerset's rise and fall, of the
countess of Essex and Overbury, the putting the inferior persons to death for that infamous
poisoning, and the sparing the principals, both the earl of Somerset and his lady, were so
odious and inhuman, that it quite sunk the reputation of a reign, that on many other
accounts was already much exposed to contempt and censure ; which was the more sensible,
because it succeeded such a glorious and happy one. King James in the end of his reign
was become weary of the duke of Buckingham, who treated him with such an air of insolent
contempt, that he seemed at last resolved to throw him off, he could not think of taking the
load of government on himself, and so resolved to bring the earl of Somerset again into
favour, as that lord reported it to some from whom I had it. He met with him in the night
in the gardens at Theobalds ; two bed-chamber men were only in the secret : the king
embraced him tenderly and with many tears : the earl of Somerset believed the secret was
not well kept ; for soon after the king was taken ill with some fits of an ague and died of it.
My father was then in London, and did very much suspect an ill practice in the matter ; but
perhaps doctor Craig, my mother's uncle, who was one of the king's physicians, possessed
him with these apprehensions ; for he was disgraced for saying he believed that the king was
poisoned*. It is certain no king could die less lamented or less esteemed than he was.
This sunk the credit of the bishops of Scotland, who as they were his creatures, so they were
obliged to a great dependence on him, and were thought guilty of gross and abject flattery
towards him. His reign in England was a continued course of mean practices. The first
condemnation of sir Walter Raleigh was very black ; but the executing him after so many
years, and after an employment that had been given him, was counted a barbarous sacrificing
him to the Spaniards. The rise and fall of the earl of Somerset, and the swift progress of the
duke of Buckingham's greatness, were things that exposed him to the censure of all the
world. I have seen the originals of about twenty letters he wrote to the prince and that
duke while they were in Spain, which shew a meanness as well as a fondness that render him
very contemptible t. The great figure the crown of England had made in queen Elizabeth's
time, who had rendered herself the arbiter of Christendom, and was the wonder of the age,
was so much eclipsed, if not quite darkened during this reign, that king James was become
the scorn of the age ; and while hungry writers flattered him out of all measure at home, he
was despised by all abroad as a pedant without true judgment, courage, or steadiness, subject
to his favourites, and delivered up to the counsels or rather the corruption of Spain.
Henry Cholmley proposed the abolition, (Nov. 19, 1660) the duke and his mother with giving the king a white
and Sir Samuel Jones moved that the recompensing reve- powder, and applying a plaister to his breast which caused
nue be raised by the excise. The grievance had been his death. Sir A. Weldon, in his " Court and Charac-
long felt, and as early as 1620 the abolition had been ter of king James," says that the king on his death-bed
proposed, though without success. Sir Edward Coke, declared that it was the pLiister and powder had injured
after detailing the proposition and its failure, adds, " We him. Dr. Goodman in his " Aulicus Coquinarise/'
thought good to remember this, hoping (hope is the though he denies that the plaister was poisoned, mentions
dream of a waking man) that so good a motion will nothing concerning the powder, and confesses that the
some time (by the grace of God) by authority of parlia- physicians Dr. Lister, Dr. Chambers, arid others, " were
ment, one way or other take effect and be established." much offended that any one durst assume such boldnesr.
(4th Institute, 203.) His hope was accomplished dur- without their consents,'' as to apply a plaister, and imme-
ing the interregnum, and even before, in the year 1645, diately removed it. Dr. Ramsay is said to have openly
during the contest between Charles and the parliament, accused the duke of poisoning the king, before a cominit-
These being considered illegal transactions, the act intro- tee of the house of commons (sir E. Peyton's " Divine
duced by sir H. Cholmley, (12 Car. 2, c. 24,) com- Catastrophe of the House of Stuart.") These were all
pleted the abolition. contemporary and variously biassed authorities ; as such
* A curious tract was published in 1642, entitled they are none of them entitled to implicit confidence.
"Strange Apparitions, &c.," pretending to be a conver- Wilson, also -v contemporary and more unprejudiced, did
sation between the ghosts of king James, the duke of not know to which opinion to incline. — Memoirs of
Buckingham, the marquis of Hamilton, and Dr. George Selden and hisTimes, p. 25.
Eglisham, the king's physician. In this the duke f Many of these addressed to " Baby Charles," and
is openly charged with murdering the king, and that Dr. his " Dog'Steenie," are among the MSS. in the British
Eglisham had accused him of the crime to king Charles Museum. The following note to the king will be suffi-
nnd the parliament, but was, in consequence, obliged to cient to show the ridiculous fiiniiliarity they practised
fly into Holland, where he was murdered. He charged towards each other : —
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. i)
The puritans gained credit, as the king and the bishops lost it. They put on external
appearances of great strictness and gravity : they took more pains in their parishes than
those who adhered to the bishops, and were often preaching against the vices of the court ;
for which they were sometimes punished, though very gently, which raised their reputation,
and drew presents to them that made up their sufferings abundantly. They begun some par-
ticular methods of getting their people to meet privately with them : and in these meetings
they gave great vent to extemporary prayer, which was looked on as a sort of inspiration :
and by these means they grew very popular. They were very factious and insolent ; and
both in their sermons and prayers were always mixing severe reflections on their enemies.
Some of them boldly gave out very many predictions ; particularly two of them who were
held prophets, Davison and Bruce. Some of the things that they foretold came to pass : but
my father, who knew them both, told me of many of their predictions, that he himself heard
them throw out, which had no effect : but all these were forgotten, and if some more probable
guessings which they delivered as prophecies were accomplished, these were much magnified.
They were very spiteful against all those who differed from them ; and were wanting in no
methods that could procure them either good usage, or good presents. Of this my father had
great occasion to see many instances : for my great grand-mother, who was a very rich woman,
and much engaged to them, was most obsequiously courted by them. Bruce lived concealed
in her house for some years ; and they all found such advantages in their submissions to her,
that she was counted for many years the chief support of the party ; her name was Rachel
Arnot. She was daughter to sir John Arnot, a man in great favour, and lord treasurer's deputy.
Her husband, Johnston, was the greatest merchant at that time ; and left her an estate of
2000 pounds a year, to be disposed of among his children as she pleased : and my father
marrying her eldest grand-child, saw a great way into all the methods of the puritans.
Gowry's conspiracy was by them charged on the king, as a contrivance of his to get rid of
that earl, who was then held in great esteem; but my f ther, who had taken great pains to
inquire into all the particulars of that matter, did always believe it was a real conspiracy.
One thing, which none of the historians have taken any notice of, and might have
induced the earl of Go wry to have wished to put king James out of the way, but in such a
disguised manner that he should seem rather to have escaped out of a snare himself than
to have laid one for the king, was this : upon the king's death he stood next to the suc-
cession to the crown of England ; for king Henry the seventh's daughter that was married
to king James the fourth did after his death marry Douglas, earl of Angus : but they could
not agree : so a pre-contract was proved against him : upon which, by a sentence from
Rome, the marriage was voided, with a clause in favour of the issue since born under a
marriage de facto and bona fide. Lady Margaret Douglas was the child so provided for.
I did peruse the original bull confirming the divorce. After that the queen dowager mar-
ried one Francis Steward, and had by him a son, made lord Methuen by king James the
fifth. In the patent he is called Prater noster uterinus. He had only a daughter, who was
mother, or grandmother, to the earl of Gowry : so that by this he might be glad to put the
king out of the way, so that he might stand next to the succession of the crown of England.
He had a brother then a child, who when he grew up and found he could not carry the
name of Ruthvcn, which, by an act of parliament made after this conspiracy, none might
carry, he went and lived beyond sea ; and it was given out that he had the philosopher's
stone. He had two sons who died without issue, and one daughter married to sir Anthony
Vandyke, the famous picture drawer, whose children, according to his pedigree, stood very
" DKAR DAD AND GOSSIP, your feet, for never none longed more to be in the arms
"The chiefest advertisement of all we omitted in our of his mistress. So, craving your blessing, I end,
other letter, which was to let you know how we like your u Your humble slave and dog,
daughter, his wife, and my lady mistress. Without flat- " STEENIK.
tery, I think there is not a sweeter creature in the world. " I have inclosed two or three letters of the Conde of
Baby Charles himself, is so touched at the heart, that he Olivares to Gundemar, whereby you will judge of his
confesses all he ever yet saw is nothing to her, and swears kind carefulness of your son.'1
that if he want her, there shall be blows. I shall lose (Endorsed,.
no time in hastening the conjunction, in which I shall " For the best of Masters.''
please him, her, you, and myself most of all, in thereby This was written from Madrid, in the year 1623. It
gettisg liberty to make the speedier haste to lay myself at is piescrved among the Harleian Manuscripts.
10 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
near to the succession of the crown. It was not easy to persuade the nation of the truth of
that conspiracy ; for eight years before that time king James, on a secret jealousy of the earl
of Murray, then esteemed the handsomest man of Scotland, set on the marquis of Huntly, who
was his mortal enemy, to murder him ; and by a writing all in his own hand he promised to
save him harmless for it. He set the house in which he was on fire : and the earl flying
away was followed and murdered, and Huntley sent Gordon of Buckey with the news to the
King ; soon after, all who were concerned in that vile fact were pardoned, which laid the
king open to much censure. And this made the matter of Gowry to be the less believed.
When king Charles succeded to the crown he was at first thought favourable to the
puritans ; for his tutor and all his court were of that way ; and Dr, Preston, then the head
of the party, came up in the coach from Theobalds to London with the king and the duke
of Buckingham ; which being against the rules of the court gave great offence ; but it was
said, the king was so overcharged with grief, that he wanted the comfort of so wise and so
great a man. It was also given out that the duke of Buckingham offered Dr. Preston the
great seal ; but he was wiser than to accept of it *. I will go no further into the beginning
of that reign with relation to English affairs, which are fully opened by others. Only I will
tell one particular which I had from the earl of Lothian, who was bred up in the court, and
whose father, the earl of Ancram, was gentleman of the bedchamber, though himself was
ever much hated by the king. He told me, that king Charles was much offended with
king James's light and familiar way, which was the effect of hunting and drinking, on
which occasions he was very apt to forget his dignity, and to break out into great indecen-
cies ; on the other hand the solemn gravity of the court of Spain was more suited to his
own temper, which was sullen even to a moroseness. This led him to a grave reserved
deportment, in which he forgot the civilities and the affability that the nation naturally loved,
to which they had been long accustomed ; nor did he in his outward deportment take any
pains to oblige any persons whatsoever ; so far from that, he had such an ungracious way
of shewing favour, that the manner of bestowing it was almost as mortifying as the favour
was obliging. I turn now to the affairs of Scotland, which are but little known.
The king resolved to carry on two designs that his father had set on foot, but had let
the prosecution of them fall in the last years of his reign. The first of these was about the
recovery of the tithes and church lands ; he resolved to prosecute his father's revocation,
and to void all the grants made in his minority, and to create titular abbots as lords of
* When the duke of Buckingham found his influence Charles the first. There is reason to think that Buck-
with king James declining, he endeavoured to strengthen ingham was endeavouring to overreach the presbyterians,
his interest and power by courting the anti-episcopalians, by this apparent leaning to their leader, thus obtaining
To effect this he actually made overtures to them for a their support whilst it was desirable, and then to discard
union of their efforts to subvert the church. Dr. Preston them. Dr. Preston, however, was as subtle a politician as
held conferences with him upon the subject, and Racket the duke, and only appeared to be deceived for the purpose
has related the arguments he employed to confirm the of advancing the interests of his sect. Reused to acknow-
duke in his purposes. The lord keeper Williams had ledge to his friends, that he xised the duke as a tool, and
imperfect information of these projects, and addressed found him to be as vile and profligate as any man could be.
himself seriously to thwart them. He had an interview Dr. Preston was a native of Northamptonshire. He
•with Dr. Preston, and tried, though in vain, to discover became successively D. D., fellow of Queen's College,
the whole of the designs. When nil other addresses had Cambridge, chaplain to prince Charles, and master of
"ailed, he attempted to overcome him by an appeal to his Emanuel College Cambridge. He was born in 1587, and
interest and ambition, offering to resign the deanery of died in 1628. He was highly celebrated as a logician ; and
Westminster in his favour, but, as Mr. Racket observes, this endowment first obtained him the patronage of Ring
" the wily doctor did not believe him : for he came to James. In the course of one of his public disputations,
«heat, not to be cheated ; so they parted unkindly.1' The he wittily observed, that a hound made syllogisms. " An
f)rd keeper then had a conference with the duke, and the enthymeme, as he said, is a lawful syllogism, but dogs can
«tter did not deny that he entertained the project of make them. A hound has the major proposition in nis
tstablishing a presbyterial form of church government, mind. The hare is gone either this, or that way ; and
adding, " I know not how you bishops may struggle, but smells out the minor with his nose, viz., she is not gone
am much deluded if a great part of the knights and that way; and follows the conclusion. — Ergo, this way —
6urgesses would not be glad to see the alteration." But with open mouth." The king who delighted both in logic
the lord keeper having a list of the house in his pocket, and hunting was highly pleased with this illustration; yet the
went through it seriatim, and apparently convinced him conceit was not new, for it was borrowed from Montaigne,
of his error in this respect; as well as diverted him from Hacket's Life of L. K. Williams, pt. i. 204 — Lans-
his anti-episcopal design. Yet the duke continued the downe MSS. 932, 88 — Z)' Israeli's Curios, of Litera-
patron of Dr. Preston, and even had him, as stated in the ture, second series, iii. 347.— darkens Lives Fuller's
text, closely intimate with lumself, and the next monarch, Worthies^ &c.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 11
parliament, but lords, as bishops, only for life. And that the two great families of Hamilton
and Lenox might be good examples to the rest of the nation, he by a secret purchase, and
with English money, bought the abbey of Aberbroth of the former, and the lordship of
Glasgow of the latter, and gave these to the two archbishoprics. These lords made a
shew of zeal after a good bargain, and surrendered them to the king. He also purchased
several estates of less value to the several sees ; and all men who pretended to favour at court,
offered their church lands to sale at a low rate.
In the third year of his reign the earl of Nithisdale, then believed a papist, which he after-
wards professed, having married a niece of the duke of Buckingham's, was sent down with a
power to take the surrender of all church lands, and to assure all who did readily surrender,
that the king would take it kindly, and use them all very well, bat that he would proceed
with all rigour against those who would not submit their rights to his disposal. Upon his
coming down, those who were most concerned in those grants met at Edinburgh, and agreed,
that when they were called together, if no other argument did prevail to make the earl of
Nithisdale desist, they would fall upon him and all his party in the old Scottish, manner,
and knock them on the head. Primrose told me one of these lords, Belhaven of the name
of Douglas, who was blind, bid them set him by one of the party, and he would make sure
of one. So he was set next the earl of Dumfries : he was all the while holding him fast : and
when the other asked him what he meant by that, he said, ever since the blindness was come
on him he was in such fear of falling, that he could not help the holding fast to those who
were next to him : he had all the while a poniard in his other hand, with which he had cer-
tainly stabbed Dumfries if any disturbance had happened. The appearance at that time
was so great, and so much heat was raised upon it, that the earl of Nithisdale would not open
all his instructions, but came back to court, looking on the service as desperate : so a stop
was put to it for some time.
In the year 1633, the king came down in person to be crowned. In some conventions of
the states that had been held before that, all the money that the king had asked was given ,
and some petitions were offered setting forth grievances, which those whom the king employed
had assured them should be redressed ; but nothing was done, and oil was put off till the
king should come down in person. His entry and coronation were managed with such mag-
nificence, that the country suffered much by it, all was entertainment and show. When the
parliament sat, the lords of the articles prepared an act declaring the royal prerogative, as it
had been asserted by law, in the year 1606; to which an addition was made of another act
passed in the year 1609, by which king James was empowered to prescribe apparel to church-
men with their own consent. This was a personal thing to king James, in consideration of
his great learning and experience, of which he had made no use during the rest of his reign.
And in the year 1617, when he held a parliament there in person, an act was prepared by
the lords of the articles, authorising all things that should thereafter be determined in
ecclesiastical affairs by his majesty, with consent of a competent number of the clergy, to
have the strength and power of a law. But the king either apprehended that great oppo-
sition would be made to the passing the act, or that great trouble would follow on the execution
of it. So when the rubric of the act was read, he ordered it to be suppressed, though passed
in the articles. In this act of 1633 these acts of 1606 and 1609 were drawn into one. To
this great opposition was made by the earl of Rothes, who desired the acts might be divided.
But the king said it was now one act, and he must either vote for it, or against it. He said
he was for the prerogative as much as any man, but that addition was contrary to the liber-
ties of the church, and he thought no determination ought to be made in such matters
without the consent of the clergy, at least without their being heard. The king bid him
argue no more, but give his vote ; so he voted not content. Some few lords offered to argue,
but the king stopped them, and commanded them to vote. Almost the whole commons voted
in the negative ; so that the act was indeed rejected by the majority, which the king knew ;
for he had called for a list of the numbers, and with his own pen had marked every man's
vote : yet the clerk of register, who gathers and declares the votes, said it was carried in the
affirmative. The earl of Rothes affirmed it went for the negative : so the king said, the
clerk of register's declaration must be held good, unless the earl of Rothes would go to the
12 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
bar and accuse him of falsifying the record of parliament, which was capital : and in that
case, if he should fail in the proof, he was liable to the same punishment : so he would not
venture on that. Thus the act was published, though in truth it was rejected. The king
expressed a high displeasure at all who had concurred in that opposition. Upon that the
lords had many meetings. They reckoned that now all their liberties were gone, and a par-
liament was but a piece of pageantry, if the clerk of register might declare as he pleased
how the vote went, and that no scrutiny were allowed. Upon that Hague the king's
solicitor, a zealous man of that party, drew a petition to be signed by the lords, and to
be offered by them to the king, sett-ing forth all their grievances and praying redress : he
shewed this to some of them, and among others to the lord Balmerinoch, who liked the
main of it, but was for altering it in some particulars : he spoke of it to the earl of Rothes,
in the presence of the earl of Cassilis and some others : none of them approved of it. The
earl of Rothes carried it to the king; and told him, that there was a design to offer
a petition in order to the explaining and justifying their proceedings, and that he had a copy
to shew him : but the king would not look upon it, and ordered him to put a stop to it, for
he would receive no such petition. The earl of Rothes told this to Balmerinoch : so the
thing was laid aside ; only he kept a copy of it, and interlined it in some places with his own
hand. While the king was in Scotland he erected a new bishopric at Edinburgh, and made
one Forbes bishop, who was a very learned and pious man ; he had a strange faculty of
preaching five or six hours at a time : his way of life and devotion was thought monastic,
and his learning lay in antiquity ; he studied to be a reconciler between papists and pro-
testants, leaning rather to the first, as appears by his Considerationes Modestce. He was a
very simple man, and knew little of the world ; so he fell into several errors in conduct, but
died soon after suspected of popery, which suspicion was increased by his son's turning
papist. The king left Scotland much discontented, but resolved to prosecute the design
of recovering the church lands : and sir Thomas Hope, a subtle lawyer, who was believed
to understand that matter beyond all the men of his profession, though in all respects he was
a zealous puritan, was made the king's advocate, upon his undertaking to bring all the
church lands back to the crown ; yet he proceeded in that matter so slowly, that it was
believed he acted in concert with the party that opposed it *. Enough was already done to
alarm all that were possessed of church lands ; and they to engage the whole country in their
quarrel took care to infuse it into all people, but chiefly into the preachers, that all was done
to make way for popery. The winter after the king was in Scotland, Balmerinoch was
thinking how to make the petition more acceptable : and in order to that, he shewed it to
one Dunmoor, a lawyer in whom he trusted, and desired his opinion of it, and suffered him
to carry it home with him, but charged him to shew it to no person, and to take no copy of
it. He shewed it, Tinder a promise of secrecy, to one Hay of Naughton, and told him from
whom he had it. Hay looking on the paper and seeing it a matter of some consequence,
carried it to Spotiswood, archbishop of St. Andrew's ; who, apprehending it was going
about for hands, was alarmed at it, and went immediately to London, beginning his journey
as he often did on a Sunday, which was a very odious thing in that country. There are
laws in Scotland loosely worded, that make it capital to spread lies of the king or his govern-
ment, or to alienate his subjects from him. It was also made capital to know of any
that do it, and not discover them : but this last was never once put in execution. The
petition was thought within this act : so an order was sent down for committing lord Bal-
merinoch. The reason of it being for some time kept secret, it was thought, was because ci
his vote in parliament. But after some consultation, a special commission was sent down
* The father of sir Thomas Hope was an Edinburgh nanters, who consulted him unreservedly. In despite of
merchant, trading extensively with Holland, in which this, either to gain him as a friend, or to render him sus-
country he subsequently resided, and married a lady, pected by the party to which he adhered, the king appointed
named Jacqueline de Tott. Another son is believed to him a commissioner to the general assembly in 1643.
have been the founder of the celebrated mercantile estab- He was an able lawyer, and his works, relative to the
lishment of the Hopes at Amsterdam, laws of Scotand, are still valued. His youngest son,
The appointment of sir Thomas, to be the king's advo- James, was ancestor of the Hopetoun family. He died
cate, and his promotion to the dignity of a baronetcy took in the year 1646 Gen. Biograph. Diet. ac.
pluce in 1G27. He certainly was attached to the cove-
BEFORE THE RESTORATION.
for the trial. In Scotland there is a couit for the trial of peers, distinct from the jury, \vho
are to be fifteen, and the majority determine the verdict : the fact being only referred to the
jury, or assize as they call it, the law is judged by the court : and if the majority of the jury
are peers the rest may be gentlemen. At this time a private gentleman of the name
of Steward was become so considerable that he was raised by several degrees to be made
earl of Traquair and lord treasurer, and was in great favour ; but suffered afterwards such
a reverse of fortune, that I saw him so low that he wanted bread, and was forced to beg ;
and it was believed died of hunger. He was a man of great parts, but of too much craft :
he was thought the capablest man for business, and the best speaker in that kingdom *. So
he was charged with the care of lord Balmerinoch's trial : but when the ground of the pro-
secution was known, Hague, who drew the petition, wrote a letter to the lord Balmerinoch,
in which he owned that he drew the petition without any direction or assistance from him :
and upon that he went over to Holland. The court was created by a special commission ;
in the naming of judges there appeared too visibly a design to have that lord's life, for they
were either very weak or very poor. Much pains were taken to have a jury ; in which so
great partiality appeared, that when the lord Balmerinoch was upon his challenges, and
excepted to the earl of Dumfries, for his having said that if he were of his jury, though he
were as innocent as St. Paul, he would find him guilty ; some of the judges said, that was
only a rash word : yet the king's advocate allowed the challenge, if proved, which was
done. The next called on was the earl of Lauderdale, father to the duke of that title : with
him the lord Balmerinoch had been long in enmity : yet, instead of challenging him, he said he
was omni exceptwne major. It was long considered upon what the prisoner should be tried : for
his hand interlining the paper, which did plainly soften it, was not thought evidence that he
drew it, or that he was accessory to it : and they had no other proof against him. Nor
could they from that infer that he was the divulger, since it did appear it was only shewed
by him to a lawyer for counsel. So it was settled on to insist on this, that the paper tended
to alienate the subjects from their duty to the king, and that he, knowing who was the author
of it, did*not discover him ; which by law was capital. The court judged the paper to be
seditious, and to be a lie of the king and his government : the other point was clear, that he
knowing the author did not discover him. He pleaded for himself, that the statute for dis-
covery had never been put in execution ; that it could never be meant but of matters that
were notoriously seditious ; that till the court judged so he did not take this paper to be of
that nature, but considered it as a paper full of duty, designed to set himself and some
others right in the king's opinion ; that upon the first sight of it, though he approved of the
main, yet he disliked some expressions in it ; that he communicated the matter to the earl of
Rothes, who told the king of the design ; and that, upon the king's saying he would receive
no such petition, it was quite laid aside : this was attested by the earl of Rothes. A long
debate had been much insisted on, whether the earl of Traquair or the king's ministers might
be of the jury or not : but the court gave it in their favour. When the jury was shut up,
Gordon of Buckey, who was one of them, being then very ancient, who forty-three years
before had assisted in the murder of the earl of Murray, and was thought upon this occasion
a sure man, spoke first of all, excusing his presumption in being the first that broke
the silence. He desired they would all consider what they were about : it was a matter
of blood, and they would feel the weight of that as long as they lived : he had in his youth
* No man went through greater, or more undeserved
vicissitudes than this persecuted nobleman. Naturally
talented, and liberally educated, he appeared to such
advantage as a member of the Scotch parliament, that,
although a young man, James the first knighted him, and
added him to his privy council. With Charles the first
he was as great a favourite, as he was with James, and as a
mark of his esteem in 1633, from being sir John Stewart,
he created him lord Stewart of Traquair, lord Linton and
Coverston, and finally earl of Traquair. In 1642 he was
impeached, by the Scotch parliament, of treason, but as
the king knew that his crime was a firm adherence to the
interests of the monarchy, he granted the earl a pardon,
recording in it his opinion of the earl's great abilities, ai;d
perfect integrity. When the king was a prisoner n: the
Isle of Wight Utf earl levied a regiment of horse at his
own expense, and with his son, lord Linton, fought at their
head in the battle of Preston. They were here both taken
prisoners. For four years he was confined in Warwick
Castle, by order of the English parliament. It would
have been a mercy to retain him in prison, for when he
was liberated, being deprived of all his property, he lingered
a few years, and then died in extreme misery, if not of
actual hunger. This was in the year 165.0, when he was
sixty years old. As a statesman, sir Philip Warwick,
who knew him well, thinks he was too changeable.—
Warwick's Memoirs, 137.
14 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
been drawn in to shed blood, for which he had the king's pardon, but it cost him more to
obtain God's pardon : it had given him many sorrowful hours both day and night : and as he
spoke this, the tears ran over his face. This struck a damp on them all. But the earl
of Traquair took up the argument ; and said, they had it not before them whether the
law was a hard law or not, nor had they the nature of the paper before them, which was
judged by the court to be leasing-making ; they were only to consider, whether the prisoner
had discovered the contriver of the paper or not. Upon this the earl of Lauderdale took up
the argument against him, and urged, that severe laws never executed were looked on
as made only to terrify people, that though after the court's having judged the paper to be
seditious it would be capital to conceal the author, yet before such judgment, the thing
could not be thought so evident that he was bound to reveal it. Upon these heads those
lords argued the matter many hours : but when it went to the vote seven acquitted, but
eight cast him : so sentence was given. Upon this many meetings were held : and it
was resolved either to force the prison to set him at liberty, or if that failed, to revenge his
death both on the court and on the eight jurors ; some undertaking to kill them, and others
to burn their houses. "When the earl of Traquair understood this, he went to court, and
told the king that the lord Balmerinoch's life was in his hands, but the execution was in no
sort advisable : so he procured his pardon, for which the party was often reproached with
his ingratitude : but he thought he had been much wronged in the prosecution, and so little
regarded in the pardon, that he never looked on himself as under any obligation on that
account. My father knew the whole steps of this matter, having been the earl of Lauder-
dale's most particular friend : he often told me, that the ruin of the king's affairs in Scotland
was in a great measure owing to that prosecution ; and he carefully preserved the petition
itself, and the papers relating to the trial ; of which I never saw any copy besides those
which I have. And that raised in me a desire of seeing the whole record, which was copied
for me, and is now in my hands. It is a little volume, and contains, according to the Scotch
method, the whole abstract of all the pleadings, and all the evidence that was given ; and ip
indeed a very noble piece, full of curious matter *.
When the design of recovering the tithes went on, though but slowly, another design
made a greater progress. The bishops of Scotland fell on the framing of a liturgy and a
body of canons for the worship and government of that church. These were never examined
in any public assembly of the clergy : all was managed by three or four aspiring bishops
Maxwellt, Sidserfe, Whitford, and Bannatine, the bishops of Ross, Galloway, Dunblane, and
Aberdeen. Maxwell did also accuse the earl of Traquair, as cold in the king's service, and
as managing the treasury deceitfully ; and he was aspiring to that office. Spotiswood,
archbishop of St. Andrew's, then lord chancellor, was a prudent and mild man, but of no
great decency in his course of life. The earl of Traquair, seeing himself so pushed at, was
more earnest than the bishops themselves in promoting the new model of worship and
discipline ; and by that he recovered the ground he had lost with the king, and with arch-
bishop Laud : he also assisted the bishops in obtaining commissions, subaltern to the high-
commission court, in their several dioceses, which were thought little different from the
courts of inquisition. Sidserfe set this up in Galloway : and a complaint being made in
council of his proceedings, he gave the earl of Argyle the lie in full council. He was after
all a very learned and good man, but strangely heated in those matters. And they all were
so lifted up with the king's zeal, and so encouraged by archbishop Laud, that they lost all
temper ; of which I knew Sidserfe made great acknowledgments in his old age.
* The \vhole of the proceedings and pleadings are and it is demonstrative, how careless and incapable "were
in Rush worth's Collections, ii. 281, and in the State the ministers of Charles, that they did not inquire more
Trials, i fully before they entered upon so important a measure.
•f* Dr. Maxwell, Bishop of Ross, was the chief pro- Even Clarendon reprobates their conduct; and acknow-
moter of this tyrannical measure. He was one of those ledges that some of the bishops were unacquainted with
insignificant characters who, like gnats, would never be the Liturgy, and in com posing it the Scotch clergymen were
noticed but for the mischief they occasion. It had been not at all consulted. (Hist, of Rebellion, i. 80", fol. ed.)
wilfully represented by him, and some of his brethren The same authority, and our author in his Memoirs of the
who were equally base, that the nation was in f.ivour of Dukes of Hamilton, relates fully with what determined
a Liturgy. Nothing could be more contrary to the fact, opposition it was received.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION 15
ut the unaccountable part of the king's proceedings was, that all this while, when he was
endeavouring to recover so great a part of the property of Scotland as the church lands and
tithes were, from men that were not like to part with them willingly, and was going to
change the whole constitution of that church and kingdom, he raised no force to maintain
what he was about to do, but trusted the whole management to the civil execution. By
this all people saw the weakness of the government, at the same time that they complained
of its rigour. All that came down from court complained of the king's inexorable stiffness,
and of the progress popery was making, of the queen's power with the king, of the favour
shewed the pope's nuncios, and of the many proselytes who were daily falling off to the
church of Rome. The earl of Traquair infused this more effectually, though more covertly,
than any other man could do : and when the country formed the first opposition they
made to the king's proclamations, and protested against them, he drew the first protestation,
as Primrose assured me ; though he designed no more than to put a stop to the credit the
bishops had, and to the fury of their proceedings : but the matter went much farther than he
seemed to intend : for he himself was fatally caught in the snare laid for others. A troop of
horse and a regiment of foot had prevented all that followed, or rather had, by all appearance,
established an arbitrary government in that kingdom : but to speak in the language of a
great man, those who conducted matters at that time, had as little of the prudence of the
serpent as of the innocence of the dove : and, as my father often told me, he and many others
who adhered in the sequel firmly to the king's interest, were then much troubled at the whole
conduct of affairs, as being neither wise, legal, nor just. I will go no farther, in opening the
beginnings of the troubles of Scotland. Of these a full account will be found in the memoirs
of the dukes of Hamilton. The violence with which that kingdom did almost unanimously
engage against the administration may easily convince one, that the provocation must have
been very great to draw on such an entire and vehement concurrence against it.
After the first pacification, upon the new disputes that arose, when the earls of Lowdun
and Dunfermline were sent up with the petition from the covenanters, the lord Saville came to
them, and informed them of many particulars, by which they saw the king was highly
irritated against them : he took great pains to persuade them to come with their army into
England. They very unwillingly barkened to that proposition, and looked on it as a cjesign
from the court to ensnare them, making the Scots invade England, by which this nation might
have been provoked to assist the king to conquer Scotland. It is true, he hated the earl of
Strafford so much, that they saw no cause to suspect him : so they entered into a treaty with
him about it. The lord Saville assured them, he spake to them in the name of the most conside-
rable men in England ; and he shewed them an engagement under their hands to join with
them, if they would come into England, and refuse any treaty but what should be confirmed
by the Parliament of England. They desired leave to send this paper into Scotland, to which
after much seeming difficulty he consented : so a cane was hollowed, and this was put within
it ; and one Frost, afterwards secretary to the committee of both kingdoms, was sent down
with it as a poor traveller. It was to be communicated only to three persons, the earls of
Rothes and Argyle, and to Waristoun, the three chief confidants of the covenanters. The earl
of Rothes was a man of pleasure, but of a most obliging temper ; his affairs were low : Spot-
iswood had once made the bargain between the king and him before the troubles, but the
earl of Traquair broke it, seeing he was to be raised above himself. The earl of Rothes had
all the arts of making himself popular ; only there was too much levity in his temper, and
too much liberty in his course of life. The earl of Argyle was a more solemn sort of a man,
grave and sober, free of all scandalous vices, of an invincible calmness of temper, and a pre-
tender to high degrees of piety : he was much set on raising his own family to be a sort of
king in the Highlands.
Waristoun was my own uncle. He was a man of great application, could seldom sleep
above three hours in the twenty-four. He had studied the law carefully, and had a great
quickness of thought, with an extraordinary memory. He went into very high notions of
lengthened devotions, in which he continued many hours a day : he would often pray in his
family two hours at a time, and had an unexhausted copiousness that way. What thought
soever struck his fancy during those effusions, he looked on it as an answer of prayer, and
lf» A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
was wholly determined by it. He looked on the covenant as the setting Christ on his throne,
and so was out of measure zealous in it. He had no regard to the raising himself or his
family, though he had thirteen children : but presbytery was to him more than all the world.
He had a readiness and vehemence of speaking that made him very considerable in public
assemblies : and he had a fruitful invention ; so that he was at all times furnished with expe-
dients. To these three only this paper was to be shewed upon an oath of secrecy ; and it
was to be deposited in Waristoun's hands. They were only allowed to publish to the nation,
that they were sure of a very great and unexpected assistance, which though it was to be
kept secret would appear in due time. This they published ; and it was looked on as an
artifice to draw in the nation : but it was afterwards found to be a cheat indeed, but a cheat
of lord Saville's, who had forged all these subscriptions *.
The Scots marched with a very sorry equipage : every soldier carried a week's provision of
oatmeal ; and they had a drove of cattle with them for their food. They had also an inven-
tion of guns of white iron tinned, and done about with leather and corded, so that they could
serve for two or three discharges. These were light, and were carried on horses. And when
they came to Newburn, the English army that defended the ford was surprised with a dis-
charge of artillery : some thought it magic ; and all were put in such disorder that the whole
army did run with so great precipitation, that sir Thomas Fairfax, who had a command in it,
did not stick to own that till he passed the Tees his legs trembled under him. This struck
many of the enthusiasts on the king's side, as much as it exalted the Scots ; who were next
day possessed of Newcastle, and so were masters not only of Northumberland and the
bishopric of Duresme (Durham), but of the collieries ; by which, if they had not been in a
good understanding with the city of London, they would have distressed them extremely :
but all the use the city made of this was, to raise a great outcry, and to complain of the war,
since it was now in the power of the Scots to starve them. Upon that petitions were sent
from the city and from some counties to the king, praying a treaty with the Scots. The lord
Wharton and the lord Howard of Escrick undertook to deliver some of these ; which they
did, and were clapt up upon it. A council of war was held ; and it was resolved on, as the
lord Wharton told me, to shoot them at the head of the army, as movers of sedition. This
was chiefly pressed by the earl of Strafford. Duke Hamilton spoke nothing till the council
rose ; and then he asked Strafford, if he was sure of the army, who seemed surprised at the
* Thomas Saville, successively created Baron Saville, taken effect and could not be punished. He was a man
and Earl of Sussex, by king Charles, was one of the most of an ambitious and restless nature ; of parts and wit
despicable characters that occurs in our national history. enough, but in his disposition and inclination so false, that
In 1642, for not leaving the king when commanded by he could never be believed or depended upon." Claren-
the parliament, he was forbidden to resume his seat during don then states the forgery as related by our author, and
the session, and eventually he was voted an enemy of the adds, " When all this mischief was brought to pass, and
state. So far all was well, for, if he adhered to the king he found his credit in the parliament not so great as other
conscientiously, these marks of the anger of his opponents men's, he insinuated himself into credit with somebody,
were honourable to him rather than disgraceful ; but the who brought him to the king or queen, to whom he con-
king had soon cause to suspect his fidelity. The proofs fessed all he had done to bring in the Scots, who had con-
against him were sufficient to warrant his imprisonment, spired with him, and all the secrets he knew, with a thou-
and created such contempt for him in the king's mind, sand protestations, to repair all by future loyalty and
that he sent him word by lord Digby, " that his plea- service;" for which he was promised a white staff, which
sure was, that he should neither come into his presence, the king had then resolved to take from Sir Henry Vane,
or speak to any lord, orgo to the prince, or stay at Oxford." This promotion he had accordingly ; though all his dis-
He requested permission to retire to the continent, but covery was of no other use than to let the king know many
instead of adopting this honourable retirement, he escaped had been false whom he could not punish, and some whom
to the quarters of the parliament army (Parliament His- he could not suspect. When the king came to York,
tory, xiii. 426'), and voluntarily swore that he came and where this lord's fortune and interest lay, his reputation
submitted to the power of the parliament without having was so low, that the gentlemen of interest who wished well
any design to its prejudice, and without any connivance to the king's service would not communicate with him ;
with the king or his partisans. Yet within two months he and, after the king's remove from thence, the earl of New-
was committed to the Tower upon strong suspicion of castle found cause to have such a jealousy of him, that he
plotting against the parliament interests. ' To extenuate thought it right to imprison him, and afterwards sent him
himself, he brought false charges against Mr. Holies to Oxford, where he so well purged himself, that he was
and Mr. Whitelocke, but these being disproved, he died again restored to his office. But in the end he behaved
as he had lived, despised by all who had known him. himself so ill, that the king put him again out of his place,
Lord Clarendon says of him, '' The Lord Saville was and committed him to prison, and never after admitted
likewise of the council, being first controller, and then him to his presence, nor would any man of quality ever
treasurer of the household, in iccompence of his disco- after keep any correspon deuce with him. (Hist, of Rebel-
very of all the treasons and conspiracies, after they had lion. ii. 1 55, fol. ed.)
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 17
question : but he, upon inquiry, understood that very probably a general mutiny, if not a
total re\olt, would have followed, if any such execution had been attempted. This success
of the Scots ruined the king's affairs. And by it the necessity of the union of the two king-
doms may appear very evident : for nothing but a superior army, able to beat the Scots, can
hinder their doing this at any time : and the seizing the collieries must immediately bring the
city of London into great distress. Two armies were now in the north as a load on the
king, besides all the other grievances. The lord Saville's forgery came to be discovered. The
king knew it ; and yet he was brought afterwards to trust him, and to advance him to be
earl of Sussex. The king pressed my uncle to deliver him the letter, who excused himself
upon his oath ; and not knowing what use might be made of it, he cut out every subscription,
and sent it to the person for whom it was forged. The imitation was so exact, that every
man, as soon as he saw his hand simply by itself, acknowledged that he could not have
denied it.
The king was now in great straits ; he had laid up 700,000^. before the troubles in Scotland
began ; and yet had raised no guards nor force in England, but trusted a very illegal adminis-
tration to a legal execution. His treasure was now exhausted ; his subjects were highly
irritated ; the ministry were all frightened, being exposed to the anger and justice of the
parliament : so that he had brought himself into great distress, but had not the dexterity
to extricate himself out of it. He loved high and rough methods, but had neither the skill
to conduct them, nor the height of genius to manage them. He hated all that offered
prudent and moderate councils : he thought it flowed from a meanness of spirit, and a care to
preserve themselves by sacrificing his authority, or from republican principles : and even
when he saw it was necessary to follow such advices., yet he hated those that gave them. His
heart was wholly turned to the gaining the two armies. In order to that, he gained the earl
of Rothes entirely, who hoped by the king's mediation to have married the countess of Devon-
shire, a rich and magnificent lady that lived long in the greatest state of any in that age.
He also gained the earl of Montrose, who was a young man well learned, who had travelled,
but had taken upon him the port of a hero too much. When he was beyond sea he travelled
with the earl of Denbigh ; and they consulted all the astrologers they could hear of *. I
plainly saw the earl of Denbigh relied on what had fyeen told him to his dying day ; and the
rather because the earl of Montrose was promised a glorious fortune for gome time, but all
was to be overthrown in conclusion. When the earl of Montrose returned from his travels,
he was not considered by the king as he thought he deserved : so he studied to render him-
self popular in Scotland ; and he was the first man in the opposition they made during the
first war. He both advised and drew the letter to the king of France, for which the lord
Lowdun, who signed it, was imprisoned in the Tower of London. But the earl of Lauder-
dale, as he himself told me, when it came to his turn to sign that letter, found false French in
it ; for instead of rayons de soldi he had written raye de soldi, which in French signifies a sort
of fish ; and so the matter went no farther at that time ; and the treaty came on so soon
after, that it was never again taken up. The earl of Montrose was gained by the king at
Berwick, and undertook to do great services. He either fancied, or at least he made the king
fancy, that he could turn the whole kingdom : yet indeed he could do nothing. He was
* These two noblemen must not be considered as ex- weie almost all contemporary astrologers. So many prac-
ceptions from the community to which they belonged, for titioners are an earnest that there was much employment.
England was never so imbued with superstition as it was Heydon was the adept especially consulted by the duke of
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was Buckingham ; the wily impostor, however, lost much of
confined to no class or order in society — no grade of rank his credit after being deceived by Richard Cromwell and
or education seems to have secured its -possessor from the Thuiloe. These went to him disguised as cavaliers, and
weakness. Charles the first consulted astrologers as guides he told them that Oliver the Protector would infallibly be
to his times of action. Cromwell had faith in lucky hanged by a time, which he survived several years. —
days — Laud believed in omens, and registered his dreams. (Carte's Life of the Duke of Ormond — Continuation
Selden thought there was a charm over diseases in the of Lord Clarendon's Life. 816 — $c. £c.) It is worthy
mystic mutterings of Dr. Floyd; the duke of Buck- of observation, that the majority of astrologers charge all
ingham, Richard Cromwell, secretary 1 hurloe, and many other practitioners with being impostors and cheats! They
others who will be mentioned in the course of this work, certainly never could foretell their own misfortunes, or
Bought to read the pages of the future by the help of the else Lilly would never have married such a virago of a
impostors of their time. Lilly, Partridge, Wharton, God- wife; neither would Heydon have engaged in the treason-
bury, Saunders, Coley, Middleton, Culpepper, Heydon, able practices that consigned him to the Tower
'
18 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
again trying to make a new party : and he kept a correspondence with the king when he lay
at Newcastle ; and was pretending he had a great interest among the covenanters, whereas
at that time he had none at all. All these little plottings came to be either known, or at
least suspected. The queen was a woman of great vivacity in conversation, and loved all
her life long to be in intrigues of all sorts, but was not so secret in them as such times and
such affairs required. She was a woman of no manner of judgment : she was bad at con-
trivance, but much worse in the execution ; but rjy the liveliness of her discourse she made
always a great impression on the king : and to her little practices, as well as to the king's
own temper, the sequel of all his misfortunes was owing*. I know it was a maxim infused
into his sons, which I have often heard from king James, that he was undone by his con-
cessions. This is true in some respect : for his passing the act that the parliament should
sit during pleasure was indeed his ruin, to which he was drawn by the queen. But if he had
not made great concessions, he had sunk without being able to make a struggle for it ; and
could not have divided the nation, or engaged so many to have stood by him ; since by the
concessions that he made, especially that of the triennial parliament, the honest and quiet
part of the nation was satisfied, and thought their religion and liberties were secured : so they
broke off from t those more violent propositions that occasioned the war.
The truth was, the king did not come into those concessions seasonably, nor with a good
grace. All appeared to be extorted from him. There were also grounds, whether true or
plausible, to make it to be believed, that he intended not to stand to them any longer than
he lay under that force, that visibly drew them from him contrary to his own inclinations J.
The proofs that appeared of some particulars, that made this seem true, made other things
that were whispered to be more readily believed ; for in all critical times there are deceitful
people of both sides, that pretend to merit by making discoveries, on condition that no use
shall be made of them as witnesses ; which is one of the most pestiferous ways of calumny
possible. Almost the whole court had been concerned in one illegal grant or another : so
these courtiers, to get their faults passed over, were as so many spies upon the king and queen :
they told all they heard, and perhaps not without large additions, to the leading men of the
House of Commons. This inflamed their jealousy, and pushed them on to the making still
new demands. One eminent passage was told me by the lord Hollis.
* Charles was indeed unfortunate— unfortunate in his own sion that the same power might be exercised over English-
unfirmness of character; unfortunate as to the period in which men. She acted vigorously to maintain the king's cause
he ascenaed the throne ; and unfortunate to such a degree, in the \var consequent to this fatal error ; and did not dis-
that those who loved him contributed as much to his ruin, cover how much she was mistaken, and how vain is the
as those who were his enemies. Of those attached to struggle to coerce a people resolved to be free, until some
him, and who hastened his destruction, the queen was years subsequent to the overthrow of all her plans, and
among the most culpable. the death of her husband. She returned to England at
She was extremely beautiful and accomplished ; her the Restoration, after being absent nearly nineteen years ;
portrait is still in Windsor Castle, and those who have and is said to have declared, on re-entering Somerset House,
seen its lovely features must have ceased to wonder that " that if she had known the temper of the English some
their possessor fascinated and subdued sterner natures than years before, as well as she now did, she had never been
that of Charles the first. To her accomplishments, gene- obliged to leave that palace." It will be seen in future
rally, all contemporary annalists give their assent; but in pages how strenuously she exerted herself to retain politi-
fiinging, she evidently particularly excelled. " I found it cal influence during the reign of her son Charles the
true," said lord Kensington, writing to Charles, "that second. In this she failed. She sinks greatly in the
neither her master Bayle, nor any man or woman in scale of estimation, if, as it would appear from sir John
France, or in the world, sings so admirably as she. Sir, Reresby's Memoirs, she was secretly the wife of Henry
it is beyond imagination ; that is all I can say of it." Such Jermyn, earl of St. Albans.
charms and such accomplishments, accompanied by great f It seems clearer, if, instead of broke off from, the
vivacity of manner, had too fascinating an influence over sentence ran would not go into. — (Note by Author's
the king. She was imperious, haughty, and prone to Son.}
bursts of passion which hurried her to recommend and J The duplicity and insincerity of Charles have been
insist upon measures disastrous in their results, and placed beyond any just doubt by his private papers* which
against the consequences of which she had neither suffi- fell into the hands of the parliament after his final defeat
cient judgment to suggest resources nor firmness to maintain at the battle of Naseby. The " Eikon Basilike " men-
opposition. Her angry urging the king to seize the five tions these without disputing their authenticity. They con-
members suffices as an illustration of this — it was the con- tain copies of letters in which the king states decidedly,
elusive thrust that determined the fatal separation between that though he called the parliament by that name, yet in
the parliament and the king. She had been educated with his conscience he did not hold it to be one, nor should he
very high notions of the royal prerogative, and had been treat it as such, in the event of success. Who can say
used to see despotic sovereignty exercised over an ignorant where the parliament could find security, after this, but by
and slavish people. This lod h*;r to the mistaken conclu- his death ?
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 19
The earl of Strafford had married his sister. So, though in that parliament he was one of
the hottest men of the party, yet when that matter was before them he always withdrew.
When the bill of attainder was passed, the king sent for him to know what he could do to
save the earl of Strafford. Hollis answered, that if the king pleased, since the execution of
the law was in him, he might legally grant him a reprieve, which must be good in law ; but
he would not advise it. That which he proposed was, that lord Strafford should send him a
petition for a short respite, to settle his affairs and to prepare for death ; upon which he advised
the king to come next day with the petition in his hands, and lay it before the two houses
with a speech which he drew for the king ; and Hollis said to him, he would try his interest
among his friends to get them to consent to it. He prepared a great many, by assuring them,
that if they would save lord Strafford he would become wholly theirs in consequence of his
first principles : and that he might do them much more service by being preserved, than he could
do if made an example upon such new and doubtful points. In this he had wrought on so
many, that he believed if the king's party had struck into it he might have saved him. It
was carried to the queen, as if Hollis had engaged that the earl of Strafford should accuse
her, and discover all he knew. So the queen not only diverted the king from going to the
parliament, changing the speech into a message all written with the king's own hand, and sent to
the House of Lords by the prince of "Wales ; (which Hollis had said, would have perhaps done
as well, the king being apt to spoil things by an unacceptable manner;) but to the wonder of
the whole world, the queen prevailed with him to add that mean postscript, " if he must die,
it were charity to reprieve him till Saturday ; " which was a very unhandsome giving up of
the whole message. When it was communicated to both houses, the whole court party was
plainly against it : and so he fell truly by the queen's means *.
The mentioning this makes me add one particular concerning archbishop Laud : when his
impeachment was brought to the Lords' bar, he apprehending how it would end, sent over
Warner, bishop of Rochester, with the keys of his closet and cabinet, that he might destroy,
or put out of the way, all papers that might either hurt himself or any body else. He was
at that work for three hours, till, upon Laud's being committed to the black rod, a messenger
went over to seal up his closet, who came after all was withdrawn. Among the writings he
took away, it is believed the original Magna Charta passed by king John in the mead near
Staincs was one. This was found among Warner's papers by his executor : and that descended
to his son and executor, colonel Lee, who gave it to me. So it is now in my hands ; and it
came very fairly to me. For this conveyance of it we have nothing but conjecture t.
* This is a hasty assignment of one of the blackest against the dictates of his conscience, tc yield ; and at the
crimes that disgrace our country's history. It appears time he confessed this, when speaking to the deputation
certain that the queen disliked Strafford, for when he bore that waited upon him in consequence of the above letter,
no other title than the worthy name of Wcntworth, he he takes the merit of the authorship of the postscript to
had been the uncompromising objurgntor of measures and himself. He said " that what he intended by his letter
of the religion to which she was attached. Athough this was, with an if; if it might be done without discontent-
enmity existed, and although the fear of injuring her ment of his people ; if that cannot be, 1 say again, the
interests, and those of his children, may have influenced same I wrote, fiut juslitia. My other intention, proceed-
the king to consent to the earl's death, yet having signed ing out of charity, for a few days' respite, was upon certain
the warrant, and all the court party being against its revo- information that his estate was so distracted, that it neces-
cation, it is hard to say, that a postscript, like the one in sarily required some few days for settlement thereof."
question, admitting the queen dictated it, was the cause of (Rushivorth's Trial of Straffbrd.) If he really thought
his execution. It must be recollected that 204 voted for so, the prerogative of mercy as well as of justice was still
the earl s condemnation, and only 59 opposed it. Lord his; why then did he not respite his servant? why did he
Hollis may have had all the influence that can reasonably not perform the act of charity ? was he not bold enough
be granted him, or his own complacency claimed, yet he to dare to do good, as he had been to do evil? could he
must have fallen, even then, far short of being able to not venture, without leave, to give his sacrificed friend three
reverse the majority. It was an imbecile, pusillanimous, days' grace?
ill-judged postscript, but if it had never been written, the f- Colonel Lee is stated to have given the original
letter cannot be considered as fraught with such magic Magna Charta to Dr. Burnet, by the intervention of Mr.
charms as to have converted the hearts and resolutions of Gcddis. Upon the death of our author, it came to hi& son,
both houses of parliament. They were urged on. not sir Thomas Burnet; in the hands of whose executor, Mr.
only by their own convictions, that it was necessary to David Mitchell, it was seen and referred to by sir William
intimidate, by the earl's execution, all the counsellors of Blackstone. When Mr. Mitchell died, this truly national
despotic sovereignty; but they were also impelled by " the relic came into the possession of his daughter, of whom
pressure from without ; " the people, as Whitelock relates, it was purchased by earl Stanhupe, and given to the British
assembled round the houses, and clamoured riotously for Museum, where it may now be seen — Blackstone s Law
bis execution. To this popular feeling the king dared, Tracts, 3rd ed. 297.
21 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
I do not intend to prosecute the history of the wars. I have told a great deal relating to
them in the memoirs of the dukes of Hamilton. Rush worth's collections contain many
excellent materials. And now the first volume of the earl of Clarendon's history gives a
faithful representation of the beginnings of the troubles, though written in favour of the
court, and full of the best excuses that such ill things were capable of. I shall, therefore,
only set out what I had particular reason to know, and what is not to be met with in books.
The kirk was now settled in Scotland with a new mixture of ruling elders ; which though
they were taken from the Geneva pattern, to assist or rather to be a check on the ministers,
in the managing the parochial discipline, yet these never came to their assemblies till the year
1638, that they thought it necessary to make them first go and carry all the elections of the
ministers at the several presbyteries, and next come themselves and sit in the assemblies. The
nobility and chief gentry offered themselves upon that occasion : and the ministers, since they
saw they were like to act in opposition to the king's orders, were glad to have so great a support.
But the elders that now came to assist them beginning to take, as the ministers thought, too
much on them, they grew weary of such imperious masters : so they studied to work up the
inferior people to much zeal : and as they wrought any up to some measure of heat and
knowledge, they brought them also into their eldership ; and so got a majority of hot
zealots who depended on them. One out of these was deputed to attend on the judicatories.
They had synods of all the clergy, in one or more counties, who met twice a year ; and a
general assembly met once a year : and at parting, that body named some, called the com-
mission of the kirk, who were to sit in the intervals to prepare matters for the next assembly,
and to look into all the concerns of the church, to give warning of dangers, and to inspect all
proceedings of the state as far as related to the matters of religion : by these means they
became terrible to all their enemies. In their sermons, and chiefly in their prayers, all that
passed in the state was canvassed. Men were as good as named, and either recommended
or complained of, to God, as they were acceptable or odious to them. This grew up in time
to an insufferable degree of boldness. The way that was given to it, when the king and the
bishops were their common themes, made that, afterwards, the humour could not be restrained :
and it grew so petulant, that the pulpit was a scene of news and passion. For some years
this was managed with great appearances of fervour by men of age and some authority : but
when the younger and hotter zealots took it up, it became odious to almost all sorts of people :
except some sour enthusiasts, who thought all their impertinence was zeal, and an effect of
inspiration ; which flowed naturally from the conceit of extemporary prayers being praying
by the spirit.
Henderson, a minister of Edinburgh, was by much the wisest and gravest of them all : but
as all his performances that I have seen are flat and heavy, so he found it was an easier
thing to raise a flame than to quench it. He studied to keep his party to him : yet he
found he could not moderate the heat of some fiery spirits : so when he saw he could follow
them no more, but that they had got the people out of his hands, he sunk both in body and
mind, and died soon after *. The person next to him was Douglas, believed to be descended
from the royal family, though the wrong way. There appeared an air of greatness in him
that made all that saw him inclined enough to believe he was of no ordinary descent.
He was a reserved man : he had the scriptures by heart to the exactness of a Jew ; for he
was as a concordance : he was too calm and too grave for the furious men, but yet he was
much depended on for his prudence. I knew him in his old age ; and saw plainly, he was a
* Alexander Henderson was the most influential of the sufficient to convince his antagonists, they must have cer-
presbyterian clergy ; and took the lead in all the religious tainly raised him in their estimation. They are ably
and political discussions in which his party were engaged, arranged, and cogently enforced. Clarendon says, " the
In 1646, he came with some other clergymen to persuade old man himself, Mr. Henderson, was so far convinced and
the king to abolish the episcopal form of church govern- converted, that he had a very deep sense of the mischief
ment in England, as he had in Scotland. To which if he he had himself been the author of, or too much contributed
had consented, Clarendon thought that they would have to. and lamented it to his wannest friends and confidents ;
effectually strengthened his party both in parliament and and died of grief and heart-broken, within a very short
in the field. The papers which passed between Mr. time after he departed from his majesty.'' — (History of
Henderson and Charles, relative to the comparative merits Rebellion, iii 24, fo. ed. Warwick's Life of J. Bar*
of the two forms of ecclesiastical discipline, have since wick, 253.)
been published, and if the king's arguments were not
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 21
slave to his popularity, and durst not own the free thoughts he had of some things for fear
of offending the people.
I will not run out in giving the characters of the other leading preachers among them,
such as Dickson, Blair, Rutherford, Baily, Cant, and the two Gillispys*. They were men all
of a sort ; they affected great sublimities in devotion ; they poured themselves out in their
prayers with a loud voice, and often with many tears. They had but an ordinary proportion
of learning among them ; something of Hebrew and very little Greek. Books of controversy
with papists, but above all with the Arminians, was the height of their study. A way of
preaching by doctrine, reason, and use, was that they set up on : and some of them affected
a strain of stating cases of conscience, not with relation to moral actions, but to some
reflections on their condition and temper : that was occasioned chiefly by their conceit of
praying by the spirit, which every one could nor attain to, or keep up to the same heat in, at all
times. The learning they recommended to their young divines were some German systems, some
commentators on the scripture, books of controversy, and practical books. They were so careful
to oblige them to make their round in these, that if they had no men of great learning among
them, yet none were very ignorant : as if they had thought an equality in learning was
necessary to keep up the parity of their government. None could be suffered to preach
as expectants, (as they called them,) but after a trial or two in private before the ministers
alone : then two or three sermons were to be preached in public, some more learnedly, some
more practically : then a head in divinity was to be common-placed in Latin, and the person
was to maintain theses upon it : he was also to be tried in Greek and Hebrew, and in
scripture chronology. The questionary trial came last, every minister asking such questions
as he pleased. When any had passed through all these with approbation, which was done in
a course of three or four months, he was allowed to preach when invited. And if he was
presented, or called to a church, he was to pass through a new set of the same trials. This
made that there was a small circle of knowledge in which they were generally well instructed.
True morality was little studied or esteemed by them : they took much pains among their
people to maintain their authority ; they affected all the ways of familiarity that were like
to gain on them.
They forced all people to sign the covenant : and the greatest part of the episcopal clergy,
among whom there were two bishops, came to them, and renounced their former principles,
and desired to be received into their body. At first they received all that offered themselves ;
but afterwards they repented of this : and the violent men among them were ever pressing
the purging the kirk, as they called it, that is the ejecting all the episcopal clergy. Then they
took up the term of malignants, by which all who differed from them were distinguished :
but the strictness of piety and good life, which had gained them so much reputation before
the war, began to wear off; and instead of that, a fierceness of temper, and a copiousness of
many long sermons, and much longer prayers, came to be the distinction of the party. This
they carried even to the saying grace before and after meat sometimes to the length of a
whole hour t. But as every new war broke out, there was a visible abatement of even the
outward shows of piety. Thus the war corrupted both sides. When the war broke out in
England, the Scots had a great mind to go into it. The decayed nobility, the military men,
and the ministers were violently set on it. They saw what good quarters they had in the
north of England. And they hoped the umpirage of the war would fall into their hands.
* Two, if not more, of these were able and learned men. of very interesting, authentic information. — Life prefixed
David Dickson was professor of divinity at Glasgow, and to his Letters.
favourably known as an author on sacred subjects. He *f What they occasionally endured is appreciable from
assisted in drawing up the Confession of Faith. He was Mr. Baillie's account of the unintermitted occupation of eight
ejected for nonconformity in 1662, and died the same hours. " After Dr. Twisse had begun with a short prayer,
year. (Life by Wood row. ) Robert Baillie was principal of Mr. Marshall prayed largely, two hours. After, Mr.
Glasgow College, and might have had a bishopric at the Arrowsmith preached an hour, then a psalm ; thereafter,
Restoration, if he would have accepted it, but he adhered Mr. Vines prayed near two hours, and Mr. Palmer preached
to his presbyterian principles. These facts redound to his an hour, and Mr. Seaman prayed near two hours, then a
credit, especially when it is remembered that he was one psalm; after, Mr. Henderson preached, and Dr. Twisso
of the commissioners to impeach archbishop Laud ; and closed with a short prayer and blessing." Mr. Baillie
was one of the Assembly of Divines. His " Letters and calls this "spending from nine to five very graciously." —
Journals " have been published. They contain abundance Baillie's Letters, vol. ii. 19.
22 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
The division appearing so near an equality in England tlicy reckoned they would turn the scale?,
and so be courted of both sides : and they did not doubt to draw great advantages from it,
both for the nation in general, and themselves in particular. Duke Hamilton was trusted by
the king with the management of his affairs in that kingdom, and had powers to offer, but
so secretly, that if discovered it could not be proved, for fear of disgusting the English, that
if they would engage in the king's side, he would consent to the uniting Northumberland,
Cumberland, and Westmorland, to Scotland ; and that Newcastle should be the seat of the
government ; that the prince of Wales should hold his court always among them ; that every
third year the king should go among them ; and every office in the king's household should
in the third turn be given to a Scotchman. This I found not among duke Hamilton's
papers; but the earl of Lauderdale assured me of it, and that at the Isle of Wight they had
all the engagements from the king that he could give. Duke Hamilton quickly saw, it was
a vain imagination to hope that kingdom could be brought to espouse the king's quarrel. The
inclination ran strong the other way : all he hoped to succeed in was to keep them neuter for
some time ; and this he saw could not hold long : so after he had kept off their engaging
with England all the year 1643, he and his friends saw it was in vain to struggle any longer.
The course they all resolved on was, that the nobility should fall in heartily with the incli-
nations of the nation to join with England, that so they might procure to themselves
and their friends the chief commands in the army : and then, when they were in England,
and that their army was, as a distinct body, separated from the rest of the kingdom, it might
be much easier to gain them to the king's service, than it was at that time to work on the
whole nation.
This was not a very sincere way of proceeding ; but it was intended for the king's service,
and would probably have had the effect designed by it, if some accidents had not happened
that changed the face of affairs, which are not rightly understood ; and, therefore, I will open
them clearly. The earl of Montrose and a party of high royalists were for entering into an
open breach with the country in the beginning of the year 1643, but offered no probable methods
of maintaining it ; nor could they reckon themselves assured of any considerable party. They
were full of undertakings : but when they were pressed to show what concurrence might be de-
pended on, nothing was offered but from the Highlanders : and on this wise men could not rely :
so duke Hamilton would not expose the king's affairs by such a desperate way of proceeding.
Upon this they went to Oxford, and filled all people there with complaints of the treachery
of the Hamiltons ; and they pretended they could have secured Scotland, if their propositions
had been entertained. This was but too suitable to the king's own inclinations, and to the
humour that- was then prevailing at Oxford. So when the two Hamiltons came up, they
were not admitted to speak to the king : and it was believed, if the younger brother had not
made his escape, that both would have suffered ; for when the queen heard of his escape, she
with great commotion said, Abercorn has missed a dukedom ; for that earl was a papist, and
next to the two brothers. They could have demonstrated, if heard, that they were sure of
above two parts in three of the officers of the army ; and did not doubt to have engaged the
army in the king's cause. But the failing m this was not all. The earl, then made marquis
of Montrose, had powers given him, such as he desired, and was sent down with them ; but
he could do nothing till the end of the year. A great body of the Macdonalds, commanded
by one col. Killoch, came over from Ireland to recover Kentirc, the best country of all the
Highlands, out of which they had been driven by the Argyle family, who had possessed their
country about fifty years. The head of these was the earl of Antrim, who had married the
duke of Buckingham's widow ; and being a papist, and having a great command in Ulster,
was much relied on by the queen. He was the main person in the first rebellion, and was
the most engaged in bloodshed of any in the north : yet he continued to correspond with the
queen to the great prejudice of the king's affairs. When the marquis of Montrose heard they
were in Argyleshire, he went to them, and told them, if they would let him lead them he
would carry them into the heart of the kingdom, and procure them better quarters and good
pay : so he led them into Perthshire. The Scots had at that time an army in England, and
another in Ireland : yet they did not think it necessary to call home any part of either, but
despising the Irish, and the Highlanders, they raised a tumultuary army, and put it under
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 23
the command of some lords noted for want of courage, and of others who wished well to the
other side. The marquis of Montrose's men were desperate, and met with little resistance :
so that small body of the covenanters' army was routed. And here the marquis of Montrose
got horses and ammunition, having but three horses before, and powder only for one charge.
Then he became considerable ; and he marched through the northern parts by Aberdeen. The
Marquis of Huntly was in the king's interests ; but would not join with him, though hia
sons did. Astrology ruined him : he believed the stars, and they deceived him : he said often,
that neither the king, nor the Hamiltons, nor Montrose, would prosper : he believed he should
outlive them all, and escape at last ; as it happened in conclusion, as to outliving the others.
He was naturally a gallant man : but the stars had so subdued him, that he made a poor
figure during the whole course of the wars.
The marquis of Montrose's success was very mischievous, and proved the ruin of the king's
affairs : on which I should not have depended entirely, if I had had this only from the carl
of Lauderdale, who was indeed my first author : but it was fully confirmed to me by the
lord Hollis, who had gone in with great heat into the beginnings of the war ; but he soon saw
the ill consequences it already had, and the worse that were like to grow with the progress
of it : he had in the beginning of the year forty-three, when he was sent to Oxford with
the propositions, taken great pains on all about the king to convince them of the necessity of
their yielding in time ; since the longer they stood out the conditions would be harder : and
when he was sent by the parliament in the end of the year forty-four, with other proposi-
tions, he and Whitlock entered into secret conferences with the king, of which some account is
given by Whitlock in his memoirs. They with other commissioners that were sent to Oxford
possessed the king, and all that were in great credit with him, with this, that it was
absolutely necessary the king should put an end to the war by a treaty : a new party of hot
men was springing up, that were plainly for changing the government : they were growing
much in the army, but were yet far from carrying any thing in the house : they had gained
much strength this summer : and they might make a great progress by the accidents that
another year might produce. They confessed there were many things hard to be digested,
that must be done in order to a peace ; they asked things that were unreasonable ; but they
were forced to consent to those demands : otherwise they would have lost their credit with
the city and the people, who could not be satisfied without a very entire security, and a full
satisfaction : but the extremity to which matters might be carried otherwise made it neces-
sary to come to a peace on any terms whatsoever ; since no terms could be so bad as the con-
tinuance of the war. The king must trust them, though they were not at that time disposed
to trust him so much as it were to be wished ; they said farther, that if a peace should follow,
it would be a much easier thing to get any hard laws now moved for to be repealed, than it was
now to hinder their being insisted on. "With these things Hollis told me that the king and
many of his counsellors, who saw how his affairs declined, and with what difficulty they
could hope to continue the war another year, were satisfied. The king more particularly
began to feel the insolence of the military men, and of those who were daily reproaching him
with their services : so that they were become as uneasy to him as those of Westminster
had been formerly. But some came in the interval from lord Montrose with such an account
of what he had done, of the strength he had, and of his hopes next summer, that the king
was by that prevailed on to believe his affairs would mend, and that he might afterwards
treat on better terms. This unhappily wrought so far, that the limitations he put on those
he sent to treat at Uxbridge made the whole design miscarry. That raised the spirits of those
that were already but too much exasperated. The marquis of Montrose made a great progress
the next year : but he laid no lasting foundation, for he did not make himself master of the
strong places or passes of the kingdom. After his last and greatest victory at Kilsyth, he
was lifted up out of measure. The Macdonalds were every where fierce masters, and
ravenous plunderers ; and the other Highlanders, who did not such military executions, yet
were good at robbing: and when they had got as- much as they could carry home
on their backs, they deserted. The Macdonalds also left him to go and execute their revenge
on the Argyle's country. The marquis of Montrose thought he was now master, but had no
scheme how to fix his conquests ; he wasted the estates of his enemies, chiefly the Hamiltons :
24 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
and went towards the borders of England, though he had but a small force left about him ;
but he thought his name carried terror with it. So he wrote to the king that he had gone
over the land from Dan to Beersheba : he prayed the king to come down in these words—
" come thou, and take the city, lest I take it and it be called by my name." This letter was
written, but never sent; for he was routed, and his papers taken, before he had despatched
the courier. "When his papers were taken, many letters of the king, and of others at Oxford,
were found, as the earl of Crawford, one appointed to read them, told me ; which increased
the disgusts : but these were not published. Upon this occasion many prisoners that had
quarters given them were murdered in cold blood : and as they sent them to some towns that
had been ill used by lord Montrose's army, the people in revenge fell on them and knocked
them on the head. Several persons of quality were condemned for being with them : and
they were proceeded against both with severity and with indignities. The preachers thundered
in their pulpits against all that did the work of the Lord deceitfully ; and cried out against
all that were for moderate proceedings, as guilty of the blood that had been shed. " Thine
eye shall not pity, and thou shalt not spare," were often inculcated after every execution :
they triumphed with so little decency, that it gave all people very ill impressions of them.
But this was not the worst effect of lord Montrose's expedition. It lost the opportunity at
Uxbridge, it alienated the Scots much from the king : it exalted all that were enemies to peace.
Now they seemed to have some colour for all those aspersions they had cast on the king, as
if he had been in a correspondence with the Irish rebels, when the worst tribe of them had
been thus employed by him. His affairs declined totally in England that summer : and lord
Hollis said to me, all was owing to lord Montrose's unhappy successes *.
Upon this occasion I will relate somewhat concerning the earl of Antrim. I had in my
hand several of his letters to the king in the year 1646, written in a very confident style.
One was somewhat particular : he in a postscript desired the king to send the enclosed to the
good woman, without making any excuse for the presumption ; by which, as follows in the
postscript, he meant his wife, the duchess of Buckingham. This made me more easy to
believe a story that the earl of Essex told me he had from the earl of Northumberland : upon
the Restoration, in the year 1660, lord Antrim was thought guilty of so much bloodshed, that
it was taken for granted he could not be included in the indemnity that was to pass in Ireland :
* Clarendon, as all professed apologists should be, is very demands. In the interim his majesty had received a
careful in concealing dates. Thus in relating these trans- letter from the marquis of Montrose, acquainting him
actions he places the statement of Montrose's successes with, and certainly exaggerating, his successes. Dr.
after the treaty of Uxbridge, and no dates being specified, Wellwood saw a copy of it in the hand-writing of the
the reader is left without a guide to detect the error, duke of Richmond, and has preserved it in the appendix
From the extreme minuteness of detail, with which his to his " Memoirs." In this letter he expressed his a utter
lordship relates the intrigues and persuasions that were aversion to all treaties with the rebel parliament in
employed to induce the king to employ Montrose, Antrim, England ; " tells the king " he is heartily sorry to hear
and O'Neil in this ill-judged expedition, there is reason that his majesty had consented to treat, and hopes it is
to believe that he was one of its counsellors, and con- not true; " advises him " not to enter into terms with his
sequently not at all covetous of the blame which always rebellious subjects, as being a thing unworthy of a king : "
descends upon those who happen to be the contrivers oi and concludes, "when I have conquered from Dan to
disastrous projects, though better judged than this. Dr. Beersheba, give me leave to say, as David's general did to
Wellwood confirms Burnet's statement. He states that his master, ' come thou thyself, lest this country be called
although at the treaty of Uxbridge the parliament's pro- by my name.' " Wellwood remarks that a fatality seems
positions were extreme, and the king more than ordinarily to have attended the whole transaction. The letter was
averse to yield, yet the ill posture of his affairs made his written on the 3rd of February, in a distant part of North
friends particularly importunate with him to avoid the Britain, yet came to Oxford, notwithstanding the distance,
consequences that must ensue upon breaking off the the badness of the roads, especially at that season, and
treaty. The carl of Southampton went post from that the despatch had to pass through a country occupied
Uxbridge to Oxford, and implored upon his knees the by the parliament's and Scotch armies, before the 19th,
king to yield to the necessity of the times, and thus for among the Naseby papers was the copy of a letter, so
settle a lasting peace with his people. His majesty at dated, in which the king alludes to it — Wellwood' s
length yielded, and the next morning was appointed to Memoirs by Masseres, 66 $ 294.
sign instructions to that effect for his commissioners. A The hatred of the Scotch for Charles I. may not with-
termination of the troubles seemed now approaching, and out reason be attributed in part to the havoc and pillage
at supper, when the king complained of the wine, one of he brought upon their country by this inroad of the Irish
his courtiers replied, " he hoped his majesty would drink and others, under Montrose.
better, before a week was over, at Guildhall with the lord The treaty of Uxbridge began on the 30th of January,
mayor. ' But on the following morning the king had 1645, and terminated on the 22nd of February,
changed his mind, and refused to yield to the parliament's
BEFORE THE RESTORATION 25
upon this he (lord Antrim) seeing the duke of Ormond set against him, came over to London,
arid was lodged at Somerset House : and it was believed, that having no children he settled
his estate on Jermyn then earl of St. Albans * : but before he came away he had made a prior
settlement in favour of his brother. He petitioned the king to order a committee of council
to examine the warrants that he had acted upon. The earl of Clarendon was for rejecting
the petition, as containing a high indignity to the memory of king Charles the first : and
said plainly at council table, that if any person had pretended to affirm such a thing
while they were at Oxford he would either have been severely punished for it, or the king would
soon have had a very thin court. But it seemed just to see what he had to say for himself:
so a committee was named, of which the earl of Northumberland was the chief. He pro-
duced to them some of the king's letters : but they did not come up to a full proof. In one
of them the king wrote, that he had not then leisure, but referred himself to the queen's
letter ; and said, that was all one as if he had written himself. Upon this foundation he produced
a series of letters written by himself to the queen, in wrhich he gave her an account of every
one of these particulars that were laid to his charge, and showed the grounds he went on,
and desired her directions to every one of these : he had answers ordering him to do as he
did. This the queen-mother espoused with great zeal ; and said, she was bound in honour
to save him. I saw a great deal of that management, for I was then at court. But it was
generally believed, that this train of letters was made up at that time in a collusion between
the queen and him : so a report was prepared to be signed by the committee, setting forth
that he had so fully justified himself in every thing that had been objected to him, that he
ought not to be excepted out of the indemnity. This was brought first to the earl of North-
umberland to be signed by him ; but he refused it, and said, he was sorry he had produced
such warrants, but he did not think they could serve his turn ; for he did not believe any
warrant from the king or queen could justify so much bloodshed, in so many black instances
as were laid against him. Upon his refusal the rest of the committee did not think fit to
sign the report ; so it was let fall : and the king was prevailed on to write to the duke of
Ormond, telling him, that he had so vindicated himself, that he must endeavour to get him
to be included in the indemnity. That was done ; and was no small reproach to the king,
that did thus sacrifice his father's honour to his mother's importunity. Upon this the earl of
Essex told me, that he had taken all the pains he could to inquire into the original of the
Irish massacre, but could never see any reason to believe the king had any accession to it.
He did indeed believe that the queen barkened to the propositions made by the Irish, who
undertook to take the government of Ireland into their hands, which they thought tl' rr
could easily perform : and then, they said, they would assist the king to subdue the hot spirits
at Westminster. With this the plot of the insurrection began ; and all the Irish believed
the queen encouraged it. But in the first design there was no thought of a massacre : that
came in head as they were laying the methods of executing it : so, as those were managed
by the priests, they were the chief men that set on the Irish to all the blood and cruelty
that followed.
I know nothing in particular of the sequel of the war, nor of all the confusions that hap-
pened till the murder of king Charles the first : only one passage I had from lieutenant-
general Drummond, afterwards lord Strathallan. He served on the king's side; but he
had many friends among those who were for the covenant ; so the king's affairs being now
ruined, he was recommended to Cromwell, being then in a treaty with the Spanish Ambas-
sador, who was negotiating for some regiments to be levied and sent over from Scotland to
Flanders : he happened to be with Cromwell when the commissioners sent from Scotland to
protest against the putting the king to death came to argue the matter with him. Cromwell
bade Drumoiid stay and hear their conference, which he did. They began in a heavy
languid style to lay indeed great load on the king : but they still insisted on that clause in
the covenant, by which they swore they would be faithful in the preservation of his Majesty's
person. With this they showed upon what terms Scotland, as well as the two houses, had
engaged in the war ; and what solemn declarations of their zeal and duty to the king they
* If as was then generally believed, the earl of St. Albans was married to the queen dowager, this was a powerful
mode to secure her interest in his favour, and seems to have succeeded.
26 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
all along published; which wouifi MOW appear, to the scandal and reproach of the Christian
name, to have been false pretences, if, when the king was in their power, they should pro-
ceed to extremities. Upon this Cromwell entered into a long discourse of the nature of the
regal power, according to the principles of Mariana and Buchanan : he thought a breach of
trust in a king ought to be punished more than any other crime whatsoever : he said as to
their covenant, they swore to the preservation of the king's person in defence of the true
religion : if then it appeared that the settlement of the true religion was obstructed by the
king, so that they could not come at it but by putting him out of the way, then their oath
could not bind them to the preserving him any longer. He said also, their covenant did bind
them to bring all malignants, incendiaries, and enemies to the cause, to condign punishment :
and was not this to be executed impartially ? What were all those on wThom public justice
had been done, especially those who suffered for joining with Montrose, but small offenders,
acting by commission from the king, who was, therefore, the principal, and so the most
guilty ? Drummond said, Cromwell had plainly the better of them at their own wTeapon,
and upon their own principles. At this time presbytery was at its height in Scotland.
In summer, 1648, when the parliament declared they would engage to rescue the king
from his imprisonment, and the parliament of England from the force it was put under by
the army, the nobility went into the design, all except six or eight. The king had signed
an engagement to make good his offers to the nation of the northern counties, with the other
conditions formerly mentioned : and particular favours were promised to every one that con-
curred in it. The marquis of Argyle gave it out that the Hamiltons, let them pretend what
they would, had no sincere intentions to their cause, but had engaged to serve the king on
his own terms : he filled the preachers with siich jealousies of this, that though all the
demands that they made for the security of their cause, and in declaring the grounds of the
war, were complied with, yet they could not be satisfied, but still said the Hamiltons were
in a confederacy with the malignants in England, and did not intend to stand to what they
promised. The General Assembly declared against it. as an unlawful confederacy with the
enemies of God, and called it the Unlawful Engagement, which came to be the name com-
monly given to it in all their pulpits. They every where preached against it, and opposed
the levies all they could by solemn denunciations of the wrath and curse of God on all con-
cerned in them. This was a strange piece of opposition to the state, little inferior to what
was pretended to and put in practice by the church of Rome.
The south-west counties of Scotland have seldom corn enough to serve them round the
year : and the northern parts producing more than they need, those in the west come in the
summer to buy at Leith the stores that come from the north : and from a word, ichiygam,
used in driving their horses, all that drove were called the wltiggamors, and shorter the ichiyys.
Now in that year, after the news came down of duke Hamilton's defeat, the ministers ani-
mated their people to rise, and march to Edinburgh : and they came up marching on the
head of their parishes, with an unheard-of fury, praying and preaching all the way as they
came. The marquis of Argyle and his party came and headed them, they being about (3000.
This was called the whiggamors' inroad : and ever after that all that opposed the court came
in contempt to be called wliiggs : and from Scotland the word was brought into England,
where it is now one of our unhappy terms of distinction.
The committee of their estates, with the force they had in their hands, could easily have
dissipated this undisciplined herd. But they knowing their own weakness sent to Cromwell
desiring his assistance. Upon that the committee saw they could not stand before him : so
they came to a treaty and delivered up the government to this new body. Upon their
assuming it, they declared all who had served or assisted in the engagement incapable of any
employment, till they had first satisfied the kirk of the truth of their repentance, and made
public professions of it. All churches were upon that full of mock penitents, some making
their acknowledgments all in tears, to gain more credit with the new party. The earl of
Lowdun, that was chancellor, had entered into solemn promises both to the king and the
Hamiltons : but when he came to Scotland, his wife, a high covenanter, and an heiress, by
whom he had both honour and estate, threatened him, if he went on that way, with a
process of adultery, in which she could have had very copious proofs : he durst not stand this.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 27
and so compounded the matter, by the deserting his friends, and turning over to the other
side : of which he made public profession in the church of Edinburgh with many tears, con-
fessing his weakness in yielding to the temptation of what had a show of honour and loyalty,
for which he expressed a hearty sorrow. Those that came in early with great
shows of compunction got easier off : but those who stood out long found it a harder
matter to make their peace. Cromwell came down to Scotland, and saw the new modes
fully settled.
During his absence from the scene, the treaty of the Isle of Wight was set on foot by the
parliament, who seeing the army at such a distance took this occasion of treating with the
king. Sir Henry Vane, and others who were for a change of government, had no mind to
treat any more. But both city and country were so desirous of a personal treaty, that it
could not be resisted. Yane, Pierpoint, and some others, went to the treaty on purpose to
delay matters till the army could be brought up to London. All that wished well to the
treaty prayed the king at their first coming to despatch the business with all possible haste,
and to grant the first day all that he could bring himself to grant on the last. Hollis and
Grimstone told me, they had both on their knees begged this of the king. They said they
knew Vane would study to draw out the treaty to a great length : and he, who declared for
an unbounded liberty of conscience, would try to gain on the king's party by the offer of a
toleration for the common prayer and the episcopal clergy. His design in that was to gain
time, till Cromwell should settle Scotland and the north. But they said, if the king would
frankly come in without the formality of papers backward and forward, and send them back
next day with the concessions that were absolutely necessary, they did not doubt but he
should in a very few days be brought up with honour, freedom, and safety to the parliament,
and that matters should be brought to a present settlement. Titus, who was then much
trusted by the king, and employed in a negotiation with the presbyterian party, told me he
had spoken often and earnestly to him in the same strain : but the king could not come to a
resolution : and he still fancied, that in the struggle between the House of Commons and the
army, both saw they needed him so much to give them the superior strength, that he
imagined by balancing them he would bring both sides into a greater dependence on himself,
and force them to better terms. In this Vane flattered the episcopal party to the king's ruin
as well as their own. But they still hated the presbyterians as the first authors of the war ;
and seemed unwilling to think well of them, or to be beholden to them. Thus the treaty
went on with a fatal slowness : and by the time it was come to some maturity, Cromwell
came up with his army and overturned all.
Upon this I will set down what sir Harbotle Grimstone told me a few weeks before his
death. Whether it was done at this time, or the year before, I cannot tell : I rather believe
the latter. When the House of Commons and the army were a quarrelling, at a meeting of
the officers, it was proposed to purge the army better, that they might know whom to depend
on. Cromwell upon that said, he was sure of the army ; but there was another body that
had more need of purging, naming the House of Commons, and he thought the army only
could do that. Two officers that were present brought an account of this to Grimston, who
carried them with him to the lobby of the House of Commons, they being resolved to justify
it to the House. There was another debate then on foot : but Grimstone diverted it, and
said, he had a matter of privilege of the highest sort to lay before them : it was about the
being and freedom of the house. So he charged Cromwell with the design of putting a
force on the house : he had his witnesses at the door, and desired they might be examined :
they were brought to the bar, and justified all that they had said to him, and gave a full
relation of all that had passed at their meetings. When they withdrew, Cromwell fell down
on his knees, and made a solemn prayer to God, attesting his innocence, and his zeal for the
service of the house : he submitted himself to the providence of God, who it seems thought
fit to exercise him with calumny and slander, but he committed his cause to him : this he
did with great vehemence, and with many tears. After this strange and bold preamble, lie
made so long a speech, justifying both himself and the rest of the officers, except a few that
seemed inclined to return back to Egypt, that" he wearied out the house, and wrought so
much on his party, that what the witnesses had said was so little believed, that, had it been
moved, Grimstone thought that both he and they would have been sent to the Tower. But
28 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
whether their guilt made them modest, or that they had no mind to have the matter much
talked of, they let it fall : and there was no strength on the other side to carry it farther.
To complete the scene, as soon as ever Cromwell got out of the house, he resolved to trust
himself no more among them ; but went to the army, and in a few days he brought them up,
and forced a great many from the house.
I had much discourse on this head with one who knew Cromwell well and all that set of
men ; and asked him how they could excusa all the prevarications, and other ill things, of
which they were visibly guilty in the conduct of their affairs. He told me, they believed there
were great occasions in which some men were called to great services, and in the doing of
which they were excused from the common rules of morality : such were the practices of
Ehud and Jael, Samson and David : and by this they fancied they had a privilege from
observing the standing rules. It is very obvious how far this principle may be carried, and
how all justice and mercy may be laid aside on this pretence by every bold enthusiast.
Ludlow, in his memoirs, justifies this force put on the parliament, as much as he condemns
the force that Cromwell and the army afterw vrds put on the house : and he seems to lay
this down for a maxim, that the military powe» ughfc always to be subject to the civil : and yet,
without any sort of resentment for what he had done, he owns the share he had in the force
put on the parliament at this time. The plain reconciling of this is, that he thought when
the army judged the parliament was in the wrong they might use violence, but not otherwise :
which gives the army a superior authority, arid an inspection into the proceedings of the par-
liament. This shows how impossible it is to set up a commonwealth in England : for that
cannot be brought about but by a military force : and they will ever keep the parliament in
subjection to them, and so keep up their own authority.
I will leave all that relates to the king's trial and death to common historians, knowing
nothing that is particular of that great transaction, which was certainly one of the most
amazing scenes in history. Ireton was the person that drove it on : for Cromwell was all the
while in some suspense about it. Ireton had the principles and the temper of a Cassius in
him : he stuck at nothing that might have turned England to a commonwealth : and he
found out Cook and Bradshaw, two bold lawyers, as proper instruments for managing it.
Fairfax was much distracted in his mind, and changed purposes often every day. The pres-
byterians and the body of the city were much against it, and were every where fasting and
praying for the king's preservation. There were not above 8000 of the army about the town :
but these were selected out of the whole army, as the most engaged in enthusiasm : and they
were kept at prayer in their way almost day and night, except when they were upon duty :
so that they were wrought up to a pitch of fury, that struck a terror into all people. On the
other hand the king's party was without spirit : and, as many of themselves have said to me,
they could never believe his death was really intended, till it was too late. They thought all
was a pageantry to strike a terror, and to force the king to such concessions as they had a
mind to extort from him.
The king himself showed a calm and a composed firmness, which amazed all people ; and
that so much the more because it was not natural to him. It was imputed to a very extraordinary-
measure of supernatural assistance. Bishop Juxon did the duty of his function honestly, but
with a dry coldness that could not raise the king's thoughts: so that it was owing wholly to
somewhat within himself that he went through so many indignities with so much true greatness,
without disorder or any sort of affectation *. Thus he died greater than he had lived ; and
* Although Dr. Juxon's fervour in prayer and spiri- his conscience, he ought not to do it, whatsoever liap-
tual consolation was noc sufficiently animated to please our pened." ( Whitelock's Memorials, 44.) Charles had bitterly
authoi,yet his temperament, his manner, arid his character, felt the pangs of useless regret that he had not adopted
collectively rendered him, above all other ecclesiastics, the this advice. Loving the man for his unimpeached virtues,
man most desired as his attendant by the royal sufferer, the king requested that he might attend him in the final
axon was a man of inflexible integrity, and Charles told preparation for death. When this request was granted,
sir Philip Warwick, " I never got his opinion freely in my his majesty declared it was " no small refreshing to his
life; but when I had it, I was ever the better for it." spirit." The most simple and authentic detail of the bishop's
(Warwick's Memoirs, .96.) When the others of the privy intercourse with the king during the last few days of his life,
councillors basely advised the king to sign the warrant for • and of all theevcnts of that deeply-interesting period, is to be
the earl of Strafford's execution, or pusillanimously read in WTood'3 Athencc Oxoniensis, being the narrative
declined advising at all, Juxon alone dared to act right, and given bj- Mr. Thomas Herbert, his majesty's personal
told bis majesty unreservedly, " if he was not satisfied in attendant at the time. Dr. Burnet, from the passage iu
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. £0
showed, that which has often been observed of the whole race of the Stuarts, that they bore
misfortunes better than prosperity. His reign both in peace and war was a continual series
of errors : so that it does not appear that he had a true judgment of things. He was out of
measure set on following his humour, but unreasonably feeble to those whom he trusted,
chiefly to the queen. He had too high a notion of the regal power, and thought that every
opposition to it was rebellion. He minded little things too much, and was more concerned in
the drawing of a paper than in fighting a battle. He had a firm aversion to popery, but was
much inclined to a middle way between protestants and papists, by which he lost the one
without gaining the other. His engaging the duke of Rohan in the war of Rochelle, and
then assisting him so poorly, and forsaking him at last, gave an ill character of him to all the
protestants abroad. The earl of Lauderdale told me the duke of Rohan was at Geneva,
where he himself was, when he received a very long letter, or rather a little book, from my
father, which gave him a copious account of the beginning of the troubles in Scotland. He
translated it to the duke of Rohan, who expressed a vehement indignation at the court of
England for their usage of him : of which this was the account he then gave.
The duke of Buckingham had a secret conversation with the queen of France, of which
the queen-mother was very jealous, and possessed the king with such a sense of it that he was
ordered immediately to leave the court. Upon his return to England under this affront, he
possessed the king with such a hatred of that court, that the queen was ill-used on her coming
over, and all her servants were sent back *. He told him also that the protestants were so
ill-used, and so strong, that if he would protect them they would involve that kingdom in
new wars ; which he represented as so glorious a beginning of his reign, that the king without
weighing the consequence of it sent one to treat with the duke of Rohan about it. Great
assistance was promised by sea : so a war was resolved on, in which the share that our
court had is well enough known. But the infamous part was, that Richlieu got the king of
France to make his queen write an obliging letter to the duke of Buckingham, assuring him
that, if he would let Rochelle fall without assisting it, he should have leave to come over,
and should settle the whole matter of the religion according to their edicts. This was a
strange proceeding : but cardinal Richlieu could turn that weak king as he pleased. Upon
this the duke made that shameful campaign of the Isle of Rhe. But finding next winter
that he was not to be suffered to go over into France, arid that he was abused into a false hope,
he resolved to have followed that matter with more vigour, when he was stabbed by Felton.
the text above, and from another slight notice of Juxon, considered impolitic to allow priests and others attached to
evidently did not admire him, although he says nothing to the interests of that country to be in such intimate inter-
his discredit. All other authorities speak decidedly in his course with our court. The misbehaviour of some of
praise, and Mr. Grainger only epitomises their commenda- them was the plea for dismissing them. Sir Hamond
tions when he says "The mildness of his temper, the L' Estrange, who was a contemporary, says, on the evening
gentleness of his manners, and the integrity of his life, of the 1st of July, 1626, the king, attended by the duke
gained him universal esteem. Even the haters of pre- of Buckingham, the earls of Holland and Carlisle, aud
lacy could never hate Juxon." He died in 1663, aged other officers, came to Somerset House, whither all the
81. Sir Philip Warwick, his contemporary and acquaint- queen's servants had been summoned previously. His
ance, says, " he was of a meek spirit, and of a solid, steady majesty thus addressed them : — " Ladies and gentlemen,
judgment. Having addicted his first studies to the civil I am driven to that extremity, that I am come to acquaint
law (from which he took his title of doctor, though he you I very earnestly desire your return to France. True
afterwards took on him the ministry), this fitted him the it is the deportment of some of you hath been very
more for secular and state affairs. His temper and pru- inoffensive to me ; but others again have so dallied with
dence wrought so upon all men, that although he had the my patience, and so highly affronted me, that I cannot, I
two most invidious characters, both in the ecclesiastical will not longer endure it.'' The bishop of Mende and
and civil state — being a bishop and lord treasurer — yet Madame St. George inquired whether they were the
neither drew envy on him, though the humour of the offenders ; but the king departed without any other reply
times tended to brand all great men in employment.'" — than " I name none." The queen was very importunate
(Warwick's Memoirs, 93 — 96.) to have them permitted to stay ; but this was not per-
* It is certainly not the fact that the queen was ill mitted, and, after having more than their salaries paid to
used upon her first coining over, for she was attended to them, they were all sent back to France. L'Estrange
England by Buckingham, with all the customary magni- declares that the queen's confessor having made her walk
ficence and ceremony. Charles himself met her at bare-foot from Somerset House to St. James's, and
Canterbury. As to the reason of the queen's female Madame St. George having caused the queen to be
attendants being dismissed, an event that did not occur jealous of his majesty, were the causes of this dismissal,
until they had been here twelve months, it probably was The continuer of Baker's Chronicle repeats this story,
founded upon state considerations. This country was then but it is grossly improbable. — L" Estrange* Reign of
oil the eve of war with France, and it might very justly be Charles I., 58.
30 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
There is another story told of the king's conduct during the peaceable part of his reign,
which I had from Halewyn of Dort, who was one of the judges in the court of Holland, and was
the wisest and greatest man I knew among them. He told me, he had it from his father,
who being then the chief man of Dort was of the States, and had the secret communicated
to him. When Isabella Clara Eugenia grew old, and began to decline, a great many of her
council apprehending what miseries they would fall under, when they should be again in the
hands of the Spaniards, formed a design of making themselves a free commonwealth, that, in
imitation of the union among the cantons of Switzerland that were of both religions, there
should be a perpetual confederacy between them and the States of the seven provinces. This
they communicated to Henry Frederick prince of Orange, and to some of the States, who
approved of it, but thought it necessary to engage the king of England in it. The prince of
Orange told the English ambassador, that there was a matter of great consequence that waa
fit to be laid before the king ; but it was of such a nature, and such persons were concerned
in it, that it could not be communicated, unless the king would be pleased to promise absolute
secrecy for the present. This the king did : and then the prince of Orange sent him the whole
scheme. The secret was ill kept : either the king trusted it to some who discovered it, or
the paper was stolen from him : for it was sent over to the court of Brussells. One of the
ministry lost his head for it : and some took the alarm so quickly that they got to Holland
out of danger. After this the prince of Orange had no commerce with our court, and often
lamented that so great a design was so unhappily lost. He had as ill an opinion of the king's con-
duct of the war ; for when the queen came over, and brought some of the generals with her,
the prince said, after he had talked with them, (as the late king told me,) he did not wonder
to see the affairs of England decline as they did, since he had talked with the king's
generals.
I will not enter farther into the military part : for I remember an advice of Marshal
Schornberg's, never to meddle in the relation of military matters. He said, some affected to
relate those affairs in all the terms of war, in which they committed great errors, that exposed
them to the scorn of all commanders, who must despise relations that pretend to an exactness
when there were blunders in every part of them.
In the king's death the ill effect of extreme violent counsels discovered itself. Ireton
hoped that by this all men concerned in it would become irreconcileable to monarchy,
and would act as desperate men, and destroy all that might revenge that blood. But this
had a very different effect. Something of the same nature had happened in lower instances
before : but they were not the wiser for it. The earl of Strafford's death made all his former
errors be forgotten : it raised his character, and cast a lasting odium on that way of pro-
ceeding ; whereas he had sunk in his credit by any censure lower than death, and had been
little pitied, if not thought justly punished. The like effect followed upon Archbishop Laud's
death. He was a learned, a sincere and ztalous man, regular in his own life, and humble in
his private deportment ; but was a hot, indiscreet man, eagerly pursuing some matters that
were either very inconsiderable or mischievous, such as setting the communion table by the
east walls of churches, bowing to it, and calling it the altar, the suppressing the Walloons'
privileges, the breaking of lectures, the encouraging of sports on the Lord's day, with some
other things that were of no value : and yet all the zeal and heat of that time was laid out
on these. His severity in the star-chamber and in the high commission court, but above
all his violent and indeed inexcusable injustice in the prosecution of bishop Williams, were
Buch visible blemishes, that nothing but the putting him to death in so unjust a manner could
have raised his character ; which indeed it did to a degree of setting him up as a pattern,
and the establishing all his notions as standards, by which judgments are to be made of men
whether they are true to the church or not. His diary, though it was a base thing to publish
it, represents him as an abject fawner on the duke of Buckingham, and as a superstitious
regarder of dreams : his defence of himself, written with so much care when he was in the
Tower, is a very mean performance. He intended in that to make an appeal to the world.
In most particulars he excuses himself by this, that he was but one of many, who either in
council, star-chamber, or high commission, voted illegal things. Now though this was true,
yet a chief minister, and one in high favour, determines the rest so much, that they are.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION 31
generally little better than machines acted by him. On other occasions he says, the thing
was proved but by one witness. Now, how strong soever this defence may be in law, it is
of no force in an appeal to the world ; for if a thing is true, it is no matter how full or how
defective the proof is. The thing that gave me the strongest prejudice against him in that book
is, that after he had seen the ill effects of his violent counsels, and had been so long shut up,
and so long at leisure to reflect on what had passed in the hurry of passion, in the exaltation
of his prosperity, he does not in any one part of that great work acknowledge his own errors,
nor mix in it any wise or pious reflections on the ill usage he met with or the unhappy steps
he had made : so that while his enemies did really magnify him by their inhuman prosecu-
tion, his friends Ileylin and Wharton have as much lessened him, tho one by writing his life,
and the other by publishing his vindication of himself.
But the recoiling of cruel counsels on the authors of them never appeared more eminently
than in the death of king Charles the first, whose serious and Christian deportment in it
made all his former errors be entirely forgotten, and raised a compassionate regard to him,
that drew a lasting hatred on the actors, and was the true occasion of the great turn of the
nation in the year 1660. This was much heightened by the publishing of his book called
ELKWV Bao-iXiicr), which was universally believed to be his own : and that coming out soon after
his death had the greatest run, in many impressions, that any book has had in our age.
There was in it a nobleness and justness of thought with a greatness of style, that made it to
be looked on as the best-written book in the English language : and the piety of the prayers
made all people cry out against the murder of a prince, who thought so seriously of all hia
affairs in his secret meditations before God. I was bred up with a high veneration of this
book : and I remember that, when I kcard how some denied it to be his, I asked the earl of
Lothian about it, who both knew the king very well and loved him little : he seemed confi-
dent it was his own work ; for he said, he had heard him say a great many of those very
periods that ho found in that book. Being thus confirmed in that persuasion, I was not a
little surprised, when in the year 1673, in which I hac a great share of favour and iree con-
versation with the then duke of York, afterwards king James the second, as he suffered me
to talk very freely to him about matters of religion, and as I was urging him with somewhat
out of his father's book, he told me that book was not of his father's writing, and that the
letter to the prince of Wales was never brought to him. He said, Dr. Gauden wrote it •
after the restoration he brought the duke of Somerset and the earl of Southampton both to
the king and to himself, who affirmed that they knew it was his writing ; and that it was
carried down by the earl of Southampton, and showed the king during the treaty of Newport,
who read it, and approved of it as containing his sense of things. Upon this he told me, that
though Sheldon and the other bishops opposed Gauden's promotion because he had taken
the covenant, yet the merits of that service carried it for him, notwithstanding the opposition
made to it. There has been a great deal of disputing about this book : some are so zealous
for maintaining it to be the king's, that they think a man false to the church that doubts it
to be his : yet the evidence since that time brought to the contrary has been so strong, that
I must leave that under the same uncertainty under which I found it. Only this is certain,
that Gauden never wrote any thing with that force, his other writings being such, that no
man from a likeness of style would think him capable of writing so extraordinary a book as
that is *.
* Of the effect produced upon the public mind by the tion to which no positive reply can be given, but the evi-
" Eikon Basilike," Burnet gives not at all an exaggerated dence certainly preponderates in favour of Dr. Gauden's
account. A contemporary stated as his opinion that if it claim to that merit. The objection that the earl of
had appeared a few weel-s earlier, the regicides would Lothian had heard the king express the same sentiments
not have dared to conduct Charles to the scaffold. It in the same terms that are in that celebrated work,
had such an influence in winning favour to the royal cause, amounts to no evidence that he wrote it, for Dr. Gauden
that Cromwell considered it essentially necessary that an may have heard the same, and reduced them to writing.
answer to it should be published. He selected Selden for To say that the doctor never wrote any other work equal
the execution of this task, and is said to have applied to to this is only saying what may bo said of all other
him personally, and by their mutual friends, to persuade authors — all of them have a masterpiece. But on the
him to the undertaking. He unhesitatingly declined, other hand, Mr. Todd has shown a close similarity in his
and the reply, entitled, " Iconoclastes," was eventually style and modes of expression. Giving these objections
written by the poet Milton. (Memoirs of Selden, 343.) the utmost weight to which they can be entitled as argu-
Who was the author of the " Eikon Basilike ? " is a ques- ments from probabilities, they yet are nothing compared to
32
A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
"Upon the king's death the Scots proclaimed his son king, and sent over Sir George Win-
cam, that married my great aunt, to treat with him while he was in the isle of Jersey. The
the direct declaration of James II., who says, that the
duke of Somerset and the earl of Southampton brought
Dr. Gauden to him and to Charles II. for promotion, on
the ground that he was the author ; the earl declaring
that he took the manuscript from Dr. Gauden to Charles I.
for his approval, which he gave*. Mr. Higgins, in oppo-
sition to this, observes, that both James II. and Charles II.
authorised the book to be published in editions of their
father's works. To which we may rejoin that, as they
knew it contained his sentiments, and had his approval,
they might do so without any immoral concealment of the
truth ; the concealment was for no ill purpose ; at the
worst it threw a halo of merit round the dead, and would
assist in checking the recurrence of hasty revolutions. As
the subject is still interesting, relative works by Dr.
Wordsworth, Mr. Todd, and Mr. Broughton, having within
these few years been published, this note may be lengthened
to lay the conflicting evidence collectively before the
reader.
The direct testimony sustaining the claim of Dr. Gau-
den is as follows : — Dr. Walker, in his " True Account
of the Author of a Book, entitled ' Eikon Basilike,' " pub-
lished in 1G92, states that he knows it was, with the excep-
tion of two chapters, contributed by Dr. Duppa, composed
by Dr. Gauden ; he says that the latter showed him the
tillesof several of the chapters, and allowed him to peruse
and pass his opinion upon the appended discourses. That
he accompanied the author to Dr. Duppa's to fetch some
of the manuscript that the latter had been allowed to
read ; and that Dr. Gauden told Dr. Walker that Dr.
Duppa had promised to write two chapters (which are the
16th and 24th) on the ordinance against the Common
Prayer Book, and on the refusal to permit the king's
chaplains to attend him. After the king's execution, Dr.
Walker asked Dr. Gauden whether the king had ever
seen the book, to which he replied, " I know it certainly
no more than you, but I used my best endeavours that he
might, for I delivered a copy of it to the marquis of Hert-
ford, when he went to the treaty at the Isle of Wight,
and ontreated his lordship, if he could obtain any private
opportunity, he would deliver it to his majesty, and
humbly desire to know his majesty's pleasure concerning
it. But the violence which threatened the king hastening
so fast, he ventured to print it, and never knew what was
the issue of sending it. For when the thing was done, he
judged it not prudent to make inquiry about it." " I
cannot positively and certainly say, that the king (Charles
II.) knew I wrote it, because he was never pleased to take
express notice of it to me. But I take it for granted he
doth, for I am sure the duke of York doth, for he hath
spoken of it to me, and owned it as a seasonable and
acceptable service." Dr. Walker adds, that the wife and
son of Dr. Gauden, and Mr. Gifford, who, he believes,
wrote the copy sent to the king in the Isle of Wight,
always spoke of it as being his composition. Lastly, the doc-
tor says, that he was the agent employed to get the con-
cluding part of the manuscript into the hands of Mr. Roy-
ston, the printer, to prevent the latter knowing the author.
In 1686, when Mr.Millington sold by auction the library
of the earl of Anglesea, among other books disposed of was
a copy of the " Eikon Basilike," in which the earl had
written, " King Charles the Second and the duke of York
did both (in the last sessions of parliament, 1675, when I
showed them in the Lords' house the written copy of this
book, wherein are some corrections and alterations, written
* Mrs. Gauden and others say it was the Marquis of
Hertford.
with the late king Charles the first's own hand) assure
me that this was none of the said king's compiling, but
made by Dr. Gauden, which I here insert for the unde-
ceiving others in this point, by attesting under my
hand." — "ANGLESEY." (Dr. Walker's True Account,
2nd ed.)
When Mrs. Gauden died she left the family papers to
uer son John, and from him they came to his brother
Charles. The sister of the latter's wife was married to a
Mr. Arthur North, a very respectable merchant, living in
16.99 on Tower Hill, and into his possession they even-
tually came as manager of his sister-in-law's affairs. They
contained further testimony that Dr. Gauden was the
author of the " Eikon Basilike." 1st. Thepe was a
narrative in the hand-writing of the bishop's widow posi-
tively asserting it as the truth. She says that when her
husband had written it he showed it to Lord Capel, who
recommended it to be shown to the king; to effect this
the bishop applied to the marquis of Hertford, who
reported that bishop Duppa having read part of the work
to the king, the latter much approved of it, but wished
the title to be altered ; but what became of the manu-
script the marquis could not tell. Dr. Gauden. accord-
ing to his widow, afterwards added the Essay on his
Majesty being denied the attendance of his chaplain?, and
the Meditation upon Death. The bishop employed Mr.
Simmonds to convey the manuscript to Mr. Royston, the
printer, who never knew that the king was not the
author. With many other particulars, Mrs. Gauden adds
that Charles the Second was equally unacquainted with
the real author until her husband told him.
2ndly, there were among the same papers a letter
from secretary Nicholas to Dr. Gauden ; a copy of one
from the latter to lord-chancellor Clarendon ; another
from him to the duke of York ; and a letter from Claren-
don to Dr. Gauden, all relating to the same subject, and
adding, in various degrees, attestation to the doctor's being
the real author (Toland's Amyntor.)
In testimony that Charles the first was the actual
author of the work, we have the following narrative : —
That among the Naseby papers there was a copy of the
Icon Basilike, and that major Huntingdon, by the per-
mission of sir Thomas Fairfax, restored it to the king
when he was at Hampton Court ; but major Huntingdon
told Dr. Walker that whatever papers he saw in the king's
possession he was totally ignorant of their contents. It is
at the same time to be observed, that it is very impro-
bable that Fairfax did not send up the whole of the
Naseby papers to the parliament. But it must not be
omitted to be stated that sir William Dugdale relates
that major Huntingdon told him very particularly that
the book was bound in white vellum, and that though the
heads of the chapters were in the writing of sir Edward
Walker, corrected and interlined by the king, yet the
prayers were entirely in the hand-writing of the latter.
-(Dugdale" s Short View of the late Trouble.)
Mr. Levet, a page of the back stairs, attested positively
that he had seen the book at the Isle of Wight, and had
often observed his majesty " writing his royal resentments
of the bold and insolent behaviour of the soldiers." This
is direct evidence, but there are no such reflections in the
" Eikon Basilike."
Mr. Royston affirmed that he had his orders from the
king to print the work, to make alterations, &c. But this
does not contradict the testimony of Mrs. Gauden, &c.,
for they state that the printer never knew to the contrary.
Mr. Barry declared that sir William Morton told him
that the king once gave him a sheet of paper on which to
BEFORE THE RESTORATION.
3-?
king entered into a ricgociation with them, and sent him back with general assurances of
consenting to every reasonable proposition that they should send him. He named the Hague
for the place of treaty, he being to go thither in a few days. So the Scots sent over commis-
sioners, the chief of whom were the earls of Cassilis and Lothian ; the former of these was my
first wife's father, a man of great virtue and of a considerable degree of good understanding :
he was so sincere, that he would suffer no man to take his words in any other sense than as
he meant them : he adhered firmly to his instructions, but with so much candour, that king-
Charles retained very kind impressions of it to his life's end. The man then in the greatest
favour with the king was the duke of Buckingham : he was wholly turned to mirth and
pleasure : he had the art of turning persons or things into ridicule beyond any man of the
age : he possessed the young king with very ill principles, both as to religion and morality,
and with a very mean opinion of his father, whose stiffness was with him a frequent subject
of raillery. He prevailed with the king to enter into a treaty with the Scots, though that
was vehemently opposed by almost all the rest that were about him, who pressed him to
adhere steadily to his father's maxims and example *
•write a despatch, having a passage previously written upon
it, that is in the Eikon Basilikc. This was read by him
in the hurry of the war, and was immediately returned by
him to the king ; yet when he was an old man, he could
repeat the very words. A witness may shew too good
a memory.
The widow of Mr. Simmonds attested that she saw
some of the manuscript of the Eikon Basilike in the pos-
session of her husband ; and he told her that it was written
by the king. This is very weak evidence, because no man
being employed to sustain that deception, would say other-
wise if interrogated.
A Mr. Allen told Mr. Le Pla, who informed Dr. Good-
all that Dr. Gauden told him that he had borrowed the
book, and that he, Allen, sat up with him all one night
whilst he copied it. Granting this to be perfectly accu-
rate, Dr. Gauden might rationally make such a represen-
tation to preserve the secret. I shall not proceed to detail
the secondary evidence, the comparison of Dr. Gaudeu's
style and language contained in his acknowledged works
with that in the " Eikon Basilike ;" the testimony of the
Marquis of Hertford, of James the Second, Charles the
Second, &c.,nor yet to estimate at length the comparative
weight of conflicting testimony, but whoever will do so, as
I have done by perusing the chief works that might have
been published upon the subject, will, perhaps be similarly
convinced that the preponderance of testimony and of
argument is most decidedly in favour of Dr. Gauden. So
clear does it appear to me, that I consider there would
not be a doubt on the mind of a jury to whom it might be
submitted — it is, in fact, clear decisive evidence, met prin-
cipally by that which is hearsay. It is true that, in the
former there are some discrepancies, but they are such as
confirm rather than shake the combined testimony, for it
is conclusive that there was no collusion among the wit-
nesses, that they were not the mere repeaters of a pre-
pared story. The variations amount to no more than will
be found in all human testimony, substantial truth with
circumstantial variety. Those who wish to examine for
themselves may read the following works : —
FOR CHARLES.
swell's Life of Berwick,
fagstaffe's Vindication of Charles.
Sir W. Dugdale's Short Account.
Wordsworth's Letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Nicholl's Life of Bowyer.
Burton on the genuineness of Clarendon's History.
Young's " Several Evidences concerning the author of
Eikon Basilike."
FOR GAUDEN.
Walker's TrueAccount of the Author of Eikon Basilike.
Toland's Life of Milton and Awynton.
Broughton's Letter touching the Question, Who was the
Autho of Icon Basilike ?
Todd's Bishop Gauden the Author.
The claim and evidences of Bishop Gauden, being the
author of the Eikon Basilike, were first published by Mr.
Edmund Ludlow, in an essay entitled " Truth brought
to Light." This appeared in the year 1693.
Bishop Kennett in his Register and Chronicle vainly
endeavours to reconcile the conflicting evidence by sup-
posing that the king's MSS. being placed in the hands of
Mr. Symonds for publication, the latter, when pursued by
the Cromwell party, put them into the custody of Dr.
Gauden, M'ho finally, with the aid of Dr. Duppa, enlarged
and prepared the work for the press, as it finally appeared.
— (Kennett's Register and Chronicle, 774, 642.)
* This George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was the
son of him who died by the knife of Felton ; a death
which, if justifiable, he merited even more than his father.
A more unprincipled profligate never existed. He killed
the Duke of Shrewsbury in a duel, and passed the night
with the duchess in the shirt stained by her husband's
blood ! In his resentments no course was too desperate ;
he caballed to subvert the government when dissatisfied
with the court— and hired Blood to seize the duke of
Ormond with whom he was in enmity. He was Protean
in his character — he was an alchymist — a musician — a
poet — a statesman — a wit— a dramatist — a mimic — this
last qualification aided him to conduct himself with the
consummate hypocrisy for which he was celebrated.
Clarendon gives him the character with which Burnet
agrees. That nobleman in his autobiography says, " That
Buckingham had a mortal hatred with the Lady Castlc-
mainc, and when in the king's displeasure, which he fre-
quently was, he forbore going to the court, and revenged
himself upon it by all the merry tales he could tell of
what was done there. It cannot be imagined, considering
the loose life he led, a life more by night than by day, in
all the liberties that nature could desire or wit invent,
how great an influence he had in both houses of parlia-
ment. His quality and condescensions, the pleasantness
of his humour and conversation, the extravagance and
sharpness of his wit, unrestrained by any modesty or
religion, drew persons of all affections and inclinations to
like his company, and to believe that the levities and
vanities would be wrought off by age." In this expecta-
tion they were mistaken, his libertinism was adhered to
until his' death. He died miserably, aged sixty, of a fever
A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
When the king came to the Hague, "William duke of Hamilton and the earl of Lauder-
dale, who had left Scotland, entered into a great measure of favour and confidence with him.
The marquis of Moutrose came likewise to him, and undertook if he would follow his coun-
sels to restore him to his kingdoms by main force : but when the king desired the prince of
Orano-e to examine the methods which he proposed, he entertained him with a recital of his
own performances and of the credit he was in among the people ; and said, the whole nation
would rise if he went over, though accompanied only with a page. He desired of the king
nothing but power to act in his name, with a supply in money, and a letter recommending
him to the king of Denmark for a ship to carry him over, and for such arms as he could
spare. With that the king gave him the garter. He got first to Orkney, and from thence
into the highlands of Scotland ; but could perform nothing of what he had undertaken. At
last he was betrayed by one of those to whom he trusted himself, Mackloud of Assin, and
was brought over a prisoner to Edinburgh. He was carried through the streets with all the
infamy that brutal men could contrive : and in a few days he was hanged on a very high
gibbet: and his head and quarters were set up in divers places of the kingdom. His
behaviour under all that barbarous usage was as great and firm to the last, looking on all
that was done to him with a noble scorn, as the fury of his enemies was black and universally
detested. This cruelty raised a horror in all sober people against those who could insult over
such a man in misfortunes. The triumphs that the preachers made on this occasion rendered
them odious, and made lord Montrose to be both more pitied and lamented, than otherwise
he could have been*. This happened while the Scotch commissioners were treating with the
brought on by violent exercise, in an obscure house at
Kirby Moorside, in Yorkshire. This was in 1687. "His
wit," Clarendon says, " was exercised with most licence
against the church, the law, and the court ;" of these but
few sallies remain on record ; but that which he exercised
against the stage in his " Rehearsal," still obtains applause.
Dryden has recorded his character, and Pope his death-
bed, in some of their severest satires. The duke had
satirised the former as " Bayes" in his farce of " The
Rehearsal ;" and in return Dryden thus describes him
as Zimi in Absalom and Achitophel." —
" A man so various that he seemed to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome :
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong ;
Was every thing by starts, and nothing long;
But in the course of one revolving moon
Was chemist, fiddler, statesman and buffoon ;
Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.
* # *
In squandering wealth was his peculiar art :
Nothing went unrewarded, but desert;
Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late ;
He had his jest, and they had his estate.
He laughed himself from Court ; then sought relief
By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief;
Thus, wicked but in will, of means bereft,
He left not faction, but of that was left."
Pope, in his "Epistle to Lord Bathurst," thus strikingly
sketches the concluding scene of this profligate's life.
" In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung,
The floors of plaster, and the walls of dung,
On once a flock-bed, but repaired with straw,
With tape-ty'd curtains, never meant to draw,
The George and Garter dangling from that bed
Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red,
Great Villiers lies — Alas ! how chang'd from him,
That life of pleasure, and that soul of whim !
Gallant and gay, in Cliveden's proud alcove
The bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love ;
Or just as gay, at council, in a ring
Of uiiuiick'd statesmen, and their merry king.
No wit to flatter, left of all his store !
No fool to laugh at, which he valued more:
There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends,
• And fame, this lord of useless thousands ends."
* James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, was one of the
bravest officers that add lustre to our national history.
Granting that he relied too much upon his influence with
his countrymen, yet this detracts nothing from the merit
of his courage- — for it is a merit to be morally courageous.
He believed it to be for the interest of his sovereign
to engage in the two Scottish expeditions, of which he
appeared as the leader ; and he obeyed the dictates of duty
against such fearful odds, as have but few if any parallels
in history. Clarendon, with whom he was not on the
most friendly footing, speaks of him highly and justly.
" Montrose was in his nature fearless of danger, and never
declined any enterprise for tho difficulty of going through
with it, but exceedingly affected those which seemed des-
perate to other men, and did believe somewhat to be in
himself above other men, which made him live more easily
towards those who were, or were willing to be, inferior to
him (towards whom he exercised wonderful civility and
generosity) than with his superiors or equals. He was
naturally jealous, and suspected those who did not concur
with him in the way, not to mean so well as he. He was
not without vanity, but his virtues were much superior,
and he well deserved to have his memory preserved and
celebrated among the most illustrious persons of the age
in which he lived." — (Hist, of Rebellion, iii. 275, fol. ed.)
The name of his betrayer, his treacherous acquaintance
and professed friend, Lord Assin or Aston, deserves to be
held as eternally infamous. Montrose died as might be
anticipated, with courage and magnanimity, professing his
loyalty and piety. To detail the circumstances of his
execution would be revolting. One particular, however,
requires exp.anation. Clarendon says, that just before the
termination of his sufferings, " the hangman brought the
book that had been published of his heroic actions, whilst
lie had commanded in that kingdom, which book was tied
in a small cord that was put about his neck. The marquis
smiled at this new instance of their malice, and thanked
them for it, saying ' he was pleased that it should be
there ; and was prouder of wearing it than ever he had
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. fl.5
king at the Hague. The violent party in Scotland were for breaking off the treaty upon it,
though by the date of lord Montrose's commission it appeared to have been granted before
the treaty was begun : but it was carried not to recall their commissioners : nor could the
king on the other hand be prevailed on by his own court to send them away, upon this
cruelty to a man who had acted by his commission, and yet was so used. The treaty was
quickly concluded : the king was in no condition to struggle with them, but yielded to all
their demands, of taking the covenant, and suffering none to be about him but such as took
it. He sailed home to Scotland with some Dutch men of war, writh which the prince of Orange
furnished him, with all the stock of money and arms that his credit could raise. That indeed
would not have been very great, if the prince of Orange had not joined his own to it. The
duke of Hamilton and the earl of Lauderdale were suffered to go home with him : but soon
after his landing an order came to put them from him. The king complained of this : but
Duke Hamilton at parting told him, he must prepare for things of a harder digestion : he
said, at present he could do him no service : the marquis of Argyle was then in absolute
credit : therefore he desired that he would study to gain him, and give him no cause of
jealousy on his account. This king Charles told me himself, as a part of duke Hamilton's
character. The duke of Buckingham took all the ways possible to gain lord Argyle and the
ministers : only his dissolute course of life was excessive scandalous ; which to their great
reproach they connived at, because he advised the king to put himself wholly into their
hands. The king wrought himself into as grave a deportment as he could : he heard many
prayers and sermons, some of a great length. I remember in one fast day there were six
sermons preached without intermission. I was there myself, and not a little weary of so
tedious a service. The king was not allowed so much as to walk abroad on Sundays : and
if at any time there had been any gaiety at court, such as dancing or playing at cards, he was
severely reproved for it. This was managed with so much rigour, and so little discretion,
that it contributed not a little to beget in him an aversion to all sort of strictness in religion.
All that had acted on his father's side were ordered to keep at a great distance from him,
and because the common people showed some affection to the king, the crowds that pressed
to see him were also kept off from coming about him. Cromwell was not idle ; but seeing
the Scots were calling home their king, and knowing that from thence he might expect an
invasion into England, he resolved to prevent them, and so marched into Scotland with his
army. The Scots brought together a very good army : the king was suffered to come once
to see it, but not to stay in it ; for they were afraid he might gain too much upon the soldiers ;
so he was sent away.
The army was indeed one of the best that ever Scotland had brought together ; but it was
ill commanded : for all that had made defection from their cause, or that were thought indif-
ferent as to either side, which they called detestable neutrality, were put out of commission.
The preachers thought it an army of saints, and seemed well assured of success. They drew
near Cromwell, who being pressed by them retired towards Dunbar, where his ships and
provisions lay. The Scots followed him, and were posted on a hill about a mile from thence,
where there was no attacking them. Cromwell was then in great distress, and looked on
himself as undone. There was no marching towards Berwick, the ground was too narrow :
nor could he come back into the country without being separated from his ships, and starving
his army. The least evil seemed to be to kill his horses, and put his army on board, and sail
back to Newcastle ; which, in the disposition that England was in at that time, would have
been all their destruction, for it would have occasioned an universal insurrection for the king.
They had not above three days' forage for their horses. So Cromwell called his officers to a
day of seeking the Lord, in their style. He loved to talk much of that matter all his life
been of the garter.'" The little octavo volume alluded to is those of its hero (Jacobus Gracmus), as A. S. are of Agri-
of very rare occurrence. The title-page is as follows : — cola Sophocardius, the latinised name of the author,
"J. G. De rebus auspiciis serenissimi et potentissimi George Wiseheart, or Wishart, a clergyman who cvcntu-
Cnroli Dei gratia Magnse Britannia regis, &o. sub imperio ally became Bishop of Edinburgh. The work is dis-
illustrissimi Jacobi Montisrosarum Marchionis,&c. Suprcmi tinguishcd for the purity and elegance of its latinity as
Scotiae Gubernatoris CTQlQCXLIV et duobus scqucn- much as for its rarity. Its English translations are to be
tibus pracclare gcstis, Commentarius. Interprete A. S." met with more frequently.
It was published at Paris in 1648. The initials J. G. are Montrose was executed in 1G50
D 2
36 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
long afterwards : lie said, he felt such an enlargement of heart in prayer, and such quiet upon
it, that he bade all about him take heart, for God had certainly heard them, and would appear
for them. After prayer they walked in the earl of Roxburgh's gardens that lay under the
hill : and by prospective glasses they discerned a great motion in the Scottish camp : upon
which Cromwell said, " God is delivering them into our hands, they are coming down to us."
Lesley was in the chief command : but he had a committee of the states to give him his
orders, among whom Waristoun was one. These were weary of lying in the fields, and thought
that Lesley made not haste enough to destroy those sectaries ; for so they came to call them.
He told them, by lying there all was sure ; but that by engaging in action with gallant
iin-d desperate men all might be lost : yet they still called on him to fall on. Many have
tthought that all this was treachery done on design to deliver up our army to Cromwell ; some
laying it upon Lesley, and others upon my uncle. I am persuaded there was no treachery
in it : only Waristoun was too hot, and Lesley was too cold, and yielded too easily to their
humours, which he ought wot to have done. They were all the night employed in coming
down the hill : and in the morning, before they were put in order, Cromwell fell upon them.
Two regiments stood their ground, and were almost all killed in their ranks : the rest did
/nil in a most shameful manner : so that both their artillery and baggage were lost, and with
these a great many prisoners were taken, some thousands in all *. Cromwell upon this
advanced to Edinburgh, where he was received without any opposition : and the castle that
might have made a long resistance did capitulate. So all the southern part of Scotland came
inder contribution to Cromwell. Stirling was the advanced garrison on the king's side.
He himself retired to St. Johnstoun. A parliament was called that sat for some time at
Stirling, and for some time at St. Johnstoun, in which a full indemnity was passed, not in
the language of a pardon but of an act of approbation : only all that joined with Cromwell
were declared traitors. But now the way of raising a new army was to be thought on.
A question had been proposed both to the committee of states and to the commissioners of
the kirk, whether in this extremity those who had made defection, or had been hitherto too
backward in the work, might not upon the profession of their repentance be received into
public trust, and admitted to serve in the defence of their country. To this answers were
distinctly given by two resolutions : the one was, that they ought to be admitted to make
profession of their repentance : and the other was, that after such professions made they might
be received to defend and serve their country.
Upon this a great division followed in the kirk : those who adhered to these resolutions
were called the Pullic Resolutioners : but against these some of those bodies protested, and
:iey, together with those who adhered to them, were called the Protestors. On the one
jid it was said, that every government might call out all that were under its protection to
* Cromwell, in his letter announcing the victory, con- English army lost about 20 men. The slaughter was in
3cs that, previous to the engagement, the Scotch had rout and pursuit over eight miles. Cromwell concludes
ery advantage. In numbers they were 22,000, opposed with a great abundance of misplaced religious reflections.
only 11,000 English, and they had " gathered towards — (Parliament History, xix. 346, &c. ) Clarendon gives
.e hills, having in this posture a great advantage." a similar relation, adding that " the foot depended much
• The enemy's word was ' The Covenant* ours ' The upon their preachers, who preached, and prayed, and
Lord of Hosts.' Before our foot could come up, the assured them of victory till the English were upon them ;
enemy made a gallant resistance, and there was a very hot and some of them were knocked on the head whilst they
dispute at sword's point between our horse and theirs, were promising the victory." It would never be believed
Our first foot, after they had discharged their duty, being that the army, so dreadfully cut to pieces, was fighting to
overpowered by the enemy, received some repulse, which place Charles the Second on the English throne, if Claren-
they soon recovered : but my own regiment did come sea- don's description of its destruction alone recorded the
Bombly in ; and, at the push of pike, did repel the stoutest event. He very calmly observes, " Never victory was
regiment the enemy had there, merely with the courage attended with less lamentations — the king tvas glad of it,
the Lord was pleased to give, which proved a great amaze- as the greatest happiness that could befal him, in the
ment to the residue of their foot. This being the first loss of so strong a body of his enemies, who, if they should
action between the foot, the horse, in the mean time, did, have prevailed, his majesty did believe they would have
with a great deal of courage and spirit, beat back all oppo- shut him up in a prison the next day ; which had been
lition, charging through the bodies of the enemy's horse only a stricter confinement than he suffered already: for
-ud foot; who were, after the first repulse given, made, the lord Lorn being captain of his guard, had so watchful
••v the Lord of Hosts, as stubble to their swords." About a care of him both night and day, that his majesty could
000 were slain, nearly 10,000 taken prisoners, all the not go any whither without his leave." — (Hist, of Rebei-
* .jgage, 30 cannon, 15,000 arn s, md 200 colours. The I'M iii. 294, fol. ed.)
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 37
its defence : this seemed founded on the law of nature and of nations : and, if men had been
misled, it was a strange cruelty to deny room for repentance : this was contrary to the nature
of God and to the Gospel, and was a likely mean to drive them to despair : therefore after
two years' time it seemed reasonable to allow them to serve according to their birthright in
parliament, or in other hereditary offices, or in the army ; from all which they had been
excluded by an act made in the year 1049, which ranged them in different classes, and was
from thence called " the act of classes." But the Protestors objected against all this, that
to take in men of known enmity to the cause was a sort of betraying it, because it was the
putting it in their power to betray it ; that to admit them into a profession of repentance
was a profanation, and a mocking of God : it was visible, they were willing to comply with
these terms, though against their conscience, only to get into the army : nor could they
expect a blessing from God on an army so constituted. And as to this particular they had
great advantage ; for this mock penitence was indeed a matter of great scandal. When these
resolutions were passed with this protestation, a great many of the five western counties,
Clydesdale, Renfrew, Ayr, Galloway and Nithsdale, met, and formed an association apart,
both against the army of sectaries, and against this new defection in the kirk party. They
drew a remonstrance against all the proceedings in the treaty with the king, when, as they
said, it was visible by the commission he granted to Montrose, that his heart was not sincere :
and they were also against the tendering him the covenant, when they had reason to believe
tie took it not with a resolution to maintain it, since his whole deportment and private con-
versation showed a secret enmity to the work of God : and, after an invidious enumeration
of many particulars, they imputed the shameful defeat at Dunbar to their prevaricating in
these things ; and concluded with a desire, that the king might be excluded from any share
in the administration of the government, and that his cause might be put out of the state of
the quarrel with the army of the sectaries. This was brought to the committee of the states
at St. Johnstoun^ and was severely inveighed against by sir Thomas Nicholson, the king's
advocate, or attorney general, there, who had been till then a zealous man of their party :
but he had lately married my sister, and my father had great influence on him. He pre-
vailed so, that the remonstrance was condemned as divisive, factious, and scandalous : but
that the people might not be too much moved with these things, a declaration was prepared
to be set out by the king for the satisfying of them. In it there were many hard things.
The king owned the sin of his father in marrying into an idolatrous family : he acknow-
ledged the bloodshed in the late wars lay at his father's door : he expressed a deep sense of
his own ill education, and the prejudices he had drunk in against the cause of God, of which
he was now very sensible : he confessed all the former parts of his life to have been a course
of enmity to the work of God : he repented of his commission to Montrose, and of every
thing he had done that gave offence : and with solemn protestations he affirmed, that he was
now sincere in his declaration, and that he would adhere to it to the end of his life in Scot-
land, England, and Ireland.
The king was very uneasy when this was brought to him. He said, he could never look
his mother in the face if he passed it. But when he was told it was necessary for his affairs,
he resolved to swallow the pill without farther chewing it. So it was published, but had no
good effect ; for neither side believed him sincere in. it. It was thought a strange imposition
to make him load his father's memory in such a manner. But, while the king was thus
beset with the high and more moderate kirk parties, the old cavaliers sent to him, offering
that if he would cast himself into their hands they would meet him near Dundee with a
great body. Upon this the king, growing weary of the sad life he led, made his escape in
the night, and came to the place appointed : but it was a vain undertaking ; for he was met
by a very inconsiderable body at Clova, the place of rendezvous. Those at St. Johnstoun
being troubled at this, sent Colonel Montgomery after him, who came up and pressed him to
return very rudely : so the king caine back. But this had a very good effect. The govern-
ment saw now the danger of using him ill, which might provoke him to desperate courses :
after that, he was used as well as that kingdom in so ill a state was capable of. He saw the
necessity of courting the marquis of Argyle, and therefore made him great offers : at last he
38 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
talked of marrying his daughter. Lord Argyle was cold and backward : he saw the king's
heart lay not to him : so he looked on all offers, but as so many snares. His son, the lord
Lorn, was captain of the guards ; and he made his court more dexterously, for he brought all
persons that the king had a mind to speak with at all hours to him, and was in all respects
not only faithful but zealous. Yet this was suspected as a collusion between the father and
the son. The king was crowned on the first of January : and there he again renewed the
covenant : and now all people were admitted to come to him, and to serve in the army.
The two armies lay peaceably in their winter quarters. But when the summer came on, a
body of the English passed the Frith, and landed in Fife. So the king, having got up all
the forces he had expected, resolved on a march into England. Scotland could not maintain
another year's war. This was a desperate resolution: but there was nothing else to be
done.
I will not pursue the relation of the march to "Worcester, nor the total defeat given the
king's army on the third of September, the same day in which Dunbar fight had been fought
the year before. These things are so well known, as is also the king's escape, that I can add
nothing to the common relations that have been over and over made of them *. At the same
time that Cromwell followed the king into England, he left Monk in Scotland with an army
sufficient to reduce the rest of the kingdom. The town of Dundee made a rash and ill-con-
sidered resistance : it was after a few days' siege taken by storm : much blood was shed, and
the town was severely plundered : no other place made any resistance. I remember well
of three regiments coming to Aberdeen. There was an order and discipline, and a face of
gravity -and piety among them, that amazed all people. Most of them were Independents and
Anabaptists : they were all gifted men, and preached as they were moved. But they never
disturbed the public assemblies in the churches but once. They came and reproached the
preachers for laying things to their charge that were false. I was then present : the debate
grew very fierce : at last they drew their swords, but there was no hurt done : yet Cromwell
displaced the governor for not punishing this.
When the low-countries in Scotland were thus reduced, some of the more zealous of the
nobility went to the Highlands in the year 1653. The earl of Glencairn, a grave and sober
man, got the tribe of the Macdonalds to declare for the king. To these the lord Lorn came
with about a thousand men : but the jealousy of the father made the son be suspected. The
marquis of Argyle had retired into his country when the king marched into England ; and
did not submit to Monk till the year 52. Then he received a garrison ; but lord Lorn sur-
prised a ship that was sent about with provisions to it, which helped to support their little
ill-formed army. Many gentlemen came to them ; and almost all the good horses of the
kingdom were stolen, and carried up to them. They made a body of about 3000 : of these
they had about 500 horse. They endured great hardships ; for those parts were not fit to
entertain men that had been accustomed to live softly. The earl of Glencairn had almost
spoiled all ; for he took much upon him : and upon some suspicion he ordered lord Lorn to
be clapt up, who had notice of it, and prevented it by an escape : otherwise they had fallen
to cut one another's throats, instead of marching to the enemy. The earl of Balcarras, a vir-
tuous and knowing man, but somewhat morose in his humour, went also among them. They
differed in their counsels : lord Glencairn was for falling into the low-countries : and he
began to fancy he should be another Montrose. Balcarras on the other hand was for keeping
in their fastnesses : they made a show of a body for the king, which they were to keep up in
* The hair-breadth escapes that Charles had, are related regular movements, the attack must have been postponed
at length in Clarendon's History of the Rebellion ; and in until the following morning. It was a remarkable coin-
a volume published in 1725, called " Boscobel, or a cidence that it was on the 3rd of September Cromwell
complete History of the most miraculous preservation of died. Charles had no chance to win at Worcester, he was
king Charles the Second after the battle of Worcester." outnumbered and outgeneralled. His troops were dispi-
These are both very faithful narratives. The battle was rited, and his officers disunited. Lesley was jealous of
fought on the 3rd of September, the very day on which Middleton ; and the duke of Buckingham, young, inexpe-
the same troops were defeated at Dunbar in the previous rienced in war, and profligate as he was, yet pressed to be
year : this was always considered by Cromwell his pro- made commander-in-chief over them both !— Clarendon,
pitious day, which accounts for the hurried manner in Hist, of the Rebellion.
which he brought on the action. If he had waited for
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 30
some reputation as long as they could, till they could see what assistance the king might be
able to procure them from beyond sea of men, money, and arms ; whereas if they went out
of those fast grounds, they could not hope to stand before such a veteran and well-disciplined
army as Monk had ; and if they met with the least check, their tumultuary body would
soon melt away.
Among others one sir Robert Murray, that had married lord Balcarras's sister, came among
them ; he had served in France, where he had got into such a degree of favour with cardinal
Richelieu, that few strangers were ever so much considered by him as he was. He was raised
to be a colonel there, and came over for recruits when the king was with the Scotch army at
Newcastle. There he grew into high favour with the king, and laid a design for his escape,
of which I have given an account in duke Hamilton's memoirs : he was the most universally
beloved and esteemed by men of all sides and sorts, of any man I have ever known in my
whole life. He was a pious man, and in the midst of armies and courts he spent many
hours a day in devotion. He had gone through the easy parts of mathematics, and knew the
history of nature beyond any man I ever yet knew. He had a genius much like Peiriski, as
he is described by Gassendi. He was afterwards the first former of the Royal Society, and
its first president ; and while he lived he was the life and soul of that body. He had an
equality of temper in him that nothing could alter ; and was in practice the only Stoic I ever
knew. He had a great tincture of one of their principles ; for he was much for absolute
decrees. He had a most diffused love to all mankind, and he delighted in every occasion of
doing good, which he managed with great discretion and zeal. He had a superiority of genius
and comprehension to most men : and had the plainest, but with all the softest, way of
reproving, chiefly young people, for their faults that I ever met with. Sir Robert Murray
was in such credit in that little army, that lord Glencairn took a strange course to break it,
and to ruin him. A letter was pretended to be found at Antwerp, as written by him to
William Murray of the bed-chamber, that had been whipping-boy to king Charles the first,
and upon that had grown up to a degree of favour and confidence that was very particular :
he had a lewd creature there, whom he turned off: and she, to be revenged on him, framed
this plot against him. This ill-forged letter gave an account of a bargain sir Robert had
made with Monk for killing the king, which was to be executed by Mr. Murray : so he
prayed him in his letter to make haste and despatch it. This was brought to the earl of
Glencairn : so sir Robert was severely questioned upon it, and put in arrest : and it was
spread about through a rude army that he intended to kill the king, hoping it seems that
some of these wild people believing it would have fallen upon him without using any forms.
Upon this occasion sir Robert practised in a very eminent manner his true Christian philo-
sophy, without showing so much as a cloud in his whole behaviour.
The earl of Balcarras left the Highlands, and went to the king; and showed him the
necessity of sending a military man to command that body, to whom they would submit
more willingly than to any of the nobility. Middletoun was sent over, who was a gallant
man and a good officer : he had first served on the parliament's side ; but he turned over to
the king, and was taken at Worcester fight, but made his escape out of the Tower. He,
upon his coming over, did for some time lay the heats that were among the Highlanders, and
made as much of that face of an army for another year as was possible.
Drummond was sent by him to Paris with an invitation to the king to come among them ;
for they had assurances sent them, that the whole nation was in a disposition to rise with
them : and England was beginning to grow weary of their new government, the army
and the parliament being on ill terms. The English were also engaged in a war with the
States : and the Dutch upon that account might be inclined to assist the king to give a diver-
sion to their enemies' forces. Drummond told me, that upon his coming to Paris he was called
to the little council that was then about the king : and when he had delivered his message,
chancellor Hyde asked him, how the king would be accommodated if he came among them :
he answered, not so well as was fitting, but they would all take care of him to furnish him
with every thing that was necessary. He wondered that the king did not check the chan-
cellor in his demand ; for he said, it looked strange to him, that when they were hazarding
40 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
their lives to help him to a crown, he should be concerned for accommodation. He was sent
back with good words and a few kind letters. In the end of the year 1654 Morgan marched
into the Highlands, and had a small engagement with Middletoim, which broke that whole
matter, of which all people were grown weary ; for they had no prospect of success, and the
low-countries were so over-run with robberies on the pretence of going to assist the High-
landers, that there was an universal joy at the dispersing of that little unruly army.
After this the country was kept in great order : some castles in the Highlands had garri-
sons put in them, that were so careful in their discipline, and so exact to their rules, that in
no time the Highlands were kept in better order than during the usurpation. There was a
considerable force of about 7 or 8000 men kept in Scotland : these were paid exactly, and
strictly disciplined. The pay of the army brought so much money into the kingdom, that it
continued all that while in a very flourishing state. Cromwell built three citadels at Leith,
Ayr, and Inverness, besides many little forts. There was good justice done, and vice was
suppressed and punished ; so that we always reckon those eight years of usurpation a time
of great peace and prosperity. There was also a sort of union of the three kingdoms in one
parliament, where Scotland had its representative. The marquis of Argyle went up one of
our commissioners.
The next scene I must open relates to the church, and the heats raised in it by the public
resolutions, and the protestation made against them. New occasions of dispute arose. A
general assembly was in course to meet ; and sat at St. Andrews : so the commission of the
kirk wrote a circular letter to all the presbyteries, setting forth all the grounds of their reso-
lutions, and complaining of those who had protested against them ; upon which they desired
that they would choose none of those who adhered to the protestation to represent them in
the next assembly. This was only an advice, and had been frequently practised in the former
years : but now it was highly complained of, as a limitation on the freedom of elections,
which inferred a nullity on all their proceedings : so the protestors renewed their protestation
against the meeting upon a higher point, disowning that authority which hitherto they had
magnified as the highest tribunal in the church, in which they thought Christ was in his
throne. Upon this a great debate followed, and many books were written in a course of
several years. The public men said, this was the destroying of presbytery, if the lesser
number did not submit to the greater : it was a sort of prelacy, if it was pretended that votes
ought rather to be weighed than counted : parity was the essence of their constitution : and
in this all people saw they had clearly the better of the argument. The protestors urged for
themselves, that, since all protestants rejected the pretence of infallibility, the major part of
the church might fall into errors, in which case the lesser number could not be bound to sub-
mit to them : they complained of the many corrupt clergymen who were yet among them,
who were leavened with the old leaven, and did on all occasions show what was still at heart
notwithstanding all their outward compliance : (for the episcopal clergy that had gone into
the covenant and presbytery to hold their livings, struck in with great heat to inflame the
controversy : and it appeared very visibly that presbytery, if not held in order by the civil
power, could not be long kept in quiet :) if in the Supreme Court of Judicature the majority
did not conclude the matter, it was not possible to keep up their beloved parity : it was con-
fessed that in doctrinal points the lesser number was not bound to submit to the greater ;
but in the matters of mere government it was impossible to maintain the presbyterian form
on any other bottom.
As this debate grew hot, and they were ready to break out into censures on both sides,
some were sent down from the commonwealth of England to settle Scotland : of these sir
Henry Vane was one. The resolutioners were known to have been more in the king's
interest : so they were not so kindly looked on as the protestors. Some of the English junta
moved, that pains should be taken to unite the two parties. But Vane opposed this with
much zeal: he said, would they heal the wound that they had given themselves, which
weakened them so much ? The setting them at quiet could have no other effect, but to heal
and unite them in their opposition to their authority : he therefore moved, that they might
be left at liberty to fight out their own quarrels, and be kept in a greater dependence on tlw
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 41
temporal authority, when both sides were forced to make their appeal to it : so it was resolved
to suffer them to meet still in their presbyteries and synods, but not in general assemblies,
which had a greater face of union and authority.
This advice was followed : so the division went on. Both sides studied when any church
became vacant to get a man of their own party to be chosen to succeed in the election : and
upon these occasions many tumults happened : in some of them stones wrere thrown, and
many were wounded, to the great scandal of religion. In all these disputes the protestors
were the fiercer side : for being less in number they studied to make that up with their fury.
In one point they had the other at a great advantage, with relation to their new masters, who
required them to give over praying for the king. The protestors were weary of doing it, and
submitted very readily : but the others stood out longer ; and said, it was a duty lying on
them by the covenant, so they could not let it fall. Upon that the English council set out
an order, that such as should continue to pray for the king should be denied the help of law to
recover their tithes, or as they called them their stipends. This touched them in a sensible point :
but, that they might not seem to act upon the civil authority, they did enact it in their pres-
byteries, that since all duties did not oblige at all times, therefore, considering the present
juncture, in which the king could not protect them, they resolved to discontinue that piece of
duty. This exposed them to much censure, since such a carnal consideration as the force of
law for their benefices, (which all regard but too much, though few will own it,) seemed to be
that which determined them.
This great breach among them being rather encouraged than suppressed by those who were
in power, all the methods imaginable were used by the protestors to raise their credit among
the people. They preached often, and very long ; and seemed to carry their devotions to a
greater sublimity than others did. Their constant topic was, the sad defection and corruption
of the judicatories of the church, and they often proposed several expedients for purging it,
The truth was, they were more active, and their performances were livelier, than those of the
public men *. They were in nothing more singular than in their communions. In many
places the sacrament was discontinued for several years ; where they thought the magistracy,
or the more eminent of the parish, were engaged in what they called the defection, which
was much more looked at than scandal given by bad lives. But where the greatest part was
more sound, they gave the sacrament with a new and unusual solemnity. On the Wednesday
before they held a fast day with prayers and sermons for about eight or ten hours together :
on the Saturday they had two or three preparation sermons ; and on the Lord's day they had
so very many, that the action continued above twelve hours in some places ; and all ended
with three or four sermons on Monday for thanksgiving. A great many ministers were
brought together from several parts ; and high pretenders would have gone forty or fifty miles
to a noted communion. The crowds were far beyond the capacity of their churches, or the
reach of their voices : so at the same time they had sermons in two or three different places :
and all was performed with great show of zeal. They had stories of many signal coiwersions
that were wrought on these occasions.
It is scarce credible what an effect this had among the people, to how great a measure of
knowledge they were brought, and how readily they could pray extempore, and talk of
divine matters. All this tended to raise the credit of the protestors. The resolutioners tried
to imitate them in these practices : but they wrere not thought so spiritual, nor so ready at
them : so the others had the chief following. When the judicatories of the church were near
an equality of the men of both sides, there were perpetual j anglings among them : at last
they proceeded to deprive men of both sides, as they were the majority in the judicatories :
but because the possession of the church, and the benefice, was to depend on the orders of
the temporal courts, both sides made their application to the privy council that Cromwell
had set up in Scotland : and they were by them referred to Cromwell himself. So they sent
deputies up to London. The protestors went in great numbers : they came nearer both to
the principles and to the temper that prevailed in the army : so they were looked on as the
better men, on whom, by reason of the first rise of the difference, the government
* The meaning must be, by public men, those who acted pursuant to the resolutions of the general assemblies, in
\vhom the public authority of the kirk was then vested by law. — (Note by the Author's Son.)
42 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
miglit more certainly depend: whereas the others were considered as more in the
king's interests.
The resolutioners sent up one James Sharp, who had been long in England, and was an active
and eager man : he had a very small proportion of learning, and was but an indifferent preacher :
but having some acquaintance with the presbyterian ministers at London, whom Cromwell
was then courting much, by reason of their credit in the city, he was, by an error that proved
fatal to the whole party, sent up in their name to London ; where he continued for some
years soliciting their concerns, and making himself known to all sorts of people. He seemed
more than ordinarily zealous for presbytery. And, as Cromwell was then designing to make
himself king, Dr. "Wilkins told me he often said to him, no temporal government could have
a sure support without a national church that adhered to it, and he thought England was
capable of no constitution but episcopacy^ to which, he told me, he did not doubt but Crom-
well would have turned, as soon as the design of his kingship was settled. Upon this Wil-
kins spoke to Sharp, that it was plain by their breach, that presbytery could not be managed
so as to maintain order among them, and that an episcopacy must be brought in to settle
them : but Sharp could not bear the discourse, and rejected it with horror *. I have dwelt
longer on this matter, and opened it more fully than was necessary, if I had not thought that
this may have a good effect OIL the reader, and show him how impossible it is in a parity to
maintain peace and order, if the magistrate does not interpose : and if he does, that will be
cried out upon by the zealots of both sides, as abominable erastianism.
From these matters I go next to set down some particulars that I knew concerning Crom-
well, that I have not yet seen in books. Some of these I had from the earls of Carlisle and
Orrery : the one had been the captain of his guards ; and the other had been the president of
his council in Scotland. But he from whom I learned the most was Stouppe, a Grison by
birth, then minister of the French church in the Savoy, and afterwards a brigadier-general in
the French armies ; a man of intrigue, but of no virtue ; he adhered to the protestant religion as
to outward appearance : he was much trusted by Cromwell in foreign affairs ; in which Crom-
well was often at a loss, and having no foreign language, but the little Latin that stuck to
him from his education, which he spoke very viciously and scantily, had not the necessary
means of informing himself.
When Cromwell first assumed the government, he had three great parties of the nation all
against him, the episcopal, the presbyterian, and the republican party. The last was the most
set on his ruin, looking on him as the person that had perfidiously broke the House of Com-
mons, and was setting up for himself. He had none to rely on but the army ; yet that
enthusiastic temper, that he had taken so much pains to raise among them, made them very
intractable : many of the chief officers were broken, and imprisoned by him ; and he flattered
the rest the best he could. He went on in his old way of long and dark discourses, sermons,
and prayers. As to the cavalier party, he was afraid both of assassination and other plottings
from them. As to the former of these he took a method that proved very effectual : he said
often and openly, that in a war it was necessary to return upon any side all the violent things
that any of the one side did to the other : this was done for preventing greater mis-
chief, and for bringing men to fair war ; therefore, he said, assassinations were such
detestable things, that he would never begin them : but if any of the king's party should
endeavour to assassinate him, and fail in it, he would make an assassinating war of it,
and destroy the whole family : and he pretended he had instruments to execute it, when-
soever he should give order for it. The terror of this was a better security to him than his guards.
The other as to their plottings was the more dangerous. But he understood that one sir
Hichard Willis was chancellor Hyde's chief confidant, to whom he wrote often, and to whom
all the party submitted, looking on him as an able and wise man in whom they confided
absolutely. So he found a way to talk with him : he said, he did not intend to hurt any of
the party : his design was rather to save them from ruin : they were apt after their cups to
* He soon after accepted the archbishopric of St. Andrews, and became one of the severest persecutors of
the presbyterians.
" For rencgndocs, who ne'er turn by halves,
Are bound in conscience to be double knaves.''
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 43
run into foolish and ill-concerted plots, which signified nothing but to ruin those who engaged
in them : he knew they consulted him in every thing : all he desired of him was to know
all their plots, that he might so disconcert them that none might ever suffer for them : if he
clapt any of them up in prison, it should only he for a little time ; and they should be inter-
rogated only about some trifling discourse, but never about the business they had been engaged
in. He offered Willis whatever he would accept of, and to give it when or as he pleased. He
durst not ask or take above 200L a year. None was trusted with this but his secretary Thurloe,
who was a very dexterous man at getting intelligence.
Thus Cromwell had all the king's party in a net. He let them dance in it at pleasure :
and upon occasions clapt them up for a short while : but nothing was ever discovered that
hurt any of them. In conclusion, after Cromwell's death, Willis continued to give notice of
every thing to Thurloe. At last, when the plot was laid among the cavaliers for a general
insurrection, the king was desired to come over to that which was to be raised in Sussex : he
was to have landed near Chichester, all by Willis's management : and a snare was laid for him,
in which he would probably have been caught, if Morland, Thurloe's under-secretary, who was
a prying man, had not discovered the correspondence between his master and Willis, and
warned the king of his danger. Yet it was not easy to persuade those who had trusted
Willis so much, and who thought him faithful in all respects, to believe that he could be guilty of
so black a treachery : so Morland's advertisement was looked on as an artifice to create jealousy.
But he, to give a full conviction, observed where the secretarjr laid some letters of advice, on
which he saw he relied most, and getting the key of that cabinet in his hand to seal a letter
with a seal that hung to it, he took the impression of it in wax, and got a key to be made
from it, by which he opened the cabinet, and sent over some of the most important of those
letters. The hand was known, and this artful but black treachery was discovered ; so the
design of the rising was laid aside. Sir George Booth having engaged at the same time to
raise a body in Cheshire, two several messengers were sent to him to let him know the
design could not be executed at the time appointed : but both these persons were suspected
by some garrisons through which they must pass, as giving no good account of themselves in
a time of jealousy, and were so long stopped, that they could not give him notice in time : so
he very gallantly performed his part : but not being seconded he was soon crushed by Lam-
bert. Thus Willis lost the merit of great and long services. This was one of Cromwell's
masterpieces *.
As for the presbyterians, they were so apprehensive of the fury of the commonwealth
party, that they thought it a deliverance to be rescued out of their hands : many of the re-
publicans began to profess deism : and almost all of them were for destroying all clergymen,
and for breaking every thing that looked like the union of a national church. They were for
pulling down the churches, for discharging the tithes, and for leaving religion free, as they
called it, without either encouragement or restraint. Cromwell assured the presbyterians, he
would maintain a public ministry with all due encouragement ; and he joined them in a com-
mission with some independents, to be the triers of all those who were to be admitted to bene-
fices. These disposed also of all the churches that were in the gift of the crown, of the
bishops, and of the cathedral churches : so this softened them.
He studied to divide the commonwealth party among themselves, and to set the fifth-mon-
archy men and the enthusiasts against those who pretended to little or no religion, and acted
only upon the principles of civil liberty ; such as Algernon Sidney, Henry Nevill, Martin,
Wildman, and Harrington. The fifth-monarchy men seemed to be really on expectation every
day when Christ should appear : John Goodwin headed these, who first brought in Armi-
* Clarendon confirms the narrative of sir Richard by the king and his friends. The plans of the marquis of
Willis's treachery, in every particular. He had faithfully Oruiond, and of others who favoured the royalist cause,
served the king's father, and had always met with his were thwarted in ways that seemed inexplicable, suspicions
approbation, except in declining to be removed from the were aroused, confidence was destroyed among the king's
governorship of Newark to the command of the king's friends, and yet no open discovery of their plots was ever
guard; a refusal that Clarendon states enough to show attempted. Willis must have bargained that no blood
would have been very excusable at any time but during should be shed in consequence of his discoveries — (Hist.
such a civil contest as was then at its height. He was a of Rebellion, iii. 523, &c. fol.ed. ; Sir Philip Warwick' t
gentleman of good family, high courage, and talented, Memoirs. 288.)
both in civil and military affairs, and entirely unsuspected
44 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
nianism among the sectaries, for he was for liberty of all sorts. Cromwell hated that doctrine :
for his beloved notion was, that once a child of God was always a child of God : now ho had
led a very strict life for above eight years together before the war : so he comforted himself
much with his reflections on that time, and on the certainty of perseverance. But none of
the preachers were so thorough puced for him, as to temporal matters, as Goodwin was ; for
he not only justified the putting the king to death, but magnified it as the most glorious action
men were capable of. He filled all people with such expectation of a glorious thousand years
speedily to begin, that it looked like a madness possessing them.
It was no easy thing for Cromwell to satisfy those, when he took the power into his own
hands ; since that looked like a step to kingship, which Goodwin had long represented as the
great Anti-christ, that hindered Christ's being set on his throne. To these he said, and, as some
have told me, with many tears, that he would rather have taken a shepherd's staff than the
protectorship, since nothing was more contrary to his genius than a show of greatness : but
he saw it was necessary at that time to keep the nation from falling into extreme disorder,
and from becoming open to the common enemy : and, therefore, he only stepped in between the
living and the dead, as he phrased it, in that interval, till God should direct them on what
bottom they ought to settle : and he assured them, that then he w^ould surrender the heavy
load lying upon him, with a joy equal to the sorrow with which he was affected while under
that show of dignity. To men of this stamp he would enter into the terms of their old
equality, shutting the door, and making them sit down covered by him, to let them see how
little he valued those distances, that for form sake he was bound to keep up with others.
These discourses commonly ended in a long prayer. Tbus with much ado, he managed the
republican enthusiasts. The other republicans he called the heathens, and professed he could
not so easily work upon them. He had some chaplains of all sorts : and he begun in his
latter years to be gentler towards those of the church of England. They had their meetings
in several places about London without any disturbance from him. In conclusion, even the
papists courted him : and he with great dissimulation carried things with all sorts of people
farther than was thought possible, considering the difficulties he met with in all his par-
liaments : but it was generally believed that his life and all his arts were exhausted at once,
and that if he had lived much longer he could not have held things together.
The debates came on very high for setting up a king. All the lawyers, chiefly Glyn,
Maynard, Fountain, and St. John, were vehemently for this. They said, no new government
could be settled legally but by a king, who should pass bills for such a form as should be
agreed on. Till then all they did was like building upon sand : still men were in danger of
a revolution : and in that case all that had been done would be void of itself, as contrary to
a law yet in being and not repealed. Till that was done, every man that had been concerned
in the war, and in the blood that was shed, chiefly the king's, was still obnoxious : and
no warrants could be pleaded, but what were founded on or approved of by a law passed by
king, lords, and commons. They might agree to trust this king as much as they pleased, and
to make his power determine as soon as they pleased, so that he should be a felo de se> and
consent to an act, if need were, of extinguishing both name and thing for ever. And as no
man's person was safe till that was done, so they said all the grants and sales that had been
made were null and void : all men that had gathered or disposed of the public money were
for ever accountable. In short, this point was made out beyond the possibility of answering
i t, except upon enthusiastic principles. But by that sort of men all this was called a mistrusting
of God, and a trusting to the arm of flesh : they had gone out, as they said, in the simplicity
of their hearts to fight the Lord's battles, to whom they had made the appeal : he had heard
them and appeared for them, and now they could trust him no longer : they had pulled down
monarchy with the monarch, and would they now build that up which they had destroyed ?
They had solemnly vowed to God to be true to the commonwealth, without a king or kingship :
and under that vow, as under a banner, they had fought and prevailed : but now they must
be secure, and in order to that go back to Egypt : they thought it was rather a happiness that
they were still under a legal danger : this might be a mean to make them more cautious and
diligent : if kings were invaders of God's right, and usurpers upon men's liberties, why
must they have recourse to such a wicked engine ? Upon these ^rounds they stood out : and
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 45
they looked on all that was offered about the limiting this king in his power, as the gilding
the pill : the assertors of those laws that made it necessary to have a king, would no sooner
have one, than they would bring forth out of the same store house all that related to the
power and prerogative of this king : therefore they would not hearken to any thing that was
offered on that head, but rejected it with scorn. Many of them began openly to say, if we
must have a king in consequence of so much law as was alleged, why should we not rather
have that king to whom the law certainly pointed, than any other ? The earl of Orrery told
me, that, coming one day to Cromwell during those heats, and telling him he had been in
the city all that day, Cromwell asked him what news he had heard there ? The other
answered, that he was tolpl he was in treaty with the king, who was to be restored and to
marry his daughter. Cromwell expressing no indignation at this, lord Orrery said, in the
state to which things were brought, he saw not a better expedient : they might bring him in
on what terms they pleased : and Cromwell might retain the same authority he then bad
with less trouble. Cromwell answered, " the king can never forgive his father's blood." Orrery
said, he was one of many that were concerned in that, but he would be alone in the merit of
restoring him. Cromwell replied, he is so damnably debauched he would undo us all ; and
so turned to another discourse without any emotion, which made Orrery conclude he had often
thought of that expedient.
Before the day in which he refused the offer of the kingship that was made to him by the
parliament, he had kept himself on such a reserve that no man knew what answer he would
give. It was thought more likely he would accept of it : but that which determined him to
the contrary was, that, when he went down in the morning to walk in St. James's Park,
Fleetwood and Desborough were waiting for him : the one had married his daughter, and the
other his sister. With these he entered into much discourse on the subject, and argued for
it : he said, it was a tempting of God to expose so many worthy men to death and poverty,
when there was a certain way to secure them. The others insisted still on the oaths they had
taken. He said, these oaths were against the power and tyranny of kings, but not against
the four letters that made the word king. In conclusion, they, believing from his discourse
that he intended to accept of it, told him, they saw great confusions wTould follow on it : and
as they could not serve him to set up the idol they had put down, and had sworn to keep
down, so they would not engage in any thing against him, but would retire and look on. So
they offered him their commissions, since they were resolved not to serve a king : he desired
they would stay till they heard his answer. It was believed, that he, seeing two persons
so near him ready to abandon him, concluded that many others would follow their example ;
and therefore thought it was too bold a venture. So he refused it, but accepted of the con-
tinuance of his protectorship. Yet, if he had lived out the next winter, as the debates were
to have been brought on again, so it was generally thought he would have accepted of the
offer. And it is yet a question what the effect of that would have been. Some have thought
it would have brought on a general settlement, since the law and the ancient government were
again to take place : others have fancied just the contrary, that it would have engaged the
army, so that they wrould either have deserted the service, or have revolted from him, and
perhaps have killed him in the first fray of the tumult. I will not determine which of these
would have most probably happened. In these debates some of the cavalier party, or rather
their children, came to bear some share. They were then all zealous commonwealths-men,
according to the directions sent them from those about the king. Their business was to
oppose Cromwell on all his demands, and so to weaken him at home, and expose him abroad.
When some of the other party took notice of this great change, from being the abettors of
prerogative to become the patrons of liberty, they pretended their education in the court and
their obligation to it had engaged them that way ; but now since that was out of doors, they
had the common principles of human nature and the love of liberty in them. By this mean,
as the old republicans assisted and protected them, so at the same time they strengthened the
faction against Cromwell. But these very men at the restoration shook off this disguise, and
reverted to their old principles for a high prerogative and absolute power. They said they
were for liberty, when it was a mean to distress one who they thought had no right to govern ;
40
A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
but when the government returned to its old channel, they were still asnrm to all prerogative
notions, and as great enemies to liberty as ever *.
I go next to give an account of Cromwell's transactions with relation to foreign affairs,
He laid it down for a maxim to spare no cost or charge in order to procure him intelligence.
When he understood what dealers the Jews were every where in that trade that depends on
newsy the advancing money upon high or low interests in proportion to the ri/sk they run, or
* It appears probable, that the plan of raising Cromwell
to the crown was supported by his enemies, as well as by
some of his friends. The only plea urged by those who
did not desire to establish a republic in the time of Charles
I., and who yet opposed the government of this monarch,
was that ho infringed upon the liberties of the people,
particularly upon the rights of parliament, and endeavoured
to establish himself as an absolute king. I have elsewhere
traced the progress of the civil struggle that ensued, a
struggle that would probably have been longer shunned,
and more temperately conducted by the partisans on each
side, could they have foreseen that their course was leading
to the tragedy of the high court of justice. An event
among many others warning us to be temperate in our
efforts for political change, and to beware who we unite
•with in striving for the desired reform. In that instance,
a majority of the supporters of limited monarchy planted
their forward footsteps by the side of the avowed repub-
licans, and Hampden's motto was prophetic of the then
determined fate of his party. Nulla vestigia retrorsum.
There was indeed no retreat, the tide of change swept
on ; and they in vain endeavoured to check its progress ;
one barrier of the constitution gave way after another,
until not one remained — and then succeeded the next
bitter experience that constitutions are not the easy cre-
ations of a party — a tyrant had been removed, for Charles
was a tyrant, not the less dangerous for being amiable in
private life, and interesting, from being magnanimous in
his seasons of sorrow — but to him succeeded a series of
tyrants — the rump, the council of state, the protector
Cromwell, were all deserving of that epithet, for, however
differing in abilities, they were all as despotic, and all
guilty of acts, as regardless of the liberties of the people,
as ever were perpetrated by Charles, in his haughtiest and
sternest moods.
The temperate opponents of Charles I., therefore, were
not inconsistent in endeavouring to restore the Stuarts to
the throne. Even when the first Cromwell was in the
zenith of his power, a deep under-plot was proceeding to
obtain the restoration of the Stuart family. Open oppo-
sition of every kind, short of war, had been tried to pre-
vent Cromwell obtaining supreme power, but he had the
army to back him in his resolutions, and he had swept
away all open opposition — he was king in every circum-
stance but the name. With the ignorant there is much in
a mere name, and the friends of the Stuarts appear to
have endeavoured to have availed themselves of this
prejudice with consummate sagacity. They now endea-
voured to persuade Cromwell to adopt the title of king.
He was within a step of the trap, and was not saved from
it by his own penetration.
It is not to be supposed that all who supported this
sequences of these crimes upon the condition that he
proposed his assumption of the royal title to the House
of Commons*.
Pack now was one of the representatives of the city, and
the wishes of the metropolis had then much greater
weight than they have now.
This assertion is rendered more probable by the cer«
tainty since established, that not only secretary Thurloe,
the sagacious and trusty adviser of the protector, but
the family of the protector, and the protector himself,
all favoured the measure -f*.
The resolution to petition Cromwell to assume the title
of king was carried in the House of Commons by majori-
ties more than doubling the number of those who opposed
it. It was to have been proposed by Mr. Whitelockc, but
he says, that not approving some of its passages, he
declined the undertaking, and that " to gain honour,1' it
was brought forward by sir Christopher I.
The petition was presented to the protector on the
31st of March, 1657, and during more than five weeks
he continued to hold protracted conferences with the com-
mittee the house had appointed to be its representatives.
Members of that committee were Mr. Whitelocke and
Lord Broghill §, both of whom were subsequently favoured
by Charles II. ; and of the others, the chief justices St.
John and Glynn, sir Charles Wolseley, sir Richard Onslow,
Mr. Lcnthall, Mr. Nathaniel Fiennes, Colonel Philip, Mr.
Jones, and Mr. Lisle, not one, except the last, had any
concern in the condemnation of Charles I. ; and even Mr.
Lisle did not consent to this monarch's execution ||. These
then who persuaded Cromwell to become king were not
the extreme opponents of the Stuarts : whether they in-
tended to promote the restoration by this proposition can-
not be now absolutely determined, but other authorities
agree that none were forwarder in supporting it, than
some who had always been reputed faithful to the king, and
wishers for his restoration, and that many of them thought
this measure would promote it, for they believed that the
army, and the whole nation, w ould then incline, rather to
maintain a legitimate monarch, than one whose hypocrisy
would by this means be rendered so glaring .^[
Numerous were the audiences between Cromwell and
the committee — he was evidently willing to be convinced,
and had actually announced his resolution to accede to the
proposal to some of his friends ; according to Wellwood
the crown was actually made, and brought to Whitehall
when the army announcing to the parliament, that " they
had hazarded their lives against monarchy, and were still
readv to do so," was a hint that Cromwell thought it
* Heath's Chronicle, 386. A Narrative of the late Par-
liament, by a friend of the Commonwealth, 17. Sir
measure were actuate-T by the same motive, "for many, Christopher was summoned by Cromwell to sit among his
beyond a doubt, were its advocates in the hope of furthering
their own ambition by such an event. Such a character
was sir Christopher Pack, who, when lord mayor of
London in 1655, was knighted by Cromwell. He was
very far from an immaculate character if the statements
of some adverse annalists are to be credited. They charge
him with embezzling the subscriptions raised for the
relief of the Piedmont protestauts ; and with being a
defaulter in his accounts as a commissioner of the excise.
Thev add that Cromwell sheltered him from the con-
peers, or, as they were termed, "the other house.'
(Thurloe 's State Papers, $c.)
fThurloe's State Papers, vi. 281, 292, 310. White-
lock's Memorials, 646. Ludlow's Memoirs, ii. 583, &c.
Wellwood's Memoirs, by Maseres, 102.
J Memorials, 647.
§ Afterwards earl of Orrery.
|| Parl. Hist. xxi. 65—95.
*fl Clarendon's Hist, of Rebel, iii., 461, fol. cd. Mor-
rices's Memoirs if Roger Earl of Orrery, cap. 5.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION.
the gain to be made as the times might turn, and in the buying and selling of the actions of
money so advanced, he, more upon that account than in compliance with the principle of
toleration, brought a company of them over to England, and gave them leave to build a syna-
gogue. All the while that he was negociating this, they were sure and good spies for him,
especially with relation to Spain and Portugal. The earl of Orrery told me, he was onCe
walking with him in one of the galleries of "Whitehall, and a man almost in rags came in
view . he presently dismissed lord Orrery, and carried that man into his closet ; who brought
him an account of a great sum of money that the Spaniards were sending over to pay their army
in Flanders, but in a Dutch man of war : and he told him the places of the ship in which
the money was lodged. Cromwell sent an express immediately to Smith, afterwards sir
Jeremy Smith, who lay in the DowTns, telling him that within a day or two, such a Dutch
ship would pass the Channel, whom he must visit for the Spanish money, which was contra-
band goods, we being then in war with Spain. So when the ship passed by Dover, Smith
sent and demanded leave to search him. The Dutch captain answered, none but his masters
might search him. Smith sent him word, he had set up an hour-glass, and if before that
was run out he did not submit to the search, he would force it. The captain saw it was in
vain to struggle, and so all the money was found. Next time that Cromwell saw Orrery ho
told him, he had his intelligence from that contemptible man he saw him go to some days
before. He had on all occasions very good intelligence : he knew every thing that passed in
the king's little court : and yet none of his spies were discovered, but one only.
The greatest difficulty on him in his foreign affairs was, what side to choose, France or
Spain. The prince of Conde was then in the Netherlands with a great many protcstants
about him. He set the Spaniards on making great steps towards the gaining Cromwell into
their interests. Spain ordered their ambassador to compliment him : he was esteemed one
of their ablest men : his name was Don Alonzo de Cardenas : he offered that if Cromwell
would join with them, they would engage themselves to make no peace till he should recover
dangerous to neglect, and he then finally announced, that
" he could not undertake the government with the title of
King.'''' The army, he it observed, did not perceive his
despotism under the title of Lord Protector.
The same year gave birth to another plan for the
restoration of the Stuart family, by uniting it to that of
Cromwell. Lord Broghill was equally in favour with both '
families, and though he continued to serve under the latter,
there is no doubt he would rather have acted under a
duly hereditary monarchy, and that he continued to serve as
a public man because he believed, and believed correctly,that
he could benefit his country. Being thus trusted, he had
occasional opportunities of corresponding secretly with
persons who were with Charles II. on the continent, and
through them inquired of that prince whether he would
object to marry the lady Frances, Cromwell's youngest
daughter. His answer was favourable, and he was desired
to promote the match by all the means in his power.
Thus sanctioned, he acquainted the wife and daughter of
Cromwell with the project, and finding them equally
agreeable, he caused a rumour of it to be dispersed in the
city, and upon his return thence, proceeded to an interview
in private with Cromwell. Upon joining him the protector
inquired " where he had been ? " and then, " what news
there was?" Lord Broghill replied, "very strange news,"
and upon Cromwell's earnest inquiry for particulars, and
promising not to be offended, proceeded jocularly to tell
him that " it was rumoured he was going to marry his
daughter Frances to the king." u And what," said Crom-
well merrily, "what do the fools think of it?" " All
like it," rejoined lord Broghill, "and think it the wisest
thing you could do, if you could accomplish it." " And
do you believe so too ? '' said Cromwell pausing; and upon
being assured he did, the protector resumed his walk to
and fro in the room with his hands behind him for some
time, and then asked his lordship " what reasons he had
for his opinion ?" Lord Broghill then reminded him how
little he could confide in his own party, who were always
ready to express their discontent, and to unite to degrade
him, as they had to exalt him; and that if he preserved
his station for life, he could not expect to transmit it to
his posterity ; that on the other hand, the king, exiled
and reduced in circumstances, would make him general of
all the forces for life, or such other terms as he might
stipulate. The loyalists would readily support this plan ;
and as his daughter would probably be the mother of a
family, he would thereby be endeared to, and strengthen
his interest both with the king and the nation. He would
have the king for his son-in-law; his grandchild, heir
apparent to the crown ; and the power of the kingdom
under his command.
Cromwell listened to these reasons with deep attention ;
and when his lordship had finished, resumed his pacing of
the room for a few minutes in silence— and then observed,
" the king will never forgive me the death of his father."
Lord Broghill suggested that some one might be employed
to ascertain the king's sentiments, and offered himself to
be the mediator. He also observed, that he, Cromwell,
was but one in the execution of the late king, but that
he would have the sole merit of restoring the present.
But Cromwell repeated with more emphasis, " the king
cannot, and will not, forgive the death of hia father," —
and adding some remark upon his immorality, and that he
would ruin their party, positively refused to assent to the
plan. Cromwell's wife and daughter subsequently exerted
their influence, but in vain *. The latter married a few
months subsequently to a son of Lord Rich, Cromwell
giving her 15,000/. as a fortune.— Thurloe"s State
Papers, vi.
• Morrice's Life and State Papers of the earl of Orrery,
21. Mr. Morrice was his lordship's chaplain, and Burnet
says he had the relation from the carl himself.
18 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
Calais again to England. This was very agreeable to Cromwell, who thought it would recom-
mend him much to the nation, if he could restore that town again to the English empire,
after it had been a hundred years in the hands of the French. Mazarin hearing of this sent
one over to negociate with him, but at first without a character : and, to outbid the Spaniard,
he offered to assist Cromwell to take Dunkirk, which was a place of much more importance.
The prince of Conde sent over likewise to offer Cromwell to turn protestant ; and, if he
would give him a fleet with good troops, he would make a descent in Guienne, where he did
not doubt but that he should be assisted by the protestants ; and that he should so distress
France, as to obtain such conditions for them, and for England, as Cromwell himself should
dictate. Upon this offer Cromwell sent Stoupe round all France to talk with their most
eminent men, to see into their strength, into their present disposition, the oppressions they
lay under, and their inclinations to trust the prince of Conde. He went from Paris down
the Loire, then to Bourdeaux, from thence to Montauban, and across the south of France to
Lyons : he was instructed to talk to them only as a traveller, and to assure them of Crom-
well's zeal and care for them, which he magnified every where. The protestants were then
very much at their ease : for Mazariu, who thought of nothing but to enrich his family, took
care to maintain the edicts better than they had been in any time formerly. So Stoupe re-
turned, and gave Cromwell an account of the ease they were then in, and of their resolution
to be quiet. They had a very bad opinion of the prince of Conde, as a man who sought
nothing but his own greatness, to which they believed that he was ready to sacrifice all his
friends, and every cause that he espoused. This settled Cromwell as to that particular. He
also found that the cardinal had such spies on that prince, that he knew every message that
had passed between them : therefore he would have no farther correspondence with him : he
said upon that to Stoupe, stultus est, et garrulus, et venditur a suis cardinali. That which
determined him afterwards in the choice was this : he found the parties grew so strong
against him at home, that he saw if the king or his brother were assisted by France with an
army of Huguenots to make a descent in England, which was threatened if he should join
with Spain, this might prove very dangerous to him, who had so many enemies at home and
so few friends. This particular consideration, with relation to himself, made great impression
on him ; for he knew the Spaniards could give those princes no strength, nor had they any
protestant subjects to assist them in any such design. Upon this occasion king James told
me, that among other prejudices he had at the protestant religion this was one, that both his
brother and himself, being in many companies in Paris incognito, where they met many pro-
testants, he found they were all alienated from them, and were great admirers of Cromwell :
so he believed they were all rebels in their heart. I answered, that foreigners were no other
way concerned in the quarrels of their neighbours, than to see who could or would assist
them : the coldness they had seen formerly in the court of England with relation to them,
and the zeal which was then expressed, must naturally make them depend on one that seemed
resolved to protect them. As the negociation went on between France and England, Crom-
well would have the king and his brother dismissed the kingdom. Mazarin consented to this ;
for he thought it more honourable that the French king should send them away of his own
accord, than that it should be done pursuant to an article with Cromwell. Great excuses
were made for doing it : they had some money given them, and were sent away loaded with
promises of constant supplies that were never meant to be performed : and they retired to
Cologne ; for the Spaniards were not yet out of hope of gaining Cromwell. But when thai
vanished, they invited them to Brussels, and they settled great appointments on them, in
their way, which was always to promise much, how little soever they could perform. They
also settled a pay for such of the subjects of the three kingdoms as would come and serve
under our princes : but few came, except from Ireland : of these some regiments Were formed.
But though this gave them a great and lasting interest in our court, especially in king James's,
yet they did not much to deserve it.
Before king Charles left Paris he changed his religion, but by whose persuasion is not yet
known : only cardinal de Retz was in the secret, and lord Aubigny had a great hand in it.
It was kept a great secret. Chancellor Hyde had some suspicion of it, but would never suffer
himself to believe it quite. Soon after the restoration that cardinal came over in disguise,
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 40
and had an audience of the king : what passed is not known. The first ground I had to
believe it was this : The marquis de Roucy, who was the man of the greatest family in France
that continued protestant to the last, Avas much pressed by that cardinal to change his
religion : he was his kinsman and his particular friend. Among other reasons one that he
urged was, that the protestant religion must certainly be ruined, and that they could
expect no protection from England, for to his certain knowledge both the princes were
already changed. Roucy told this in great confidence to his minister, who after his death
sent an advertisement of it to myself. Sir Allen Broderick, a great confidant of the chan-
cellor's, who, from being very atheistical, became in the last years of his life an eminent
penitent, as he was a man of great parts, with whom I had lived long in great confidence, on
his death-bed sent me likewise an account of this matter, which he believed was done in Fon-
tainebleau, before king Charles was sent to Cologne. As for king James, it seems he was not
reconciled at that time : for he told me, that being in A monastery in Flanders, a nun desired
him to pray every day that, if he was not in the right way, God would bring him into it.
and he said, the impression these words made on him never left him till he changed.
To return to Cromwell : while he was balancing in his mind what was fit for him to do.
Gage, who had been a priest, came over from the West Indies, and gave him such an account
of the feebleness as well as of the wealth of the Spaniards in those parts, as made him con-
clude that it would be both a great and an easy conquest to seize on their dominions. By
this he reckoned he would be supplied with such a treasure, that his government would be
established before he should need to have any recourse to a parliament for money. Spain
would never admit of a peace with England between the tropics : so he was in a state of
war with them as to those parts, even before he declared war in Europe. He upon that
equipped a fleet with a force sufficient, as he hoped, to have seized Hispaniola and Cuba.
And Gage had assured him, that success in that expedition would make all the rest fall into
his hands. Stoupe, being on another occasion called to his closet, saw him one day very
intent in looking on a map, and in measuring distances. Stoupe saw it was a map of the
Bay of Mexico, and observed who printed it. So, there being no discourse upon that subject,
Stoupe went next day to the printer to buy the map. The printer denied he had printed it.
Stoupe affirmed he had seen it. Then, he said, it must be only in Cromwell's hand ; for he
only had some of the prints, and had given him a strict charge to sell none till he had leave
given him. So Stoupe perceived there was a design that way. And when the time of
setting out the fleet came on, all were in a gaze whither it was to go : some fancied it was to
rob the church of Loretto, which did occasion a fortification to be drawn round it : others
talked of Rome itself ; for Cromwell's preachers had this often in their mouths, that if it
were not for the divisions at home, he would go and sack Babylon : others talked of Cadiz,
though he had not yet broken with the Spaniards. The French could not penetrate into the
secret. Cromwell had not finished his alliance with them : so he was not bound to give them
an account of the expedition. All he said upon it was, that he sent out the fleet to guard
the seas, and to restore England to its dominion on that clement. Stoupe happened to say
in a company, he believed the design was on the West Indies. The Spanish ambassador
hearing that, sent for him vory privately, to ask him upon what ground he said it ; and he
offered to lay down 10,000/. if he could make any discovery of that. Stoupe owned to me,
he had a great mind to the money ; and fancied he betrayed nothing if he did discover the
grounds of these conjectures, since nothing had been trusted to him : but he expected greater
matters from Cromwell, and so kept the secret ; and said only, that in a diversity of
conjectures that seemed to him more probable than any others. But the ambassador made
no account of that ; nor did he think it worth the writing to Don John then at Brussels,
about it.
Stoupe wrote it over as his conjecture to one about the prince of Conde, who, at first hearing
it, was persuaded that must be the design, and went next day to suggest it to Don John :
but Don John relied so much on the ambassador, that this made no impression. And indeed
all the ministers whom he employed knew that they were not to disturb him with trouble-
some news : of which king Charles told a pleasant story. One whom Don John was sending
to some court in Germany coming to the king: to ask his commands, he desired him only to
£
SO A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
write him news : the Spaniard asked him, whether he would have true, or false, news : and,
when the king seemed amazed at the question, he added, if he wrote him true news the king
must be secret, for he knew he must write news to Don John that would be acceptable, true
or false : when the ministers of that court shewed that they would be served in such a manner,
it is no wonder to see how their affairs have declined. This matter of the fleet continued a
great secret. And some months after that, Stoupe being accidentally with Cromwell, one
came from the fleet through Ireland with a letter. The bearer looked like one that brought
no welcome news. And as soon as Cromwell had read the letter, he dismissed Stoupe, who
went immediately to the earl of Leicester, then lord Lisle, and told him what he had seen.
He being of Cromwell's council went to Whitehall, and came back, and told Stoupe of the
descent made on Hispaniola, and of the misfortune that had happened. It was then late, and
was the post night for Flanders. So Stoupe wrote it as news to his correspondent, some
days before the Spanish ambassador knew any thing of it. Don John was amazed at the
news, and had never any regard for the ambassador after that ; but had a great opinion of
Stoupe, and ordered the ambassador to make him theirs at any rate. The ambassador sent
for him, and asked him, now that it appeared he had guessed right, what were his grounds :
and when he told what they were, the ambassador owned he had reason to conclude as he
did upon what he saw. And upon that he made great use of Stoupe : but he himself was
never esteemed after that so much as he had been. This deserved to be set down so par-
ticularly, since by it it appears, that the greatest design may be discovered by an undue care-
lessness. The court of France was amazed at the undertaking, and was glad that it had
miscarried ; for the cardinal said, if he had suspected it, he would have made peace with
Spain on any terms, rather than to have given way to that which would have been such an
addition to England, as must have brought all the wealth of the world into their hands. The
fleet took Jamaica : but that was a small gain, though much magnified to cover the failing
of the main design. The war after that broke out, in which Dunkirk was indeed taken, and
put into Cromwell's hands : but the trade of England suffered more in that, than in any
former war : so he lost the heart of the city of London by that means.
Cromwell had two signal occasions given him to shew his zeal in protecting the protestants
abroad. The duke of Savoy raised a new persecution of the Vaudois : so Cromwell sent
to Mazarin, desiring him to put a stop to that ; adding that he knew well they had that
duke in their power, and could restrain him as they pleased : and if they did not he must
presently break with them. Mazarin objected to this as unreasonable : he promised to do
good offices, but he could not be obliged to answer ibr the effects they might have. This
did not satisfy Cromwell : so they obliged the duke of Savoy to put a stop to that unjust
fury : and Cromwell raised a great sum for the Yaudois, and sent over Morland to settle all
their losses *. There was also a tumult in Nisrncs, in which some disorder had been com-
mitted by the huguenots : and they, apprehending severe proceedings upon it, sent one over with
great expedition to Cromwell, who sent him back to Paris in an hour's time with a very effec-
tual letter to his ambassador, requiring him either to prevail that the matter might be passed
over, or to come away immediately. Mazarin complained of this way of proceeding, as too
imperious : but the necessity of their affairs made him yield. These things raised Cromwell's
character abroad, and made him be much depended on.
His ambassador in France at this time was Lockhart, a Scotchman, who had married his
niece, and was in high favour with him, as he well deserved to be. He was both a wise and
a gallant man, calm and virtuous, and one that carried the generosities of friendship very far.
He was made governor of Dunkirk, and ambassador at the same time. But he told me, that
when he was sent afterwards ambassador by king Charles, he found he had nothing of that
regard that was paid him in Cromwell's time t.
* The Vaudois, or Waldenses, are a most interesting the welfare and diffusion of the reformed religion ; or
people. . They were among the very earliest opponents of from his desire to make England respected as its champion,
the superstitions, errors, and tyranny of the papal see. it was an act that must always obtain for him unqualified
Their persecution began as early as the twelfth century, praise.
See Mosheim, Turner's England and the Middle f Clarendon speaks of general Lockhart in the highest
Ages, Gilly's History of the Waldenses, &c. Whether terms, confessing that he was proof against bribes, and an
Cromwell's charitable interference arose from his anxiety for excellent ambassador.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 51
Stoupe told me of a great design Cromwell had intended to begin his kingship with, if
he had assumed it : he resolved to set up a council for the protestant religion, in opposition
to the congregation de propaganda fide at Rome. He intended it should consist of seven
councillors, and four secretaries for different provinces. These were the first, France, Swit-
zerland, and the Valleys : the Palatinate and other Calvinists were the second : Germany,
the north, and Turkey were the third : and the East and West Indies were the fourth. The
secretaries were to have 500/. salary apiece, and to keep a correspondence every where, to
know the state of religion all over the world, that so all good designs might be by their means
protected and assisted. Stoupe was to have the first province. They were to have a fund
of 10,00(¥. a year at their disposal for ordinary emergencies, but to be farther supplied as
occasions should require it. Chelsea College was to be made up for them, which was then
an old decayed building, that had been at first raised to be a college for writers of contro-
versy *. I thought it was not fit to let such a project as this be quite lost : it was certainly
a noble one : but how far he would have pursued it must be left to conjecture.
Stoupe told me a remarkable passage in his employment under Cromwell. Stoupe had
desired all that were under the prince of Conde to let him know some news, in return of
that he wrote to them. So he had a letter from one of them, giving an account of an Irish-
man newly gone over, who had said he would kill Cromwell, and that he was to lodge in
King-street, Westminster. With this Stoupe went to Whitehall. Cromwell being then at
council, he sent him a note, letting him know that he had a business of great consequence
to lay before him. Cromwell was then upon a matter that did so entirely possess him, that
he, fancying that it was only some piece of foreign intelligence, sent Thurloe to know what it
might be. Stoupe was troubled at this, but could not refuse to shew him his letter. Thurloe
made no great matter of it : he said, they had many such advertisements sent them, which
signified nothing but to make the world think the protector was in danger of his life : and
the looking too much after these things had an appearance of fear, which did ill become so
great a man. Stoupe told him, King-street might be soon searched. Thurloe answered, if
we find no such person, how shall we be laughed at ? Yet he ordered him to write again to
Brussels, and promise any reward if a more particular discovery could be made. Stoupe was
much cast down, when he saw that a piece of intelligence which he hoped might have made
his fortune was so little considered. He wrote to Brussels : but he had no more from thence,
but a confirmation of what had been written formerly to him. And Thurloe did not think fit
to make any search, or any farther inquiry into it : nor did he so much as acquaint Cromwell
with it. Stoupe, being uneasy at this, told lord Lisle of it : and it happened that, a few
weeks after, Syndercomb's design of assassinating Cromwell near Brentford, as he was going
to Hampton-court, was discovered. When he was examined, it appeared that he was the
person set out in the letters from Brussels. So Lisle said to Cromwell, this is the very man
of whom Stoupe had the notice given him. Cromwell seemed amazed at this ; and sent for
Stoupe, and in great wrath reproached him for his ingratitude in concealing a matter of such
consequence to him. Stoupe upon this showed him the letters he had received ; and put him
in mind of the note he had sent in to him, which was immediately after he had the first
letter, and that he had sent out Thurloe to him. At that Cromwell seemed yet more amazed ;
and sent for Thurloe, to whose face Stoupe affirmed the matter : nor did he deny any part of
it ; but only said, that he had many such advertisements sent him, in which till this time he
had never found any truth. Cromwell replied sternly, that he ought to have acquainted him with
it, and left him to judge of the importance of it. Thurloe desired to speak in private with
Cromwell. So Stoupe was dismissed, and went away not doubting but Thurloe would be dis-
graced. But as he understood from Lisle afterward, Thurloe showed Cromwell such instances
)f his care and fidelity on all such occasions, and humbly acknowledged his error in this
latter, but imputed it wholly to his care both for his honour and quiet, that he pacified him
itirely : and indeed he was so much in all Cromwell's secrets, that it was not safe to disgrace
* Chelsea College was founded by Dr. Sutcliffe, dean Tin's led Wilson into the error of saying that the arch-
Exeter. He intended that it should consist of a bishop induced the king to found it. After the former's
n-ost and twenty fellows. Kcnnet's Complete Hist, death it was neglected, the king "wisely considering that
England, ii. 685. Archbishop Bancroft proposed to be nothing begets more contention than opposition." — Wil-
bcncfactor, and urged James I. to be its active patron, son's James I., 53.
E2
52 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
him without destroying him • and that it seems Cromwell could not resolve on. Tlmrloe
having mastered this point, that he might farther justify his not being so attentive as he
ought to have been, did so much search into Stoupe's whole deportment, that he possessed
Cromwell witli such an ill opinion of him, that after that he never treated him with any con-
fidence. So he found how dangerous it was even to preserve a prince, (so he called him)
when a minister was wounded in the doing of it : and that the minister would be too hard
for the prince, even though his own safety was concerned in it.
These are all the memorable things that I have learnt concerning Cromwell ; of whom so
few have spoken with any temper, some commending and others condemning him, and both
out of measure, that I thought a just account of him, which I had from sure hands, might
be no unacceptable thing. He never could shake off the roughness of his education and
temper : he spoke always long, and very ungracefully. The enthusiast and the dissembler
mixed so equally in a great part of his deportment, 'that it was not easy to tell which was
the prevailing character. He was indeed both, as I understood from "Wilkins and Tillotson,
the one having married his sister, and the other his niece. He was a true enthusiast, but with
the principle formerly mentioned, from which he might be easily led into all the practices
both of falsehood and cruelty : which was, that he thought moral laws were only binding on
ordinary occasions, but that upon extraordinary ones these might be superseded. When his
own designs did not lead him out of the way, he wTas a lover of justice and virtue, and even
of learning, though much decried at that time.
He studied to seek out able and honest men, and to employ them : and so having heard
that my father had a very great reputation in Scotland for piety and integrity, though he
knew him to be a royalist, he sent to hi n, desiring him to accept of a judge's place, and to
do justice in his own country, hoping only that he would not act against his government ;
but he would not press him to subscribe, or swear, to it. My father refused it in a pleasant
way. When he who brought the message was running out into Cromwell's commendation,
my father told a story of a pilgrim in popery, who came to a church where one saint Kil-
maclotius was in great reverence : so the pilgrim was bid pray to him : but he answered, he
knew nothing of him, for he was not in his breviary : but when he was told how great a
saint he was, he prayed this collect ; " 0 sancte Kilmacloti, tu nobis hactenus es mcognitus, hoc
sol tun a te rogo, ut si l>ona tua nobis non prosint, saltern mala ne noccant" My father replied,
that he desired no other favour of him but leave to live privately, without the impositions of
oaths and subscriptions : and ever after lie lived in great quiet. And this was an instance of
it : Overton. one of Cromwell's major generals, who was a high republican, being for some
time at Aberdeen, where we then lived, my father and he were often together : in particulai
they were shut up alone for about two hours the night after the order came from Cromwell
to take away Overton's commissions, and to put him in arrest. Upon that Howard, after-
ward earl of Carlisle, being sent down to inquire into all the plots that those men had been
in, heard of this long privacy : but, when with that he heard what my father's character was,
he made no farther inquiry into it ; but said Cromwell was very uneasy when any good man
was questioned for any thing.
This gentleness had in a great measure quieted people's minds with relation to him. And
his maintaining the honour of the nation in all foreign countries gratified the vanity which
is very natural to Englishmen ; of which he was so careful, that though he was not a
crowned head, yet his ambassadors had all the respects paid them which our kings' ambas-
sadors ever had : he said, the dignity of the crown was upon the account of the nation, of
which the king was only the representative head ; so the nation being still the same, he would
have the same regards paid to his ministers.
Another instance of this pleased him much. Blake with the fleet happened to be at
Malaga before he made war upon Spain : and some of his seamen went ashore, and met the
hostie carried about ; and not only paid no respect to it, but laughed at those who did ; so
one of the priests put the people on resenting this indignity ; and they fell upon them, and
beat them severely. When they returned to their ship they complained of this usage ; and
upon that Blake sent a trumpet to the viceroy, to demand the priest who was the chief
instrument in that ill usage. The viceroy answered, he had no authority over the priests,
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 53
and so could not dispose of him. Blake upon that sent him word, tnat he would not inquire
who had the power to send the priest to him, but if he were not sent within three hours he
would burn their town : and they, being in no condition to resist him, sent the priest to him,
who justified himself upon the petulant behaviour of the seamen. Blake answered, that if
he had sent a complaint to him of it, he would have punished them severely, since he would
not suffer his men to affront the established religion of any place at which he touched : but
he took it ill, that he set on the Spaniards to do it ; for he would have all the world to know,
that an Englishman was only to be punished by an Englishman : and so he treated the priest
civilly, and sent him back, being satisfied that he had him at his mercy.
Cromwell was much delighted with this, and read the letters in council with great satis-
faction ; and said, he hoped he should make the name of an Englishman as great as ever
that of a Roman had been. The States of Holland were in such dread of him, that they
took care to give him no sort of umbrage : and when at any time the king, or his brothers,
came to see their sister, the princess royal, within a day or two after they used to send a
deputation to let them know, that Cromwell had required of the States that they should
give them no harbour. King Charles, when he was seeking for colour for the war with the
Dutch in the year 1672, urged it for one, that they suffered some of his rebels to live in their
provinces. Borel, then their ambassador, answered, that it was a maxim of long standing
among them, not to inquire upon what account strangers came to live in their country, but
to receive them all, unless they had been concerned in conspiracies against the persons of
princes. The king told him upon that, how they had used both himself and his brother. Borel,
in great simplicity, answered : " Ah ! sire, c'etoit une autre chose : Cromwell etoit un grand
homme, et il se faisoit craindre par terre et par mer." This was very rough. The king's
answer was : " Je me ferai craindre aussi a mon tour ." But he was scarce as good as his word.
Cromwell's favourite alliance was with Sweden. Carolus Gustavus and he lived in great
conjunction of counsels. Even Algernon Sydney, who was not inclined to think or speak
well of kings, commended him to me ; and said, he had just notions of public liberty ; and
added, that Queen Christina seemed to have them likewise. But she was much changed
from that, when I waited on her at Rome ; for she complained of us as a factious nation, that
did not readily comply with the commands of our princes. All Italy trembled at the name
of Cromwell, and seemed under a panic, as long as he lived. His fleet scoured the Mediter-
ranean ; and the Turks durst not offend him ; but delivered up Hyde, who kept up the
character of an ambassador from the king there, and was brought over and executed for it *.
The putting the brother of the king of Portugal's ambassador to death for murder, waa
carrying justice very far ; since, though in the strictness of the law of nations, it is only tba
ambassador's own person that is exempted from any authority but his master's that sends
him, yet the practice had gone in favour of all that the ambassador owned to belong to him f.
* Cromwell was only acting as became the head of the their talents and Stuart loyalty. They were cousins of
executive of England, when he brought Sir Henry Hyde Lord Chancellor Clarendon. — Wood's Athena?, lOxon.
to trial, and sanctioned his execution. In that capacity ii. 1152, fol. ed.
he had to maintain the honour and interests of this "f Burnet is wrong in considering this was an outstretch
country. Though protector in name, he was king de of the law. An ambassador himself, if he commit a
facto, as such it was his province to depute ambassadors felony or any other crime, contra jus gentium, loses his
to foreign courts ; and he had sent Sir Thomas fiendish privilege, and may be punished in the country where he
in that capacity to Constantinople. Charles the Second, perpetrates the offence without being remanded to hia
regardless of the law of nations, which declares that no sovereign. — Coke's 4 Institute, 153. A fortiori, an
prince deprived of his dominions is entitled to appoint ambassador's brother, not even belonging to his suite, but
ambassadors, sent Sir Henry Hyde to the Ottoman court, who, as Clarendon states, accompanied him " out of
Upon his arrival, he assumed the power to discharge Sir curiosity," is not protected from our laws if he commits
Thomas Bendish from his office ; entered into plans for a deliberate murder. This was the case with Don Panta-
seizing the goods of the English merchants for the use of Icon Sa, alluded to in the text. Having quarrelled with
the ex-king, and did other acts injurious to the interests, a gentleman upon the Exchange, and being worsted in the
and treasonable against the government of this country, encounter, he returned the day following with an armed
Cromwell demanded that he should be given up, and upon retinue, and killed a gentleman, whom he mistook for hia
his arrival in this country, he was tried, and executed, previous-day's adversary. His brother, the Portuguese
This was in 1650. The scaffold was erected before the ambassador, made every effort to protect him from the
Royal Exchange, doubtless as a notice to the mercantile consequences, but without avail. Cromwell's immoveable
world, that the government was sensibly alive to, and reso- answer was, " Justice must be done." He was beheaded
lute to protect, our commercial interests. Sir Henry on Tower Hill in July, 1654. — Clarendon's Hist, of
Hyde was one of eleven brothers, all distinguished for Rebellion, iii. 385. Philip's Baker's Chron. 535.
54 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
Cromwell shewed his good understanding in nothing more, than in seeking out capable and
worthy men for all employments, but most particularly for the courts of law, which gave a
general satisfaction.
Thus he lived, and at last died, on his auspicious * third of September, of so slight a sick-
ness, that his death was not looked for. He had two sons, and four daughters. His sons
were weak, but honest men. Richard, the eldest, though declared protector in pursuance of
a nomination pretended to be made by Cromwell, the truth of which was much questioned,
was not at all bred for business, nor indeed capable of it. He was innocent of all the ill his
father had done : so there was no prejudice lay against him : and both the royalists and
the presbyterians fancied he favoured them, though he pretended to be an independent. But
all the commonwealth party cried out upon his assuming the protectorship, as a high usurpa-
tion ; since whatever his father had from his parliaments was only personal, and so fell with
him : yet in opposition to this, the city of London, and all the counties and cities almost in
England, sent him addresses congratulatory, as well as condoling. So little do these pompous
appearances of respect signify. Tillotson told me, that a week after Cromwell's death, he,
being by accident at Whitehall, and hearing there was to be a fast that day in the house-
hold, out of curiosity went into the presence chamber where it was held. On the one side of
a table, Richard with the rest of Cromwell's family were placed, and six of the preachers
were on the other side : Thomas Goodwin, Owen, Carril and Sterry were of the number.
There he heard a great deal of strange stuff', enough to disgust a man for ever of that enthu-
siastic boldness. God was, as it were, reproached with Cromwell's services, and challenged
for taking him away so soon. Goodwin, who had pretended to assure them in a prayer that
he was not to die, which was but a very few minutes before he expired, had now the impu-
dence to say to God, " Thou hast deceived us, and we were deceived." Sterry, praying for
Richard, used those indecent words, next to blasphemy, " Make him the brightness of the
father's glory, and the express image of his person." Richard was put on giving his father
a pompous funeral, by which his debts increased so upon him, that he was soon run out of
all credit. "When the parliament met, his party tried to get a recognition of his protector-
ship : but it soon appeared, they had no strength to carry it. Fleetwood, who married
Ireton's widow, set up a council of officers : and these resolved to lay aside Richard, w+ho
had neither genius nor friends, neither treasure nor army, to support him. He desired only
security for the debts he had contracted ; which was promised, but not performed. And so
without any struggle he withdrew, and became a private man. And as he had done hurt to
nobody, so nobody did ever study to hurt him ; a rare instance of the instability of human
greatness, and of the security of innocence. His brother had been made by the father, lieu-
tenant of Ireland, and had the more spirit of the two ; but he could not stand his ground,
when his brother quitted. One of Cromwell's daughters was married to Claypole, and
died a little before himself : another was married to the earl of Falconbridge, a wise and
worthy woman, more likely to have maintained the post than either of her brothers ; accord-
ing to a saying that went of her, " that those who wore breeches deserved petticoats better,
but if those in petticoats had been in breeches, they would have held faster." The other
daughter was married, first to the earl of Warwick's heir, and afterwards to one Russel.
They were both very worthy persons t.
Upon Richard's leaving the stage, the Commonwealth was again set up ; and the parlia-
ment which Cromwell had broken was brought together : but the army and they fell into
new disputes : so they were again broken by the army ; and upon that the nation was like
to fall into great convulsions. The enthusiasts became very fierce, and talked of nothing
but the destroying all the records and the law, which they said had been all made by a
succession of tyrants and papists : so they resolved to model all anew by a levelling, and a
* It may well be called Auspicious, since on that day a desideratum. All tho modern ones are unworthy copies
he had defeated the Scotch at Dunbar, and the next year of unworthy predecessors. They are the plagiarists of
the king at Worcester. —Note by Author's Son. plagiaries; devoid of the very essential requisites, aknow-
f The most comprehensive notice respecting Cromwell ledge of genuine authorities, and a perseverance in exa-
and his family, is in Noble's " Memoirs of the House of mining them. Godwin's " History of the Common-
Cromwell;" but a good history of the Protectorate is yet wealth," is only partially exempt from this censure.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 55
spiritual government of the saints. There was so little sense in this, that Nevil and
Harrington, with some others, set up in Westminster a meeting, to consider of a form of
government that should secure liberty, and yet preserve the nation. They ran chiefly on
having a parliament elected by ballot, in which the nation should be represented according
to the proportion of what was paid in taxes, towards the public expense ; and by this
parliament a council of twenty-four was to be chosen by ballot : and every year eight of
these were to be changed, and might not again be brought into it, but after an interval of
three years. By these the nation was to be governed ; and they were to give an account
of the administration to the parliament every year. This meeting was a matter of diversion
and scorn, to see a few persons take upon them to form a scheme of government ; and it
made many conclude, it was necessary to call home the king, that so matters might again
fall into their old channel * Lambert became the man on whom the army depended most.
Upon his forcing the parliament, great applications were made to Monk to declare for the
parliament; but under this the declaring for the king was generally understood. Yet he
kept himself under such a reserve, that he declared all the while, in the most solemn manner,
for a commonwealth, and against a single person, in particular against the king ; so that
none had any ground from him to believe he had any design that way. Some have thought
that he intended to try, if it was possible, to set up for himself; others rather believed, that
he had no settled design any way, and resolved to do as occasion should be offered to him.
The Scotch nation did certainly hope he would bring home the king. He drew the greatest
part of the army towards the borders, where Lambert advanced towards him with seven
thousand horse. Monk was stronger in foot, but being apprehensive of engaging on disad-
vantage, he sent Clarges to the lord Fairfax for his advice and assistance, who returned
answer by Dr. Fairfax, afterwards secretary to the archbishop of Canterbury, and assured
him he would raise Yorkshire on the first of January. And he desired him to press upon
Lambert, in case that he should send a detachment into Yorkshire. On the first of January,
Fairfax appeared with about one hundred gentlemen and their servants ; but so much did he
still maintain his great credit with the army, that the night after, the Irish brigade, that
consisted of twelve hundred horse, and was the rear of Lambert's army, came over to him.
* The most distinguished and influential republicans Neville, was a man of good talents, cultivated and improved
of the period were Algernon Sydney, Henry Neville, Henry by a liberal education and travelling. He sided with the
Martin, John Wildman, and James Harrington. A par- presbyterians at the commencement of the civil war; but
ticular notice of any but Neville and Harrington, is from his intercourse with Charles the First at Newcastle,
deferred to future pages ; further than to remark that they acquired such a regard for bis majesty, that when the latter
were all enthusiastic sufferers in defence of their principles, offered him the post of attendant in his bedchamber, he
and, excepting Martin, were distinguished as virtuous men. readily accepted it. He attended the king in his last hour
They have left us their deliberate opinions and projects of of trial. Notwithstanding this attachment and fidelity to
government recorded ; and these are testimonies that their his royal master, he always maintained his opinions in
object was to secure the freedom and happiness of their favour of a democracy. At the restoration, he was corn-
country. Their political regulations are founded upon mitted to prison, but becoming insane, he obtained his
too favourable an estimate of human nature ; and, like release. He died in 1677.
Plato's "Republic," and More's "Utopia," might be The Rota Club was founded in 1659, by these two
practicable, if man was devoid of evil. Those who wish politicians. It was held at an inn, then called the Turk's
to understand the developed principles of these well-mean- Head, in New Palace Yard ; it is still an hotel (Oliver's),
ing, though mistaken men, will find them in Sydney's at the corner next the river. Besides the two founders,
" Discourses upon Government ;" Neville's "Plato Redi- there were among its members Cyriack Skinner, a disciple
vivus;" and Harrington's " Commonwealth of Oceana." of Milton; Major John Wildman; Charles Wolseley, of
Martin's degraded ideas of liberty and a republic, are Staffordshire ; Roger Coke ; William Poultney, afterwards
related in his " England's Troubles Troubled." Sir Henry knighted ; and many others. They had public debates,
Vane, the younger, nicknamed Sir Humorous Vanity, and ballotings upon the best form of government, and the
was also a republican, but he was so wild, and protean, that regulation of a commonwealth. Wood says, " (heir dis-
he was not of much weight with the party. His opinions courses were the most ingenious and smart that ever were
are recorded in his " Life and Death, &c." heard, compared with them the arguments in the parlia-
Ncville was the son of a knight residing in Berkshire, mentary house were flat." The club lasted no longer than
He was travelling on the Continent during the civil war; the commencement of 1660. The restoration dissolved it.
but he obtained a seat in the long parliament, and.was one Their favourite model of a House of Commons, and which
of the " council of state ;" but Cromwell, finding him a Neville actually proposed in his place as a member of
etern opposer, soon displaced him. He was an uncompro- parliament, was, that a third part of its members should
missing republican. He was imprisoned at the restoration, be balloted out in rotation every year. No magistrate
but being released, he lived unnoticed, and died in 1694. — was to continue in office more than three years, and all of
Wood's Athenae Oxon. iii. 918, fol. edit. them to be chosen by ballot. — Wood's Athente Oxon.
Harrington was a native of Northamptonshire, and, like ii. 591, fol. edit. Biog. Britan. in vitA, Harrington.
flG A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
Upon that Lambert retreated, finding his army was so little sure to him, and resolved to
march back to London. He was followed by Monk, who when he came to Yorkshire, met
with Fairfax, and offered to resign the chief command to him. The lord Fairfax refused it,
but pressed Monk to declare for a free parliament : yet in that he was so reserved to him.
that Fairfax knew not how to depend on him. But as Lambert was making haste up, his
army mouldered away, and he himself was brought up a prisoner, and was put in the Tower
of London. Yet not long after he made his escape, and gathered a few troops about him in
Northamptonshire. But these were soon scattered ; for Ingoldsby, though one of the king's
judges, raised Buckinghamshire against him : and so little force seemed now in that party,
that with very little opposition Ingoldsby took him prisoner, and brought him into North-
ampton ; where Lambert, as Ingoldsby told me, entertained him with a pleasant reflection
for all his misfortunes. The people were in great crowds applauding and rejoicing for the
success. So Lambert put Ingoldsby in mind of what Cromwell had said to them both, near
that very place, in the year 1650, when they, with a body of the officers, were going down
after their army that was marching to Scotland, the people all the while shouting and wishing
them success : Lambert upon that said to Cromwell, he was glad to see they had the nation
on their side : Cromwell answered, " do not trust to that, for these very persons would shout
as much if you and I were going to be hanged." Lambert said, he looked on himself as in a
fair way to that, and began to think Cromwell prophesied *.
Upon the dispersing Lambert's army, Monk marched southward, and was now the object
of all men's hope. At London all sorts of people began to cabal together, royalists, presby-
terians, and republicans. Hollis told me, the presbyterians pressed the royalists to be
quiet, and to leave the game in their hands ; for their appearing would give jealousy, and
hurt that which they meant to promote. He and Ashley Cooper, Grimstone and Annesiey,
met often with Manchester, Roberts, and the rest of the presbyterian party : and the
ministers of London were very active in the city ; so that when Monk came up, he was
pressed to declare himself. At first he would only declare for the parliament that Lambert
had forced ; but there was then a great fermentation all over the nation. Monk and the
parliament grew jealous of one another, even while they tried who could give the best wrords,
and express their confidence in the highest terms of one another. I will pursue the relation
of this transaction no farther ; fof this matter is well known t.
The king had gone, in autumn 1659, to the meeting at the Pyrenees, where cardinal
Mazarin and Don Lewis de Haro were negociating a peace. He applied himself to both
sides, to try what assistance he might expect upon their concluding the peace. It was then
known that he went to mass sometimes, that so he might recommend himself the more effec-
tually to both courts ; yet this was carried secretly, and was confidently denied. Mazarin
still talked to Lockhart upon the foot of the old confidence ; for he went thither to watch
over the treaty ; though England was now in such convulsions, that no minister from thence
could be much considered, unless it was upon his own account. But matters were ripening
so fast towards a revolution in England, that the king came back to Flanders in all haste,
and went from thence to Breda. Lockhart had it in his power to have made a great fortune,
* This was not the case. He was, as is stated in a enough to yield, and to take the lead, when they observe
subsequent page of the text, put into prison at the Restora- it would be useless tc oppose. That three of them were
tion, and continued there for many years. He was, in fact, actuated by disinterested loyalty, can never be demon-
tried, and condemned to be executed, but was pardoned, strated ; and if it could, would be only at the expense of
and died an exile in Guernsey, after remaining there their honour and sworn truth; for but a few months
more than thirty years. — Graiuger's Biograph. Hist, before the restoration of Charles the Second, they had
iv. 2. bound themselves by oath to maintain the cause of his
•f- For information on this point, the reader will do well opponents. Probably they would have maintained this
to consult Clarendon's " History of the Rebellion" and cause if the voice of the people had been raised in its
" Auto-biography ;" Sir Philip Warwick's " Memoirs ;" favour : they intrigued with both parties to the very last,
and the biographies of Monk, Ashley Cooper, Montague, and did not finally display their purple favour until they
and Annesiey. After the perusal of these and of many felt certain that it was most generally esteemed. Dr. Well-
of the private letters of this period, I cannot but think that wood was a contemporary, and this was his opinion of the
these statesmen deserve no more applause for the parts duke of Albemarle. His observations and anecdotes are
they acted in the restoration than is due to men who, worth reading. See his " Memoirs." Burnet, it will be
seeing the direction taken by public opinion, are discreet seen, in the next page, thought similarly.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 57
if he had begun first, and had brought the king to Dunkirk. As soon as the peace of the
Pyrenees was made, he came over and found Monk at London, and took all the pains he could
to penetrate into his designs. But Monk continued still to protest to him in the solemnest
manner possible, that he would be true to the commonwealth, and against the royal family.
Loekhart went away, persuaded that matters would continue still in the same state : so that
when his old friend Middleton wrote to him to make his own terms, if he would invite the
king to Dunkirk, he said, he was trusted by the commonwealth, and could not betray it.
The House of Commons put Monk on breaking the gates of the city of London, not
doubting but that would render him so odious to them, that it would force him to depend
wholly on themselves. He did it, and soon after he saw how odious he was become by it.
So, conceiving a high indignation at those who had put him on such an ungracious piece of
service, he sent about all that night to the ministers and other active citizens, assuring them
that he would quickly repair that error, if they would forgive it. So the turn was sudden,
for the city sent and invited him to dine the next day at Guildhall ; and there he declared
for the members whom the army had forced away in the year forty-seven and forty-eight,
who were known by the name of secluded members. And some happening to call the body
that then sat at Westminster the rump of a parliament, a sudden humour ran like a mad-
ness through the whole city, of roasting the rumps of all sorts of animals * : and thus the
city expressed themselves sufficiently. Those at Westminster had no support ; so they fell
unpitied, and unregarded. The secluded members came, and sat down among them ; but all
they could do was to give orders for the summoning a new parliament, to meet the first of
May : and so they declared themselves dissolved.
There was still a murmuring in the army. So great care was taken to scatter them in
wide quarters, and not to suffer too many of those who were still for the old cause, to lie
near one another. The well and the ill-affected were so mixed, that in case of any insur-
rection some might be ready at hand to assist them. They changed the officers,that were ill-
affected, who were not thought fit to be trusted with the commanding those of their own
stamp ; and so created a mistrust between the officers and the soldiers. And above all they
took care to have no more troops than was necessary about the city : and those were the best
affected. This was managed with great diligence and skill : and by this conduct it was, that
the great turn was brought about without the least tumult, or bloodshed ; which was beyond
what any person could have imagined. Of all this Monk had both the praise and the
reward : though I have been told a very small share of it belonged to him. Admiral
Montague was then in chief command at sea, newly returned from the Sound, where he and
De Ruyter, upon the orders they received from their masters, had brought the two northern
kings to a peace, the king of Sweden dying as it was making up. He was soon gained to be
for the king ; and dealt so effectually with the whole fleet, that the turn there was as silently
brought about, without any revolt or opposition, as it had been in the army. The repub-
licans went about like madmen, to rouse up their party. But their time was past. All were
either as men amazed, or asleep. They had neither the skill, nor the courage, to make any
opposition. The elections of parliament men ran all the other way. So they saw their
business was quite lost, and they felt themselves struck as with a spirit of giddiness. And
then every man thought only how to save, or secure himself. And now they saw how
deceitful the argument from success was, which they had used so oft, and triumphed so much
upon. For whereas success in the field, which was the foundation of their argument,
depended much upon the conduct and courage of armies, in which the will of man had a
large share, here was a thing of another nature : a nation, that had run on long in such a
fierce opposition to the royal family, was now turned as one man to call home the king.
The nation had one great happiness during the long course of the civil war, that no
This is entirely confirmed by Clarendon. The pendency, says the remnant of the parliament was so
origin of the epithet riimp, as is the case of many other called, because it was " a fag-end, having corrupt maggots
lick -names, is now uncertain. Like the modern party in it:" — and Clarendon says, it obtained the name because
abriquets conservative and destructive, it was probably it was like the fag-end of a carcase long dead. Sir Philip
plied adventitiousiy ; and, as Burnet seems to imply, Warwick says, it was called " the rump, or tail of the
is popularly adopted. Walker, in his History of Inde- long parliament." — Memoirs, 393.
58 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
foreigners had got footing among them. Spain was sinking to nothing : France was under a
base-spirited minister*: and both were in war all the while. Now a peace was made
between them. And very probably, according to what is in Mazarin's letters, they would
have joined forces to have restored the king. The nation was by these means entirely in its
own hands : and now, returning to its wits, was in a condition to put every thing in joint
again : whereas, if foreigners had been possessed of any important place, they might have
had a large share of the management, and would have been sure of taking care of themselves.
Enthusiasm was now languid : for that, owing its mechanical force to the liveliness of the
blood and spirits, men in disorder and depressed could not raise in themselves those heats,
with which they were formerly wont to transport themselves and others. Chancellor Hyde
was all this while very busy : he sent over Dr. Morley, who talked much with the presby-
terians of moderation in general, but would enter into no particulars : only he took care
to let them know he was a calvinist : and they had the best opinion of such of the church
of England as were of that persuasion. Hyde wrote in the king's name to all the leading
men, and got the king to write a great many letters in a very obliging manner. Some that
had been faulty sent over considerable presents, with assurances that they would redeem all
that was past with their zeal for the future. These were all accepted. Their money was
also very welcome ; for the king needed money when his matters were on that crisis and he
had so many tools at work. The management of all this was so entirely the chancellor's
single performance, that there was scarce any other that had so much as a share in it with
him. He kept a register of all the king's promises, and of his own ; and did all that lay in
his power afterwards to get them all to be performed. He was also all that while giving the
king many wise and good advices. But he did it too much with the air of a governor, or of
a lawyer. Yet then the king was wholly in his hands.
I need not open the scene of the new parliament, (or convention, as it came afterwards to
be called, because it was not summoned by the king's writ,) such unanimity appeared in
their proceedings, that there was not the least dispute among them, but upon one single
point : yet that was a very important one- Hale, afterwards the famous chief justice,
moved that a committee might be appointed to look into the propositions that had been made,
and the concessions that had been offered by the late king during the war, particularly at the
treaty of Newport, that from thence they might digest such propositions as they should think
fit to be sent over to the king. This was seconded, but I do not remember by whom. It was
foreseen that such a motion might be set on foot : so Monk was instructed how to answer it,
whensoever it should be proposed. He told the house, that there was yet, beyond all men's
hope, an universal quiet over the nation ; but there were many incendiaries still on the watch,
trying where they could first raise the flame. He said, he had such copious informations sent
him of these things, that it was not fit they should be generally known : he could not answer
for the peace, either of the nation, or of the army, if any delay was put to the sending for
the king : what need was there of sending propositions to him ? Might they not as well
prepare them, and offer them to him, when he should come over ? He was to bring neither
army nor treasure with him, either to fright them, or to corrupt them. So he moved, that
they would immediately send commissioners to bring over the king : and said, that he must
lay the blame of all the blood, or mischief, that might follow, on the heads of those, who
should still insist on any motion that might delay the present settlement of the nation. This
was echoed with such a shout over the house that the motion was no more insisted on t.
* Cardinal Mazarin. ing, and engenders suspicion of all public sincerity, to know
•f* Sir Matthew Hale proposed that the articles offered to that such men as sir Harbottle Grimstone, the opponent
the king should be in the spirit of those signed by Henry of monarchy and episcopacy under Charles the First, could
the third, at Kenil worth. It is in the appendix to the bring himself to utter such despicable sycophantic Ian-
statutes at large as the " Dictum de Kenilworth ; " and guage as that which he used upon the prospect of the
pledges the king to good government, and pardon to those return of that monarch's son. This was a part of his con-
\vho had been in arms against him. Although negatived, sistent paean. — " Our bells and our bonfires have already
yet Hale's motion was debated during two days. — began the proclamation of his majesty's goodness, and of
Chandler's Debates, i. 7. Popular inconstancy is com- our joys. We have told the people, Our king, the glory
mon to a proverb, therefore it is no wonder that the of England, is coming home again, and they have re-
same vulgar throats should give vent to welcoming shouts sounded back 5nx>ur ears, we are ready, our hearts are
for the second Charles and for Cromwell ; but it is sickeu- ready to receive him.""
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 59
This was indeed the great service that Monk did. It was chiefly owing to the post he was
in, and to the credit he had gained : for as to the restoration itself, the tide ran so strong,
that he only went into it dexterously enough, to get much fame, and great rewards, for that
which will have still a great appearance in history. If he had died soon after, he might have
been more justly admired, because less known, and seen only in one advantageous light : but
he lived long enough to make it known, how false a judgment men are apt to make upon
outward appearance. To the king's coming in without conditions may be well imputed all
the errors of his reign. And when the earl of Southampton came to see what he was like to
prove, he said once in great wrath to chancellor Hyde, it was to him they owed all they either
felt or feared : for if he had not possessed them in all his letters wTith such an opinion of the
king, they would have taken care to have put it out of his power either to do himself, or them,
any mischief, which was like to be the effect of their trusting him so entirely. Hyde
answered, that he thought the king had so true a judgment, and so much good nature, that
when the age of pleasure should be over, and the idleness of his exile, which made him seek
new diversions for want of other employment, was turned to an obligation to mind affairs,
then he would have shaken off those entanglements. I must put my reader in mind, that I
leave all common transactions to ordinary books. If at any time I say things that occur in
any books, it is partly to keep the thread of the narration in an unentangled method, and
partly, because I neither have heard nor read those things in books ; or at least, I do not
remember to have read them so clearly, and so particularly, as I have related them. I now
leave a mad and confused scene, to open a more august and splendid one.
00 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
BOOK II.
OF THE FIRST TWELVE YEARS OF THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES II. FROM THE YEAR 1600
TO THE YEAR 1673.
DIVIDE king Charles's reign into two books, not so much
because, consisting of twenty-four years, it fell, if divided at all,
naturally to put twelve years in a book : but I have a much
better reason for it, since as to the first twelve years, though I
knew the affairs of Scotland very authentically, yet I had only
such a general knowledge of the affairs of England as I could
pick up at a distance : whereas I lived so near the scene, and
had indeed such a share in several parts of it, during the last
twelve years, that I can write of these with much more
certainty, as well as more fully, than of the first twelve. I
will, therefore, enlarge more particularly, within the compass that I have fixed for this book,
on the affairs of Scotland ; both out of the inbred love that all men have for their native
country, and more particularly, that I may leave some useful instructions to those of my
own order and profession, by representing to them the conduct of the bishops of Scotland :
for having observed with more than ordinary niceness all the errors that were committed,
both at the first setting up of episcopacy, and in the whole progress of its continuance in
Scotland, till it was again overturned there, I am enabled to set all that matter in a full view,
and in a clear light.
As soon as it was fixed that the king was to be restored, a great many went over to make
their court : among these Sharp, who was employed by the resolutioners of Scotland, was
one. He carried with him a letter from the earl of Glencairn to Hyde, made soon after
earl of Clarendon, recommending him as the only person capable to manage the design of
setting up episcopacy in Scotland : upon which he was received into great confidence. Yet,
as he had observed very carefully the success of Monk's solemn protestations against the king
for a commonwealth, it seems he was so pleased with the original that he resolved to copy
after it, without letting himself be diverted from it by scruples : for he stuck neither at solemn
protestations, both by word of mouth and by letters, (of which I have seen many proofs,)
nor at appeals to God of his sincerity in acting, for the presbytery, both in prayers and on
other occasions, joining with these many dreadful imprecations on himself if he did pre-
varicate. He was all the while maintained by the presbyterians as their agent, and continued
to give them a constant account of the progress of his negociation in their service, while he
was indeed undermining it. This piece of craft was so visible, he having repeated his pro-
testations to as many persons as then grew jealous of him, that when he threw off the mask,
about a year after this, it laid a foundation of such a character of him, that nothing could
ever bring people to any tolerable thoughts of a man, whose dissimulation and treachery were
so well known, and of which so many proofs were to be seen under his own hand.
*4t / With the restoration of the king, a spirit of extravagant joy spread over the nation, that
brought on with it the throwing off the very professions of virtue and piety : all ended in
entertainments and drunkenness, which over-ran the three kingdoms to such a degree, that it
very much corrupted all their morals. Under the colour of drinking the king's health, there
were great disorders and much riot every where : and the pretences of religion, both in those
of the hypocritical sort, and of the more honest but no less pernicious enthusiasts, gave great
advantages, as well as they furnished much matter to the profane mockers of true pietyy-
Those who had been concerned in the former transactions thought they could not redeem
themselves from the censures and jealousies that those brought on them, by any method that
was moro sure and more easy, than by going into the stream and laughing at all religion,
OF KING CHARLES II. 61
telling, or making, stories to expose both themselves, and their party, as impious and
ridiculous *.
The king was then thirty years of age, and, as might have been supposed, past the levities
of youth arid the extravagance of pleasure. He had a very good understanding. He knew
well the state of affairs both at home and abroad. He had a softness of temper that charmed
all who came near him, till they found how little they could depend on good looks, kind
words, and fair promises ; in which he was liberal to excess, because he intended nothing by
them, but to get rid of importunities, and to silence all farther pressing upon him. He
seemed to have no sense of religion : both at prayers and sacrament, he, as it were, took care
to satisfy people, that he was in no sort concerned in that about which he was employed. So
that he was very far from being a hypocrite, unless his assisting at those performances was a
sort of hypocrisy (as no doubt it was) : but he was sure not to increase that, by any the least
appearance of religion. He said once to myself, he was no atheist, but he could not think
God wTould make a man miserable, only for taking a little pleasure out of the way. He dis-
guised his popery to the last. But when he talked freely, he could not help letting himself
out against the liberty, that, under the reformation, all men took of inquiring into matters of
religion : for, from their inquiring into matters of religion, they carried the humour farther,
to inquire into matters of state. He said often, he thought government was a much safer,
and easier thing, where the authority was believed infallible, and the faith and submission of
the people was implicit : about which I had once much discourse with him. He was affable
and easy, and loved to be made so by all about him. The great art of keeping him long was,
the being easy, and the making every thing easy to him. He had made such observations
on the French government, that he thought a king who might be checked, or have his
ministers called to an account by a parliament, was but a king in name. He had a great com-
pass of knowledge, though he never was capable of much application or study. He understood
mechanics and physic ; aud was a good chemist, and much set on several preparations of mercury,
chiefly the fixing it. He understood navigation well : but above all he knew the architecture
of ships so perfectly, that in that respect he was exact rather more than became a prince. His
apprehension was quick, and his memory good. He was an everlasting talker. He told his
stories with a good grace : but they came in his way too often. He had a very ill opinion both
of men and women ; and did not think that there was cither sincerity or chastity in the world,
out of principle, but that some had either the one, or the other, out of humour or vanity. He
thought that nobody did serve him out of love : and so he was quits with all the world, and
loved others as little as he thought they loved him. He hated business, and could not be easily
brought to mind any : but when it was necessary, and he was set to it, he would stay as long-
as his ministers had work for him. The ruin of his reign, and of all his affairs, was occasioned
chiefly by his delivering himself up at his first coming over to a mad range of pleasure t. One
* The "Autobiography" of Clarendon gives a similar selves upon the divines of the time, or other low matches,
picture of the depravity of morals and manners that pre- Every one did that which ' was good in his own eyes.' In
vailed during the reign of " the merry monarch ; " but as a word, the nation was corrupted from that integrity, good
might be expected, he attributes all the evil to the pro- nature, and generosity, that had been peculiar to it, and for
tectorate. In the reign of Charles was the harvest of which it had been signal and celebrated throughout the
which that of Oliver was the seed time. The ill example world."
was set by England to the court, and not as other con- f If the character of Charles the Second had to be
temporaries thought the former was the seduced. He summed up in three appellatives, they might justly be, wit,
forgets that this depravity was confined chiefly to the aristo- hypocrite, and profligate — for he was preeminent in all
cracy. The rabble is always vicious. The middle classes those characters. Illustrative details will occur in the
vindicated the national honour by purging the throne of following narrative of his reign ; the summary of his
the Stuarts in the following reign. This is Clarendon's character drawn by Dr. Wellwood, another contemporary,
picture of the national depravity. " Children asked not is given as closely confirming our author's estimate, though
a blessing of their parents; nor did they concern them- written by no stern censor. "Charles the Second was a
selves in the education of their children, but were well prince endowed with all the qualities that might justly
content that they should take any course to maintain hnve rendered him the delight of mankind, and entitled
themselves that they might be free from that expense, him to the character of one of the greatest geniuses that
The young women conversed without any circumspection ever sat upon a throne, if he had not sullied those ex-
or modesty, and frequently met at taverns and common ccllent parts with the soft pleasures of ease, and had not
eating-houses ; whilst they who were stricter and more entertained a fatal friendship that was incompatible with
severe in their comportment became the wives of the the interest of England. His religion was deism, or
seditious preachers, or of officers of the army. The rathei that which is called so : and if in his exile, or at
daughters of noble and illustrious families bestowed them- his death, he went into that of Rome, the first was out of
62
THE HISTORY OF THE R&LGN
of the race of the Villiers, then married to Palmer, a papist, soon after made earl of Castle
main, who, afterwards, being separated from him, was advanced to be duchess of Cleveland,
was his first and longest mistress, by whom he had five children. She was a woman of great
beauty, but 'most enormously vicious and ravenous : foolish but imperious, very uneasy to the
king, and always carrying on intrigues with other men, while yet she pretended she was jealous
of him. His passion for her, and her strange behaviour towards him, did so disorder him,
that often he was not master of himself, nor capable of minding business, which in so critical
a time required great application : but he did then so entirely trust the earl of Clarendon, that
he left all to his care, and submitted to his advices as to so many oracles.
The earl of Clarendon was bred to the law, and was like to grow eminent in his profession
when the wars began. He distinguished himself so in the House of Commons, that he became
considerable, and was much trusted all the while the king was at Oxford. He stayed beyond
sea, following the king's fortune, till the restoration ; and was now an absolute favourite, and
the chief;, or the only, minister, but with too magisterial a way. He was always pressing the
king to mind his affairs, but in vain. He was a good chancellor, only a little too rough, but
very impartial in the administration of justice, He never seemed to understand foreign
affairs well : and yet he meddled too much in them. He had too much levity in his wit, and
did not always observe the decorum of his post. He was high, and was apt to reject those
who addressed themselves to him, with too much contempt. He had such a regard to the
king, that when places were disposed of, even otherwise than as he advised, yet he would
justify what the king did, and disparage the pretensions of others, not without much scorn ;
which created him many enemies. He was indefatigable in business, though the gout did
often disable him from waiting on the king : yet, during his credit, the king came constantly
to him when he was laid up by it *.
complaisance for the company he was then obliged to keep,
and the last to a lazy diffidence in all other religions, upon
a review of his past life, and the near approach of an
uncertain state. His person was tall and well made ;
his constitution vigorous and healthy ; and it is hard to
determine, whether he took more pains to preserve it by
diet and exercise, or to impair it by excess in his pleasures.
In health he was a great pretender to physic and encourager
of quacks, by whom he was often cheated of considerable
sums of money for their pretended secrets : but whenever
he was indisposed, he consulted his physicians, and de-
pended on their skill only. His face was composed of
harsh features, difficult to be traced with the pencil ; ret
in the main it was agreeable ; and he had a noble,
majestic mien. In contradiction to all the common re-
ceived rules of physiognomy, he was merciful, good
natured, and, in the last twenty-four years of his life,
fortunate ; if to succeed in most of his designs may be
called so. Never prince loved ceremony less, or despised
the pageantry of a crown more ; yet lie was master of
something in his person and aspect that commanded both
love and veneration at once. He was a great votary to
love, and yet the easiest, and most unconcerned rival. He
was for the most part not very nice in the choice of his
mistresses, and seldom possessed of their first favours ; *
yet would sacrifice all to please them ; and upon every
caprice of theirs, denied himself the use of his reason,
and acted contrary to his interest. He was a respectful,
civil husband; a fond father; a kind brother; an easy
enemy ; but none of the firmest, or most grateful friends ;
bountiful by starts; one day lavish to his servants; the
next leaving them to starve; glad to win a little money
at play, and impatient to lose the thousandth part of what
•within an hour after he would throw away in gross. He
seemed to have nothing of jealousy in his nature, either
in matters of love or of power. He bore patiently rivals
in the one, and competitors in the other; otherwise he
* Sec also Rercsby's Memoirs, 7.
would not have contributed to a foreign greatness at sen,
nor given his brother so uncontrolled a share in the
government. Though his understanding was quick and
lively, with a vast compass of thought, yet he would
submit his judgment in the greatest matters to others of
much inferior parts : and as he had an extraordinary shar«
of wit himself, so be loved it in others, even when pointed
against his own faults and mismanagement. Mechanics
were one of his peculiar talents, especially the art of
building and working ships ; which nobody understood
better, nor, if he had lived, would have carried it farther.
He had a strong laconic way of expression, and a genteel,
easy, and polite way of writing : and when he had a mind
to lay aside the king, which he often did in select com-
panies of his own, there were a thousand irresistible
charms in his conversation. He loved money only to spend
it : and would privately accept of a small sum, paid to
himself, in lieu of a far greater to be paid into the
exchequer. He did not love business ; and sought every
occasion to avoid it, which was oiie reason he passed so
much time with his mistresses : yet when necessity
called him, none of his council could reason more closely
upon matters of state; and he would often, by fits, outdo
his ministers in application and [diligence. No age pro-
duced a greater master in the art of dissimulation ; yet no
man was less upon his guard, or sooner deceived in the
sincerity of others. If he had any one fixed maxim of
government, it was to play one party against another, to be
thereby more the master of both : and no prince under-
stood better how to shift hands upon every change of
scene."
Barbara Yilliers, and the other equally noted of the
king's concubines, will be noticed in a subsequent page.
* The interesting remarks on the earl by his second son
Laurence Hyde, earl of Rochester, are a satisfactory
appendix to the above character. These remarks were
written on the 9th of December, 1 675. " This is the first
anniversary day of my father's death, which ought to put
me in mind of recollecting myself how I have passed this
whole year, the first that I have been left absolutely to
OF KING CHARLES II.
63
The next man in favour with the king was the duke of Ormond : a man every way fitted
for a court , of a graceful appearance, a lively wit, and a cheerful temper : a man of great
expense, decent even in his vices, for he always kept up the form of religion. He had gone
through many transactions in Ireland with more fidelity than success. He had made a treaty
with the Irish, which was broken by the great body of them, though some few of them adhered
still to him. But the whole Irish nation did still pretend that, though they had broken the
agreement first, yet he, or rather the king in whose name he had treated with them, was bound
to perform all the articles of the treaty. He had miscarried so in the siege of Dublin, that
it very much lessened the opinion of his military conduct. Yet his constant attendance on
his master, his easiness to him, and his great sufferings for him raised him, to be lord steward
of the household, and lord lieutenant of Ireland. He was firm to the protestant religion,
and so far firm to the laws, that he always gave good advices : but when bad ones were fol-
lowed, he was not for complaining too much of them *.
The earl of Southampton was next to these. He was a man of great virtue, and of very
good parts. He had a lively apprehension, and a good judgment. He had merited much by
his constant adhering to the king's interest during the war, and by the large supplies he had
sent him every year during his exile : for he had a great estate:, and only three daughters to
inherit it. He was lord treasurer : but he soon grew weary of business, as he was sub-
ject to the stone, which returned often and violently upon him ; so he retained the principles
of liberty, and did not go into the violent measures of the court. When he saw the king's
temper, and his way of managing, or rather of spoiling business, he grew very uneasy, and
kept himself more out of the way than was consistent with that high post. The king stood
in some awe of him : and saw how popular he would grow, if put out of his service : and,
therefore, he chose rather to bear with his ill humour and contradiction, than to dismiss him.
He left the business of the treasury wholly in the hands of his secretary, sir Philip Warwick,
who was an honest, but a weak man, and understood the common road of the treasury. He
was an incorrupt man, and during seven' years management of the treasury made but an
ordinary fortune out of it. Before the restoration, the lord treasurer had but a small
salary, with an allowance for a table ; but he gave, or rather sold, all the subaltern places,
and made great profits out of the estate of the crown : but now, that estate being gone, and
the earl of Southampton disdaining to sell places, the matter was settled so, that the lord
treasurer was to have 8000/. a year, and the king was to name all the subaltern officers. It
continued to be so all his time : but since that time the lord treasurer has both the 8000/.
and a main hand in the disposing of those places t.
my own free choice and direction, without that awe and
restraint our parents have, or should have, over us. *
I would spend this day particularly, with some reverence
to the memory of the best of fathers, and the kindest and
wisest friend I ever met with : according to whose
were ashamed to profess they were so." — Hist, of the
Rebellion, iii. 125, fol. ed.
•f* The character given in the " Continuation " of Cla-
rendon's Autobiography coincides entirely with that stated
in the text, of this talented and incorruptible statesman.
counsels I pray God I may regulate my actions, and live "He was a person," says this authority, '* of extraordinary
and die according to his practice, in imitation of hi
virtue and honesty towards man, his integrity and duty
to the king, (though mistaken and rejected by him), and
his piety and resignation to God Almighty." — Singer's
Clarendon Correspondence, i. 645. The best com-
mentary upon the earl of Clarendon is his " Auto-
biography," and its " Continuation " : no man need be
less afraid of having his path traced and recorded. Sir
Philip Warwick, who knew him well, says he was cheer-
ful, industrious, active, and confident in his abilities, which
were sound. He adds that he was agreeably eloquent
both with his tongue and pen, although his written style
was a little too redundant. — Memoirs, 196.
* The duke of Ormond from his youth till death sepa-
rated them, was the intimate friend of Clarendon. Bur-
net's character of him is not sufficiently commendatory to
be just. All the histories of his time will show how firm
he was in his principles; these, and his " Life," by Mr.
parts, of faculties very discerning and a judgment very pro-
found, having great eloquence in his delivery, without the
least affectation of words, for he always spoke best on the
sudden. In the beginning of the troubles he was looked
upon amongst those lords who were least inclined to the
court, and so, most acceptable to the people : in truth he
was not obliged by the court, and thought himself
oppressed by it, which his great spirit could not bear ; and
so he had for some years forborne to be much there, which
was imputed to a habit of melancholy, to which he was
naturally inclined, though it appeared more in his counte-
nance than in his conversation, which to those with whom
he was acquainted was very cheerful. He was not only
an exact observer of justice, but so clear-sighted a dis-
cerner of all the circumstances which migiit disguise it,
that no false colour could impose upon him ; and of so
impartial and sincere a judgment that no prejudice to the per-
son of any man made him less awake to his cause ; but be-
Carte, testify that Clarendon was not speaking carelessly lievcd that there is aliquid et in hostem nefas, and that a
when he said that his friend was "a man so accom- very ill man might be unjustlydcaltwith." The same autho-
pli&bcd, that he had cither uo enemies, or only such as rity gives its testimony to the carl's piety, loyalty ,and courage.
04 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The man that was in the greatest credit with the earl of Southampton was sir Apiiiony
Ashley Cooper, who had married his niece, and became afterwards so considerable that he was
raised to be earl of Shaftesbury ; and since he came to have so great a name, and that I
knew him for many years in a very particular manner, I will dwell a little longer on his
character, for it was of a very extraordinary composition. He began to make a considerable
figure very early. Before he was twenty he came into the House of Commons, and was on
the king's side, and undertook to get Wiltshire and Dorsetshire to declare for him ; but he
was not able to effect it : yet prince Maurice breaking articles to a town, that he had got to
receive him. furnished him w^ith an excuse to forsake that side, and to turn to the parliament.
He had a wonderful faculty in speaking to a popular assembly, and could mix both the
facetious and the serious way of arguing very agreeably. He had a particular talent to
make others trust to his judgment, and depend on it ; and he brought over so many to a
submission to his opinion, that I never knew any man equal to him in the art of governing
parties,, ajid of making himself the head of them. He was as to religion a deist at best ;
he had the dotage of astrology in him to a high degree : he told me that a Dutch doctor had
from the stars foretold him the whole series of his life ; but that which was before him, when
lie told me this, proved false, if he told me true : for he said, he was yet to be a greater man
than he had been. He fancied that after death our souls lived in the stars. He had a general
knowledge of the slighter parts of learning, but understood little to the bottom ; so he
triumphed in a rambling way of talking, but argued slightly when he was held close to any
point. He had a wonderful faculty at opposing, and runnjng things down, but had not the
like force in building up. He had such an extravagant vanity in setting himself out, that it
was very disagreeable. He pretended that Cromwell offered to make him king ; he was
indeed of great use to him in withstanding the enthusiasts of that time. He was one of those
who pressed him most to accept of the kingship, because, as he said afterwards, he was sure
it would ruin him. His strength lay in the knowledge of England, and of all the conside-
rable men in it. He understood well the size of their understandings, and their tempers ;
and he knew how to apply himself to them so dexterously, that, though by his changing
sides so often it wTas very visible how little he was to be depended on, yet he was to the last
much trusted by all the discontented party. He was not ashamed to reckon up the many
turns he had made ; and he valued himself on the doing it at the properest season, and in the
best manner. This he did with so much vanity, and so little discretion, that he lost many
by it. And his reputation was at last run so low, that he could not have held much longer,
had he not died in good time, either for his family or for his party : the former would have
been ruined, if he had not saved it by betraying the latter *.
* So general has been the agreement of writers in vili- unsophisticated testimony of their regard for him, when
f\ing lord Shaftesbury, and so usual is it to stigmatise they, unsolicited, rode to meet his body when it was landed
him with the agnomen of " the infamous," that it may atPoole, and accompanied it to its last vesting-place, Wim-
seem to man) persons as an affectation of singularity, if borne Si. Giles.
it does not subject the writer to worse reflections, to declare To follow him through his political career is not the
the belief that his lordship has been misrepresented : yet ungrateful task to an honourable mind, which it has been
there is sufficient evidence to justify the opinion, that so represented. He commenced it in 1640, and was the
far from being an abandoned profligate, and a corrupt friend of the sovereign ; — not an ultra-Tory, but a mode-
statesman, he was a conscientious man, and an enlightened rate monarchist — and he evinced this in his personal inter-
patriot. To suppose that he never erred is to imagine view with Charles the First. He told the king he was
him super-human ; but to say that he seldom was inten- convinced he could restore a general unity. " If your
tionally wrong is no more than the evidences I have majesty wil) empower me to treat with the parliamentary
examined wan-ant as a conclusion. In private life we garrisons, to grant them a full and general pardon, with an
have no testimony that he was depraved — four wives afford assurance that a general amnesty shall reinstate all things
some testimony that he was not notoriously a bad hus- in the same posture they were before the war, and then a
band — he enjoyed the friendship of many distinguished free parliament shall do what more remains to be done
persons, among whom were Mr. Stringer, Mr. Locke, and for the settlement of the nation." The power was given,
Dr. Whichcote ; men of distinguished virtues, and who, and he succeeded as far as he was allowed to proceed, but
having no political enemies, unlike their noble friend, prince Maurice thwarted his designs, and the partizans of
have left their fame to us free from the distortions of pre- the queen and of absolute monarchy regained the ascend-
judice. His attentions to religious duties were constant, ancy in the councils of the temporising monarch. Of their
and his chaplain constantly resided in the house. The principles the earl disapproved. Slighted and disliked by
last hours of the earl's life are stated to have been marked them, he retired from the court party, and sided with the
by uncommon patience, resignation, and fortitude ; and the parliament, against the efforts of those whom he found would
gentry, his neighbours, in the county of Dorset, bore an be contented with nothing short of despotism. Where is
OF KING CHARLES II.
65
Another man, very near of the same sort, who passed through many great employments,
was Annesly, advanced to be earl of Anglesey, who had much more knowledge, and was
very learned, chiefly in the law. He had the faculty of speaking indefatigably upon every
subject ; but he spoke ungracefully, and did not know that he was not good at raillery, for
he was always attempting it. He understood our government well, and had examined far
into the original of our constitution. He was capable of great application, and was a man
of a grave deportment ; but stuck at nothing, and was ashamed of nothing. He was neither
loved nor trusted by any man or any side ; and he seemed to have no regard to common
decencies, but sold every thing that was in his power ; and sold himself so often, that at last
the price fell so low, that he grew useless *.
Hollis was a man of great courage, and of as great pride ; he was counted for many years
the head of the presbyterian party. He was faithful and firm to his side, and never
changed through the whole course of his life. He engaged in a particular opposition to
Cromwell in the time of the war. They hated one another equally. Hollis seemed to
carry this too far ; for he would not allow Cromwell to have been either wise or brave,
but often applied Solomon's observation to him, " That the battle was not to the strong,
nor favour to the man of understanding, but that time and chance happened to all men."
He was well versed in the records of Parliament, and argued well, but too vehemently, for
he could not bear contradiction. He had the soul of an old stubborn Roman in him. He was
a faithful but a rough friend, and a severe but fair enemy. He had a true sense of religion,
and was a man of an unblamcable course of life, and of a sound judgment when it was not
biassed by passion. He was made a lord for his merits in bringing about the Restoration f.
the Englishmnn that will condemn him? — That he had
been no spy and traitor is proved by his suffering imprison-
ment rather than inculpate lord Hollis; and by his letter
to Charles the second, in which it would be useless to
insert the falsehood, if it was one : " I never betrayed,
as your majesty knows, the party or councils I was of."
When he found the parliamentary party leaning to a repub-
lic, and when he felt assured of the ambitious designs of
Cromwell, he exerted himself to the utmost to oppose
them ; the first by encouraging the people to rise and
declare themselves partisans of neither party, but anxious
for a treaty which would restore the laws and the consti-
tution ; the latter by signing the well-known protestation,
charging Cromwell with tyranny and despotism. Deceived
by the declarations in favour of religious liberty and mode-
rate measures, with many others who h;;d cause to rue their
credulity, he supported the restoration of Charles the
second. He was by this monarch named to be one of the
commissioners for trying the regicides ; an office he might
with more credit to himself have declined, though it was
not an act deserving the character of apostate cruelty, for
they were no friends of his upon whom he sat in judgment,
and their crimes he had ever condemned. In the same
teign he became lord chancellor, and that he executed his
high office with honour to himself, and satisfaction to the
public, we have the assent of one of his greatest detractors,
Dryden, who thus characterises his official conduct : —
" Unbribed, unsought, the wretched to redress,
Swift to despatch, and easy of access."
As a privy councillor and a minister he acted with vigour
and consistency, and where the acts of the ministry with
which he was connected do not accord with his moderate
declared principles, we have the satisfaction of finding he
protested against them, and only leave us a regret that he
did not acquire honourable dignity by retiring from col-
leagues with whom he did not agree. The charge against
him of instigating the popish plot, and then prosecuting
the agents he employed, is supported by no proof, and is
refuted by the fact that none of the condemned criminals
ever impeached him. Throughout his life he was a friend
to the liberty of the subject, and had a hatred to an abso-
lute monarchy. When the king prorogued the parliament
for fifteen months, Shaftesbury saw its encroachment upon
those liberties, and argued so strenuously that such a long
recess caused ipso facto a dissolution, that he was im-
prisoned. He was a stanch promoter of the habeas corpus
act. He knew the principles of the duke of York, after-
wards the infatuated James the second, and wished to have
him excluded from the throne, which procured him the
hatred of that monarch's partisans, and from their power
he was at length compelled to retire into Holland. Such
was the conduct of the first lord Shaftesbury ; yet this
man has been handed down by political writers as one of
the basest of men. The reason is tolerably evident ; Le
was too moderate in his principles to please the republican
Whigs, or absolute Tories, of his period ; — his comprehen-
sive mind and splendid oratory had embodied and animated
a line of politics which satisfied neither ; a line of tempe-
rate politics, however, which led to the revolution, and
which inspires o'ir national councils at the present day.
Many notices of this statesman will occur in future pages ;
but those who wish for a fuller memoir may consult hi§
life, published under the title of " Rawleigh Redivivus;"
Locke's Memoirs of him; Dalrymple's " Memoirs'" and
" Reviews ; " the edition of the Biographia Britannica by
Kippis, and his " Life " by Mr. Cooke.
* This character is too severe ; the opinion of other
authorities will be stated in a future note.
f Besides what the editor collected concerning this truly
noble character in the " Memoirs of John Selden," there
is no need to add any thing to testify how entirely autho-
rities agree in applauding him. It is true that in
the despatches of M. Barillon to his master, Louis the
fourteenth (Dalrymple's Memoirs, ii. 260), he is stated by
that profligate agent to have accepted bribes from the
French court; but he brings the same charge against lord
Russell and Algernon Sidney. No one act of the lives of
these martyrs in the cause of freedom, or of lord Hollis,
supports even the suspicion of such a charge. That Barillon
received the money may be granted ; the only question
is, whether he kept, or those patriots accepted, the bribe.
Tarde, qusc credita laedunt, credimus
66
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The earl of Manchester was made lord chamberlain ; a man of a soft and obliging temper,
of no great depth, but universally beloved, being both a virtuous and a generous man *.
The lord Roberts was made lord privy seal, afterwards lord lieutenant of Ireland, and at
last lord president of the council. He was a man of a more morose and cynical temper,
just in his administration, but vicious under the appearances of virtue ; learned beyond
any man of his quality, but intractable, stiff and obstinate, proud and jealous t.
These five, whom I have named last, had the chief hand in engaging the nation in the
design of the Restoration. They had great credit, chiefly with the presbyterian party, and
were men of much dexterity. So the thanks of that great turn were owing to them ; and
they were put in great posts by the earl of Clarendon's means, by which he lost most
of the cavaliers, who could not bear the seeing such men so highly advanced, and so much
Crusted.
At the kind's first coming over, Monk and Montague were the most considered ; they both
had the Garter. The one was made duke of Albemarle, and the other earl of Sandwich, and
had noble estates given them. Monk was ravenous, as well as his wife, who was a mean,
contemptible creature. They both asked, and sold all that was within their reach, nothing
being denied them for some time, till he became so useless, that little personal regard could
be paid him. But the king maintained still the appearances of it ; for the appearance of the
service he did him was such, that the king thought it fit to treat him with great distinc-
tion, even after he saw into him, and despised him J. He took care to raise his kinsman,
* This character of Edward Montague, earl of Manches-
ter, we may consider as faithful, because contemporary
partisans of all hues coincide in his portraiture. He was
known during the civil contest as lord Kimbolton, and as
viscount Mandeville ; and finally, upon the death of his
father, the lord privy seal, he became earl of Manchester.
Two other contemporaries describe him as gentle, generous,
talented, and well-educated ; and disapproving, as they did,
Lis political conduct, yet they could find in him no fault
for reprehension. Their gentle censure is, indeed, his
greatest praise. " He loved his country," says Clarendon,
" with too unskilful a tenderness ;" — and sir Philip War-
wick says, " that with all his good nature he did the royal
cause as much harm as any of its opponents ; that is, he
did his duty, for he commanded the parliament army. He
was equally the friend of freedom and monarchy. Up
to the battle of Newbury in 1644, he acted vigorously
against the king ; but at that era, probably, he became
aware of the fatal consequences to monarchy that would
ensue if the royal army was destroyed. He was suspected,
and removed from his command. He assisted in pro-
moting the restoration of Charles the second, and was
appointed, by this king, lord chamberlain of his household.
He died in 1671, aged sixty-nine. See a full account of
him in Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, particu-
larly in the second volume, p. 161 — the continuation of
Lis autobiography, ii. 26, fo. ed., and sir Philip Warwick's
Memoirs, 246.
f John, lord Roberts, succeeded to that title upon the
death of his father. They were a Cornwall family. He
was a member of the long parliament, adhered to the
opponents of the king, and fought against him successfully
both as a subaltern and general. He opposed the extreme
measures which led to the execution of Charles the first ;
withdrew from public affairs during the protectorate^; but
upon the Restoration, in effecting which he was very influ-
ential, he returned to court, and obtained the offices men-
tioned in the text. He was made lord privy seal in 1 662,
but his conduct did not give satisfaction to the rest of the
king's council. Ireland was at this juncture in a very dis-
tracted state, particularly on account of the settling the
various claims to its forfeited estates. Lord Roberts, being
a man of more than common intelligence, well versed in
the laws, and esteemed of an integrity not to be corrupted
with money, was chosen to be sent to that country ; but it
had been forgotten, in the anxiety to remove him, that he
was morose, difficult of access, pedantic to an excess that
delayed affairs, and excessively proud. These ill qualities
soon rendered his removal from the Irish appointment
necessary ; for he treated the most noble of the Irish so
superciliously, and even contemptuously, that after they
had waited upon him a few days, they requested of the
king to be excused attending him. He was a man of too
much influence to be treated with indifference, so with
some art he was persuaded to resign the appointment, and
accept the office of president of the council, with the title
of earl of Radnor. This was in 167.0. He survived this
appointment six years. To show his extraordinary talent*
he is said to have found a way more to obstruct and
puzzle business than any man, as lord privy seal, had ever
done before. This was so extreme that the king gave
orders that grants and patents requiring haste should pass
by immediate warrant to the great seal. It is doubtful
if this conduct of the earl does not require more commen-
dation than censure, for he lived in a reign when such
grants were too profusely disbursed. — Wood's Athenae
Oxon. ii. 787, fo. ed. — Continuation of Clarendon's
Life, ii. 67, and 102, fo. ed. A daughter of the earl was
married, first, to the earl of Drogheda, and secondly to
Wycherley, the poet. Her introduction to the latter was
remarkable. She inquired in a shop at Tonbrklge for
" The Plain Dealer." Wycherley, its author, was stand-
ing by, and a gentleman promptly replied to her, and point-
ing to him, " Madam, there is the Plain Dealer for you."
An acquaintance ensued that ended in their marriage. —
Grainger's Biog. Diet. iv. 140, ed. 1824.
J If the duke of Albemarle's character is estimated from
a view of his talents and courage as a commander, either
of land or sea forces, he must rank very high in the scale
of merit ; but if we consider his worth as a statesman or
as a private individual, he sinks decidedly to mediocrity.
He was at first attached to the royalist cause ; then he
united with Cromwell whilst in the ascendant ; and, finally,
when the popnlar feeling again vacillated to the Stuarts,
he was judiciously active in securing the Restoration. It
is possible that throughout he was a royalist — in that case
he was base and perjured, for he took the covenant ; but
the most probable conclusion to be drawn from the facts
of his life is, that he was willing to be any thing by pro-
fession that would best serve his interests. If the characters
OF KING CHARLES II.
67
Granville, who was made earl of Bath and groom of the stole, a man who thought of nothing
but of getting and spending money *. The duke of Albemarle raised twro other persons ;
one was Clargcs, his wife's brother, who was an honest, but haughty man. He became after-
wards a very considerable parliament man, and valued hmself on his opposing the court, and
on his frugality in managing the public money ; for he had Cromwell's economy ever in
his mouth, and was alwTays for reducing the expense of war to the modesty and parsimony
of those times. Many thought he carried this too far, but it made him very popular.
\After he was become very rich himself by the public money, he seemed to take care that
nobody else should grow as rich as he was in that way f . Another man, raised by the
duke of Albemarle, was Morrice, who was the person that had prevailed with Monk to
declare for the king : upon that he was made secretary of state. He was very learned, but
full of pedantry and affectation. He had no true judgment about foreign affairs ; and the
duke of Albemarle's judgment of them may be measured by what he said, when he found
the king grew weary of Morrice, but that in regard to him he had no mind to turn him
out ; " he did not know what was necessary for a good secretary of state in which he was
defective, for he could speak French and write short hand J."
of him, given by his friends, as well as by his enemies, be
compared, they amount to this outline, that he was courage-
ous, cunning, and selfish. He died in 1670.
Anne, his wife, had been his mistress. Aubrey says,
that when Monk was confined in the Tower, his semp-
stress, Nan Clarges, a blacksmith's daughter, was kind to
him in a double capacity. It must be remembered that
he was then in want, and that he was indebted to her for
assistance. She became pregnant by him, though it is cer-
tain that he could not be fascinated either by her beauty
or cleanliness. She never could lose the manners of her
early life ; but when of the highest dignity in the peerage
gave way to the most violent bursts of rage, and when
under their influence poured forth a most eloquent torrent
of curse-sprinkled abuse. Her husband was unquestion-
ably afraid of her ; she was always a royalist, and as he
had a high opinion of her mental qualifications, she pro-
bably influenced him considerably in the course he adopted.
If this is doubtful, it is not at all so that she aided with
the utmost care and natural rapacity in obtaining all the
rewards she could for his services. — Skinner's Life of
the Duke of Albemarle — Sir P. Warwick's Memoirs,
408, &c. — Continuation of Clarendon's Life, ii. 25.
Sir P. Warwick states decidedly that Monk was requested
to accept the crown by Haselrig and his party in the par-
liament. He was descended from an illegitimate son of
Edward the fourth. Monk was too wise to attempt this
crusade. — Memoirs, 426.
* That sir John Granville was a grasping courtier, may
be true, for upon the death of the duke of Albemarle he
desired, but was denied, Theobalds, which then reverted
to the crown. It is true his services merited a high reward,
for he was a very active agent in carrying on the corre-
spondence between Charles the second when in exile, and
those who were his declared friends, or whom he wished
to gain to that band of supporters ; yet in accordance with
those merits, he was advanced to the titles of Lord Gran-
ville of Kilkhampton and Biddiford, viscount Granville
of Lansdown, the battle where his father was slain, and
earl of Bath. He was made a privy councillor, groom of
the stole, first gentleman of the bedchamber, and lord
warden of the stanneries,with a pension of ,£3000 a year.—
Memoirs of illustrious Persons who died in the year
1711, p. 33(5, a work of authority, and which was the first
annual obituary published. Its date is 1712. See also the
Diaries and Correspondence of the Earls of Clarendon
and Rochester, i. 658. — Clarendon's History of the
Rebellion, ii. and iii. — Warwick's Memoirs, 431, &c. —
Wood's Fa«ti, &c.
t Sir Thomas Clarges was of low extraction, being the
brother of the duchess of Albemarle, mentioned in the
last note but one ; yet from the figure he made as a debater
in the House of Commons, the intimacy he had with the
second earl of Clarendon, and his employment in the deli-
cate office of negotiating with his brother-in-law to assist
in the Restoration of Charles the second, he must have
been a man of intellect and discretion. It is believed that
Mr. Phillips, the continuer of Baker's Chronicle, had his
chief materials from sir Thomas Clargcs. Sir Philip War-
wick describes him as being busy and active. He opposed
the exclusion of James the second from the throne, and was
inimical to the revolution Correspondence, &c. of the
Earle of Clarendon and Rochester, passim. — Wood's
Athense, ii. 72, fo.— Warwick's Memoirs, 420— Gray's
Debutes in Parliament, passim.
J Sir William Morrice was related by his wife, a daugh-
ter of sir Nicholas Prideaux, to the duke of Albemarle.
The duke had entrusted him with the management of his
Devonshire affairs, and found he acted so discreetly, that
he made a more intimate acquaintance, and employed him
as his chief agent in negotiating with the royalist party.
The king partook of this confidence, and in February, 1660,
entmsted him with the signet of the secretary of state, to
which office he was eventually appointed. He was one of the
members excluded from the long parliament, and continued
in the senate until his retirement from office, at his own
desire, in 1668. He returned to his country residence, and
passed the remainder of his life in that literary ease which
most delighted him. He died in 1676. It is certain that
he was not qualified for the state office to which he had
been promoted; for although learned, his learning was
chiefly from the older classics; he knew very little of
foreign nations. The king is said to have promoted him
to the secretaryship purely to oblige the duke, and he was
continued only because his removal might disoblige the
same influential nobleman. Whilst in office he behaved
honestly, diligently, and without reproach. What was
very important was his high reputation in the House
of Commons. In contradiction of the saying concerning him
attributed to the duke by our author, it is said by another
authority that he had no knowledge of modern languages,
often making the king laugh by his false pronunciation.
He discoursed with the ambassadors in Latin fluently and
elegantly. He was moral and virtuous ; for the same
authority says, in all domestic affairs no man doubted
his sufficiency, except in the garb, and mode, and humour
of the court. He was a presbyterian, and wrote one or
two theological tracts. — Wood's Athense Oxon, ii. 571
Continuation of Clarendon's Life, ii. 193 — War-
wick'* Memoirs, 420. It is said of him, he would
F 2
G3 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Nicolas was the other secretary, who had been employed by king Charles the first during
the war, and had served him faithfully, but had no understanding in foreign affairs. He
was a man of virtue, but could not fall into the king's temper, or become acceptable to him*.
So not long after the Restoration, Bennet, advanced afterwards to be earl of Arlington, was,
by the interest of the popish party, made secretary of state ; and wTas admitted into so par-
ticular a confidence, that he began to raise a party in opposition to the earl of Clarendon.
He was a proud man. His parts were solid, but not quick. He had the art of observing
the king's temper, and managing it beyond all the men of that time. He was believed a
papist : he had once professed it, and when he died, he again reconciled himself to that
church ; yet in the whole course of his ministry, he seemed to have made it a maxim, that
the king ought to show no favour to popery, but that all his affairs would be spoiled if ever
he turned that way, which made the papists become his mortal enemies, and accuse him as
an apostate, and the betrayer of their interests •[•. His chief friend was Charles Berkley,
made earl of Falmouth, who without any visible merit, unless it was the managing the king's
amours, was the most absolute of all the king's favourites : and, which was peculiar to him-
self, he was as much in the duke of York's favour as in the king's. Berkley was generous
in his expense ; and it was thought, if he had outlived the lew^dness of that time, and come
to a more sedate course of life, he would have put the king on great and noble designs. This
I should have thought more likely, if I had not had it from the duke, who 1 ad so wrong a
taste, that there was reason to suspect his judgment both of men and things. Bennet and
liever suffer any man to say grace in his house except
himself ; "• there," he said, " he was both priest and king."
— Grainger's Biog. History, v. 101.
* The character of Sir Edward Nicolas is sketched in a
few words by his contemporary, Sir Philip Warwick, a
character coincident with that given him by partisans of
all hues. " He was a gentleman of good natural and
acquired parts, of unshaken loyalty, eminent probity, and
indefatigable industry." He was educated for the legal
profession, and was from an early age connected with
public affairs. He was successively one of the six clerks
iii chancery, and secretary to the high admirals, lord Zouch
and the duke of Buckingham ; the latter was talking to
him when stabbed by Felton. Subsequently he was clerk
of the council, and secretary of state in 1642. He
•was the intimate friend of the lord chancellor Claren-
don. In the " Autooiography " of the latter is an inte-
resting account of the amiable firmness with which he
refused to be made secretary of state, to the disparagement
of his old friend. He adhered to Charles t^ie first through
all his adversity ; was forced into exile during the whole
of the interregnum ; and was continued in his secretaryship
by Charles the second, until his integrity was found to be
inconvenient. The ruin of Clarendon had been deter-
mined, and a preliminary step was to remove his friend,
sir Edward, and appoint in his place an inveterate foe, sir
Henry Bennet. The intrigue was sustained successfully
by the king's mistress, Mrs. Palmer, and the steps are
detailed in the Continuation of Clarendon's Life, Sir
Edward saw it was useless to oppose the proceeding, but
he expressed to the king a hope that after more than forty
years of service to the crown, he should not be exposed to
disgrace; and reminded his majesty that he had a wife
and children who had suffered with him in exile, and that
he could not completely provide for them without the
royal bounty. The king gave him £20,000. He retired
from office in 1663, and died six years after, aged seventy-
seven. Full and interesting information concerning this
truly amiable and worthy man may be read in Claren-
don's Autobiography ; Papers, and History of the Rebel-
lion ; Grainger's Biographical Dictionary ; Cartels Collec-
tion of Letters; and Wood's Fasti Oxoniensis, i. 236. fo.
•f Of sir Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, no more
lengthy notice need be taken here than to mention some
of the facts of his early and concluding days, as the chief
transactions of his official life will have to be noticed
in various succeeding pages. He was born in 1618, being
the son of sir John Bennet, of Arlington, in Middlesex.
His mother was the daughter of sir John Crofts ; and
thence, according to Wood, he became the nephew of
Killigrew, the wit, generally known as Charles the second's
jester. WThen at Oxford he was distinguished as an easy
versifier, and several of his productions were published.
Upon the king, Charles the first, coming to Oxford, Bennet
volunteered into his army, and was besides chosen to be
his chief secretary by lord Digby, then secretary of state.
This might have excused him from active service in arms,
but his spirit would not permit ; and he bore, especially
upon his nose, many honourable scars acquired in the
onslaught of battle. When declining in favour with
Charles the second, with little wit and less gratitude, this
monarch allowed him to be mimicked in his presence by
some of his ribald courtiers, \\ho condescended to put a
patch on their noses, and to strut about with a staff in
imitation of the earl's gait. — Echard's Hist, of England,
911. He adhered to the royalist cause during the whole
interregnum ; became secretary to the duke of York, and
was knighted at Bruges in 1658. This was just previous
to his being sent as lieger to the court of Spain, from
whence he was recalled at the Restoration, and made
keeper of the privy purse, until, as we have just noticed,
he was intrigued into the office of secretary of state.
He died in 1685. The statement of Burnet, that he
reverted to papacy on his death-bed, seems altogether
doubtful. He always opposed the papal interest ; recom-
mended the withdrawal from England of James the
second, when duke of York; always professed himself a
protestant; and certainly educated his only daughter in
communion with that persuasion.
A full and impartial biography of this statesman is in
the Biographia Britannica. See also Wood's Fasti
Oxoniensis, ii. 155 — Athense, ii. 1081 — Miscellanea
Aulica — Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion — Carte's
Life cf the Duke of Ormond — North's Examen — Bab-
ington's Letters of the Earl of Arlington— Sir W.
Temple's Works — Continuation of Clarendon's Life, ii.
181,358, &c.
OF KING CHARLES II. 09
Berkley had the management of the mistress * ; and all the earl of Clarendon's enemies
came about them ; the chief of whom were the duke of Buckingham and the earl of Bristol.
The first of these was a man of noble presence. He had a great liveliness of wit, and a
peculiar faculty of turning all things into ridicule with bold figures and natural descriptions.
He had no sort of literature : only he was drawn into chemistry : and for some years he
thought he was very near finding the philosopher's stone ; which had the effect that attends
on all such men as he was, when they are drawn in, to lay out for it. He had no principles
of religion, virtue, or friendship. Pleasure, frolic, or extravagant diversion, was all that he
laid to heart. He was true to nothing, for he was not true to himself. He had no steadiness
nor conduct : he could keep no secret, nor execute any design without spoiling it. He
could never fix his thoughts, nor govern his estate, though then the greatest in England. He was
bred about the king : and for many years he had a great ascendant over him : but he spake
of him to all persons with that contempt, that at last he drew a lasting disgrace upon him-
self. And he at length ruined both body and mind, fortune and reputation equally. The mad-
ness of vice appeared in his person in very eminent instances ; since at last he became con-
temptible and poor, sickly, and sunk in his parts, as well as in all other respects, so that his
conversation was as much avoided as ever it had been courted. He found the king, when he
came from his travels in the year 45, newly come to Paris, sent over by his father when
his affairs declined : and finding the king enough inclined to receive ill impressions, he, who
was then got into all the impieties and vices of the age, set himself to corrupt the king,
in which he was too successful, being seconded in that wicked design by the lord Percy. And
to complete the matter, Hobbs was brought to him, under the pretence of instructing him in
mathematics : and he laid before him his schemes, both with relation to religion and politics,
which made deep and lasting impressions on the king's mind. So that the main blame of the
king's ill principles, and bad morals, was owing to the duke of Buckingham t.
The earl of Bristol was a man of courage and learning, of a bold temper and a lively wit,
but of no judgment, nor steadiness. He was in the queen's interest during the war at Oxford.
And he studied to drive things past the possibility of a treaty, or any reconciliation ; fancying
that nothing would make the military men so sure to the king, as his being sure to them, and
giving them hopes of sharing the confiscated estates among them ; whereas, he thought, all
discourses of treaty made them feeble and fearful. When he went beyond sea he turned
papist. But it was after a way of his own : for he loved to magnify the difference between
the church and the court of Rome. He was esteemed a very good speaker : but he was too
copious, and too florid. He was set at the head of the popish party, and was a violent enemy
of the earl of Clarendon J.
* The only virtues of the earl of Falmouth were con- f This profligate nobleman has already been noticed,
stancy in his attachment to the Stuarts, and determined J The earl of Bristol is more generally known for the
courage. These were family endowments ; his father, sir parts he acted in the farcical and tragical passages of the
Charles Berkley, possessed them, as did his other son, parliamentary war, as George, lord Digby. It is impos-
admiral sir William Berkley. The earl and his brother sible to follow this eccentric nobleman through all the
were both killed at sea, fighting against the Dutch. In romantic adventures and extraordinary changes of his life,
other respects the earl was a wretched profligate. To In early youth he acquired that learning and taste for
curry favour with the prevailing interest of the Stuart literature that never left him : this, and that his courage
family, he was base enough to declare that he had been was united to a readiness to forgive injuries, are all that
criminally connected with the earl of Clarendon's daughter, can be said in his favour. As a politician, at first he sup-
whom James the Second, then duke of York, was about to ported the parliament, but subsequently joined Charles
marry ; but when he saw it to his interest, he as promptly the first; he conducted the charges against Stratford, and
confessed that to be a calumny, and begged the lady's par- then opposed his execution ; during the interregnum,
don. For these and other sycophantic vile services, he he entered the service of France, strove to become its
was gradually raised from being captain of the guard to be prime minister ; and then joined their deadly enemies, the
keeper of the privy purse, in the place of sir Henry Bennet, Spaniards, and became with them as great a favourite ; at
just noticed ; and soon after viscount Fitzharding, and earl first a protestant, and writer against popery, he in con-
ot Falmouth. He was such a favourite with Charles the elusion became a professor of this religion, yet with in-
Mid, that the monarch refused him nothing; though, as veterate inconsistency voted in favour of the Test Act.
contmuer of Clarendon's Life observes, he was dis- No rebuffs broke his spirit ; no intrigues were too subtle,
solute, and prone to every kind of wickedness. If he had no adventures too daring or romantic for him to undertake :
been virtuous, he would not have been a favourite of the he had the unfortunate talent of converting his best
kingly companion of Rochester, Buckingham, and a court friends into his most inveterate foes. The earl of Cla-
of prostitutes. — Clarendon's Autobiography, continued fndon, his constant friend, he impeached of high treason,
ii. 33, <|c. With large paternal estates, he managed to settle them
70 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Having now said as much as seems necessary to describe the state of the court and
ministry at the Restoration, I will next give an account of the chief of the Scots, and of the
parties that were formed among them. The earl of Lauderdale, afterwards made duke,
had been for many years a zealous covenanter : but in the year forty-seven he turned to the
king's interests ; and had continued a prisoner all the while after Worcester fight, where
lie was taken. He was kept for some years in the Tower of London, in Portland Castle, and
in other prisons, till he was set at liberty by those who called home the king. So he went
over to Holland. And since he continued so long, and contrary to all men's opinions, in so
high a degree of favour and confidence, it may be expected that I should be a little copious
in setting out his character ; for I knew him very particularly. He made a very ill appear-
ance : he was very big : his hair red, hanging oddly about him : his tongue was too big for
his mouth, which made him bedew all that he talked to : and his whole manner was rough
and boisterous, and very unfit for a court. He was very learned, not only in Latin, in
which he was a master, but in greek and hebrew. He had read a great deal of divinity, and
almost all the historians, ancient and modern : so that he had great materials. He
had with these an extraordinary memory, and a copious but unpolished expression.
He was a man, as the duke of Buckingham called him to me, of a blundering understanding.
He was haughty beyond expression, abject to those he saw he must stoop to,
but imperious to all others. He had a violence of passion that carried him often to fits like
madness, in which he had no temper. If he took a thing wrong, it was a vain thing to study
to convince him : that would rather provoke him to swear, he would never be of another
mind : he was to be let alone : and perhaps he would have forgot what he had said, and
come about of his own accord. He was the coldest friend and the most violent enemy I
ever knew : I felt it too much not to know it. He at first seemed to despise wealth : but
he delivered himself up afterwards to luxury and sensuality : and by that means he ran into
a vast expense, and stuck at nothing that \vas necessary to support it. In his long imprison-
ment he had great impressions of religion on his mind : but he wore these out so entirely,
that scarce any trace of them was left. His great experience in affairs, his ready com-
pliance with every thing that he thought would please the king, and his bold offering
at the most desperate counsels, gained him such an interest in the king, that no attempt
against him, nor complaint of him, could ever shake it, till a decay of strength and under-
standing forced him to let go his hold. Ho was in his principles much against popery and
arbitrary government : and yet by a fatal train of passions and interests he made way for the
former, and had almost established the latter. Whereas some, by a smooth deportment,
made the first beginnings of tyranny less discernible and unacceptable, he by the fury of
his behaviour heightened the severity of his ministry, which was liker the cruelty of an
inquisition than the legality of justice. With all this he was a presbyterian, and
retained his aversion to king Charles I. and his party to his death *.
The earl of Crawford had been his fellow prisoner for ten years. And that was a good
in such a manner as to be cf no avail to himself; and have fewer friends in the general crowd of lookers on, than
though large sums of money were given him by all the many stubborn and unsociable complexions use to find,
sovereigns he served, yet his gambling and his mistresses, but more enemies among those, whose advancement and
both of which were unlimited, kept him constantly poor, prosperity he hath contributed to, than ever man met
He died in 1677, aged fifty-five. Dr. Kippis sums up with." Occasion will occur in future pages to notice some of
his excellent biographical sketch of this nobleman by the earl's actions ; but more of him will be found, repay-
observing, " that he affords a striking proof that the ing the perusal with amusement and instruction, in Cla-
brightest genius, the most splendid talents, the m.ost ex- rendon's Papers, -iii. 330, &c. ; in the Continuation of Cla-
tensive knowledge, and the richest eloquence, are of little rendon's Life, and in his History of the Rebellion, as
Advantage to their possessor, unless sustained by steadiness well as in Wood's Athenae Oxoniensis, ii. 579. fo. ;
of principle, and of conduct." Lord Clarendon, writing Whitelock's Memorials ; and the Parliamentary History,
to him, advised him not to enter into the French service, A memoir of him by Dr. Kippis, in his edition of the
but to remain quiet, and gain wisdom by taking a retro- Biographia Britannica, his already been quoted,
spect of his past life; " you may in this disquisition," said * John Hamilton, tl aKo of Lauderdale, was a man with-
his sage friend. " consider by what frowardness of fortune out any ambiguity of character — he was mean, selfish,
it comes to pass, that a man of the most exquisite parts of avaricious, and tyrannical ; historians, however prejudiced,
nature and art that this age hath brought forth, hath been agree on this point. Clarendon says he was proud,
without success in those very actions for which meaner men ambitious, insolent, imperious, flattering, and dissembling ;
have been highly commended ; that a man of the most qualified for, and practised in, the darkest intrigues ; suffi-
candid and obliging disposition, of the most unrevengeftil ciently courageous not to fail where courage was absolutely
and inoffensive temper and constitution, should not only necessary, and without impediment of honour to restrain
OF KING CHARLES II. 71
title for maintaining liim in the post he had before, of lord treasurer. He was a sincere but
weak man, passionate and indiscreet, and continued still a zealous presbyterian*. The earl, after-
wards duke of Rothes, had married his daughter, and had the merit of a long imprisonment
likewise to recommend him : he had a ready dexterity in the management of affairs, with a
soft and insinuating address : he had a quick apprehension with a clear judgment : he had no
advantage of education, no sort of literature : nor had he travelled abroad : all in him was
mere nature t.
The earl of Tweedale was another of lord Lauderdale's friends. He was early engaged in
business, and continued in 'it to a great age. He understood all the interests and concerns
of Scotland well : he had a great stock of knowledge, with a mild and obliging temper. He
was of a blameless, or rather an exemplary life in all respects. He had loose thoughts
both of civil and ecclesiastical government ; and seemed to think, that what form soever was
uppermost was to be complied with. He had been in Cromwell's parliament, and had
abjured the royal family, which lay heavy on him. But the disputes about the guardianship
of the duchess of Monmouth and her elder sister, to which he pretended in the right of his
wife, who was their father's sister, against her mother, who was lord Rothes' sister, drew
him into that compliance which brought a great cloud upon him : though he was in all other
respects the ablest and worthiest man of the nobility : only he was too cautious and fearful -J-.
A son of the marquis of Douglas, made carl of Selkirk, had married the heiress of the
family of Hamilton, who by her father's patent was duchess of Hamilton : and when the
heiress of a title in Scotland marries one not equal to her in rank, it is ordinary at her
desire to give her husband the title for life : so he was made duke of Hamilton. He then
passed for a soft man, who minded nothing but the recovery of that family from the great
debts under which it was sinking, till it was raised up again by his great management.
After he had compassed that, he became a more considerable man. He wanted all sort
of polishing : he was rough and sullen, but candid and sincere. His temper was
boisterous, neither fit to submit, nor to govern. He was mutinous when out of power, and
imperious in it. He wrote well, but spoke ill ; for his judgment, when calm, was better
than his imagination. He made himself a great master in the knowledge of the laws, of
the history, and of the families of Scotland ; and seemed always to have a regard to justice,
and the good of his country : but a narrow and selfish temper brought such an habitual
meanness on him, that he was not capable of designing or undertaking great things *.
Another man of that side, who made a good figure at that time, was Bruce, afterwards earl
him from doing anything that might gratify any of his 1650, being within a year of his majority, he removed to
passions. — Hist, of Rebellion, iii. 97, fo. That the Leslie, his ancestorial residence, and lived with suitable
characters given him by Burnet and Clarendon were magnificence. He sided with Charles the Second, and at
merited will be seen hy his conduct in transactions which the head of a regiment of horse raised from among his own
will be noticed hereafter. He died in 1682, aged sixty- dependants, he was captured at the battle of Worcester,
eight. by Cromwell's army. He remained four years in custody,
* The continue!1 of Clarendon's Autobiography says, that and then obtained only a temporary liberty, through the in-
tlic retention of the earl of Crawford and Lindsey in office was fluence of the beauteous and intriguing Elizabeth Murray,
owing to the influence of the earl of Lauderdale. Ho is there countess of Dysart, almost the only woman to whom Crom-
described as a man inclined to restrain the prerogative of well is said to have shewn amorous attentions. In 1658,
the crown, and a most zealous presbyterian, qualifications he was again incarcerated, but his detention continued
which prevented the other commissioners of Scotland dis- only eleven months. Just previous to the restoration, he
cussing in his presence many most important measures, joined Charles the Second at Breda. The chief of his
To use language undisguised, he was opposed to per- subsequent public acts will be noticed in other parts of
sedition, and to forcing episcopacy upon his countrymen, this volume. He died in 1681. His funeral was *
With characteristic faithfulness, Charles the Second told pageant so splendid, that it is recorded in an engraving,
the earl of Middleton, that he would seek occasion to turn — Graingei's Biographical History, iv. 209
Crawford out to make way for him. — Continuation of + Lord William Douglas was created earl of Selkirk in
Clarendon's Life, ii. 52. 1646. He was raised to the dukedom of Hamilton upon
f John Leslie, duke of Rothes, was only eleven years the petition of his wife in 1660. He was by education a
old when he became possessed of his hereditary estates papist, his ancestors professing the same religion. He was
and honours. His mother having died the previous year, a very handsome man, and having gained the affections of
he was left an orphan, and being betrothed to the eldest the youthful duchess, to obtain her and the wide domains
daughter of the earl of Crawford, he was taken into this she had inherited from her father, and from her uncle who
nobleman's family. Here his education was almost fell in Worcester fight, he consented to embrace the pro-
entirely neglected; perhaps a neglect, to which may be testant creed. He died in 1694. He was chief corn-
traced the bigotry, obstinacy, and cruelty of his after life, missioner for Scotland. — Continuation of Clarendon's
for these are all the legitimate offspring of ignorance. In Life, ii. 50
72 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
of Kincardine, who had married a daughter of Mr. Somelsdych in Holland : and by that means
he had got acquaintance with our princes beyond sea, and had supplied them liberally in
their necessities. He was both the wisest and the worthiest man that belonged to his
country, and fit for governing any affairs but his own ; which he, by a wrong turn, and
bv his love for the public, neglected to his ruin ; for they consisting much in works, coals,
salt, and mines, required much care ; and he was very capable of it, having gone far in
mathematics, and being a great master of mechanics. His thoughts went slow, and his
words came much slower : but a deep judgment appeared in every thing he said or did.
He had a noble zeal for justice, in which even friendship could never bias him. He had
solid principles of religion and virtue, which shewed themselves with great lustre on all
occasions. He was a faithful friend, and a merciful enemy. I may be perhaps inclined to
carry his character too far ; for he was the first man that entered into friendship with
me. We continued for seventeen years in so entire a friendship, that there was never either
reserve or mistake between us all the while till his death. And it was from him that I
understood the whole secret of affairs ; for he was trusted with every thing. He had a
wonderful love to the king; and would never believe me, when I warned him what he
might look for, if he did not go along with an abject compliance in every thing. He found
it true in conclusion. And the love he bore the king made his disgrace sink deeper in him,
than became such a philosopher, or so good a Christian as he was.
I now turn to another set of men, of whom the earls of Middleton and Glencairn were
the chief. They were followed by the herd of the cavalier party, who were now very fierce
and full of courage over their cups, though they had been very discreet managers of it in the
field, and in time of action. But now every one of them boasted that he had killed
his thousands. And all were full of merit, and as full of high pretensions ; far beyond
wThat all the wealth and revenues of Scotland could answer. The subtilest of all lord
Middleton's friends, was sir Archibald Primrose a man of long and great practice in
affairs ; for he and his father had served the crown successively an hundred years all but one,
when he was turned out of employment. He was a dexterous man in business : he had
always expedients ready at every difficulty. He had an art of speaking to all men, accord-
ing to their sense of things : and so drew out their secrets while he concealed his own : for
words went for nothing with him. He said every thing that was necessary to persuade
those he spoke to, that he was of their mind ; and did it in so genuine a way that he seemed
to speak his heart. He was always for soft counsels, and slow methods : and thought that
the chief thing that a great man ought to do was, to raise his family and his kindred, who
naturally stick to him ; for he had seen so much of the world, that he iid not depend much
on friends, and so took no care in making any. He always advised the earl of Middleton to
go slowly in the king's business ; but to do his own effectually, before the king should see
he had no farther occasion for him. That earl had another friend, who had more credit with
him, though Primrose was more necessary for managing a parliament : he was sir John
Fletcher, made the king's advocate, or attorney general : for Nicholson was dead. Fletcher
was a man of a generous temper, who despised wealth, except as it was necessary to support
a vast expense. He was a bold and fierce man, who hated all mild proceedings, and could
scarce speak with decency or patience to those of the other side. So that he was looked on
Ly all that had been faulty in the late times, as an inquisitor general. On the other hand
Primrose took money liberally, and was the intercessor for all who made such effectual appli-
cations to him.
The first thing that was to be thought on, with relation to Scotch affairs, was tho manner
in which offenders in the late times were to be treated : for all were at mercy. In the letter
the king wrote from Breda to the parliament of England he had promised a full indemnity
for all that was past, excepting only those who had been concerned in his father's death : to
which the earl of Clarendon persuaded the king to adhere in a most sacred manner ; since
the breaking of faith in such a point was that which must for ever destroy confidence, and the
observing all such promises seemed to be a fundamental maxim in government, which was to
be maintained in such a manner, that not so much as a stretch was to be made in it. But
there was no promise made for Scotland : so all the cavaliers, as they were full of revenge,
OF KING CHARLES II. 73
hoped to have the estates of those who had been concerned in the late wars divided among
them. The earl of Lauderdale told the king, on the other hand, that the Scotch nation
had turned eminently, though unfortunately, to serve his father in the year forty-eight ;
that they had brought himself among them, and had lost two armies in his service, and had
been under nine years' oppression on that account ; that they had encouraged and assisted
Monk in all he did : they might be therefore highly disgusted, if they should not have the same
measure of grace and pardon that he was to give England. Besides, the king, while he was
in Scotland, had in the parliament of Stirling passed a very full act of indemnity, though in
the terms and with the title of an act of approbation. It is true, the records of that par-
liament were not extant, but had been lost in the confusion that folio wed upon the reduction of that
kingdom : yet the thing was so fresh in every man's memory, that it might have a very ill effect,
if the king should proceed without a regard to it. There was indeed another very severe act made
in that parliament against all that should treat or submit to Cromwell, or comply in any sort
with him : but, he said, a difference ought to be made between those who during the struggle
had deserted the service and gone over to the enemy, of which number it might be fit to make
some examples, and the rest of the kingdom who upon the general reduction had been forced to
capitulate : it would be hard to punish any for submitting to a superior force, when they were
in no condition to resist it. This seemed reasonable : and the earl of Clarendon acquiesced
in it. But the earl of Middleton and his party complained of it, and desired that the marquis
of Argylp, whom they charged with an accession to the king's murder, and some few of those
who had joined in the remonstrance while the king was in Scotland, might be proceeded
against. The marquis of Argyle's craft made them afraid of him : and his estate made them
desire to divide it among them. His son, the lord Lorn, was come up to court, and was well
received by the king : for he had adhered so firmly to the king's interest, that he would never
enter into any engagements with the usurpers : and upon every new occasion of jealousy he
had been clapt up. In one of his imprisonments he had a terrible accident from a cannon
bullet, which the soldiers were throwing to exercise their strength, and by a recoil struck him
in the head, and made such a fracture in his skull, that the operation of the trepan, and the
cure, was counted one of the greatest performances of surgery at that time. The difference
between his father and him went on to a total breach ; so that his father was set upon the dis-
inheriting him of all that was still left in his power. Upon the Restoration tin marquis of
Argyle went up to the Highlands for some time, till he advised with his friends what to do,
who were divided in opinion. He wrote by his son to the king, asking leave to come and
wait on him. The king gave an answer that seemed to encourage it, but did not bind him
to any thing. I have forgotten the words : there was an equivocating in them that did not
become a prince : but his son told me, he wrote them very particularly to his father, without
any advice of his own. Upon that the marquis of Argyle came up so secretly, that he was
within Whitehall before his enemies knew any thing of his journey. He sent his son to the king
to beg admittance. But instead of that he was sent to the Tower. And orders were sent
down for clapping up three of the chief remonstrators. Of these Warristoun was one : but
he had notice sent him before the messenger came : so he made his escape, and went beyond
sea, first to Hamburgh. He had been long courted by Cromwell, and had stood at a distance
from him for seven years : but in the last year of his government he had gone into his
counsels, and was summoned as one of his peers to the other house, as it was called. He was
after that put into the council of state after Richard was put out : and then he sat in another
court put up by Lambert and the army, called the committee of safety. So there was a
great deal against him. Swinton, one of Cromwell's lords, was also sent a prisoner to Scot-
land. And thus it was resolved to make a few examples in the parliament that was to be
called, as soon as the king could be got to prepare matters for it. It was resolved on, to
restore the king's authority to the same state it was in before the wars, and to raise such
a force as might be necessary to secure the quiet of that kingdom for the future.
It was a harder point, what to do with the citadels that were built by Cromwell, and with
the English garrisons that were kept in them. Many said, it was necessary to keep that
kingdom in that subdued state ; at least till all things were settled, and that there was no
more danger from thence. The earl of Clarendon was of this mind. But the earl of Lander-
74 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
dale laid before the kino-, that the conquest Cromwell had made of Scotland was for their
adhering to him : he might then judge what they would think, who had suffered so much
and so long on his account, if the same thraldom should be now kept up by his means : it
would create an universal disgust. He told the king, that the time might come, in
which he would wish rather to have Scotch garrisons in England : it would become a national
quarrel, and lose the affections of the country to such a degree, that perhaps they would join
with the garrisons, if any disjointing happened in England, against him : whereas, without
any such badge of slavery, Scotland might be so managed, that they might be made entirely
his. The earl of Middleton and his party durst not appear for so unpopular a thing. So it
was agreed on, that the citadels should be evacuated, and slighted, as soon as the money could
be raised in England for paying and disbanding the army. Of all this the earl of Lauderdale
was believed the chief adviser. So he became very popular in Scotland.
The next thing that fell under consideration was the church, and whether bishops were to be
restored or not. The earl of Lauderdale at his first coming to the king stuck firm to presbytery.
He told me, theking spoke to him to letthatgo, for it was not a religion forgentlemen. He being
really a presbyterian, but at the same time resolving to get into the king's confidence, studied to
convince the king by a very subtil method to keep up presbytery still in Scotland. He told
him, that both king James and his father had ruined their affairs by engaging in the design
of setting up episcopacy in that kingdom : and by that means Scotland became discontented,
and was of no use to them : whereas the king ought to govern them according to the grain of
their own inclinations, and to make them sure to him : he ought, instead of endeavouring an
uniformity in both kingdoms, to keep up the opposition between them, and rather to increase
than to allay that hatred that was between them : and then the Scots would be ready, and
might be easily brought, to serve him upon any occasion of dispute he might afterwards have
with the parliament of England : all things were then smooth : but that was the honey moon,
and it could not last long. Nothing would keep England more in awe, than if they saw
Scotland firm in their duty and affection to him ; whereas nothing gave them so much heart,
as when they knew Scotland was disjointed : it was a vain attempt to think of doing any
^ thing in England by means of the Irish, who were a despicable people, and had a sea to pass.
I But Scotland could be brought to engage for the king in a more silent manner, and could serve
him more effectually : he therefore laid it down for a maxim, from which the king ought
never to depart, that Scotland was to be kept quiet and in good humour, that the opposition
of the two kingdoms was to be kept up and heightened : and then the king might reckon on
every man capable of bearing arms in Scotland, as a listed soldier, who would willingly change
a bad country for a better. This was the plan he laid before the king. I cannot tell whether
this was to cover his zeal for presbytery, or on design to encourage the king to set up arbitrary
government in England.
To fortify these advices he wrote a long letter in white ink to a daughter of the earl of
Cassilis, lady Margaret Kennedy, who was in great credit with the party, and was looked on
as a very wise and good woman, and was out of measure zealous for them. I married her
afterwards, and after her death found this letter among her papers : in which he expressed
great zeal for the cause : he saw the king was indifferent in the matter ; but he was easy to
those who pressed for a change : which, he said, nothing could so effectually hinder, as the
sending up many men of good sense, but without any noise, who might inform the king of
the aversion the nation had to that government, and assure him that, if in that point he would
be easy to them, he might depend upon them as to every thing else ; and particularly, if he
stood in need of their service in his other dominions : but he charged her to trust very few of
the ministers with this, and to take care that Sharp might know nothing of it : for he was
then jealous of him. This had all the effect that the earl of Lauderdale intended by it. The
king was no more jealous of his favouring presbytery ; but looked on him as a fit instrument
to manage Scotland, and to serve him in the most desperate designs : and on all this all his credit
with the king was founded. In the mean time Sharp, seeing the king cold in the matter of
episcopacy, thought it was necessary to lay the presbyterians asleep, to make them apprehend
no danger to their government, and to engage the puJilic_resoliitioners to proceed against all
the protesters ; that so those who were like to be the most inflexible in the point of episcopacy
OF KING CHARLES II. 76
might be censured by their own party, and by that means the others might become so odious
to the more violent presbyterians, that thereby they might be the more easily disposed to
submit to episcopacy, or at least might have less credit to act against it. So he, being
pressed by those who employed him to procure somewhat from the king that might look like
a confirmation of their government, and put to silence all discourses of an intended change,
obtained by the earl of Lauderdale's means, that a letter should be written by the king to
the presbytery of Edinburgh, to be communicated by them to all the other presbyteries in
Scotland, in which he confirmed the general assemblies that sat at St. Andrew's and Dundee
while he was in Scotland, and that had confirmed the public resolutions ; in which he ordered
them to proceed to censure all those who had then protested against them, and would not
now submit to them. The king did also confirm their presbyterian government, as it was by
law established. This was signed, and sent down without communicating it to the earl
of Middleton or his party. But as soon as he heard of it, he thought Sharp had betrayed the
design ; and sent for him, and charged him with it. Sharp said, in his own excuse, that
somewhat must be done for quieting the presbyterians, who were beginning to take the alarm :
that might have produced such applications, as would perhaps make some impression on the
king : whereas now all was secured, and yet the king was engaged to nothing : for his con-
firming their government, as it was established by law, could bind him no longer than while
that legal establishment was in force : so the reversing of that would release the king. This
allayed the earl of Middleton's displeasure a little. Yet Primrose told me, he spoke often of
it with great indignation, since it seemed below the dignity of a king thus to equivocate with
his people, and to deceive them. It seemed, that Sharp thought it not enough to cheat the
party himself, but would have the king share with him in the fraud. This was no honour-
able step to be made by a king, and to be contrived by a clergyman. The letter was received
with transports of joy : the presbyterians reckoned they were safe, and began to proceed
severely against the protestors ; to which they were set on by some aspiring men, who hoped
to merit by the heat expressed on this occasion. And if Sharp's impatience to get into the
archbishopric of St. Andrews had not wrought too strong on him, it would have given a great
advantage to the restitution of episcopacy, if a general assembly had been called, and the two
parties had been let loose on one another : that would have shewn the impossibility of main-
taining the government of the church in a parity, and the necessity of setting a superior
order over them for keeping them in unity arid peace *.
The king settled the ministry in Scotland. The earl of Middleton was declared the
king's commissioner for holding the parliament, and general of the forces that were to be
raised ; the earl of Glencairn was made chancellor ; the earl of Lauderdale was secretary of
state ; the earl of Rothes president of the council ; the earl of Crawford was continued in the
treasury ; Primrose was clerk register, which is very like the place of master of the rolls in
England. The rest depended on these : but the earls of Middleton and Lauderdale were the
two heads of the parties. The earl of Midletoun had a private instruction, which, as Lauder-
dale told me, was not communicated to him, to try the inclinations of the nation for episcopacy,
and to consider of the best method of setting it up. This was drawn from the king by the
earl of Clarendon : for he himself was observed to be very cold in it, while these things
were doing. Primrose got an order from the king to put up all the public registers of Scot-
land, which Cromwell had brought up, and lodged in the Tower of London, as a pawn upon
that kingdom, in imitation of what king Edward the first was said to have done when he
subdued that nation. They were now put up in fifty hogsheads, and a ship was ready to
carry them down. But it was suggested to lord Clarendon, that the original covenant,
signed by the king, and some other declarations under his hand, were among them. And
* The arguments employed by Lauderdale and Middle- who wish for other information relative to the affairs
ton relative to the spirit that ought to actuate the govern- of Scotland at this period, may refer with advantage to
ment of Scotland, are well narrated in the Continuation Woodrow's History of the Church of Scotland ; Outline's
of Clarendon's Life. Middleton, Glencairn, Rothes, and Memoirs; and Bishop Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes
all the other commissioners, except Lauderdale, were for of Hamilton, and Clarendon's History of the Rebellion.
the immediate establishment of episcopacy. Lauderdale The reader must be on his guard in reading this last-
had to prevent, by urging delay, rather than by open named work ; the writer being extremely prejudiced
opposition; and although he made great impression upon against those who did not entirely approve of the senti-
the king, yet finally all was left to the discretion of the uients and conduct of the Royalists.
1 of Middleton — Continuation, ii. 54. 57. Those
I
76 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
he, apprehending that at some time or other an ill use might have been made of these,
would not suffer them to be shipped till they were visited ; nor would he take Primrose's
promise of searching for these carefully, and sending them up to him ; so he ordered a
search to be made. None of the papers he looked for were found ; but so much time was
lost, that the summer was spent, so they were sent down in winter ; and by some easterly
gusts the ship was cast away near Berwick. So we lost all our records ; and we have
nothing now but some fragments in private hands to rely on, having made at that time so
great a shipwreck of all our authentic writings. This heightened the displeasure the nation
had at the designs then on foot.
The main thing, upon which all other matters depended, was the method in which the
affairs of Scotland were to be conducted. The earl of Clarendon moved, that there might
be a council settled to sit regularly at Whitehall on Scotch affairs, to which every one of the
Scotch privy council that happened to be on the place should be admitted ; but with this
addition, that, as two Scotch lords were called to the English council, so six of the English
were to be of the Scotch council. The effect of this would have been, that whereas the
Scotch counsellors had no great force in English affairs, the English, as they were men of
great credit with the king, and were always on the place, would have the government of the
affairs of Scotland wholly in their hands. This probably would have saved that nation from
much injustice and violence, when there was a certain method of laying their grievances
before the king ; complaints would have been heard, and matters well examined : Englishmen
would not, and durst not, have given way to crying oppression, and illegal proceedings ; for
though these matters did not fall under the cognisance of an English parliament, yet it would
have very much blasted a man's credit, who should have concurred in such methods of
government as were put in practice afterwards in that kingdom : therefore all people quickly
saw how wise a project this was, and how happy it would have proved, if affairs had still
gone in that channel. But the earl of Lauderdale opposed this with all his strength. Ho
told the king, it would quite destroy the scheme he had laid before him, which must be
managed secretly, and by men that were not in fear of the parliament of England, nor
obnoxious to it. He said to all Scotchmen, this would make Scotland a province to
England, and subject it to English counsellors, who knew neither the laws nor the
interests of Scotland, and yet would determine every thing relating to it ; and all the
wealth of Scotland would be employed to bribe them, who, having no concern of their own
in the affairs of that kingdom, must be supposed capable of being swayed by private consi-
derations. To the presbyterians he said, this would infallibly bring in, not only episcopacy,
but every thing else from the English pattern. Men who had neither kindred nor estates in
Scotland would be biassed chiefly by that which was most in vogue in England, without any
regard to the inclinations of the Scots. These things made great impressions on the Scotch
nation. The king himself did not much like it ; but the earl of Clarendon told him, Scotland,
by a secret and ill management, had begun the embroilment in his father's affairs, which
could never have happened, if the affairs of that kingdom had been under a more equal inspec-
tion ; if Scotland should again fall into new disorders, he must have the help of England to
quiet them , and that could not be expected, if the English had no share in the conduct of
matters there. The king yielded to it ; and this method was followed for two or three years,
but was afterwards broken by the earl of Lauderdale, when he got into the chief management.
He began early to observe some uneasiness in the king at the earl of Clarendon's positive
way. He saw the mistress hated him, and he believed she would in time be too hard for
him ; therefore he made great applications to her. But his conversation was too coarse, and
he had not money enough to support himself by presents to her ; so he could not be admitted
mto that cabal which was held in her lodgings. He saw, that in a council, where men of
weight, who had much at stake in England, bore the chief sway, he durst not have proposed
\hose things, by which he intended to establish his own interest with the king, and to govern
fliat kingdom which way his pride, or passion, might guide him. Among others, he took
great pains to persuade me of the great service he had done his country by breaking that
method of governing it ; though we had many occasions afterwards to see how fatal that
proved, and how wicked his design in it was.
1 have thus opened with some copiousness the beginnings of this reign, since, as they aro
OF KING CHARLES II. 77
little known, and I had them from the chief of both sides, so they may guide the reader to
observe the progress of things better in the sequel than he could otherwise do. In August,
the earl of Glencairn was sent down to Scotland, and had orders to call together the com-
mittee of estates. This was a practice begun in the late times : when the parliament made
a recess, they appointed some of every state to sit, and to act as a council of state in their
name till the next session, for which they were to prepare matters, and to which they gave
an account of their proceedings. When the parliament of Stirling was adjourned, the kino-
being present, a committee had been named ; so, such of these as were yet alive were sum-
moned to meet, and to see to the quiet of the natidn, till the parliament should be brought
together, which did not meet before January. On the day in which the committee met, ten
or twelve of the protesting ministers met likewise at Edinburgh, and had before them a warm
paper prepared by one Guthrey, one of the most violent ministers of the whole party. In it,
after some cold compliment to the king upon his restoration, they put him in mind of the
covenant which he had so solemnly sworn while among them : they lamented that, instead
of pursuing the ends of it in England, as he had sworn to do, he had set up the common
prayer in his chapel, and the order of bishops : upon which they made terrible denun-
ciations of heavy judgments from God on him, if he did not stand to the covenant, which
they called the oath of God. The earl of Glencairn had notice of this meeting, and
he sent and seized on them, together with this remonstrance. The paper was voted scan-
dalous and seditious ; and the ministers were all clapt up in prison, and were threatened with
great severities. Guthrey was kept still in prison, who had brought the others together ;
but the rest, after a while's imprisonment, were let go. Guthrey, being minister of Stirling
wThile the king was there, had let fly at him in his sermons in a most indecent manner, which
at last became so intolerable, that he was cited to appear before the king to answer for some
passages in his sermons : he would not appear, but declined the king and his council, who,
he said, were not proper judges of matters of doctrine, for which he was only accountable
to the judicatories of the kirk. He also protested for remedy of law against the king, for
thus disturbing him in the exercise of his ministry. This personal affront had irritated the
king more against him than against any other of the party ; and it was resolved to strike a
terror into them all, by making an example of him. He was a man of courage, and went
through all his trouble with great firmness : but this way of proceeding struck the whole
party with such a consternation, that it had all the effect which was designed by it : for
whereas the pulpits had, to the great scandal of religion, been places where the preachers had
for many years vented their spleen and arraigned all proceedings, they became now more
decent, and there was a general silence every where with relation to the affairs of state ; only
they could not hold from many sly and secret insinuations, as if the ark of God was shaking,
and the glory departing, A great many offenders were summoned, at the king's suit, before
the committee of estates, and required to give bail, that they should appear at the opening
of the parliament, and .\nsvver to what should be then objected to them. Many saw the
design of this was to fright them intb a composition, and also into a concurrence with the
measures that were to be taken. For the greater par* they complied, and redeemed them-
selves from farther vexation by such presents as they were able to make. And in these
transactions Primrose and Fletcher were the great dealers.
In the end of the year the earl of Middleton came down with great magnificence : his way
of living was the most splendid the nation had ever seen, but it was likewise the most scan-
dalous ; for vices of all sorts were the open practices of those about him. Drinking was the
most notorious of all, which was often continued through the whole night to the next
morning . and many disorders happening after those irregular heats, the people, who had
never before that time seen any thing like it, came to look with an ill eye on every thing
that was done by such a set of lewTd and vicious men. This laid in all men's minds a new
prejudice against episcopacy; for they, who could not examine into the nature of things,
were apt to take an ill opinion of every change in religion that was brought about by such
bad instruments. There had been a face of gravity and piety in the former administration,
which made the libertinage of the present time more odious.
The earl of Middleton opened the parliament on the first of January with a speech setting
78 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
fortli the blessing of the Restoration : he magnified the king's person, and enlarged on the
affection that he bore to that his ancient kingdom : he hoped they would make suitable
returns of zeal for the king's service, that they would condemn all the invasions that had
been made on the regal authority, and assert the just prerogative of the crown, and give
supplies for keeping- up such a force as was necessary to secure the public peace, and
to preserve them from the return of such calamities as they had so long felt. The
parliament wrote an answer to the king's letter full of duty and thanks. The first thing
proposed wTas to name lords of the articles. In order to the apprehending the importance of
this, I will give some account of the constitution of that kingdom.
The parliament was anciently the king's court, where all who held land of him were bound
to appear. All sat in one house, but were considered as three estates. The first was
the church, represented by the bishops, and mitred abbots, and priors ; the second was the
baronage, the nobility and gentry who held their baronies of the king ; and the third was the
boroughs, who held of the king by barony, though in a community. So that the parliament
was truly the baronage of the kingdom. The lesser barons grew weary of this attendance ;
so in king James the First's time (during the reign of Henry the Fourth, of England) they
were excused from it, and were empowered to send proxies, to an indefinite number^ to
represent them in parliament; yet they neglected to do this: and it continued so till king
James the Sixth's time, in which the mitred abbots being taken away, and few of the titular
bishops that were then continued appearing at them, the church lands being generally in lay
hands, the nobility carried matters in parliament as they pleased ; and as they oppressed the
boroughs, so they had the king much under them. Upon this the lower barons got them-
selves to be restored to the right which they had neglected near two hundred years. They
were allowed by act of parliament to send two from a county ; only some smaller counties
sent but one. This brought that constitution to a truer balance. The lower barons have a
right to choose at their county courts after Michaelmas their commissioners, to serve in any
parliament that may be called within that year ; and they who choose them sign a com-
mission to him who represents them ; so the sheriff has no share of the return. And in the
case of controverted elections, the parliament examines the commissions, to see who has the
greatest number, and judges whether every one that signs it had a right to do so. The
boroughs only choose their members when the summons goes out; and all are chosen
by the men of the corporation, or, as they call them, the town council. All these estates
sit in one house, and vote together. Anciently the parliament sat only two days, the first
and the last. On the first they chose those who were to sit on the articles, eight for every
state, to whom the king joined eight officers of state. These received all the heads of
grievances or articles that were brought to them, and formed them into bills as they pleased :
and on the last day of the parliament, these were all read, and were approved or rejected by
the whole body. So they were a committee that had a very extraordinary authority, since
nothing could be brought before the parliament but as they pleased. This was pretended to
be done only for the shortening and dispatching of sessions. The crown was not contented
with this limitation, but got it to be carried farther. The nobility came to choose eight
bishops, and the bishops to choose eight noblemen ; and these sixteen chose the eight
barons, so the representatives for the shires are called, and the eight burgesses. By this
means our kings did upon the matter choose all the lords of the articles, so entirely had
they got the liberties of that parliament into their hands.
During the late troubles they had still kept up a distinction of three estates, the lesser
barons making one, and then every estate might meet apart, and name their own committee ;
but still all things were brought in, and debated in full parliament. So now the first thing
proposed was, the returning to the old custom of naming lords of the articles. The earl of
Tweedale opposed it, but was seconded only by one person ; so it passed with that small
opposition : only, to make it go easier, it was promised, that there should be frequent
sessions of parliament, and that the acts should not be brought in in a hurry, a»d carried
with the haste that had been practised in former times.
The parliament granted the king an additional revenue for life of 40,000£. a-year, to be
raised by an excise on beer and ale, for maintaining a small force ; upon which two troops
OF KING CHARLES II. 79
and a regiment of foot guards were to be raised. They ordered the marquis of Montrose's
quarters to be brought together, and they were buried with great state. They fell next
upon the acts of the former times that had limited the prerogative ; they repealed them, and
asserted it with a full extent in a most extraordinary manner. Primrose had the drawing
of these acts. He often confessed to me, that he thought he was as one bewitched while he
drew them ; for, not considering the ill use might be made of them afterwards, he drew
them with preambles full of extravagant rhetoric, reflecting severely on the proceedings of
the late times, and swelled them up with the highest phrases and fullest clauses that he
could invent. In the act which asserted the king's power of the militia, the power of arming
and levying the subjects was carried so far, that it would have ruined the kingdom, if Gilmore,
an eminent lawyer, and a man of great integrity, who had now the more credit, for he had
always favoured the king's side, had not observed that, as the act was worded, the king might
requfi-e all the subjects to serve at their own charge, and might oblige them, in order to the
redeeming themselves from serving, to pay whatever might be set on them. So he made
such an opposition to this, that it could not pass till a proviso wTas added to it, that the king-
dom should not be obliged to maintain any force levied by the king, otherwise than as it
should be agreed to in parliament, or in a convention of estates. This was the only thing
that was then looked to, for all the other acts passed in the articles as Primrose had penned
them. They were brought into parliament, and upon one hasty reading them, they were
put to the vote, and were always carried.
One act troubled the presbyterians extremely. In the act asserting the king's power in
treaties of peace and war, all leagues with any other nation, not made by the king's authority,
were declared treasonable ; and in consequence of this, the league and covenant made with
England in the year 1643, was condemned, and declared of no force for the future. This
wras the idol of all the presbyterians ; so they were much alarmed at it : but Sharp restrained
all those with whom he had credit. He told them, the only way to preserve their govern-
ment was, to let all that related to the king's authority be separated from it, and be con-
demned, that so they might be no more accused as enemies to monarchy, or as leavened with
the principles of rebellion. He told them, they must be contented to let that pass, that the
jealousy which the king had of them, as enemies to his prerogative, might be extinguished
in the most effectual manner. This restrained many ; but some hotter zealots could not be
governed. One Macquair, a hot man and considerably learned, did in his church at Glasgow
openly protest against this act, as contrary to the oath of God, and so void of itself. To
protest against an act of parliament was treason by their law ; and Middleton was resolved to
make an example of him for the terrifying others. But Macquair was as stiff as he was severe,
and would come to no submission ; yet he was only condemned to perpetual banishment.
Upon which he, and some others who were afterwards banished, went and settled at Rotter-
dam, where they formed themselves into a presbytery, and wrote many seditious books, and
kept a correspondence over all Scotland, that being the chief seat of the Scotch trade ; I
and by that means they did much more mischief to the government than they could have 1
done had they continued still in Scotland.
The lords of the articles grew weary of preparing so many acts as the practices of the
former times gave occasion for ; but did not know how to meddle with those acts that the
late king had passed in the year 41, or the present king had passed while he was in Scotland.
They saw that, if they should proceed to repeal those by which piesbyterian government was
ratified, that would raise much opposition, and bring petitions from all that were for that
government over the whole kingdom, which Middleton and Sharp endeavoured to prevent,
that the king might be confirmed in what they had affirmed, that the general bent of the
nation was now turned against presbytery and for bishops. So Primrose proposed, but half
in jest, as he assured me, that the better and shorter way would be to pass a general act
rescissory, as it wTas called, annulling all the parliaments that had been held since the year
1633, during the whole time of the war, as faulty and defective in their constitution. But it
was not so easy to know upon what point that defect was to be fixed. The only colourable
pretence in law was, that, since the ecclesiastical state was not represented in those parlia-
ments, they were not a full representative of the kingdom, and so not true parliaments. Bat
I
80 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
this could not be alleged by this present parliament, which had no bishops in it : if that
inferred a nullity, this was no parliament ; therefore they could only fix the nullity upon the
pretence of force and violence. Yet it was a great strain to insist on that, since it was visible
that neither the late king nor the present were under any force when they passed them :
they came of their own accord, and passed those acts. If it was insisted on that the ill state
of their affairs was in the nature of a force, the ill consequences of this were visible, since
no prince by this means could be bound to any treaty, or be concluded by any law that
limited his power, these being always drawn from them by the necessity of their affairs,
which can never be called a force, as long as their persons are free. So, upon some debate
about it on those grounds, at a private junta, the proposition, though well liked, was let fall,
as not capable to have good colours put upon it : nor had the earl of Middleton any instruc-
tion to warrant his passing any such act. Yet within a day or two, when they had drunk
higher, they resolved to venture on it. Primrose was then ill. So one was sent to him to
desire him to prepare a bill to that effect. He set about it, but perceived it was so ill
grounded, and so wild in all the frame of it, that he thought, when it came to be better con-
sidered, it must certainly be laid aside. But it fell out otherwise : his draught was copied
out next morning, without altering a \vord in it, and carried to the articles, and from thence
to the parliament, where it met indeed with great opposition. The earl of Crawford and the
duke of Hamilton argued much against it. The parliament in the year 41 was legally sum-
moned : the late king came thither in person with his ordinary attendance, and without the
appearance of any force ; if any acts then passed needed to be reviewed, that might be well
done ; but to annul a parliament was a terrible precedent, which destroyed the whole security
of government : another parliament might annul the present parliament, as well as that
which wras now proposed to be done. So no stop could be made, nor any security laid down
for fixing things for the future. The parliament in the year 48 proceeded upon instructions
under the king's own hand, which, was all that could be had considering his imprisonment :
they had declared for the king, and raised an army for his preservation. To this the earl of
Middleton, who contrary to custom managed the debate himself, answered, that though there
was no visible force on the late king in the year 41, yet they all knew he was under a real
force by reason of the rebellion that had been in this kingdom, and the apparent danger of
one ready to break out in England, which forced him to settle Scotland on such terms as he
could bring them to ; so that distress in his affairs was really equivalent to a force on his
person : yet he confessed it was just, that such an appearance of a parliament should be a full
authority to all who acted under it : and care was taken to secure these by a proviso that
was put in the act to indemnify them. He acknowledged the design of the parliament in
the year 48 was good : yet they declared for the king in such terms, and had acted so hypo-
critically, in order to the gaining of the kirk party, that it was just to condemn the proceed-
ings, though the intentions of many were honourable and loyal. For we went into it, he
said, as knaves, and therefore no wonder if we miscarried in it as fools. This was very ill
taken by all who had been concerned in it. The bill was put to the vote, and carried by a
great majority; and the earl of Middleton immediately passed it without staying for an
instruction from the king. The excuse he made for it was, that, since the king by his letter
to the presbyterians confirmed their government as it was established by law, there was no
way left to get out of that, but the annulling of all those laws.
This was a most extravagant act, and only fit to be concluded after a drunken bout. It
shook all possible security for the future, and laid down a most pernicious precedent. The
earl of Lauderdale aggravated this heavily to the king. It shewed, that the earl of Middle-
ton understood not the first principles of government, since he had, without any warrant for
it, given the king's assent to a law that must for ever take away all the security that law
can give : no government was so well established, as not to be liable to a revolution ; this
would cut off all hopes of peace and submission, if any disorder should happen at any time
thereafter. And since the earl of Clarendon had set it up for a maxim never to be violated,
that acts of indemnity were sacred things, he studied to possess him against the earl of
Middleton, who had now annulled the very parliaments, in which two kings had passed acts
of indemnity. This raised a great clamour. And upon that the earl of Middleton com-
OF KING CHARLES II. 81
dainedin parliament, that their best services were represented to the king as blemishes on
his honour, and as a prejudice to his affairs : so he desired they would send up some of the
most eminent of their body to give the king a true account of their proceedings. The earla
of Glencairn and Rothes were sent, for the earl of Rothes gave secret engagements to both
sides, resolving to strike into that to which he saw the king most inclined. The earl of
Middleton's design was to accuse the earl of Lauderdale of misrepresenting the proceedings
of parliament, and of belying the king's good subjects, called in the Scotch law leasing
making, which either to the king of the people or to the people of the king is capital.
Sharp went up with these lords to press the speedy setting up of episcopacy, now that the
greatest enemies of that government were under a general consternation, and were upon other
accounts so obnoxious that they durst not make any opposition to it, since no act of indemnity
was yet passed. He had expressed a great concern to his old brethren when the act reseis-
sory passed, and acted that part very solemnly for some days ; yet he seemed to take heart
again, and persuaded the ministers of that party, that it would be a service to them, since
now the case of ratifying their government was separated from the rebellion of the late
times : so that hereafter it was to subsist by a law passed in a parliament that sat and acted
in full freedom. So he undertook to go again to court, and to move for an instruction to
settle presbytery on a new and undisputed bottom. The poor men were so struck with the
ill state of their affairs, that they either trusted him, or at least seemed to do it ; for indeed
they had neither sense nor courage left them. During the session of parliament, the most
aspiring men of the clergy were picked out to preach before the parliament. They did not
speak out, but they all insinuated the necessity of a greater authority than was then in the
church, for keeping them in order. One or two spoke plainer ; upon which the presbytery
of Edinburgh went to the earl of Middleton, and complained of that, as an affront to the law
and to the king's letter. He dismissed them with good words, but took no notice of their
complaint. The synods in several places resolved to prepare addresses both to king and par-
liament, for an act establishing their government : and Sharp dissembled so artificially, that
he met with those who were preparing an address to be presented to the synod of Fife, that
was to sit within a week after ; and heads were agreed on. Honeyman, afterwards bishop
of Orkney, drew it up with so much vehemence, that Wood, their divinity professor, told
me, he and some others sat up almost the whole night before the synod met, to draw it over
again in a smoother strain ; but Sharp gave the earl of Middleton notice of this ; so the earl
of Rothes was sent over to see to their behaviour. As soon as the ministers entered upon
that subject, he in the king's name dissolved the synod, and commanded the ministers under
pain of treason to retire to their several habitations. Such care was taken that no public
application should be made in favour of presbytery. Any attempt that was made on the
other hand met with great encouragement. The synod of Aberdeen was the only body that
made an address looking towards episcopacy. In a long preamble they reflected on the con-
fusions and violence of the late times, of which they enumerated many particulars : and they
concluded with a prayer, that since the legal authority upon which their courts proceeded
was now annulled, that therefore the king and parliament would settle their government,
conform to the scriptures and the rules of the primitive church. The presbyterians saw what
was driven at, and how their words would be understood : but I heard one of them say (for
I was present at that meeting), that no man could decently oppose those words, since by that
he would insinuate that he thought presbytery was not conform to these.
In this session of parliament another act passed, which was a new affliction to all the party :
the twenty-ninth of May was appointed to be kept as a holy day, since on that day an end
had been put to three and twenty years' course of rebellion, of which the whole progress was
reckoned up in the highest strain of Primrose's eloquence. The ministers saw, that by
observing this act passed with such a preamble, they condemned all their former proceedings,
as rebellious and hypocritical. They saw, that by obeying it they would lose all their credit,
and contradict all they had been building up in a course of so many years : yet such was the
heat of that time, that they durst not except to it on that account. So they laid hold on
the subtilty of a holy day, and covered themselves under that controversy, denying it was in
the power of any human authority to make a day holy. But withal they fell upon a poor
82 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
shift : they enacted in their several presbyteries that they should observe that day as a
thanksgiving for the king's restoration : so they took no notice of the act of parliament, but
observed it in obedience to their own act. But this, though it covered them from prosecu-
tion, since the law was obeyed, yet it laid them open to much contempt. When the earls
of Glencairn and Rothes came to court, the king was soon satisfied with the account they
gave of the proceedings of parliament : and the earl of Lauderdale would not own that he
had ever misrepresented them. They were ordered to proceed in their charging of him, as
the earl of Clarendon should direct them. But he told them the assaulting of a minister, as
long as he had an interest in the king, was a practice that never could be approved : it was
one of the uneasy things that a House of Commons of England sometimes ventured on,
which was ungrateful to the court : such an attempt, instead of shaking the earl of Lauder-
dale, would give him a faster root with the king. They must therefore content themselves
with letting the king see how well his service went on in their hands, and how unjustly they
had been misrepresented to him : and thus by degrees they would gain their point, and the
earl of Lauderdale would become useless to the king. So this design was let fall. But the
earl of Rothes assured Lauderdale he had diverted the stonn : though Primrose told me
this was the true ground on which they proceeded. They became all friends as to outward
appearance.
Thus I have gone through the actings of the first session of this parliament with relation
to public affairs. It was a mad roaring time, full of extravagance ; and no wonder it was so,
when the men of affairs were almost perpetually drunk. I shall in the next place give an
account of the attainders passed in it.
The first and chief of these was of the marquis of Argyle. He was indicted at the king's
suit for a great many facts, that were reduced to three heads. The first was of his public
actings during the wars, of which many instances were given, such as his being concerned in
the delivering up of the king to the English at Newcastle, his opposing the engagement in
the year 1648, and his heading the rising in the west in opposition to the committee of
estates : in this, and many other steps made during the war, he was esteemed the principal
actor, and so ought to be made the greatest example for terrifying others. The second head
consisted of many murders, and other barbarities, committed by his officers during the war,
on many of the king's party, chiefly on those who had served under the marquis of Montrose,
many of them being murdered in cold blood. The third head consisted of some articles of
his concurrence with Cromwell and the usurpers, in opposition to those who appeared for the
king in the Highlands, his being one of his parliament, and assisting in proclaiming him
protector, with a great many other particulars, into which his compliance was branched out.
He had counsel assigned him, who performed their part very well.
The substance of his defence was, that during the late wars he was but one among a great
many more : he had always acted by authority of parliament, and according to the instructions
that were given him, as oft as he was sent on any expedition or negotiation. As to all things
done before the year 1641, the late king had buried them in an act of oblivion then passed,
as the present king had also done in the year 1651 : so he did not think he was bound
to answer to any particular before that time. For the second head, he was at London when
most of the barbarities set out in it were committed : nor did it appear that he gave any
orders about them. It was well known that great outrages had been committed by the Mac-
donalds : and he believed his people, when they had the better of them, had taken cruel
revenges : this was to be imputed to the heat of the time, and to the tempers of the people,
who had been much provoked by the burning of his whole country, and by much blood that
was shed. And as to many stories laid to the charge of his men, he knew some of them were
mere forgeries, and others were aggravated much beyond the truth : but, what truth soever
might be in them, he could not be answerable, but for what was done by himself, or by his
orders As to the third head, of his compliance with the usurpation, he had stood out till
the nation was quite conquered : and in that case it was the received opinion both of divines
and lawyers, that men might lawfully submit to an usurpation, when forced to it by an
inevitable necessity. It was the epidemical sin of the nation. His circumstances were such,
that more than a bare compliance was required of him. What he did that way was only to
OF KING CHARLES II. 83
preserve himself and his family, and was not done on design to oppose the king's interest. Nor
did his service suffer by any thing he did. This was the substance of his defence in a long
speech, which he made with so good a grace and so skilfully, that his character was as much
raised as his family suffered by the prosecution. In one speech, excusing his compliance with
Cromwell, he said, what could he think of that matter, after a man so eminent in the law as
his majesty's advocate had taken the engagement ? This inflamed the other so much,
that he called him an impudent villain, and was not so much as chid for that barbarous
treatment. Lord Argyle gravely said, he had learned in his affliction to bear reproaches ; but
if the parliament saw no cause to condemn him, he was less concerned at the king's advocate's
railing. The king's advocate put in an additional article, of charging him with accession to
the king's death, for which all the proof he offered lay in a presumption. Cromwell had come
down to Scotland with his army in September 1648, and at that time he had many and long
conferences with Argyle ; and immediately upon his return to London, the treaty with the
king was broken off, and the king was brought to his trial : the advocate from thence
inferred, that it was to be presumed that Cromwell and Argyle had concerted that matter
between them. While this process was carried on, which was the most solemn that ever was
in Scotland, the lord Lorn continued at court soliciting for his father ; and obtained a letter
to be written by the king to the earl of Middleton, requiring him to order his advocate not
to insist on any public proceedings before the indemnity he himself had passed in the year
1651. He also required him, when the trial was ended, to send up the whole process, and lay
it before the king, before the parliament should give sentence. The earl of Middleton sub-
mitted to the first part of this : so all farther inquiry into those matters was superseded.
But as to the second part of the letter, it looked so like a distrust of the justice of the par-
liament, that he said, he durst not let it be known, till he had a second and more positive
order, which he earnestly desired might not be sent ; for it would very much discourage this loyal
and affectionate parliament : and he begged earnestly to have this order recalled; which was
done. For some time there was a stop to the proceedings, in which lord Argyle was con-
triving an escape out of the castle. He kept his bed for some days : and his lady being of
the same stature with himself, and coming to him in a chair, he had put on her clothes, and
was going into the chair : but he apprehended he should be discovered, and his execution
hastened ; and so his heart failed him. The earl of Middleton resolved, if possible, to have
the king's death fastened on him. By this means, as he would die with the more infamy, so
he reckoned this would put an end to the family, since no body durst move in favour of the
son of one judged guilty of that crime. And he, as was believed, hoped to obtain a grant ot
his estate. Search was made into all the precedents of men who had been at any time con-
demned upon presumption. . And the earl of Middleton resolved to argue the matter himself,
hoping that the weight of his authority would bear down all opposition. He managed it indeed
with more force than decency : he was too vehement, andmaintained the argument with a strength
that did more honour to his parts than to his justice or his character. But Gilmore, though
newly made president of the session, which is the supreme court of justice in that kingdom,
abhorred the precedent of attainting a man upon so remote a presumption ; and looked upon
it as less justifiable than the much-decried attainder of the earl of Stratford. So he undertook
the argument against Middleton ; they replied upon one another thirteen or fourteen times in
a debate that lasted many hours. Gilmore had so clearly the better of the argument, that,
though the parliament was so set against Argyle that every thing was like to pass that might
blacken him, yet, when it was put to the vote, he was acquitted as to that by a great
majority : at which he expressed so much joy, that he seemed little concerned at any thing
that could happen to him after that. All that remained was to make his compliance with
the usurpers appear to be treason. The debate was like to have lasted long. The earl of
London, who had been lord chancellor, and was counted the most eloquent man of that
time, for he had a copiousness in speaking that was never exhausted (he was come
of his family, and was his particular friend), had prepared a long and learned argument on
that head. He had gathered the opinions both of divines and lawyers, and had laid together
a great deal out of history, more particularly out of the Scotch history, to show that it had
never been censured as a crime : but that on the contrary, in all their confusions, the men,
G 2
84
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
who had merited the most of the crown in all its shakings, were persons who had got credit
by compliance with the side that prevailed, and by that means had brought things about
again. But, while it was very doubtful how it would have gone, Monk by an inexcusable
baseness had searched among his letters, and found some that were written by Argyle to him-
self, that were hearty and zealous on their side. These he sent down to Scotland. And
after they were read in parliament, it could not be pretended that his compliance was feigned,
or extorted from him. Every body blamed Monk for sending these down, since it was a
betraying the confidence that they then lived in. They were sent by an express, and
came to the earl of Middleton after the parliament was engaged in the debate. So he
ordered the letters to be read. This was much blamed, as contrary to the forms of justice,
since probation was closed on both sides. But the reading of them silenced all farther debate.
All his friends went out : and he was condemned as guilty of treason. The marquis of
Montrose only refused to vote. He owned, he had too much resentment to judge in that
matter. It was designed he should be hanged, as the marquis of Montrose had been : but it
was carried that he should be beheaded, and that his head should be set up where lord Mon-
trose's had been set. He received his sentence decently, and composed himself to suffer.
* The day before his death he wrote to the king, justifying his intentions in all he had
acted in the matter of the covenant : he protested his innocence as to the death of the late
king : he submitted patiently to his sentence, and wished the king a long and happy reign :
he cast his family and children upon his mercy ; and prayed that they might not suffer for
their father's fault. On the twenty-seventh of May, the day appointed for his execution, he
came to the scaffold in a very solemn but undaunted manner, accompanied with many of the
nobility, and some ministers. He spoke for half an hour with a great appearance of serenity.
Cunningham, his physician, told me he touched his pulse, and that it did then beat at the usual
rate, calm and strong. He did in a most solemn mariner vindicate himself from all knowledge
or accession to the king's death : he pardoned all his enemies ; and submitted to the sentence,
as to the will of God : he spoke highly in justification of the covenant, calling it the cause
and work of God ; and expressed his apprehension of sad times likely to follow ; and exhorted
all people to adhere to the covenant, and to resolve to suffer rather than sin against their con-
sciences. He parted with all his friends very decently ; and after some time spent in his
private devotions he was beheaded t.
A few days after Guthry suffered. He was accused of accession to the remonstrance when
the king was in Scotland, and for a book he had printed with the title " Of the Causes of God's
Wrath upon the Nation ; " in which the treating with the king, the tendering him the covenant,
and the admitting him to the exercise of the government, were highly aggravated as great
acts of apostacy. His declining the king's authority to judge of his sermons, and his pro-
testing for remedy of law against him, and the late seditious paper that he was drawing
others to concur in, were the matters objected to him. He was a resolute and stiff man : so
•The letter is dated the very day of his execution,
•' From your Prison, Edinburgh, May 16th, 1661."
Wodrow's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, i. p. 54.
•f Archibald Campbell, marquis of Argyle, was aged
sixty-three years when he was executed in 1661. No
man was ever more formally murdered with the mockery
of a judicial trial. His only crime was that he was an
opponent of violent measures, and consequently incurred
the hatred of the earl of Middleton. It is not possible
within the limit of a note to trace the events of his life,
demonstrating that he really thought, as he once wrote
to the earl of Strafford, " that his duty to the king would
be best shown by maintaining the constitution of his
country in church and state." — Strafford's Letters, ii.
187 — 290. He was an acknowledged friend and bene-
factor both of Charles the Second and his father; and
although in common with many others, whose allegiance
was never impugned, he consented not to disturb the pro-
tectorate, yet a letter of general Monk's exists in which
he tells secretary Thurloe he considers the marquis
would not do Cromwell's "interest any good." -
Thurloe's State Papers, vii. 584. It is certain that
he never committed any acts inconsistent with his loyalty
to his king and country ; it is equally certain that, in
despite of the directions of Charles, the earl of
Middleton hurried his execution without first consulting
that king. The details of the earl's accusation and
defence are but imperfectly given in the " State Trials,"
ii. 413. A very impartial and authentic life of tho
marquis is given in the Biographia Britannica ; where
are stated some very satisfactory reasons to convince us
that Burnet's statement relative to the letters of Monk,
produced at the trial of the marquis, was from false infor-
mation. If those letters contained the statements alleged,
the marquis had no cause to complain of ill-treatment,
for he was in that case a traitor. But those who have
written in defence of Charles the Second's government of
Scotland (among others sir George Mackenzie, who was
Argyle's counsel) have passed over this transaction in
silence ; and no other authority but Burnet mentions the
production of such documents.
OF KING CHARLES II. 85
when his lawyers offered him legal defences, he would not be advised by them, but resolved
to take his own way. He confessed and justified all that he had done, as agreeing to the prin-
ciples and practices of the kirk, who had asserted all along that the doctrine delivered in their
sermons did not fall under the cognisance of the temporal courts, till it was first judged by
the church ; for which he brought much tedious proof. He said, his protesting for remedy of
law against the king was not meant at the king's person, but was only with relation to costs
arid damages. The earl of Middleton had a personal animosity against him ; for in the late
times he had excommunicated him : so his eagerness in the prosecution did not look well.
The defence he made signified nothing to justify himself, but laid a great load on presbytery,
since he made it out beyond all dispute that he had acted upon their principles, which made
them the more odious, as having among them some of the worst maxims of the church of
Rome ; that in particular, to make the pulpit a privileged place, in which a man might safely
vent treason, and be secure in doing it, if the church judicatory should agree to acquit him.
So upon this occasion great advantage was taken, to show how near the spirit that had reigned
in presbytery came up to popery. It was resolved to make a public example of a preacher :
so he was singled out. He gave no advantage to those who wished to have saved him by the least
step towards any submission, but much to the contrary. Yet, though all people were dis-
gusted at the earl of Middleton's eagerness in the prosecution, the earl of Tweedale was the
only man that moved against the putting him to death. He said, banishment had been
hitherto the severest censure that had been laid on the preachers for their opinions : he knew
Gtithry was a man apt to give personal provocation ; and he wished that might not have too
great a share in carrying the matter so far. Yet he was condemned to die. I saw him suffer.
He was so far from showing any fear, that he rather expressed a contempt of death. He spoke
an hour upon the ladder, with the composedness of a man that was delivering a sermon
rather than his last words. He justified all he had done, and exhorted all people to adhere to
the covenant, which he magnified highly. With him one Gouan was also hanged, who
had deserted the army while the king was in Scotland, and had gone over to Cromwell. The
man was inconsiderable, till they made him more considered by putting him to death, on such
an account, at so great a distance of time.
The gross iniquity of the court appeared in nothing more eminently than in the favour
showed Maccloud of Assin, who had betrayed the marquis of Montrose, and was brought over
upon it. He in prison struck up to a high pitch of vice and impiety, and gave great enter-
tainments : and that, notwithstanding the baseness of the man and of his crimes, begot him so
many friends, that he was let go without any censure. The proceedings against Wariston
were soon despatched, he being absent. It was proved that he had presented the remon-
strance, that he had acted under Cromwell's authority, and had sat as a peer in his parliament,
that he had confirmed him in his protectorship, and had likewise sat as one of the committee
of safety : so he was attainted. Swintoun had been attainted in the parliament at Stirling
for going over to Cromwell : so he was brought before the parliament to hear what he could
say why the sentence should not be executed. He was then become a quaker ; and did,
with a sort of eloquence that moved the whole house, lay out all his own errors, and the ill
spirit he was in when he committed the things that were charged on him, with so tender a
sense, that he seemed as one indifferent what they should do with him : and without so much
as moving for mercy, or even for a delay, he did so effectually prevail on them, that they
recommended him to the king as a fit object of his mercy. This was the more easily con-
sented to by the earl of Middleton, in hatred to the earl of Lauderdale, who had got the gift
of his estate *. He had two great pleas in law : the one was, that the record of his attainder
at Stirling, with all that had passed in that parliament, was lost : the other was, that by the
* The conduct and emulation in hatred of these two honest Sir Edward Coke, and the rest of the English
worthies will further appear in many future black passages, judges, had recorded their opinion ; because, as they said,
No stronger instances of the tyrant misrule that roused our "in our experience it maketh the more violent and
forefathers to resistance can be quoted than the practice undue proceeding against the subject, to the scandal of
noticed in the text of granting the estates of prisoners justice, and the offcnco of many." — Coke's Reports, xii.
charged with treason before they were convicted. The pro- 37. a. Such grants were not finally abolished until 1088,
fligate Charles and his ministers continued the practice, when they were made void by act of parliament, 1 Win.
though against it. early in the reign of James the first, and Mary, c. 2.
80 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
act rescissory that parliament being annulled, all that was done by it was void : but he urged
neither, since there was matter enough to attaint him anew, if the defects of that supposed
attainder had been observed. So till the act of indemnity was passed he was still in danger,
having been the man of all Scotland that had been the most trusted and employed by Crom-
well : but upon passing the act of indemnity he was safe.
The session of parliament was now brought to a conclusion, without any motion for an act
of indemnity. The secret of this was, that since episcopacy was to be set up, and that those
who were most like to oppose it were on other accounts obnoxious, it was thought best to keep
them under that fear, till the change should be made. The earl of Middleton went up to
court full of merit, and as full of pride. He had a mind to be lord treasurer ; and told the
king, that, if he intended to set up episcopacy, the earl of Crawford, who was a noted pres-
byterian, must be put out of that post : it was the opinion of the king's zeal for that form of
government that must bear down all the opposition that might otherwise be made to it ; and
it would not be possible to persuade the nation of that, as long as they saw the white staff in
such hands. Therefore, on the first day on which a Scotch council was called after he came
up, he gave a long account of the proceedings of parliament, and magnified the zeal and
loyalty that many had expressed, while others that had been not only pardoned, but were
highly trusted by the king, had been often cold and backward, and sometimes plainly against
the service. The earl of Lauderdale was ill that day : so the earl of Crawford undertook to
answer this reflection, which he thought was meant of himself, for opposing the act rescissory.
He said, he had observed such an entire unanimity in carrying on the king's service, that he
did not know of any that had acted otherwise : and therefore he moved, that the earl of
Middleton might speak plain, and name persons. The earl of Middleton desired to be ex-
cused : he did not intend to accuse any : but yet he thought he was bound to let the king know
how he had been served. The earl of Crawford still pressed him to speak out after so general
an accusation : no doubt, he would inform the king in private who these persons were : and
since he had already gone so far in public, he thought he ought to go farther. The earl of
Middleton was in some confusion ; for he did not expect to be thus attacked : so to get off he
named the opposition that the earl of Tweedale had made to the sentence passed on Guthry,
not without making indecent reflections on it, as if his prosecution had flowed from the king's
resentments of his behaviour to himself: and so he turned the matter, that the earl of
Tweedale's reflection, which was thought indeed pointed against himself, should seem as meant
against the king. The earl of Crawford upon this said, that the earl of Middleton ought to
have excepted to the words when they were first spoken ; and no doubt the parliament would
have done the king justice : but it was never thought consistent with the liberty of speech in
parliament, to bring men into question afterwards for words spoken in any debate, when they
were not challenged as soon as they were spoken. The earl of Middleton excused himself :
he said the thing was passed before he made due reflections on it ; and so asked pardon for
that omission. The earl of Crawford was glad he himself had escaped, and was silent as to
the earl of Tweedale's concern ; so, nobody offering to excuse him, an order was presently
sent down for committing him to prison, and for examining him upon the words he had
spoken, and on his meaning in them. That was not a time in which men durst pretend to
privilege, or the freedom of debate : so he did not insist on it ; but sent up such an account
of his words, and such an explanation of them, as fully satisfied the king. So after the
imprisonment of some weeks he was set at liberty. But this raised a great outcry against the
earl of Middleton, as a thing that was contrary to the freedom of debate, and destructive of
the liberty of parliament. It lay the more open to censure, because the carl of Middleton
had accepted of a great entertainment from the earl of Tweedale after Guthry's business was
over : and it seemed contrary to the rules of hospitality, to have such a design in his heart
against a man in whose house he had been so treated : all the excuse he made for it was, that
he never intended it ; but that the earl of Crawford had pressed him so hard upon the com-
plaint he had made in general, that he had no way of getting out of it without naming
some particulars ; and he had no other ready then at hand.
Another difference of greater moment fell in between him and the earl of Crawford. The
earl of Middleton was now raising the guards, that were to be paid out of the excise granted
OF KING CHARLES II. 87
by the parliament. So he moved, that the excise might be raised by collectors named by
himself as general, that so he might not depend on the treasury for the pay of the forces. The
earl of Crawford opposed this with great advantage, since all revenues given the king did by
the course of law come into the treasury. Scotland was not in a condition to maintain two
treasurers : and, as to what was said, of the necessity of having the pay of the army well
ascertained and ever ready, otherwise it would become a grievance to the kingdom, he said,
the king was master, and what orders soever he thought fit to send to the treasury, they should
be most punctually obeyed. But the earl of Middleton knew there -would be a great over-
plus of the excise beyond the pay of the troops : and he reckoned, that, if the collection was
put in his hands, he would easily get a grant of the overplus at the year's end. The earl
of Crawford said, no such thing was ever pretended to by any general, unless by such as set
up to be independent, and who hoped by that means to make themselves the masters of the
army. So he carried the point, which was thought a victory. And the earl of Middleton
wras much blamed for putting his interest at court on such an issue, where the pretension was
so unusual and so unreasonable.
The next point was concerning lord Argyle's estate. The king was inclined to restore the
lord Lorn ; though much pains was taken to persuade him, that all the zeal he had expressed
in his service was only an artifice between his father and him to preserve the family in all
adventures : it was said, that had been an ordinary practice in Scotland for father and son to
put themselves in different sides. The marquis of Argyle had taken very extraordinary
methods to raise his own family to such a superiority in the Highlands, that he was a sort of
a king among them. The marquis of Huntley had married his sister : and during their friend-
ship Argyle was bound with him for some of his debts. After that, the marquis of Huntley,
as he neglected his affairs, so he engaged in the king's side, by which Argyle saw he must be
undone. So he pretended, that he only intended to secure himself, when he bought in prior
mortgages and debts, which, as was believed, were compounded at very low rates. The friends
of the marquis of Huntley's family pressed the king hard to give his heirs the confiscation
of that part of Argyle's estate, in which the marquis of Huntley's debts, and all the pre-
tension on his estate were comprehended. And it was given to the marquis of Huntley, now
duke of Gordon, then a young child : but no care was taken to breed him a protestant. The
marquis of Montrose, and all others whose estates had been ruined under Argyle's conduct,
expected likewise reparation out of his estate ; which was a very great one, but in no way
able to satisfy all those demands. And it was believed that the earl of Middleton himself
hoped to have carried away the main bulk of it ; so that both the lord Lorn and he concurred,
though with different views, to put a stop to all the pretensions made upon it.
The point of the greatest importance then under consideration was, whether episcopacy
should be restored in Scotland, or not. The earl of Middleton assured the king, it was
desired by the greater and honester part of the nation. One synod had as good as petitioned
for it : and many others wished for it, though the share they had in the late wars made them
think it was not fit or decent for them to move for it. Sharp assured the king, that none but
the protestors, of whom he had a very bad opinion, were against it ; and that of the resolu-
tioners there would not be found twenty that would oppose it. All those who were for
making the change agreed, that it ought to be done now, in the first heat of joy after the
restoration, and before the act of indemnity passed. The earl of Lauderdale and all his
friends on the other hand assured the king, that the national prejudice against it was still very
strong, that those who seemed zealous for it ran into it only as a method to procure favour,
but that those who were against it would be found stiff and eager in their opposition to it ;
that by setting it up the king would lose the affections of the nation, and that the supporting
it would grow a heavy load on his government. The earl of Lauderdale turned all this, that
looked like a zeal for presbytery, to a dexterous insinuating himself into the king's confidence ;
as one that designed nothing but his greatness and his having Scotland sure to him, in order to
the executing of any design he might afterwards be engaged in. The king went very coldly
into the design. He said, he remembered well the aversion that he himself had observed
in that nation to any thing that looked like a superiority in the church. But to that the earl
of Middleton and Sharp answered, by assuring him that the insolcncies committed by the
88 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
presbyterians while they governed, and the ten years' usurpation that had followed, had made
such a change in people's tempers, that they were much altered since he had been among
them. The king naturally hated presbytery : and having called a new parliament in
England, that did with great zeal espouse the interests of the church of England, and were
now beginning to complain of the evacuating the garrisons held by the army in that kingdom,
he gave way, though with a visible reluctancy, to the change of the church government in
Scotland. The aversion he seemed to express was imputed to his own indifference as to all
those matters, and to his unwillingness to involve his government in new trouble. But the
view of things that the earl of Lauderdale had given him was the true root of all that coldness.
The earl of Clarendon set it on with great zeal. And so did the duke of Ormond ; who said,
it would be very hard to maintain the government of the church in Ireland, if presbytery
continued in Scotland ; since the northern counties, which were the best stocked of any they
had, as they were originally from Scotland, so they would still follow the way of that nation.
Upon all this diversity of opinion, the thing was proposed in a Scotch council at Whitehall.
The earl of Crawford declared himself against it : but the earl of Lauderdale, duke Hamilton,
and sir Robert Murray, were only for delaying the making any such change, till the king
should be better satisfied concerning the inclinations of the nation. The result of the debate
(all the rest who were present being earnest for the change) was, that a letter was written to
the privy council of Scotland, intimating the king's intentions for setting up episcopacy, and
demanding their advice upon it. The earl of Glencairn ordered the letter to be read, having
taken care that such persons should be present who he knew would speak warmly for it, that
so others, who might intend to oppose it, might be frightened from doing it. None spoke
against it but the earl of Kincairdine. He proposed, that some certain methods might be
taken, by which they might be well informed, and so be able to inform the king, of the
temper of the nation, before they offered an advice, that might have such effects as might
very much perplex, if not disorder, all their affairs. Some smart repartees passed between
the earl of Glencairn and him. This was all the opposition that was made at that board So
a letter was written to the king from thence, encouraging him to go on, and assuring him,
that the change he intended to make would give a general satisfaction to the main body of
the nation.
Upon that the thing was resolved on. It remained after this only to consider the proper
methods of doing it, and the men who ought to be employed in it. Sheldon and the English
bishops had an aversion to all that had been engaged in the covenant ; so they were for seek-
ing out all the episcopal clergy, who had been driven out of Scotland in the beginning of the
troubles, and preferring them. There was but one of the old bishops left alive, Sydserfe, who
had been bishop of Galloway. He had come up to London, not doubting but that he should
be advanced to the Primacy of Scotland. It is true, he had of late done some very irregular
things : when the act of uniformity required all men who held any benefices in England to
be episcopally ordained, he, who by observing the ill effects of their former violence was
become very moderate, with others of the Scotch clergy that gathered about him, did set
up a very indefensible practice of ordaining all those of the English clergy who came to him,
and that without demanding either oaths or subscriptions of them. Some believed, that this
was done by him, only to subsist on the fees that arose from the letters of orders so granted ;
for he was very poor. This did so disgust the English bishops at him and his company, that
they took no care of him or them. Yet they were much against a set of presbyterian bishops.
They believed they could have no credit, and that they would have no zeal. This touched
Sharp to the quick : so he laid the matter before the earl of Clarendon. He said, these old
episcopal men by their long absence out of Scotland knew nothing of the present generation •
and by the ill usage they had met with they were so irritated, that they would run matters
quickly to great extremities. And, if there was a faction among the bishops, some valuing them-
selves upon their constant steadiness, and looking with an ill eye on those who had been
carried away with the stream, this would divide and distract their counsels ; whereas a set of
men of moderate principles would be more uniform in their proceedings. This prevailed with
the earl of Clarendon, who saw the king so remiss in that matter, that he resolved to keep
things in as great temper as was possible. And he, not doubting but that Sharp would
OF KING CHARLES IT. 80
pursue tliat in which he seemed to be so zealous and hot, and carry things with great modera-
tion, persuaded the bishops of England to leave the management of that matter wholly to
him. And Sharp, being assured of that at which he had long aimed, laid aside his mask ;
and owned, that he was to be archbishop of St. Andrews. He said to some, from whom I
had it, that when he saw that the king was resolved on the change, and that some hot men
were like to be advanced, whose violence would ruin the country, he had submitted to that
post on design to moderate matters, and to cover some good men from a storm that might
otherwise break upon them. So deeply did he still dissemble : for now he talked of nothing
so much as of love and moderation.
Sydserfe was removed to be bishop of Orkney, one of the best revenues of any of the
bishoprics in Scotland : but it had been almost in all times a sinecure. He lived little more
than a year after his translation. He had died in more esteem, if he had died a year before
it. But Sharp was ordered to find out proper men for filling up the other sees. That care
was left entirely to him. The choice was generally very bad.
Two men were brought up to be consecrated in England, Fairfoul, designed for the see of
Glasgow, and Hamilton, brother to the lord Belhaven, for Galloway. The former of these
was a pleasant and facetious man, insinuating and crafty : but he was a better physician than
a divine. His life was scarce free from scandal : and he was eminent in nothing that belonged
to his own function. He had not only sworn the covenant, but had persuaded others to do it.
And when one objected to him, that it went against his conscience, he answered, there were
some very good medicines that could not be chewed, but were to be swallowed down ; and
since it was plain that a man could not live in Scotland unless he sware it, therefore it must
be swallowed down without any farther examination. Whatever the matter was, soon after
the consecration his parts sunk so fast, that in a few months he, who had passed his whole life
long for one of the cunningest men in Scotland, became almost a changeling ; upon which it
may be easily collected what commentaries the presbyterians would make. Sharp lamented
this to me, as one of their great misfortunes. He said it began to appear in less than a month
after he came to London. Hamilton was a good-natured man, but weak. He was always
believed episcopal. Yet he had so far complied in the time of the covenant, that he
affected a peculiar expression of his counterfeit zeal for their cause, to secure himself from
suspicion : when he gave the sacrament, he excommunicated all that were not true to the
covenant, using a form in the Old Testament of shaking out the lap of his gown ; saying, so
did he cast out of the church and communion all that dealt falsely in the covenant.
With these there was a fourth man found out, who was then at London at his return from
the Bath, where he had been for his health : and on him I will enlarge more copiously. He
was the son of Doctor Leighton, who had in archbishop Laud's time written " Zion's Plea
against the Prelates ; " for which he was condemned in the star-chamber to have his ears cut
and his nose slit. He was a man of a violent and ungoverned heat. He sent his eldest son
Robert to be bred in Scotland, who was accounted a saint from his youth up. He had great
quickness of parts, a lively apprehension, with a charming vivacity of thought and expression.
He had the greatest command of the purest Latin that ever I knew in any man. He was a
master both of Greek and Hebrew, and of the whole compass of theological learning, chiefly
in the study of the Scriptures. But that which excelled all the rest was, he was possessed
with the highest and noblest sense of divine things that I ever saw in any man. He had no
regard to his person, unless it was to mortify it by a constant low diet, that was like a per-
petual fast. He had a contempt both of wealth and reputation. He seemed to have the
lowest thoughts of himself possible, and to desire that all other persons should think as meanly
of him as he did himself : he bore all sorts of ill usage and reproach, like a man that took
pleasure in it. He had so subdued the natural heat of his temper, that in a great variety of
accidents, and in a course of twenty-two years' intimate conversation with him, I never observed
the least sign of passion, but upon one single occasion. He brought himself into so composed a
gravity, that I never saw him laugh, and but seldom smile. And he kept himself in such a constant
recollection, that I do not remember that ever I heard him say one idle word. There was a visible
tendency in all he said to raise his own mind, and those he conversed with to serious reflections.
He seemed to be in a perpetual meditation. And, though the whole course of his life was strict and
90 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
ascetical, yet lie had nothing of the sourness of temper that generally possesses men of that
sort. He was the freest from superstition, of censuring others, or of imposing his own
methods on them possible. So that he did not so much as recommend them to others. He
said there was a diversity of tempers ; and every man was to watch over his own, and to turn
it in the best manner he could. His thoughts were lively, oft out of the way and surprising,
yet just and genuine. And he had laid together in his memory the greatest treasure of the
best and wisest of all the ancient sayings of the heathens as well as Christians, that I have
ever known any man master of : and he used them in the aptest manner possible. He had
been bred up with the greatest aversion imaginable to the whole frame of the church of
England. From Scotland his father sent him to travel. He spent some years in France, and
spoke that language like one born there. He came afterwards and settled in Scotland, and had
presbyterian ordination. But he quickly broke through the prejudices of his education. His
preaching had a sublimity both of thought and expression in it. The grace and gravity of
his pronunciation was such, that few heard him without a very sensible emotion : I am sure
I never did. His style was rather too fine : but there was a majesty and beauty in it that
left so deep an impression, that I cannot yet forget the sermons I heard him preach thirty
years ago. And yet with this he seemed to look on himself as so ordinary a preacher, that
while he had a cure he was ready to employ all others : and when he was a bishop he chose
to preach to small auditories, and would never give notice beforehand : he had indeed a very
low voice, and so could not be heard by a great crowd. He soon came to see into the follies
of the presbyterians, and to dislike their covenant ; particularly the imposing it, and their
fury against all who differed from them. He found they were not capable of large thoughts :
theirs were narrow, as their tempers were sour. So he grew weary of mixing with them. He
scarce ever went to their meetings, and lived in great retirement, minding only the care of his
own parish at Newbottle, near Edinburgh. Yet all the opposition that he made to them
was, that he preached up a more exact rule of life than seemed to them consistent with human
nature : but his own practice did even outshine his doctrine.
In the year 1648 he declared himself for the engagement for the king ; but the earl of
Lothian, who lived in his parish, had so high an esteem for him, that he persuaded the
violent men not to meddle with him, though he gave occasion to great exception ; for when
some of his parish, who had been in the engagement, were ordered to make public profession
of their repentance for it, he told them, they had been in an expedition, in which, he
believed, they had neglected their duty to God, and had been guilty of injustice and violence,
of drunkenness and other immoralities, and he charged them to repent of these very seriously,
without meddling with the quarrel or the grounds of that war. He entered into a great
correspondence with many of the episcopal party, and with my own father in particular, and
did wholly separate himself from the presbyterians. At last he left them, and withdrew
from his cure, for he could not do the things imposed on him any longer ; and yet he hated
all contention so much, that he chose rather to leave them in a silent manner, than to engage
in any disputes with them : but he had generally the reputation of a saint, and of something
above human nature in him. So the mastership of the college of Edinburgh falling vacant
some time after, and it being in the gift of the city, he was prevailed with to accept of it,
because in it he was wholly separated from all church matters. He continued ten years in
that post, and was a great blessing in it ; for he talked so to all the youth of any capacity or
distinction, that it had great effect on many of them. He preached often to them ; and if
crowds broke in, which they were apt to do, he would have gone on in his sermon in Latin,
with a purity and life that charmed all who understood it. Thus he had lived above twenty
years in Scotland, in the highest reputation that any man in my time ever had in that kingdom.
He had a brother well known at court, sir Elisha, who was very like him in face and in
the vivacity of his parts, but the most unlike him in all other things that can be imagined ;
for, though he loved to talk of great sublimities in religion, yet he was a very immoral man.
He was a papist of a form of his own, but he had changed his religion to raise himself at
court ; for he was at that time secretary to the duke of York, and was very intimate with
the lord Aubigny, a brother of the duke of Richmond, who had changed his religion, and
was a priest, and had probably been a cardinal if he had lived a little longer. He maintained
OF KING CHARLES II. 91
an outward decency, and had more learning and better notions than men of quality who
enter into orders in that church generally have. Yet he was a very vicious man ; and that
perhaps made him the more considered by the king, who loved and trusted him to a high
degree. No man had more credit with the king, for he was in the secret as to his religion,
and was more trusted with the whole design, that was then managed in order to establish it,
than any man whatsoever. Sir Elisha brought his brother and him acquainted ; for Leigh-
ton loved to know men in all the varieties of religion.
In the vacation time he made excursions, and came oft to London, where he observed all
the eminent men in Cromwell's court, and in the several parties then about the city of
London. But he told me, he could never see any thing among them that pleased him.
They were men of unquiet and meddling tempers, and their discourses and sermons were
dry and unsavoury, full of airy cant, or of bombast swellings. Sometimes he went over to
Flanders, to see what he could find in the several orders of the church of Rome. There he
found some of Jansenius's followers, who seemed to be men of extraordinary tempers, and
studied to bring things, if possible, to the purity and simplicity of the primitive ages, on
which all his thoughts were much set. He thought controversies had been too much insisted
on, and had been carried too far. His brother, who thought of nothing but the raising him-
self at court, fancied that his being made a bishop might render himself more considerable.
So he possessed the lord Aubigny with such an opinion of him, that he made the king appre-
hend, that a man of his piety and his notions (and his not being married was not forgotten)
might contribute to carry on their design. He fancied such a monastic man, who had a
great stretch of thought, and so many other eminent qualities, would be a mean at least to
prepare the nation for popery, if he did not directly come over to them ; for his brother did
not stick to say, he was sure that lay at root with him. So the king named him of his own
proper motion, which gave all those that began to suspect the king himself great jealousies
of him. Leighton was averse to this promotion, as much as was possible. His brother had
great power over him, for he took care to hide his vices from him, and to make before him
a show of piety. He seemed to be a papist rather in name and show than in reality, of
which I will set down one instance that was then much talked of. Some of the church of
England loved to magnify the sacrament in an extraordinary manner, affirming the real
presence,, only blaming the church of Rome for defining the manner of it ; saying, Christ was
present in a most inconceivable manner. This was so much the mode, that the king and all
the court went into it. So the king, upon some raillery about transubstantiation, asked sir
Elisha if he believed it. He answered, he could not well tell, but he was sure the church of
England believed it. And when the king seemed amazed at that, he replied, do not you
believe that Christ is present in a most inconceivable manner ? Which the king granted.
Then, said he, that is just transubstantiation, the most inconceivable thing that was ever yet
invented. When Leighton was prevailed on to accept a bishopric, he chose Dunblane, a small
jj diocese as well as a little revenue : but the deanery of the chapel royal was annexed to that
see ; so he was willing to engage in that, that he might set up the common prayer in the
king's chapel, for the rebuilding of which orders were given. The English clergy were well
pleased with him, finding him both more learned, and more thoroughly theirs in the other
points of uniformity, than the rest of the Scotch clergy, whom they could not much value.
And though Sheldon did not much like his great strictness, in which he had no mind to
imitate him, yet he thought such a man as he was might give credit to episcopacy, in its
fijrst introduction to a nation much prejudiced against it. Sharp did not know what to make
of all this. He neither liked his strictness of life, nor his notions. He believed they would
not take the same methods, and fancied he might be much obscured by him ; for he saw he
would be well supported. He saw the earl of Lauderdale began to magnify him. And so
Sharp did all he could to discourage him, but without any effect, for he had no regard to
him. I bear still the greatest veneration for the memory of that man, that I do for any
person, and reckon my early knowledge of him, which happened the year after this, and my
long and intimate conversation with him, that continued to his death, for twenty-three years,
among the greatest blessings of my life, and for which I know I must give an account to
God in the great day in a most particular manner ; and yet, though I know this account of
I
92 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
his promotion may seem a blemish upon him, I would not conceal it, being resolved to write
of all persons and things with all possible candour. I had the relation of it from himself,
and more particularly from his brother. But what hopes soever the papists had of him at
this time, when he knew nothing of the design of bringing in popery, and had therefore
talked of some points of popery with the freedom of an abstracted and speculative man, yet
he expressed another sense of the matter when he came to see it was really intended to be
brought in among us. He then spoke of popery in the complex at much another rate ; and
he seemed to have more zeal against it, than I thought was in his nature with relation to
any points in controversy ; for his abstraction made him seem cold in all those matters.
But he gave all who conversed with him a very different view of popery, when he saw we
were really in danger of coming under the power of a religion, that had, as he used to say,
much of the wisdom that was earthly, sensual, and devilish, but had nothing in it of the
wisdom that was from above, and was pure and peaceable. He did indeed think the
corruptions and cruelties of popery were such gross and odious things, that nothing could
have maintained that church under those just and visible prejudices, but the several orders
among them, which had an appearance of mortification and contempt of the world, and
with all the trash that was among them maintained a face of piety and devotion. He
also thought the great and fatal error of the Reformation was, that more of those houses,
and of that course of life, free from the entanglements of vows and other mixtures, was
not preserved ; so that the protestant churches had neither places of education, nor retreat
for men of mortified tempers. I have dwelt long upon this man's character, but it was so
singular, that it seemed to deserve it : and I was so singularly blessed by knowing him as
I did, that I am sure he deserved it of me that I should give so full a view of him, which I
hope may be of some use to the world.
When the time fixed for the consecration of the bishops of Scotland came on, the English
bishops finding that Sharp and Leighton had not episcopal ordination, as priests and deacons,
the other two having been ordained by bishops before the wars, they stood upon it, that they
must be ordained, first deacons and then priests. Sharp was very uneasy at this, and remem-
bered them of what had happened when king James had set up episcopacy. Bishop Andrews
moved at that time the ordaining them, as was now proposed ; but that was overruled by
king James, who thought it went too far towards the unchurching of all those who had no
bishops among them. But the late war, and the disputes during that time, had raised these
controversies higher, and brought men to stricter notions, and to maintain them with more
fierceness. The English bishops did also say, that by the late act of uniformity that matter
was more positively settled than it had been before ; so that they could not legally conse-
crate any, but those who were, according to that constitution, made first priests and deacons.
They also made this difference between the present time and king James's ; for then the Scots
were only in an imperfect state, having never had bishops among them since the Reforma-
tion ; so in such a state of things, in which they had been under a real necessity, it was
reasonable to allow of their orders, how defective soever : but that of late they had been in
a state of schism, had revolted from their bishops, and had thrown off that order ; so that
orders given in such a wilful opposition to the whole constitution of the primitive church was
a thing of another nature. They were positive in the point, and would not dispense with it.
Sharp stuck more at it than could have been expected from a man that had swallowed down
greater matters. Leighton did not stand much upon it : he did not think orders given
without bishops were null and void. Pie thought the forms of government were not settled
by such positive laws as were unalterable, but only by apostolical practices, which, as he
thought, authorised episcopacy as the best form : yet he did not think it necessary to the
being of a church. But he thought that every church might make such rules of ordination
as they pleased, and that they might re-ordain all that came to them from any other church,
and that the re-ordaining a priest ordained in another church imported no more but that they
received him into orders according to their rules, and did not infer the annulling the orders
he had formerly received. These two were upon this privately ordained deacons and priests ;
and then all the four were consecrated publicly in the abbey of Westminster. Leighton told
me, he was much struck with the feasting and jollity of that day ; it had not such an appear-
OF KING CHARLES II. f)3
atice of seriousness or piety as became the new-modelling of a church. When that was over,
he made some attempts to work up Sharp to the two designs which possessed him most :
the one was, to try what could be done towards the uniting the presbyterians and them. He
offered Usher's reduction, as the plan upon which they ought to form their schemes *. The
other was, to try how they could raise men to a truer and higher sense of piety, and bring
the worship of that church out of their extempore methods into more order ; and so to pre-
pare them for a more regular way of worship, which he thought was of much more import-
ance than a form of government. But he was amazed when he observed that Sharp had
neither formed any scheme, nor seemed so much as willing to talk of any. He reckoned
they would be established in the next session of parliament, and so would be legally pos-
sessed of their bishoprics ; and then every bishop was to do the best he could to get all
once to submit to his authority : and when that point was carried, they might proceed
to other things, as should be found expedient ; but he did not care to lay down any
scheme. Fairfoul, when he talked to him, had always a merry tale ready at hand to divert
him ; so that he avoided all serious discourse, and indeed did not seem capable of any. By
these means Leighton quickly lost all heart and hope, and said often to me upon it, that
in the whole progress of that affair there appeared such cross characters of an angry provi-
dence, that, how fully soever he was satisfied in his own mind as to episcopacy itself, yet
it seemed that God was against them, and that they were not like to be the men that
should build up his church ; so that the struggling about it seemed to him like a fighting
against God. He who had the greatest hand in it proceeded with so much dissimulation,
and the rest of the order were so mean and so selfish, and the earl of Middleton, with
the other secular men that conducted it, were so openly impious and vicious, that it did
cast a reproach on every thing relating to religion, to see it managed by such instru-
ments.
All the steps that were made afterwards were of a piece with this melancholy begin-
ning. Upon the consecration of the bishops, the presbyteries of Scotland that were still
sitting began now to declare openly against episcopacy, and to prepare protestations, or other
acts or instruments, against them. Some were talking of entering into new engagements
against the submitting to them ; so Sharp moved, that, since the king had set up episco-
pacy, a proclamation might be issued out, forbidding clergymen to meet together in any
presbytery, or other judicatory, till the bishops should settle a method of proceeding in
them. Upon the setting out this proclamation, a general obedience was given to it ; only
the ministers, to keep up a show of acting on an ecclesiastic authority, met once and entered
into their books a protestation against the proclamation, as an invasion on the liberties of
the church, to which they declared they gave obedience only for a time, and for peace
sake. Sharp procured this without any advice, and it proved very fatal ; for when king
James brought in the bishops before, they had still suffered the inferior judicatories to con-
tinue bitting, till the bishops came, and sat down among them : some of them protested
indeed against that ; yet they sat on ever after : and so the whole church had a face of
unity, while all sat together in the same judicatories, though upon different principles.
The old presbyterians said, they sat still as in a court settled by the laws of the church
and state : and though they looked on the bishops sitting among them, and assuming a
negative vote, as an usurpation, yet, they said, it did not infer a nullity on the court :
whereas now, by this silencing these courts, the case was much altered : for if they had
continued sitting, and the bishops had come among them, they would have said, it was like
* The proposition of archbishop Usher to effect a union the bishop, or superintendent ; and that there should be
between the episcopal church and the presbyterian was provincial synods every third year, consisting of all the
brought forward by that learned and pious prelate in bishops, suffragans, and other elected clergy, of which the
1641 and 1648. He suggested there should be suffragans primate of the province should be moderator. Charles
appointed, equalling in number the rural deaneries, who the First, and the presbyterian clergy, though neither were
should hold monthly synods of all the rectors or incum- perfectly satisfied, mutually gave way, and assented to the
bents within their districts : that diocesan synods should plan ; but the parliament would not consent to any arrange-
meet once or twice annually, consisting of the suffragans ment that did not secure the entire abolition of episcopacy,
and rectors, or a select number of them, presided over by —Parr's Life of Usher.— Baxter's Life, by himself.
94 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the bearing with an usurpation, when there was no remedy : and what protestations soever
they might have made, or what opposition soever they might have given the bishops, that
would have been kept within their own walls, but would not have broken out into such a
distraction as the nation was cast into upon this : all the opposition that might have been
made would have died with those few that were disposed to make it ; and, upon due care
to fill the vacant places with worthy and well-affected men, the nation might have been
brought off from their prejudices. But these courts being now once broken, and brought
together afterwards by a sort of connivance, without any legal authority, only as the
bishop's assistants and officials, to give him advice, and to act in his name, they pretended
they could not sit in them any more, unless they should change their principles and become
thoroughly episcopal, which was too great a turn to be soon brought about. So fatally did
Sharp precipitate matters. He affected to have the reins of the church wholly put into his
hands. The earl of Lauderdale was not sorry to see him commit errors ; since the worse
things were managed, his advices would be thereby the more justified. And the earl of
Middleton and his party took no care of any business, being almost perpetually drunk ;
by which they came in a great measure to lose the king. For though, upon a frolic, the
king, with a few in whose company he took pleasure, would sometimes run into excess ;
yet he did it seldom, and had a very bad opinion of all that got into the habit and love of
drunkenness.
The bishops came down to Scotland soon after their consecration, all in one coach.
Leighton told me he believed they were weary of him, for he was very weary of them ;
but he, finding they intended to be received at Edinburgh with some pomp, left them at
Morpeth, and came to Edinburgh a few days before them. He hated all the appearances of
vanity. He would not have the title of lord given him by his friends, and was not easy when
others forced it on him. In this I always thought him too stiff: it provoked the other
bishops, and looked like singularity and affectation, and furnished those that were prejudiced
against him with a specious appearance to represent him as a man of odd notions and prac-
tices. The lord chancellor, with all the nobility and privy councillors then at Edinburgh,
went out, together with the magistracy of the city, and brought the bishops in, as in triumph.
I looked on : and though I was thoroughly episcopal, yet I thought there was somewhat in
the pomp of that entry, that did not look like the humility that became their function :
soon after their arrival, six other bishops were consecrated, but not ordained priests ;
deacons. The see of Edinburgh was for some time kept vacant. Sharp hoped that Douglas
might be prevailed on to accept it ; but he would enter into no treaty about it : so the earl
of Middleton forced upon Sharp one Wishart, who had been the marquis of Montrose's
chaplain, and had been taken prisoner, and used with so much cruelty in the gaol of Edin-
burgh, that it seemed but justice to advance a man in that place, where he had suffered
so much *.
The session of parliament came on in April, 1662 ; where the first thing that was proposed
by the earl of Middleton was, that since the act rescissory had annulled all the parliaments
after that held in the year 163,3, the former laws in favour of episcopacy were now again in
force, the king had restored that function which had been so long glorious in the church, and
for which his blessed father had suffered so much : and though the bishops had a right to
come and take their place in parliament, yet it was a piece of respect to send some of every
state to invite them to come, and sit among them. This was agreed to : so upon the message
* Dr. George Wishart was born in East Lothian. Subsequently he was chaplain to the sister of Charles the
He graduated at Edinburgh, and, after ordination, was First, the queen of Bohemia. At the Restoration he
appointed to the ministry of North Leith. He was ejected obtained the incumbency of Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; and
from this preferment in 1638, for refusing to take the in June 1662 was consecrated bishop of Edinburgh, as is
covenant, and was imprisoned in the Thief's Hole, or mentioned in the text. He died in 167 J. Clarendon
vilest cell of the Tolbooth prison at Edinburgh. His con- styles him the " learned and pious." Wood says he was
finement was long and distressing ; but finally obtaining his a most religious man, and very charitable. Unforgetful
liberty, he joined the earl of Montrose, and obtained the of his sufferings whilst in goal, he always sent the first
chaplaincy of a regiment. He wrote the adventures ot dish of his dinner to the prisoners. — Wood's Fasti Oxon,
that gallant but unfortunate nobleman, as has been men. ii. 142 — Clarendon's Hist, of Rebellion, iii. 225 — Keith's
tioned at p. 35, and narrowly escaped sharing his fate. History of the Scotch Bishops.
OF KING CHARLES II. 05
le bishops came and took their places. Leighton went not with them, as indeed lie never
came to parliament but when there was something before them that related to religion, or to
the church
The first act that passed in this session was for restoring episcopacy, and settling the
government of the church in their hands. Sharp had the framing of this act, as Primrose
told me. The whole government and jurisdiction of the church in the several dioceses was
declared to be lodged in the bishops, which they were to exercise with the advice and assist-
ance of such of their clergy as were of known loyalty and prudence : all men that held
any benefice in the church were required to own and submit to the government of the
church, as now by law established. This was plainly the setting episcopacy on another
bottom than it had been ever on in Scotland before this time ; for the whole body of the
presbyterians did formerly maintain such a share in the administration, that the bishops had
never pretended to any more, than to be their settled presidents, with a negative voice upon
them. But now it was said, that the whole power was lodged simply in the bishop, who
was only bound to carry along with him in the administration so many presbyters as he
thought fit to single out, as his advisers and assistants, which was the taking all power out
of the body of the clergy : church judicatories were now made only the bishop's assistants ;
and the few of the clergy that must assist being to be picked out by him, that was only a
matter of shew ; nor had they any authority lodged with them, all that being vested only in
the bishop : nor did it escape censure, that among the qualifications of those presbyters that
were to be the bishop's advisers and assistants, loyalty and prudence were only named ; and
that piety and learning were forgotten, which must always be reckoned the first qualifica-
tions of the clergy. As to the obligation to own and submit to the government thus esta-
blished by law, they said, it was hard to submit to so high an authority as was now lodged
with the bishops j but to require them to own it seemed to import an antecedent approving,
or at least a subsequent justifying of such an authority, which carried the matter far beyond
a bare obedience, even to an imposing upon conscience. These were not only the exceptions
made by the presbyterians, but by the episcopal men themselves, who had never carried the
argument farther in Scotland, than for a precedency, with some authority in ordination, and
a negative in matters of jurisdiction. They thought the body of the clergy ought to be a
check upon the bishops, and that, without the consent of the majority, they ought not to be
.•legally empowered to act in so imperious a manner as was warranted by this act. Many of
them would never subscribe to this form of owning and submitting : and the more prudent
bishops did not impose it on their clergy. The whole frame of the act was liable to great
censure. It was thought an inexcusable piece of madness, that, when a government was
brought in upon a nation so averse to it, the first step should carry their power so high.
All the bishops, except Sharp, disowned their having any share in the penning this act,
which, indeed, was passed in haste, without due consideration. Nor did any of the bishops,
no, not Sharp himself, ever carry their authority so high as by the act they were warranted
to do. But all the enemies to episcopacy had this act ever in their mouths, to excuse their
not submitting to it ; and said, it asserted a greater stretch of authority in bishops, than
they themselves thought fit to assume.
Soon after that act passed, some of the presbyterian preachers were summoned to answer
before the parliament for some reflections made in their sermons against episcopacy : but
nothing could be made of it, for their words were general, and capable of different senses. So
it was resolved, for a proof of their loyalty, to tender them the oath of allegiance and
supremacy. That had been enacted in the former parliament, and was refused by none but
the earl of Cassilis. He desired that an explanation might be made of the supremacy : the
words of the oath were large : and when the oath was enacted in England, a clear explana-
tion was given in one of the articles of the church of England, and more copiously afterwards
in a discourse by archbishop Usher, published by king James's order. But the parliament
would not satisfy him so far : and they were well pleased to see scruples raised about the
oath, that so a colour might be put on their severities against such as should refuse it, as being
men that refused to swear allegiance to the king. Upon that the earl of Cassilis left the
parliament, and quitted all his employments : for he was a man of a most inflexible firm-
I
96 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
ness. Many said there was no need of an explanation, since, how ambiguous soever the
words might be in themselves, yet that oath, being brought to Scotland from England, ought
to be understood in the same sense in which it was imposed in that kingdom. On the other
hand, there was just reason for some men being tender in so sacred a matter as an oath. The
earl of Cassilis had offered to take the oath, provided he might join his explanation to it.
The earl of Middleton was contented to let him say what he pleased, but he would not suffer
him to put it in writing. The ministers, to whom it was now tendered, offered to take it
upon the same terms ; and in a petition to the lords of the articles, they offered their expla-
nation. Upon that a debate arose, whether an act explanatory of the oath should be offered
to the parliament, or not. This was the first time that Leighton appeared in parliament.
lie pressed, it might be done, with much zeal. He said, the land mourned by reason of the
many oaths that had been taken : the words of this oath were certainly capable of a bad
sense ; in compassion to papists, a limited sense had been put on them in England ; and he
thought there should be a like tenderness showed to protestants, especially when the scruple
was just, and there was an oath in the case, in which the matter ought certainly to be made
clear : to act otherwise looked like the laying snares for people, and the making men offenders
for a word. Sharp took this ill from him, and replied upon him with great bitterness ; and
said, it was below the dignity of government to make acts to satisfy the weak scruples of
peevish men : it ill became them, who had imposed their covenant on all people without
any explanation, and had forced all to take it, now to expect such extraordinary favours.
Leighton insisted that it ought to be done for that very reason, that all people might see
a difference between the mild proceedings of the government now, and their severity : and
that it ill became the very same persons, who had complained of that rigour, now to practise
it themselves ; for thus it may be said, the world goes mad by turns. This was ill taken by
the earl of Middleton and all his party : for they designed to keep the matter so, that the
presbyterians should be possessed with many scruples on this head ; and that, when any of
the party should be brought before them, whom they believed in fault, but had not full proof
against, the oath should be tendered as the trial of their allegiance, and that on their refusing
it they should censure them as they thought fit. So the ministers' petition was rejected, and
they were required to take the oath as it stood in the law, without putting any sense upon it.
They refused to do it, and were upon that condemned to perpetual banishment, as men that
denied allegiance to the king. And by this an engine was found out to banish as many as
they pleased ; for the resolution was taken up by the whole party to refuse it, unless with an
explanation. So soon did men forget all their former complaints of the severity of imposing
oaths, and began to set on foot the same practices now, when they had it in their power to
do it. But how unbecoming soever this rigour might be in laymen, it was certainly much
more indecent when managed by clergymen: and the supremacy which was now turned
against the presbyterians was, not long after this, laid much heavier on the bishops them-
selves : and then they desired an explanation, as much as the presbyterians did now, but
could not obtain it.
The parliament was not satisfied with this oath : for they apprehended that many would
infer, that, since it came from England, it ought to be understood in the public and esta-
blished sense of the words that was passed there, both in an article of doctrine and in an act of
parliament. Therefore another oath was likewise taken from the English pattern, of abjuring
the covenant — both the league and the national covenant. It is true, this was only imposed
on men in the magistracy, or in public employments. By it all the presbyterians were turned
out ; for this oath was decried by the ministers as little less than open apostacy from God,
and a throwing off their baptismal covenant.
The main business of this session of parliament, now that episcopacy was settled, and these
oaths were enacted, was the passing of the act of indemnity. The earl of Middleton
had obtained of the king an instruction to consent to the fining of the chief offenders, or to
other punishments not extending to life. This was intended to enrich him and his party,
since all the rich and great offenders would be struck with the terror of this, and choose
rather to make him a good present, than to be fined on record, as guilty persons. This
matter was debated at the council in Whitehall. The earls of Lauderdale and Crawford
OF KING CHARLES II. 97
argued against it. They said the king had granted a full indemnity in England, out of
which none were excepted but the regicides : it seemed, therefore, an unkind and an unequal
way of proceeding towards Scotland, that had merited eminently at the king's hands ever
since the year 1648, and suffered much for it, that the one kingdom should not have the
same measure of grace and pardon that was granted in the other. The earl of Middleton
answered, that all he desired was in favour of the loyal party in Scotland, who were undone
by their adhering to the king : the revenue of the crown was too small, and too much
charged, to repair their losses ; so the king had no other way to be just to them, but to
make their enemies pay for their rebellion. Some plausible limitations were offered to the
fines to which any should be condemned, as that they should be only for offences committed
since the year 1 650, and that no man should be fined in above a year's rent of his estate.
These were agreed to. So he had an instruction to pass an act of indemnity, with a power of
fining restrained to these rules. There was one sir George Mackenzie, since made lord
Tarbot and earl of Cromarty, a young man of great vivacity of parts, but full of ambition,
and had the art to recommend himself to all sides and parties by turns, and has made a
great figure in that country now above fifty years. He had great notions of virtue and
religion, but they were only notions, at least they have not had great effect on himself at all
times. He became now the earl of Middleton's chief favourite *. Primrose was grown rich
and cautious ; and his maxim having always been, that, when he apprehended a change, he
ought to lay in for it by courting the side that was depressed, that so in the next turn he
might secure friends to himself, he began to think that the earl of Middleton went too fast
to hold out long. He had often advised him to manage the business of restoring episcopacy
in a slow progress. He had formed a scheme, by which it would have been the work of
seven years : but the earl of Middleton's heat, and Sharp's vehemence, spoiled all his project.
The earl of Middleton, after his own disgrace, said often to him, that his advices had been
always wise and faithful ; but he thought princes were more sensible of services, and more
apt to reflect on them, and to reward them, than he found they were.
When the settlement of episcopacy was over, the next care was to prepare the act of
indemnity. Some proposed that, besides the power of fining, they should move the king,
that he would consent to an instruction, empowering them likewise to put some under an
incapacity to hold any public trust. This had never been proposed in public ; but the earl
of Middleton pretended, that many of the best affected of the parliament had proposed it in
private to himself. So he sent the lord Tarbot up to the king with two draughts of an act
of indemnity, the one containing an exception of some persons to be fined, and the other
containing likewise a clause for the incapacitating of some, not exceeding twelve, from all
public trust. He was ordered to lay both before the king : the one was penned according to
the earl of Middleton's instructions : the other was drawn at the desire of the parliament,
for which he prayed an instruction, if the king thought fit to approve of it. The earl of
Laudcrdale had no apprehension of any design against himself in the motion ; so he made
no objection to it : and an instruction was drawn, empowering the earl of Middleton to pass
an act with that clause. Tarbot was then much considered at court, as one of the most extra-
ordinary men that Scotland had produced, and was the better liked, because he was looked
on as the person that the earl of Middleton intended to set up in the earl of Lauderdale's
room, who was then so much hated, that nothing could have preserved him but the course
that was taken to ruin him. So lord Tarbot went back to Scotland. And the duke of Rich-
mond and the earl of Newburgh went down with him, by whose wild and ungoverned
extravagancies the earl of Middleton's whole conduct fell under an universal odium and so
much contempt, that, as his own ill management forced the king to put an end to his ministry,
he could not have served there much longer with any reputation.
Whatever may have been the virtues or the religious tary of state and earl of Cromarty. Notwithstanding his
ity of sir George Mackenzie, there is no doubt that official employments, he found time for the indulgence
a a man of talent. At the Restoration he was made of his literary taste. He was the author of two works
ator of the college of justice, clerk of the privy council, on Scotch history, one relating to the Cowrie conspiracy,
justice-general. James the Second raised him to the &c. He died in 1714, aged eighty-eight. — General Biog.
as lord Tarbot ; and queen Anne made him secic- Diet.
98 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
One instance of unusual severity was, that a letter of the lord Lorn's to the lord Duffus
was intercepted, in which he did a little too plainly, but very truly, complain of the practices
of his enemies in endeavouring to possess the king against him by many lies ; but he said,
he had now discovered them, and had defeated them, and had gained the person upon whom
the chief among them depended. This was the earl of Clarendon, upon whom the earl of
Berkshire had wrought so much, that he resolved to oppose his restoration no more : and for
this the earl of Berkshire was to have a thousand pounds. This letter was carried into the
parliament, and complained of as leasing-making ; since lord Lorn pretended, he had disco-
vered the lies of his enemies to the king, which was a sowing dissension between the king and
his subjects, and the creating in the king an ill opinion of them. So the parliament desired,
the king would send him down to be tried upon it. The king thought the letter very indis-
creetly written, but could not see any thing in it that was criminal. Yet, in compliance
with the desire of so zealous a parliament, lord Lorn was sent down upon his parole : but
the king wrote positively to the earl of Middleton, not to proceed to the execution of any
sentence that might pass upon him. Lord Lorn upon his appearance was made a prisoner ;
and an indictment was brought against him for leasing-making. He made no defence ; but
in a long speech he set out the great provocation he had been under, the many libels that
had been printed against him : some of these had been put in the king's own hands, to repre-
sent him as unworthy of his grace and favour : so, after all that hard usage, it was no wonder,
if he had written with some sharpness : but he protested, he meant no harm to any person ;
his design being only to preserve and save himself from the malice and lies of others, and
not to make lies of any. In conclusion, he submitted to the justice of the parliament,
and cast himself on the king's mercy. He was upon this condemned to die, as guilty of
leasing-making : and the day of his execution was left to the earl of Middleton by the
parliament *.
I never knew any thing more generally cried out on than this was, unless it was the
second sentence passed on him twenty years after this, which had more fatal effects, and a
more tragical conclusion. He was certainly born to be the most signal instance in this age
of the rigour, or rather of the mockery, of justice. All that was said at this time to excuse
the proceeding was, that it was certain his life was in no danger. But since that depended
on the king, it did not excuse those who passed so base a sentence, and left to posterity the
precedent of a parliamentary judgment, by which any man may be condemned for a letter
of common news. This was not all the fury with which this matter was driven : for an
act was passed against all persons who should move the king for restoring the children of
those who were attainted by parliament ; which was an unheard of restraint on applications
to the king for his grace and mercy. This the earl of Middleton also passed, though he
had no instruction for it. There was no penalty put in the act, for it was a maxim of the
pleaders for prerogative, that the fixing a punishment was a limitation on the crown :
whereas an act forbidding any thing, though without a penalty, made the offenders criminal :
and in that case they did reckon, that the punishment was arbitrary, only that it could not
extend to life. A committee was next appointed for setting the fines : they proceeded
without any regard to the rules the king had set them. The most obnoxious compounded
secretly. No consideration was had either of men's crimes, or of their estates ; no proofs
were brought ; enquiries were not so much as made ; but as men were delated, they were
marked down for such a fine ; and all was transacted in a secret committee. When the list
* It will elucidate the character of this amiable noblo- not have proceeded from any disloyal feeling, or wish, to
man to sketch the chief incidents of his life previous to annoy him ; for in the " History of the King's Exile," he
this period. Archibald Campbell, lord Lorn, was the is acknowledged to have done all that he could to alleviate
eldest son of the earl of Argyle, whose unjustifiable eve- the rigid restraint imposed on his majesty by the presby-
cution was mentioned in a previous page, and which event teidan clergy. He fought with distinguished bravery at Dun-
his well intended efforts accelerated instead of preventing, bar and Worcester ; and as Burnet mentions, elsewhere,
When Charles the Second was invited to Scotland in 1650, kept up a party in the Highlands for the royal service.
to assume its crown, lord Lorn was appointed colonel of Cromwell excepted him out of his general pardon in 1654.
the king's foot-guards ; and, at his own determined request, — Thurloe's State Papers ; Crawford's Lives of the Great
had his commission from the king, although all others Officers of Scotland ; Memoirs of Scotch Affairs from the
were granted by the Scotch parliament. Clarendon says, Restoration to the Revolution ; "Woodrovv's Hist, of the
that he was very strict in watching the king, but this could Church of Scotland.
OF KING CHARLES II. 00
of the men and of their fines was read in parliament, exceptions were made to divers, parti-
cularly some who had been under age all the time of transgression, and others abroad ; but
to every thing of that kind an answer was made, that there would come a proper time in
which every man was to be heard in his own defence ; for the meaning of setting the fine
was only this, that such persons should have no benefit by the act of indemnity, unless they
paid the fine : therefore every one that could stand upon his innocence, and renounce the
benefit of the indemnity, was thereby free from the fine, which was only his composition for
the grace and pardon of the act. So all passed in that great hurry.
The other point concerning the incapacity was carried farther than was perhaps intended
at first ; though the lord Tarbot assured me, he had from the beginning designed it. It was
infused into all people, that the king was weary of the earl of Lauderdale, but that he could
not decently throw him off, and that, therefore, the parliament must help him with a fair
pretence for doing it. Yet others were very apprehensive, that the king could not approve of
a parliament's falling upon a minister. So lord Tarbot proposed two expedients : the one was,
that no person should be named, but that every member should do it by ballot, and should
bring twelve names in a paper ; and that a secret committee of three of every estate should
make the scrutiny ; and that they, without making any report to the parliament, should
put those twelve names on whom the greater number fell in the act of incapacity, which
was to be an act apart, and not made a clause of the act of indemnity. This was taken
from the ostracism in Athens, and seemed the best method in an act of oblivion, in which
all that was passed was to be forgotten : and no seeds of feuds would remain, when it was
not so much as known against whom any one had voted. The other expedient was, that a
clause should be put in the act, that it should have no force, and that the names in it should
never be published, unless the king should approve of it. By this means it was hoped, that,
if the king should dislike the whole thing, yet it would be easy to soften that, by letting him
see how entirely the act was in his power. Emissaries were sent to every parliament man,
directing him how to make his list, that so the earls of Lauderdale, Crawford, and sir Robert
Murray, might be three of the number. This was managed so carefully, that by a great
majority they were three of the. incapacitated persons. The earl of Middleton passed the
act, though he had no instruction about it in this form. The matter was so secretly carried,
that it was not let out the day before it was done ; for they had reckoned their success in it
was to depend on the secrefiy of it, and in their carrying it to the king, before he should be
possessed against it by the earl of Lauderdale, or his party. So they took great care to visit
the packet, and to stop any that should go to court post : and all people were under such
terror, that no courage was left. Only lord Lorn sent one on his own horses, who was to go
on in cross roads, till he got into Yorkshire ; for they had secured every stage to Durham.
By this means the earl of Lauderdale had the news three days before the duke of Richmond
and lord Tarbot got to court. He carried it presently to the king, who could scarce
believe it : but when he saw by the letters that it was certainly true, he assured the earl of
Lauderdale that he would preserve him, and never suffer such a destructive precedent to
pass. He said, he looked for no better upon the duke of Richmond's going to Scotland, and,
his being perpetually drunk there. This mortified the earl of Lauderdale ; for it looked like
the laying in an excuse for the earl of Middleton. From the king, by his orders, he went to
the earl of Clarendon, and told all to him. He was amazed at it ; and said, that certainly
he had some secret friend that had got into their confidence, and had persuaded them to do
as they had done on design to ruin them : but, growing more serious, he added, he was sure
the king on his own account would take care not to suffer such a thing to pass : otherwise
no man could serve him : if way was given to such a method of proceeding, he himself
would go out of his dominions as fast as his gout would suffer him.
Two days after this, the duke of Richmond and lord Tarbot came to court. They brought
the act of incapacity sealed up, together with a letter from the parliament, magnifying the
earl of Middleton's services, and another letter signed by ten of the bishops, setting forth
his zeal for the church, and his care of them all ; and, in particular, they set out the design
he was then on, of going round some of the worst affected counties to see the church esta-
blished in them, as a work that was highly meritorious At the same time he sent over the
H 2
I
100 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
earl of Newburgh to Ireland, to engage the duke of Ormond to represent to the king the
good effects that they began to feel in that kingdom from the earl of Middleton's adminis-
tration in Scotland, hoping the king would not discourage, much less change, so faithful a
minister. The king received the duke of Richmond and lord Tarbot very coldly. When
they delivered the act of incapacity to him, he assured them, it should never be opened by
him ; and said, their last actings were like madmen, or like men that were perpetually drunk.
Lord Tarbot said, all was yet entire, and in his hands ; the act being to live or to die as he
pleased. He magnified the earl of Middleton's zeal in his service, and the loyal affections of
his parliament, who had on this occasion consulted both the king's safety, and his honour :
the incapacity act was only intended to put it out of the power of men, who had been
formerly bad instruments, to be so any more : and even that was submitted by them to the
king's judgment. The king heard them patiently, and without any farther discourse on the
subject, dismissed them. So they hoped they had mollified him. But the earl of Lauder-
dale turned the matter upon the earl of Middleton and lord Tarbot, who had made the king
believe that the parliament desired leave to incapacitate some, whereas no such desire had
ever been made in parliament : and then, after the king, upon that misrepresentation, had
given way to it, the parliament was made to believe, that the king desired, that some might
be put under that censure ; so that the abuse had been equally put on both. Honours went
by ballot at Venice ; but punishments had never gone so, since the ostracism at Athens,
which was the factious practice of a jealous commonwealth, never to be sot up as a prece-
dent under a monarchy : even the Athenians were ashamed of it, when Aristides, the justest
man among them, fell under the censure ; and they laid it aside not long after.
The earl of Clarendon gave up the thing as inexcusable; but he studied to preserve
the earl of Middleton. The change newly made in the church of Scotland had been
managed by him with zeal and success : but though it was well begun, yet if these laws
were not maintained by a vigorous execution, the presbyterians, who were quite dispirited
by the steadiness of his conduct, would take heart again ; especially if they saw the earl
of Lauderdale grow upon him, whom they looked on as theirs in his heart : so he prayed
the king to forgive one single fault, that came after so much merit. He also sent advices
to the earl of Middleton to go on in his care of establishing the church, and to get the
bishops to send up copious accounts of all that he had done. The king ordered him to
come up, and to give him an account of the affairs in Scotland : but he represented the abso-
lute necessity of seeing some of the laws lately made put in execution ; for it was hoped,
the king's displeasure would be allayed, and go off, if some tijne could be but gained.
One act passed in the last parliament that restored the rights of patronage, the taking away
of which even presbytery could not carry till the year 1649, in which they had the parliament
entirely in their hands. Then the election of ministers was put in the church session and the
lay elders : so that, from that time all that had been admitted to churches came in without pre-
sentations. One clause in the act declared all these incumbents to be unlawful possessors :
only it indemnified them for what was past, and required them before Michaelmas to take pre-
sentations from the patrons, who were obliged to give them being demanded, and to get
themselves to be instituted by the bishops ; otherwise their churches were declared vacant on
Michaelmas day. This took in all the young and hot men : so the presbyterians had many
meetings about it, in which they all resolved not to obey the act. They reckoned, the taking
institution from a bishop was such an owning of his authority, that it was a renouncing of all
their former principles : whereas some few that had a mind to hold their benefices, thought that
was only a secular law that gave a legal right to their tithes and benefices, and had no relation
to their spiritual concerns ; and therefore they thought they might submit to it, especially where
bishops were so moderate as to impose no subscription upon them, as the greater part were.
But the resolution taken by the main body of the presbyterians was, to pay no obedience to
any of the acts made in this session, and to look on, and see what the state would do. The
earl of Middleton was naturally fierce, and that was heightened by the ill state of his affairs at
court : so he resolved on a punctual execution of the law. He and all about him were at this
time so constantly disordered, by high entertainments and other excesses, that, even in the
short intervals between their drunken bouts, they were not cool nor calm enough to consider
OF KING CHARLES II. 101
what they were doing. He had also so mean an opinion of the party, that he believed they
would comply with any thing rather than lose their benefices. And therefore he declared, he
would execute the law in its utmost rigour. On the other hand, the heads of the presbyterians
reckoned, that if great numbers were turned out all at once, it would not be possible to fill
their places on the sudden ; and that the government would be forced to take them in again,
if there were such a vacancy made, that a great part of the nation were left destitute, and
had no divine service among them. For that which all the wiser of the party apprehended
most was. that the bishops would go on slowly, and single out some that were more factious
upon particular provocations, and turn them out by degrees, as they had men ready to put
in their room ; which would have been more insensible, and more excusable, if indiscreet
zealots had, as it were, forced censures from them. The advice sent over all the country, from
their leaders who had settled measures in Edinburgh, was, that they should do and say
nothing that might give a particular distaste, but should look on, and do their duty as long as
they were connived at ; and that if any proclamation should be issued out, commanding them
to be silent, they should all obey at once. In these measures both sides were deceived in their ex-
pectations. The bishops went to their several dioceses : and according as the people stood
affected they were well or ill received : and they held their synods every where in October.
In the northern parts very few stood out, but in the western parts scarce any came to them.
The earl of Middleton went to Glasgow before Michaelmas. So when the time fixed by the
act was passed, and that scarce any one in all those counties had paid any regard to it, he
called a meeting of the privy council, that they might consider what was fit to be done.
Duke Hamilton told me, that they were all so drunk that day, that they were not capable of
considering any thing that was laid before them, and would hear of nothing but the executing
the law without any relenting or delay. So a proclamation was issued out, requiring all who had
their livings without presentations, and who had not obeyed the late act, to give over all
farther preaching, or serving the cure, and to withdraw from their parishes immediately : and
the military men that lay in the country were ordered to pull them out of their pulpits, if
they should presume to go on in their functions. This was opposed only by duke Hamilton,
and sir James Lockhart, father to sir William Lockhart. They represented, that the much
greater part of the preachers in these counties had come into their churches since the year
1649 ; that they were very popular men, both esteemed and loved of their people : it would
be a great scandal if they should be turned out, and none be ready to put in their places ;
and it would not be possible to find a competent number of well qualified men, to fill the
many vacancies that this proclamation would make. The earl of Middleton would hear of
nothing, but the immediate execution of the law. So the proclamation was issued out : and
upon it above two hundred churches were shut up in one day : and above one hundred and
fifty more w^ere to be turned out for not obeying, and submitting to the bishops' summons to
their synods. All this was done without considering the consequence of it, or communicating
it to the other bishops. Sharp said to myself, that he knew nothing of it ; nor did he imagine,
that so rash a thing could have been done, till he saw it in print. He was glad that this was
done without his having any share in it : for by it he was furnished with somewhat, in which
lie was no way concerned, upon which he might cast all the blame of all that followed. Yet
this was suitable enough to a maxim that he and all that sort of people set up, that the
execution of laws was that by which all governments maintained their strength, as well as
their honour. The earl of Middleton was surprised at this extraordinary submission of the
presbyterians. He had fancied, that the greatest part would have complied, and that some
of the more intractable would have done some extraordinary thing, to have justified the
severities he would have exercised in that case ; and was disappointed both ways. Yet this
obedience of a party, so little accustomed to it, was much magnified at court. It was raid,
that all plied before him : they knew he was steady : so they saw how necessary it was not
to change the management, if it was really intended to preserve the church. Lord Tarbot
told me, that the king had expressed to himself the esteem he had for Sheldon, upon the
account of the courage that he shewed in the debate concerning the execution of the act of
miformity at the day prefixed, which was St. Bartholomew's : for some suggested the danger
it might arise, if the act were vigorously executed. From thence it seems the carl of
102 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Middleton concluded, the zeal he shewed now would be so acceptable, that all former errors
would be forgiven, if he went through with it ; as indeed he stuck at nothing. Yet the
clamour of putting several counties, as it were, under an interdict, was very great. So all
endeavours were used to get as many as could be had to fill those vacancies. And among
others I was much pressed, both by the earl of Glencairn and the lord Tarbot, to go into any
of the vacant churches that I liked. I was then but nineteen : yet there is no law in Scot-
land limiting the age of a priest. And it was upon this account that I was let so far into
the secret of all affairs : for they had such an imagination of some service I might do them,
that they treated me with a very particular freedom and confidence. But I had imbibed the
principles of moderation so early, that, though I was entirely episcopal, yet I would not
engage with a body of men, that seemed to have the principles and tempers of inquisitors in
them, and to have no regard to religion in any of their proceedings. So I stood upon my
youth, and could not be brought on to go to the West ; though the earl of Glencairn offered
to carry me with him under his protection.
There was a sort of an invitation sent over the kingdom, like a hue and cry, to all persons
to accept of benefices in the west. The livings were generally well endowed, and the par-
sonage houses were well built, and in good repair : and this drew many very worthless
persons thither, who had little learning, less piety, and no sort of discretion. They came
thither with great prejudices against them, and had many difficulties to wrestle with. The
former incumbents, who were for the most part protestors, were a grave sort of people.
Their spirits were eager, and their tempers sour : but they had an appearance that created
respect. They were related to the chief families in the country, either by blood or marriage ;
and had lived in so decent a manner, that the gentry paid great respect to them. They used
to visit their parishes much, and were so full of the scriptures, and so ready at extempore
prayer, that from that they grew to practise extempore sermons : for the custom in Scotland
was after dinner or supper to read a chapter in the scripture : and where they happened to
come, if it was acceptable, they on the sudden expounded the chapter. They had brought
the people to such a degree of knowledge, that cottagers and servants would have prayed ex-
tempore. I have often overheard them at it : and though there was a large mixture of odd
stuff, yet I have been astonished to hear how copious and ready they were in it. The mini-
sters generally brought them about them on the Sunday nights, where the sermons were talked
over ; and every one, women as well as men, were desired to speak their sense and their
experience : and by these means they had a comprehension of matters of religion, greater
than I have seen among people of that sort any where. The preachers went all in one
track, of raising observations on points of doctrine out of their text, and proving these by
reasons, and then of applying those, and shewing the use that was to be made of such a point
of doctrine, both for instruction and terror, for exhortation and comfort, for trial of them-
selves upon it, and for furnishing them with proper directions and helps : and this was so
methodical, that the people grew to follow a sermon quite through every branch of it. To
this some added, the resolving of doubts concerning the state they were in, or their progress,
or decay in it ; which they called cases of conscience : and these were taken from what their
people said to them at any time, very oft being under fits of melancholy, or vapours, or
obstructions, which, though they flowed from natural causes, were looked on as the work of
the spirit of God, and a particular exercise to them'; and they fed this disease of weak minds
too much. Thus they had laboured very diligently, though with a wrong method and wrong
notions. But as they lived in great familiarity with their people, and used to pray and to
talk oft with them in private, so it can hardly be imagined to what a degree they were loved
and reverenced by them. They kept scandalous persons under a severe discipline : for breach
of sabbath, for an oath, or the least disorder in drunkenness, persons were cited before the
church session, that consisted of ten or twelve of the chief of the parish, who with the
minister had this care upon them, and were solemnly reproved for it : for fornication they
were not only reproved before these ; but there was a high place in the church called the
stool or pillar of repentance, where they sat at the times of worship for three Lord's days,
receiving admonitions, and making profession of repentance on all those days ; which some
did with many tears, and serious exhortations to all the rest, to take warning by their fall :
OF KING CHARLES II. 103
for adultery they were to sit six months in that place, covered with sackcloth. These things
had a grave appearance. Their faults and defects were not so conspicuous. They had a very
scanty measure of learning, and a narrow compass in it. They were little men, of a very
indifferent size of capacity, and apt to fly out into great excess of passion and indiscretion.
They were servile, and too apt to fawn upon, and flatter their admirers. They were affected
in their deportment, and very apt to censure all who differed from them, and to believe
and report whatsoever they heard to their prejudice. And they were superstitious
and haughty. In their sermons they were apt to enlarge on the state of the present time,
and to preach against the sins of princes and courts : a topic that naturally makes men
popular. It has an appearance of courage : and the people are glad to hear those sins insisted
on, in which they perceive they have no share, and to believe that the judgments of God
come down by the means and procurement of other men's sins. But their opinions about
the independence of the church and clergy on the civil power, and their readiness to stir
up the people to tumults and wars, was that which begot so ill an opinion of them at this
time in all men, that very few, who were not deeply engaged with them in these conceits,
pitied them much under all the ill usage they now met with. I hope this is no impertinent
nor ungrateful digression. It is a just and true account of these men and those times, from
which a judicious reader will make good inferences. I will conclude this with a judicious
answer that one of the wisest and best of them, Colvil, who succeeded Leighton in the head-
ship of the college of Edinburgh, made to the earl of Middleton, when he pressed him in the
point of defensive arms, to tell plainly his opinion, whether they were lawful or not. He
said, the question had been often put to him, and he had always declined to answer it : but
to him he plainly said, he wished that kings and their ministers would believe them lawful,
and so govern as men that expect to be resisted ; but he wished, that all their subjects would
believe them to be unlawful, and so the world would be at quiet *.
I do now return to end the account of the state of that country at this time. The people
were much troubled, when so many of their ministers were turned out. Their ministers had,
for some months before they were thus silenced, been infusing this into their people, both in
public and private ; that all that was designed, in this change of church government, was to
destroy the power of godliness, and to give an- impunity to vice ; that prelacy was a tyranny
in the church, set on by ambitious and covetous men, who aimed at nothing but authority
and wealth, luxury and idleness ; and that they intended to encourage vice, that they might
procure to themselves a great party among the impious and immoral. The people thus pre-
possessed, seeing the earl of Middleton, and all the train that followed him through those
counties, running into excesses of all sorts, and railing at the very appearance of virtue and
sobriety, were confirmed in the belief of all that their ministers had told them. What they
had heard concerning Sharp's betraying those that had employed him, and the other bishops,
who had taken the covenant, and had forced it on others, and now preached against it, openly
owning that they had in so doing gone against the express dictate of their own conscience,
did very much heighten all their prejudices, and fixed them so in them, that it was scarce
possible to conquer them afterwards. All this was out of measure increased by the new
incumbents, who were put in the places of the ejected preachers, and were generally very
mean and despicable in all respects. They were the worst preachers I ever heard : they were
ignorant to a reproach ; and many of them were openly vicious. They were a disgrace to
their orders, and the sacred functions ; and were indeed the dreg and refuse of the northern
parts. Those of them who rose above contempt or scandal, were men of such violent
tempers, that they were as much hated, as the others were despised. This was the fatal
beginning of restoring episcopacy in Scotland, of which few of the bishops seemed to have
any sense. Fairfoul, the most concerned, had none at all : for he fell into a paralytic state,
in which ho languished a year before he died. I have thus opened the first settlement in
Scotland : of which I myself observed what was visible, and understood the most secret
tThis witty and just reply was made by Dr. Alexander as an exposure of the follies and vices of the period. Ho
vil. He wrote several works no longer in repute, died in 1676. — General Biog. Diet,
ept his " Scotch Hudibrtxs," which is worth perusing
'
104 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
transactions from those, who had such a share in them, that it was not possiLle for them to
mistake them : and I had no reason to think they intended to deceive, or misinform me.
I will in the next place change the climate, and give as particular an account as I can of
the settlement of England both in church and state : which, though it will be imperfect,
and will in some parts be unmethodical, yet I am well assured it will be found true ; having
picked it up at several times, from the earl of Lauderdale, sir Robert Murray, the earl of
Shaftsbury, the earl of Clarendon, son of the lord chancellor, the lord Hollis, and sir Har-
bottle Grimstone, who was the speaker of the house of commons, under whose protection I
lived nine years when I was preacher at the rolls, he being then master of the rolls. From
such hands I could not be misled, when I laid all together, and considered what reason I had
to make allowances for the different accounts that diversity of parties and interests may
lead men to give, they too easily believing some things, and as easily rejecting others, as they
stood affected.
After the king came over, no person in the house of commons had the courage to move
the offering propositions, for any limitation of prerogative, or the defining of any doubtful
points. All was joy and rapture. If the king had applied himself to business, and had
pursued those designs which he studied to retrieve all the rest of his reign, when it was too
late, he had probably in those first transports carried every thing that he would have desired,
either as to revenue or power. But he was so given up to pleasure, that he devolved the
management of all his affairs on the earl of Clarendon ; who, as he had his breeding in the
law, so he had all along declared himself for the ancient liberties of England, as well as for
the rights of the crown. A domestic accident had happened to him, which heightened his
zeal for the former. He, when he began to grow eminent in his profession, came down to
see his aged father, a gentleman of Wiltshire : who one day as they were walking in the field
together, told him, that men of his profession did often stretch law and prerogative, to the
prejudice of the subject, to recommend and advance themselves : so he charged him, if ever
he grew to any eminence in his profession, that he should never sacrifice the laws and liberties
of his country to his own interests, or to the will of a prince. He repeated this twice : and
immediately he fell into a fit of apoplexy, of which he died in a few hours. This the earl
of Clarendon told the lady Ranelagh, who put him often in mind of it : and from her I had it.
He resolved not to stretch the prerogative beyond what it was before the wars, and would
neither set aside the petition of right, nor endeavour to raise the courts of the star chamber
or the high commission again, which could have been easily done, if he had set about it : nor
did he think fit to move for the repeal of the act for triennial parliaments, till other matters
were well settled. He took care indeed to have all the things that were extorted by the long
parliament from king Charles the First repealed. And since the dispute of the power of the
militia was the most important, and the most insisted on, he was very earnest to have that
clearly determined for the future. But as to all the acts relating to property, or the just limi-
tation of the prerogative, such as the matter of the ship-money, the tonnage and poundage,
and the habeas corpus act, he did not touch on these. And as for the standing revenue,
1,200,000/. a year was all that was asked : and though it was much more than any of our
kings had formerly, yet it was readily granted. It was believed, that if two millions had
been asked, he could have carried it. But he had no mind to put the king out of the neces-
sity of having recourse to his parliament. The king came afterwards to believe that he could
have raised both his authority and revenue much higher, but that he had no mind to carry it
farther, or to trust him too much. Whether all these things could have been got at that time,
or not, is above my conjecture. But this I know, that all the earl of Clarendon's enemies
after his fall said, these things had been easily obtained, if he had taken any pains in the
matter, but that he himself had no mind to it : and they infused this into the king, so that
he believed it, and hated him mortally on that account. And in his difficulties, afterwards,
he said often, all those things might have been prevented, if the earl of Clarendon had been
true to him.
The king had not been many days at Whitehall, when one Vernier, a violent fifth-
monarchy man, who thought it was not enough to believe that Christ was to reign on earth,
and to put the saints in the possession of the kingdom, (an opinion that they were all
OF KING CHARLES II. 105
unspeakably fond of,) but added te this, that the saints were to take the kingdom themselves,
he gathered some of the most furious of the party to a meeting in Coleman-street *. There
they concerted the day and the manner of their rising to set Christ on his throne, as they
called it. But withal they meant to manage the government in his name ; and were so
formal, that they had prepared standards and colours with their devices on them, and furnished
with very good arms. But when the day came, there was but a small appearance, not
exceeding twenty. However they resolved to venture out into the streets, and cry out, "No
king but Christ." Some of them seemed persuaded that Christ would come down, and head
them. They scoured the streets before them, and made a great progress. Some were afraid,
and all were amazed at this piece of extravagance. They killed a great many, but were at
last mastered by numbers : and were all either killed, or taken and executed. Upon this
some troops of guards were raised. And there was a great talk of a design, as soon as the
army was disbanded, to raise a force that should be so chosen and modelled that the king
might depend upon it ;; aud that it should be so considerable, that there might be no reason
to apprehend new tumults any more. The earl of Southampton looked on a while : and,
when he saw how this design seemed to be entertained and magnified, he entered into a very
free expostulation with the earl of Clarendon about it. He said, they had felt the effects of
a military government, though sober and religious, in Cromwell's army : he believed vicious
and dissolute troops would be much worse : the king would grow fond of them : and they
would quickly become insolent and ungovernable : and then such men as he was must be only
instruments to serve their ends. He said, he would not look on, and see the ruin of his
country begun, and be silent : a white staff should not bribe him. The earl of Clarendon was
persuaded he was in the right, and promised he would divert the king from any other force,
than what might be decent to make a shew with, and what might serve to disperse unruly
multitudes. The earl of Southampton said, if it went no farther, he could bear it ; but it
would not be easy to fix such a number, as would please our princes, and not give jealousy.
The earl of Clarendon persuaded the king that it was necessary for him to carry himself with
great caution, till the old army should be disbanded : for, if an ill humour got among them,
they knew both their courage and their principles, which the present times had for a while a
little suppressed : yet upon any just jealousy there might be great cause to fear new and more
violent disorders. By these means the king was so wrought on, that there was no great occasion
given for jealousy. The army was to be disbanded, but in such a manner, with so much
respect, and so exact an account of arrears, and such gratuities, that it looked rather to be the
dismissing them to the next opportunity, and a reserving them till there should be occasion
for their service, than a breaking of them. They were certainly the bravest, the best dis-
ciplined, and the soberest army that had ever been known in these latter ages : every soldier
was able to do the functions of an officer. The court was in great quiet, when they got rid
of such a burden, as lay on them from the fear of such a body of men. The guards, and the
new troops that were raised, were made up of such of the army as Monk recommended, and
answered for t, and with that his great interest at court came to a stand. He was little con-
sidered afterwards.
In one thing the temper of the nation appeared to be contrary to severe proceedings : for,
though the regicides were at that time odious beyond all expression, and the trials and exe-
cutions of the first that suffered were run to by vast crowds, and all people seemed pleased
with the sight, yet the odiousness of the crime grew at last to be so much flattened by the
frequent executions, and by most of those who suffered, dying with much firmness and shew
£
* Thomas Venner was a wine-cooper in affluent cir- his followers in the January of IjiQJl.' They blasphemously
cumstances, having credit for good sense and piety, until affirmed upon the scaffold that "if they were deceived,
he bewildered himself with the vain attempt to interpret the Lord himself was their deceiver." This delusion con-
the unfulfilled prophecies. He acquired the illusory tinues to affect many minds; and has shewn itself in many
opinions of the fifth monarchy men, or millennarians, and fantastic forms. — Grainger's Biograph. Hist. vi. 10. Smol-
believed that all human government was to cease, and that let's Hist, of England.
Christ and the saints were about to commence a reign that f The number of troops retained by Charles the Second
was to endure for a thousand years. He considered Crom- was about 5,000. James the Second increased the amount
well and Charles the second as usurpers upon this reign to 30,000. The present standing army of England is more
To depose the latter he embarked in the mad enterprise, than 100,000.
" in the text. He was executed with twelve of
100
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
of piety, justifying all they had done, not without a seeming joy for their suffering on that
account, that the king was advised not to proceed farther, at least not to have the scene so
near the court as Charing-cross. It was indeed remarkable that Peters, a sort of an enthu-
siastical buffoon preacher, though a very vicious man, who had been of great use to Cromwell,
and had been outrageous in pressing the king's death with the cruelty and rudeness of an
inquisitor, was the man of them all that was the most sunk in his spirit, and could not in any
sort bear his punishment. He had neither the honesty to repent of it, nor the strength of
mind to suffer for it as all the rest of them did. He was observed all the while to be drinking
some cordial liquors to keep him from fainting*. Harrison was the first that suffered. He
was a fierce and bloody enthusiast. And it was believed, that while the army was in doubt,
whether it was fitter to kill the king privately, or to bring him to an open trial, that he
offered, if a private way was settled on, to be the man that should do it. So he was begun
with. But, however reasonable this might be in itself, it had a very ill effect, for he was a
man of great heat and resolution, fixed in his principles, and so persuaded of them, that he
never looked after any interests of his own, but had opposed Cromwell when he set up for
himself. He went through all the indignities and severities of his execution, in which the
letter of the law in cases of treason was punctually observed, with a calmness or rather a
cheerfulness, that astonished the spectators. He spoke very positively, that what they had
done was the work of God, which he was confident God would own and raise up again, how
much soever it suffered at that time. Upon this a report was spread, and generally believed,
that he said, he himself should rise again : though the party denied that, and reported the
words as I have set them down t. One person escaped, as was reported, merely by his vices :
Henry Martin, who had been a most violent enemy to monarchy. But all that he moved
for, was upon Roman or Greek principles. He never entered into matters of
religion, but on design to laugh both at them and all morality ; for he was both an impious
and vicious man. And now in his imprisonment he delivered himself up to vice and
* Mr. Hugh Peters was the son of a merchant at
Fowey in Cornwall. He took his degree of master of
arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1622. One
authority says he was expelled from Jesus' College for
irregularity. It is certain that at one time he was a
comedian, but left the stage and took orders. He was
ordained by Dr. Mountaine, bishop of London, and
lectured for some considerable time in the church of St.
Sepulchre. Detected in intriguing with a married lady,
he fled to Rotterdam, and was associated with the learned
Dr. Aines as preacher there at the English church. From
thence he went to America, and resided there about seven
years. Upon his return to England, he was a most
vehement partisan against the king, not only preaching
against his authority, but bearing arms against him. When
the king was in London, Mr. Peters was his gaoler ; when
his trial was proceeding, Mr. Peters directed the soldiers to
clamour for justice; but it is doubtful whether he was out
of his room when the king was executed, although one
witness at his trial gave evidence to raise a suspicion that
he even assisted to execute the king. Dr. Burnet's state-
ment of the conduct of Mr. Peters at the time of his own
execution, appears to have been derived from an incorrect
authority. The narrative in the State Trials shews him
to have died firmly and resignedly, although the conduct
of the executioners and others was brutal in the extreme.
He bent a piece of gold and sent it to his daughter with a
consolatory message by a friend in the crowd whom he
recognised ; ascended the ladder without difficulty, and
passed out of life without any symptom of fear. This was
on the 16th of October 1660. The most authentic nar-
rative of his life is in a work by himself, entitled " A
Dying Father's Last Legacy, &c., or Hugh Peters'
Advice to his Daughter." See also his Life by Harris and
by Dr. Young; Price's Mystery and Memoir of his
Majesty's Happy Restoration, &c., and State Trials, ii.
There are several amusing illustrations of the pedantic
cant and ridiculous verbiage of Mr. Peters and his sect,
in Grainger's Biog. History, iii. 343.
t Major general Thomas Harrison, according to Cla-
rendon, " was the son of a butcher* near Nantwich in
Cheshire, and had been bred up in the place of a clerk
under a lawyer of good account in those parts ; which
kind of education introduces men into the language and
practice of business, and, if it be not resisted by the great
ingenuity of the person, inclines young men to more pride
than any other kind of breeding, and disposes them to be
pragmatical and insolent, though they have the skill to
conceal it from their masters, except they find them (as
they are too often) inclined to cherish it. When the
Rebellion first began, this man quitted his master, (who
had relation to the king's service, and discharged his duty
faithfully), and put himself into the parliament army,
where, having first obtained the office of cornet, he got up
by diligence and sobriety, to the state of a captain, without
any signal notice taken of him, till the new model of the
army ; when Cromwell, who possibly had notice of him
before, found him of a spirit and disposition fit for his
service, much given to prayer and preaching, and other-
wise of an understanding fit to be trusted in any
business ; to which his clerkship contributed very much ;
and then he was preferred very fast ; so that by the time
the king was brought to the army, he had been a colonel
of horse, and looked upon as inferior to few, after Crom-
well and Ireton, in the council of officers, and in the
government of the agitators ; and there were few meii
with whom Cromwell more communicated, or upon whom
he more depended for the conduct of anything committed
to him." — Hist, of Rebellion, iii. 190. An account of his
trial, and the enthusiastic manner in which he met death, is
stated fully in the second volume of the State Trials.
* Other authorities say he was an opulent grazier.
OF KING CHARLES II.
107
blasphemy. It was said, that this helped him to many friends, that upon tLat very account
he was spared '*. John Goodwin and Milton did also escape all censure, to the surprise ol
all people. Goodwin had so often not only justified, but magnified the putting the kingr to
death, both in his sermons and books, that few thought he could have been either forgotten
or excused : for Peters and he were the only preachers that spoke of it in that strain. But
Goodwin had been so zealous an arminian, and had sown such division among all the sectaries
upon these heads, that it was said this procured him friends. Upon what account soever it
was, he was not censured t. Milton had appeared so boldly, though with much wit, and
great purity and elegancy of style, against Salmasius and others, upon that argument of put-
ting the king to death, and had discovered such violence against the late king and all the
royal family, and against monarchy, that it was thought a strange omission if he was forgotten,
and an odd strain of clemency, if it was intended he should be forgiven. He was not
excepted out of the act of indemnity. And afterwards he came out of his concealment, and
lived many years much visited by all strangers, and much admired by all at home for the
poems he wrote, though he was then blind ; chiefly that of Paradise Lost, in which there is
a nobleness both of contrivance and execution, that, though he affected to write in blank
verse without rhyme, and made many new and rough words, yet it was esteemed the most
beautiful, and the most perfect poem that ever was written at least in our language J.
But as the sparing these persons was much censured, so on the other hand the putting
sir Henry Vane to death was as much blamed : for the declaration from Breda being full for
an indemnity to all, except the regicides, he was comprehended in that ; since, though he
was for changing the government, and deposing the king, yet he did not approve of the
putting him to death, nor of the force put on the parliament, but did for some time, while
these things were acted, withdraw from the s<?ene. This was so represented by his friends,
that an address was made by both houses on his behalf, to which the king gave a favourable
answer, though in general words. So he reckoned that he was safe, that being equivalent
to an act of parliament, though it wanted the necessary forms. Yet the great share he had in
the attainder of the earl of Strafford, and in the whole turn of affairs to the total change of
government, but above all the great opinion that was had of his parts and capacity to embroil
* Henry Marten, or as he was usually called Harry
Martin, was the son of sir Henry Marten, and a native of
Oxford. He took his degree of batchelor in arts, and
afterwards became a member of one of the Inns of Court ;
travelled upon the continent ; and upon his return married
a rich wife. Notwithstanding these advantages, the prin-
ciples, or rather the inclinations of Marten were too licen-
tious to be quietly happy. In politics he was an extra-
vagant republican. He told Clarendon " that he thought
no one man wise enough to govern a nation ; " and in all
his speeches, writings, and efforts, he was a consistent
leveller — aiming at the reduction of all nobles and gentle-
men to one common level of wealth and station. In his
morals he was as profligate, for in print he advocated the
community of women ; and acting up to his opinion was
a martyr for it, and was the cause of his wife participating
in the suffering penalty. He sat as one of the king's
judges; signed the warrant for the king's execution;
scoffed at and sold the insignia of royalty ; but con-
sistently opposed Cromwell when he was assuming the
single supremacy. Many circumstances conjoined to
save his life ; he pleaded that he had surrendered, relying
upon the promises in the king's proclamation ; he had been
the boon companion of many now in authority ; r.nd it was
found that the intrepidity with which the executed regi-
cides had endured their exasperated sufferings, won to
their cause the public sympathy. Notwithstanding, an act
of parliament was introduced, and even read a second
time in the House of Commons for his execution, and
that of eighteen others, and was then reluctantly dropped.
It should be remarked, that this was a proceeding, after a
r had elapsed, of the parliament disgracefully desig-
" as " the pensioned." His life was spared at the ex-
pense of a forfeiture of all his property and his liberty.
For twenty years he was a close and miserable prisoner in
Chepstow Castle. He died there suddenly in 1680, aged
seventy-eight. One part of the ruins of Chepstow Castle
is still known as Marten's Tower. He was buried at
Chepstow Church in the chancel, but a late incumbent,
more prejudiced than discreet or charitable, removed
his monument into the body of the church, because this
record of a rebel ought not to stand near the altar ! —
Bloomfield's Banks of the Wye, 65.— Wood's Athenae
Oxon. ii. 659. — Clarendon's Autobiography, and Hist, of
the Rebellion — Parliamentary History — Walker's History
of Independency.
•f John Goodwin was a fellow of Queen's College, Cam-
bridge. In 1633, he was vicar of St. Stephen's parish,
Coleman Street, from which he was ejected in 1645, for
refusing to administer baptism and the Lord's supper pro-
miscuously. He died in 1665, aged seventy-two. He
seemed to be so far from agreeing with any sect entirely,
that he was known by the soubriquet of " the Ishmael
of Coleman Street — being a man by himself — was against
every man, and had every man almost against him."
There is no doubt that his having caused dissentions
among the opponents of Charles the Second, saved hi9
life, for in the Healing Parliament this plea was urged
in his favour. — Wood's Athenae Oxon. ii. 502, &c. —
Calamy's Baxter arid his Times.
J The life of Milton is believed to have been spared
through the exertions for that purpose made by sir
William Davenant, the dramatist, who had been indebted
for a like favour to Milton at the time monarchy waa
abolished.
108 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
matters again, made the court think it necessary to put him out of the way. He was
naturally a very fearful man : this one who knew him well told me, and gave me eminent
instances of it. He had a head as darkened in his notions of religion, as his mind was clouded
with fear : for though he set up a form of a religion in a way of his own, yet it consisted
rather in a withdrawing from all other forms, than in any new or particular opinions or forms ;
from which he and his party were called seekers, and seemed to wait for some new and clearer
manifestations. In these meetings he preached and prayed often himself, but with so peculiar
a darkness, that though I have sometimes taken pains to see if I could find out his meaning
in his words, yet I could never reach it. And since many others have said the same, it may
be reasonable to believe he hid somewhat that was a necessary key to the rest. His friends
told me, he leaned to Origen's notion of an universal salvation of all, both of devils and the
damned, and to the doctrine of pre-existence. "When he saw his death was designed, he com-
posed himself to it, with a resolution that surprised all who knew how little of that was
natural to him. Some instances of this were very extraordinary, though they cannot be men-
tioned with decency45. He was beheaded on Tower Hill, where a new and very indecent
practice was begun. It was observed that the dying speeches of the regicides had left
impressions on the hearers, that were not at all to the advantage of the government. So
strains of a peculiar nature being expected from him, to prevent that, drummers were placed
under the scaffold, who as soon as he began to speak to the public, upon a sign given, struck
up with their drums. This put him in no disorder. He desired they might be stopped, for
he understood what was meant by it. Then he went through his devotions. And, as he was
taking leave of those about him, he happened to say somewhat with relation to the times,
the drums struck up a second time : so he gave over, and died with so much composedness,
that it was generally thought, the government had lost more than it had gained by
his death t.
The act of indemnity passed with very ew exceptions, at which the cavaliers were highly
dissatisfied, and made great complaints of it. In the disposal of offices and places, as it was
not possible to gratify all, so there was little regard had to men's merits or services- The
king was determined to most of these by the cabal that met at Mistress Palmer's lodgings :
and though the earl of Clarendon did often prevail with the king to alter the resolutions
*This alludes to the acknowledged fact, that his wife not been one of the king's judges, the House of Lords and
became pregnant by him the very night before his exe- Commons afterwards maintained that he was within the act
cution. This enabled the earl of Dorset to say of him of indemnity. The chancellor assured the parliament,
very wittily, and severely if in earnest, that he believed that although the court considered him a very active, mis-
his father begat him after his head was off. — Oxford chievous individual, and it would be necessary to keep a
edition of Buruet's History. rod over him, yet if they petitioned the king, his life should
f Sir Henry Vane, the younger, is confessed even by be spared, even though attainted. Both houses petitioned
Clarendon to have been distinguished for great natural to that effect, consequently his life might be considered
talents, ready wit, and prompt powerful eloquence. He secure. But the next, or Pensioned Parliament passed an
was an uncom promising advocate of the principle, that all order excepting him from the act of indemnity, and three
power is delegated from, and for the benefit of the people -weeks afterwards the attorney general was ordered to pro-
This was an unpardonable crime in the estimation of a ceed with his prosecution. This breach of faith needs no
Stuart, and was the undoubted cause of his execution, comment; it is sufficient to remember that it was done by
Charles the Second alluded to it in a letter to Clarendon, a Stuart, and our surprise will then cease. The account
and used these words of blood — " Certainly he is too Of his trial, and of his conduct at the place of execution,
dangerous a man to let live, if we can honestly put him was a murder under a legal form. He beat his opponents
out of the way." He matriculated at Magdalene Hall, jn argument, and is said to have extorted from Mr. Kel-
Oxford, but at the very outset declining to take the oaths' yng, one of the king's counsel, the disgraceful remark,
of allegiance and supremacy, he studied as a private pupil that " though they did not know what to say to him, they
of the master. Laud, then bishop of London, undertook knew what to do with him." His conduct and his address
his conversion, but he escaped from this annoyance to whilst upon the scaffold were becomingly firm and excel-
America, and was chosen governor by the men of New lent. When his neck was upon the block, he in his last
England; but disagreeing in various ways with those words petitioned God to sustain him in this last struggle to
under his rule, he returned home in 1639, served in par- glorify Him in the discharge of his duty to Him and his
liament, and as treasurer of the navy. He sided with country ; words that may be admitted as an attestation of
the parliament in the contest with Charles the First ; and his sincerity in the life that was then ending. — State
similarly opposed the two Cromwells. In whatever station Trials, ii. 459. — Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, i. — '
he acted as a politician, he is universally acknowledged to Wood's Athense Oxon. ii. 291. — Birch's Lives. Like
Lave evinced the greatest sagacity. He was one of the most other religious enthusiasts he had peculiar notions
council of state, and for a time acted as its president, which were adopted by man/, forming a sect called the
Upon the Restoration, although excepted at the request of Vanists. Their peculiar tenets may be seen in the various
the parliament out of the Breda declaration, yet as he had tracts he published, and in Calamy's Life of Baxter.
OF KING CHARLES II.
109
G
taken there, yet he was forced to let a great deal go that he did not like. He would never
make applications to Mistress Palmer, nor let any thing pass the seal in which she was
named, as the earl of Southampton would never suffer her name to be in the treasury books.
Those virtuous ministers thought it became them to let the world see that they did not
comply with the king in his vices * : but whether the earl of Clarendon spoke so freely to
for the post of guardian of the laws, by beginning his
criminal intimacy with her the very night after his resto-
ration.— Secret Hist, of the Reign of Charles the Second
i. 446.
It was hoped that, after his marriage to the princess of
Portugal in 1662, he would become less infatuated in
this attachment; but the influence of the duchess was
observed rather to increase than diminish after that event.
The queen was predetermined never to receive her rival
in the king's affections at court ; but Charles, having
formed a contrary resolve, had the insulting cruelty to
lead her into the queen's chamber a day or two after her
arrival at Hampton-court. Her majesty, though youthful,
succeeded in restraining the just expressions of her indig-
nation, and received her with the courtesy she had shewn
to the others of the nobility who were presented ; but, as
soon as she sat down, nature broke from restraint, blood
gushed from her nose, and, though relieved by this and a
flood of tears, she fainted, and the court immediately
broke up. Instead of subduing him with shame and
regret, this painful occurrence merely roused his indigna-
tion ; and from that period he treated her majesty even in
public with indifference and indignity, letting her pass with-
out notice, whilst he was engaged in conversation with the
duchess. By degrees the queen's spirit was subdued, and
her mind, never very powerful, at length was taught not
to revolt at receiving her into constant attendance as a lady
of her bedchamber, and to be familiar and merry with her
even in public.
To oppose or to establish the influence of the duchess
in superiority over that of the queen, had employed tho
intriguing sagacity, the personal influence, and the best arts
of persuasion, of the two parties, that then divided the
statesmen of this country, and have almost ever since been
known as the Whigs and Tories.
Clarendon, then lord chancellor, was at the head of the
first-named party at this time. He and his friends used
their utmost efforts to dissuade the king from pursuing his
intention, and warned him of the consequences, by repre-
senting the impolicy as well as the sinfulness of such con-
duct. On the other hand, the earls of Bristol, Rochester,
and others equally ambitious and profligate, who were
loaders of the Tory party, and feared that their opponents
would be immoveably strengthened if the queen could
influence her husband, for she was very friendly to tho
chancellor, paid their court to the duchess' of Cleveland, and
were strenuous to increase towards her the king's attach-
ment. They ridiculed all scruples suggested by religion,
and found in the king an assenting auditor when they
suggested that it was absurd to suppose we ought not to
give way to desires given us by nature ; for Charles once
told Dr. Burnet that " ho could not think God would
make a man miserable only for taking a little pleasure out
of the way." They suggested it as being forbidden by
manly pride to yield the point to a woman infected with
all the caprice and jealousy natural to her countrywomen.
And they appealed to another passion, of which he was
still more the slave, when they remarked, that having
won the heart of a noble, young, and beautiful woman,
whose father had died whilst fighting in defence of the
crown : a woman who had sacrificed every tiling to pre-
serve his love ; it would indeed be base to leave her who
had now no happiness, no retreat from the scorn of tho
world but that afforded by his tenderness and protection.
* As notice was made at p. 61 of the profligacy and
licentiousness of Charles the Second, wickedness that was
gloried in rather than concealed ; how naturally this tended
to deprave the public morals every one is a judge, because
all know the influence upon society in general of tho
example of its higher classes. All historians bear con-
firming testimony to Roger Coke's assertion, that " king
Charles left the nation more vitiated and debauched in its
manners than ever it was by any other king.'' — Detection
of Court, &c. ii. 320. There were other most injurious
consequences arising from the profligacy of the king. His
numerous offspring by his various concubines were made
the instruments of bringing the peerage to which they were
raised into contempt, and to make the people disgusted at
the injustice of marking a commoner's bastards with
infamy, and a monarch's with patent honours. It was one
of these ennobled children, the duke of Monmouth, that
involved England in a civil war, and brought the stain of
some of its worthiest blood upon the scaffold.
Many of the acts of Charles's mistresses will be men-
tioned in future pages ; therefore a slight biography, and a
few anecdotes relative to the seven chief of these votaries
of Venus, will enable the reader to judge of those who will
hereafter be mentioned.
1. Mrs. Palmer, mentioned in the text, was Barbara
Villiers, heiress of William, Viscount Grandison. She
was married to Mr. Palmer, who was in vain created earl
of Castlemaine, in the hope that it would bribe him to
consent to his own dishonour. He separated from his
licentious wife, and, in open contempt of our national
honours and of moral feeling, she was immediately created
Baroness Nonsuch, (which title might apply to her vicious-
ness as well as her beauty,) countess of Southampton,
and duchess of Cleveland. The earl of Dartmouth con-
firms the statement that the king slept with Barbara Vil-
liers the first night after he came to London. She was
then pregnant with the child that afterwards was countess
of Sussex. The earl says, that though her husband
believed it to be his child, yet she was always supposed to
be the offspring of the old earl of Chesterfield Oxford
Ed. of Burnet'sHist. She had six children, of which the
King considered himself the father ». She died in 1709 2.
Who introduced this lady to the king's notice does not
appear ; but he shewed his gratitude to God, and his fitness
1 Charles Fitzroy, born in 1662 ; created, when only
thirteen years old, duke of Southampton, and, aftor the
decease of his mother, duke of Cleveland. 2. Henry
Fitzroy, born in 1663, and raised to the peerage as duke
of Grafton. 3. George Fitzroy, born in 1665, and made
duke of Norfolk. 4. Anne Fitzroy, born in 1661, and
married when thirteen, to Thomas Lemond, earl of Sussex.
5. Charlotte Fitzroy, born in 1664, and married, when
little more than twelve, to sir Edward Henry Lee, earl
of Lichfield. 6. Barbara, born in 1672, who took the
veil at Pontoise, in France Rapin's Hist, of England
by Tindal, ii. 740.
2 She had married, some years before this event,
Mr. Robert Fielding, known as " Handsome Fielding."
He treated her with insolence and brutality. She prose-
cuted him for bigamy, but he was pardoned by queen Anne.
His trial, which is worth reading, is in print. He is the
Orlando of " the Tatler."_Memoirs of Mrs. Manley ;
nrainger's Biographical Hist. <*
110
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the king about his course of life, as was given out, I cannot tell. When the cavaliers saw
they had not that share in places that they expected, they complained of it so highly, that
Unfortunately these representations were certain to pre-
vail, for they were in unison with his majesty's desires,
and the unblushing avowal of his fixed resolve in this
affair was conveyed in these words by letter to the lord
chancellor, who had absented himself from court, as the
last means in his power of expressing his repugnance to
the proceeding. The words are Charles's own :
" I wish 1 may be unhappy in this world, and in the
world to come, if I fail in the least degree of what I have
resolved ; which is, of making my lady Castlemaine of
my wife's bedchamber : and whosoever I find use any
endeavours to hinder this resolution of mine, except it be
only to myself, I will be his enemy to the last niomez. of
my life. You know how true a friend I have been to
you : if you will oblige me eternally, make this business
as easy to me as you can, what opinion soever you are of;
for I am resolved to go through this matter, let what will
come on it, which again I swear before Almighty God ;
therefore, if you desire to have the continuance of my
friendship, meddle no more with this business, except it
be to beat down all false and scandalous reports, and to
facilitate what I am sure my honour is so much concerned
in ; and whosoever I find to be my lady Castlemaine's
enemy in the matter, I do promise, upon my word, to
be his enemy as long as I live." — Secret Hist, of Charles
the Second, i. 449. This letter commences and concludes
with a command to the chancellor to give this information
to his friends. To read this unconnected with the details
of the history, no one would conceive that so much fer-
vour, so much rancour, and so much blasphemy, could be
employed by "a praying king," in order to effect the
insulting intrusion of his strumpet into an attendance
upon his unwilling wife.
2. Lucy Walters, who assumed the name of Barlow,
was the daughter of Richard Walters, esq., a gentleman
of Wales. She was handsome, and, it appears, travelled
to the Hague when Charles was first there, for the sole pur-
pose of becoming his mistress. In which design Charles
was not at all likely to disappoint her. She lived for
some years in this intimacy, but having lost his affection,
she was left at Paris, under the care of a clergyman,
described by Kennet as " late master of the Charter-house,"
who said she led but an ill life, and who finally buried her
at that city.
The princess of Orange, writing to Charles, concerning
Lucy Walters, makes this excuse for her intriguing with
other men, an excuse that does more disservice to her
royal highness's character than it extenuates the other
offender. " 'Tis a frailty, they say, is given to the sex ;
therefore you will pardon her, I hope." Lucy Walters
gave birth to a boy, at Rotterdam, in April, 1649, but she
would not consent to consign him to the care of the king
for education. However, upon ner death, lord Crofts
took charge of him. He grew up extremely handsome,
and readily acquired those accomplishments in which then
consisted almost the whole of a French gentleman's edu-
cation. The queen dowager had frequently seen him ;
and, in 1662, by the king's desire, brought him with her
into England. 'The king received him with, and always
continued towards him, great fondness, gave him a liberal
allowance, but neglected his mental cultivation.
The countess of Wemyss, by the duke of Buccleugh,
her first husband, had one child, a daughter, who was the
heiress of his great estates, and at this time about ten or
twelve years old. General Monk was believed to have
desired this prize for his son, but, upon the earl of Lauder-
dale's suggestion that she was fitting for the king's young
protege, tho general, like a wise courtier, supported that
proposition. Under the direction of the earl, a contract
was drawn up, to be ratified by an act of the Scotch par-
liament, as both the parties were under age, stipulating
that her estate in case of her death, or failure of issue,
should devolve upon her affianced husband and his heirs
for ever.
Hitherto the affair had been confided soiely to the
knowledge of the parties immediately concerned, but as it
now became necessary to give the youth a name, and as it
was intended to confer upon him an English peerage, the
king shewed the marriage contract to the lord chancellor.
Clarendon, after perusing it, expressed his dislike without
reserve, not of the match, but of the young man's being
described as the king's natural son, and then an English
title annexed to him, " which," he said, " would have
an ill sound in England with all his majesty's subjects,
who thought that those unlawful acts ought to be con.
cealed, and not published and justified 1." To this just
observation no attention was paid, and the illegitimacy
was thus announced and honoured of him who is known
in our history as the popular, the unfortunate duke of
Monmouth. At a subsequent period, when it was con-
sidered desirable by a very numerous minority of states-
men to exclude the duke of York from succeeding to the
throne, it was endeavoured to be proved that Charles was
married to Lucy Walters, and that the duke of Monmouth
was consequently legitimate, and the right heir to the
crown. The rumour of this is said to have originated
with the earl of Shaftesbury, who intimated that the
marriage contract was in a black box, consigned by the
bishop of Durham to the custody of sir Gilbert Gerard. —
Ralph's Hist, of England. In contradiction of this, the
last-named gentleman deposed, upon oath, " that he never
had any such writing committed to his charge, nor did he
ever see or know of such writing :" and the king himself
had entered in the council register, and signed by sixteen
privy councillors, " that to avoid any dispute which might
happen in time to come, concerning the succession to the
crown, he did declare, in the presence of Almighty God,
that he never gave, nor made any contract of marriage,
nor was married to Mrs. Barlow, alias Walters, the duke
of Monmouth's mother, nor to any other woman what-
soever, but to his present wife, queen Katherine, then
living3."— Sandford.— Kennet — Echard.
This is quite sufficient to satisfy a reasonable mind that
the duke of Monmouth was not legitimate for, fond as
Charles was of him, and detesting as he did the queen,
there is little doubt that he would have rejoiced to
pursue a course that would have forwarded the interests of
the one, and have released him from the other.
It is true that the princess of Orange, in writing to her
brother concerning Lucy Walters, repeatedly names her
as his wife, but, considering th-e lax delicacy of that age,
this is no evident1 e of her being so legally ; more espe-
cially as in one of those letters her royal highness pleads
for her being excused for intriguing with other men. —
Clarendon's Hist, of Rebellion. — Secret Hist, of the Reign
of Charles the Second, i. 451. Clarendon describes her
as a most licentious woman, and that she died of a disease
usual to those who lead the life she pursued.
3. Elizabeth Killigrew, daughter of sir William Kil-
ligrew. This gentleman had been the faithful servant of
1 Secret Hist, of the Reign of Charles the Second,
i. 455.
2 This record of kingly virtue was not confined to the
council-book. It was published in the London Gazette !
Malcolm's Anecdotes of London i. 341.
OF KING CHARLES II.
J11
the earl of Clarendon, to excuse the king's passing them by, was apt to beat down the value
they set on their services. This laid the foundation of an implacable hatred in many of
them, that was completed by the extent and comprehensiveness of the act of indemnity,
which cut off their hopes of being reimbursed out of the fines, if not the confiscations of
those, who had during the course of the wars been on the parliament's side. It is true, the
first parliament, called, by way of derogation, the convention, had been too much on that
side not to secure themselves and their friends : so they took care to have the most com-
the king's father for many years, and his biographers have
mentioned his appointment to the office of gentleman ushei
of the privy chamber, and subsequently to that of princi-
pal vice-chamberlain to the queen, as instances of the
king's occasional remembrance of services : but they, of
course, were ignorant when they uttered this praise, that
his daughter was the king's mistress, a merit that did not
particularly qualify him, one would think, to be in close
attendance upon the queen.
Elizabeth Killigrew had her infancy rendered more con-
spicuous by being created viscountess Shannon. Her
daughter, Charlotte Jemima Henrietta Maria Fitzroy,
had two husbands, James Howard, esq , and sir William
Paston, earl of Yarmouth. — Tindal's Rapin's Hist, of
England, ii. 740.
Thomas Killigrew, usually termed, from his wit, and
the licence permitted him by Charles, the king's jester,
was uncle to that monarch's mistress. A jester is not to
be confounded with the motley-fool of previous centuries.
This Killigrew, and his brother sir William, were men
of considerable literary attainments, and the authors of
several works, chiefly dramas.
4. Catherine Peg. This royal mistress was the
daughter of Thomas Peg, esq., of the county of Derby.
She had one child by the king, Charles Fitz-Charles, born
in 1658. He was created earl of Plymouth, and was
killed in 1680, before Tangier. His widow, Bridget,
daughter of sir Thomas Osborne, duke of Leeds, (or of
lord-treasurer Danby, according to Grainger,) afterwards
married Dr. Biss, bishop of Hereford Tindal's Rapin's
Hist. ii. 740.
Catherine Peg is sometimes called Green, having
married sir Edward Green, an Essex baronet. — Wood's
Fasti Oxon. ii. 153, where there is an account of eleven
of Charles's illegitimate children.
6. Eleanor, or more properly known as Nell Gwyn,
was originally a vender of fruit at the theatres. She was
formed by nature for a comedian, being very vivacious,
and of a well-moulded form, though below a medium
stature. Hart and Davis, then eminent actors, instructed
her in the histrionic art, and in a short time she became
eminently distinguished in all the most spirited characters.
She spoke a prologue or epilogue admirably. She very
rarely appeared in tragedy, but is known to have per-
formed in the character of Almahide, alluded to by lord
Lansdowne in his " Progress of Beauty" in this line —
" And Almahide once more by kings adored."
The pert, vivacious prattle of the orange wench by
degrees became a wit refined, sufficiently to please Charles.
It was sometimes extravagant, but, even when most eccen-
tric, seemed so natural, that it caused laughter rather than
disgust. She was, or affected to be, a friend of the ortho-
dox clergy. It is a well-known fact that she paid the
debt of a worthy divine, whom she saw in the hands or
the bailiffs. It is equally true that she was once insulted
by an Oxford mob, who mistook her for the duchess of
Portsmouth; but she put her head out of the coach -win-
a\v, and said, with her usual good humour — " Pray, good
sple, be civil; I am the protestant whore!" This
mic and candid speech drew upon her the cheers and
sings of the populace. — Graingcr's Biog. Hist. v. 395.
She died in 1 687. The king's progeny by this lady were
two sons : Charles Beauclerk, born in 1670, and created
duke of St. Albans ; and James Beauclerk, born in 1671 ,
who died when nine years old in France. The duke
of St. Albans married Diana Vere, eldest daughter and
co-heiress of the last earl of Oxford. — Tindal's Rapin's
Hist. ii. 740.
Eleanor Gwyn was a great favourite with the king.
Upon his death-bed it will be seen he recommended all
his children to the especial care of his brother, but he
only particularised two of their mothers — the duchess of
Portsmouth, and Mrs. Gwyn ; his concluding words were,
" Do not let poor Nelly starve !" — Roger Coke's Detec-
tion, ii. 171.
6. Louise de Querouaille or Queroville, vulgarly
pronounced Carwell, was the most influential of the king's
mistresses, not even excepting the duchess of Cleveland.
She was not a delicate beauty, but it was little impaired
when she was seventy. She died in 1734, aged eightj'-
nine. — Voltaire's Siecle de Louis XIV — Granger's Biog.
Hist It was the interest of France to secure to itself
the friendship of the English government, and to effect
this they condescended to pay, and Charles the Second was
a sufficient traitor to his country to receive, an annuity.
Even this was not considered a sufficient bond of secu-
rity upon this base monarch ; and his sister, married to the
duke of Orleans, condescended to be the pander to his
still more animal passions, and actually brought with her
to England the beautiful, fascinating Louise de Querouaille,
who intended to gain an influence over the king, and to
employ it in favour of her native country.
She became the favourite mistress of Charles, and pre-
served her ascendancy until his death. At the hour of
death he recommended her repeatedly to the care of the
duke of York. He said he had always loved her, and
now loved her to the last, and besought him pathetically
to be very kind to her and her son. To secure her to his
interest, the French king erected the town of Aubigny
into a duchy and peerdom, and entailed it upon her and
such of her male issue by the king of England as he
should name. It was subsequently succeeded to by her
son, Charles Lenox, who bore the title of duke of Rich-
mond in England. He was born in 167"2j was married
to a daughter of lord Brudenel, and died in 1723. His
mother was created duchess of Portsmouth. She died
immensely rich, having accumulated her wealth from the
two monarchs who patronized her, and from those who
willingly bought her interest in their favour. — Tindal's
Rapin, ii. 740. — Supplement to Secret Hist, of Charles
the Second, ii. 25.
7. Mary Davis. By this mistress the king appears
to have had but one child, Mary Tudor, born in 1763,
and married in 1687 to Francis Ratcliff, earl of Derwent-
water. Mary Davis was originally a comedian in the
duke of York's theatre. She is said to have captivated
Charles by singing " My lodging is on the cold ground,"
in the character of Celania, a shepherdess mad from
love. Nell Gwyn once played her a disastrous trick by
giving her a violent cathartic, when she knew Mrs. Davis
was to pass the night with the king Tindal's Rapin,
ii 740.— Granger's Biograph. Hist. v. 393.
112 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGX
preliensive words put in it that could be thought of. But when the new parliament was
called a year after, in which there was a design to set aside the act of indemnity, and to
have brought in a new one, the king did so positively insist on his adhering to the act of
indemnity, that the design of breaking into it was laid aside. The earl of Clarendon owned
it was his counsel. Acts or promises of indemnity, he thought, ought to be held sacred :
a fidelity in the observation of them was the only foundation, upon which any government
could hope to quiet seditions, or civil wars : and if people once thought, that those promises
were only made to deceive them, without an intention to observe them religiously, they
would never for the future hearken to any treaty. He often said, " it was the making
those promises had brought the king home, and it was the keeping them must keep him at
home." So that whole work from beginning to the end was entirely his. The angry men,
that were thus disappointed of all their hopes, made a jest of the title of it, " An act of
oblivion and of indemnity ; and said, " the king had passed an act of oblivion for his friends,
and of indemnity for his enemies." To load the earl of Clarendon the more, it was given
out that he advised the king to gain his enemies, since he was sure of his friends by their
principles. With this he was often charged, though he always denied it. "Whether the king
fastened it upon him after he had disgraced him, to make him the more odious, I cannot tell.
It is certain, the king said many very hard things of him, for which he was much blamed :
and in most of them he was but little believed.
It was natural for the king upon his • restoration to look out for a proper marriage ;
and it was soon observed, that he was resolved not to marry a protestant. He pre-
tended a contempt of the Germans, and of the northern crowns. France had no sister. He
had seen the duke of Orleans' daughters, and liked none of them. Spain had only two
infantas, and as the eldest was married to the king of France, the second was to go to
Vienna : so the house of Portugal only remained to furnish him a wife, among the crowned
heads. Monk began to hearken to a motion made him for this by a Jew, that managed the
concerns of Portugal, which were now given for lost, since they were abandoned by France
by the treaty of the Pyrenees ; in which it appears by Cardinal Mazarin's letters, that he
did entirely deliver up their concerns ; which was imputed to his desire to please the queen-
mother of France, w^ho, being a daughter of Spain, owned herself still to be in the interests
of Spain in every thing in which France was not concerned, for in that case she pre-
tended she was true to the crown of France. And this was the true secret of cardinal
Mazarin's carrying on that war so feebly as he did, to gratify the queen-mother on the one
hand, and his own covetousness on the other ; for the less public expence was made, he had
the greater occasions of enriching himself, \vhich was all he thought on. The Portuguese
being thus, as they thought, cast off by France, were very apprehensive of falling under the
Castilians, who, how weak soever they were in opposition to France, yet were like to be too
hard for them, when they had nothing else on their hands. So vast offers were made, if the
king would marry their Infanta, and take them under his protection. Monk was the more
encouraged to entertain the proposition, because some pretended that, in the beginning of
the war of Portugal, king Charles had entered into a negotiation for a marriage between
his son and this infanta. And the veneration paid his memory was then so high, that every
thing he had projected was esteemed sacred. Monk promised to serve the interests of Por-
tugal ; and that was, as sir Robert Southwell told me, the first step made in that matter.
Soon after the king came into England, an embassy of congratulation came from thence, with
orders to negotiate that business. The Spanish ambassador, who had a pretension of merit
from the king in behalf of that crown, since they had received and entertained him a\»
Brussels, when France had thrown him off, set himself much against this match ; and among
other things affirmed, that the infanta was incapable of having children. But this was little
considered. The Spaniards are not very scrupulous in affirming any thing that serves their
ends : and this marriage was like to secure the kingdom of Portugal. So it was no wonder
that he opposed it ; and little regard was had to all that he said to break it *.
* The enemies of the earl of Clarendon have suggested he did so because, being aware that she was incapable of
that the proposal of the Portuguese Infanta to Charles having issue, he should thus secure the throne to the
as a suitable wife originated with that statesman ; and that children of his daughter by the duke of York. It is true
OF KING CHARLES II. 113
At this time Monsieur Fouquet was gaining an ascendant in the councils of France, car-
dinal Mazarin falling then into a languishing, of which he died a year after. He sent one
over to the king with a project of an alliance between France and England. He was
addressed first to the earl of Clarendon, to whom he enlarged on all the heads of the scheme
he had brought, of which the match with Portugal was a main article. And, to make all
go down the better, Fouquet desired to enter into a particular friendship with the earl of
Clarendon, and sent him the offer of 10,000/., and assured him of the renewing the same
present every year. The lord Clarendon told him, he would lay all that related to the king
faithfully before him, and give him his answer in a little time ; but for what related to him-
self, he said, he served a great and bountiful master, who knew well how to support and
reward his servants : he would ever serve him faithfully ; and, because he knew he must
serve those from whom he accepted the hire, therefore he rejected the offer with great indig-
nation. He laid before the king the heads of the proposed alliance, which required much
consultation : but in the next place he told both the king and his brother what had been
offered to himself. They both advised him to accept of it. " Why," said he, " have you
a mind that I should betray you ? " The king answered, he knew nothing could corrupt
him. " Then," said he, " you know me better than I do myself : for if I take the money
I shall find the sweet of it, and study to have it continued to me by deserving it." He told
them how he had rejected the offer, and very seriously warned the king of the danger he
saw he might fall into if he suffered any of those, who served him, to be once pensioners to
other princes. Those presents were made only to bias them in their councils, and to dis-
cover secrets by their means ; and if the king gave way to it, the taking money would soon
grow to a habit, and spread like an infection through the whole court *.
As the motion for the match with Portugal was carried on, an incident of an extraordinary
nature happened in the court. The earl of Clarendon's daughter, being with child, and near
her time, called upon the duke of York to own his marriage with her. She had been maid
of honour to the princess royal ; and the duke, who was even to his old age of an amorous
disposition, tried to gain her to comply with his desires. She managed the matter with so
much address, that in conclusion he married her. Her father did very solemnly protest, that
he knew nothing of the matter, till now that it broke out j". The duke thought to have
tliat Clarendon advocated this marriage with the infanta, -f* This statement of Clarendon's ignorance of his
but it was only consistently with the advice he had always daughter's marriage is confirmed by various authorities,
offered to the king; an advice he probably urged more The proceedings attendant upon its discovery are fully
strenuously, fearing to be suspected of the motive which, narrated in the " Continuation of Clarendon's Life," ii. 27.
after all, was attributed to him ; a degree of culpable Clarendon, it seems, having the prospect of a suitable alli-
timidity, of which he afterwards felt the effect when one anoe for his daughter, desired her to return to England
of the charges against him was, that he promoted a matri- from her attendance upon the princess of Orange. Upon
monial alliance with a Roman Catholic princess. There her arrival, the duke of York informed the king of her
is no valid reason to believe that the match was not first being his wife, and that she waa then pregnant. Charle*
suggested by the desire of the Portuguese court ; it was was sure that Clarendon knew nothing of this, and with
the interest cf that country, threatened as it was by the kindness not unusual with him, sent the chancellor's inti-
superior powers of Spain and France to obtain England as mate friends to break to him the intelligence. Clarendon
a protective ally. The Continuation of Clarendon's Life was overcome with a passion of grief and indignation, and
states this as the truth, and that the project was first men- told the king, who kindly arrived to converse with him,
tioned to the king by the earl of Manchester. How much before the interview was over, that as a privy council-
the match was desired by the Portuguese is demonstrated lor it was his duty to advise his majesty to send his
by the magnificence of the dowry, and the advantages given daughter to the Tower, and that he would, in his place in
to England upon the completion of the marriage. These parliament, support any measure that might be introduced
were 500,000/. in money; the possession of Tangier upon for her punishment. The duke was firm in his resolu-
tlie African coast of the Mediterranean, and the privilege tion to acknowledge and abide by his union with the c.han-
of a free trade to their colonies in the East Indies and cellor's daughter, tintil sir Charles Berkeley, mentioned in
Brazil ; to raise the dowry, the queen-mother of Portugal a previous note, declared that he himself had been crimi-
sold her jewels, much of her plate, and borrowed those nally connected with her ; a calumny he invented to ingra-
belonging to the churches and monasteries. The progress tiate himself with those opposed to the match ; and which
of this matrimonial negotiation, and the intrigues of the he as readily confessed to be false, when he saw the
Spanish ambassador and the earl of Bristol to prevent it, current of opposition had ceased. The dnchess in the
are fully related in the Continuation of Clarendon's mean time was delivered of a son in the presence of the
Life, ii. 77, 95. — Wood's Athena Oxon, ii. 580 ; the marchioness of Ormond, the countess of Sunderland, and
last authority erroneously hints, that the earl of Bristol the bishop of Winchester; in answer to whose queries she
as ill used. protested, whilst in anguish, that she was faithful to the
* This anecdote of Clarendon's integrity is related also duke, and that he was the father of the child. The most
theContinuatiou of his Life, quoted in the last note. inveterate opponent of the marriage was the queen dow-
I
114 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
shaken her from claiming it by great promises, and as great threatenings. But she was a
woman of a great spirit. She said, she was his wife, and would have it known that she
was so, let him use her afterwards as he pleased. Many discourses were set about upon this
occasion ; but the king ordered some bishops and judges to peruse the proofs she had to
produce : and they reported that, according to the doctrine of the gospel, and the law of
England, it was a good marriage. So it was not possible to break it, but by trying how far
the matter could be carried against her for marrying a person so near the king without his
leave. The king would not break with the earl of Clarendon : and so he told his brother,
he must drink as he brewed, and live with her whom he had made his wife. All the earl of
Clarendon's enemies rejoiced at this ; for they reckoned, how much soever it seemed to raise
him at present, yet it would raise envy so high against him, and make the king so jealous
of him, as being more in his brother's interests than in his own, that they looked on it as
that which would end in his ruin. And he himself thought so, as his son told me ; for, as
soon as he knew of it, and when he saw his son lifted up with it, he protested to him, that
he knew nothing of the matter till it broke out : but added, that he looked on it as that
which must be all their ruin sooner or later.
Upon this I will digress a little to give an account of the duke's character, whom I knew
for some years so particularly, that I can say much upon my own knowledge. He was very
brave in his youth, and so much magnified by Monsieur Turenne, that, till his marriage
lessened him, Ire really clouded the king, and passed for the superior genius. He was natu-
rally candid and sincere, and a firm friend, till affairs and his religion wore out all his first
principles and inclinations. He had a great desire to understand affairs ; and in order to
that he kept a constant journal of all that passed, of which he shewed me a great deal.
The duke of Buckingham gave me once a short but severe character of the two brothers.
It was the more severe, because it was true. " The king," he said, " could see things if he
would, and the duke would see things if he could." He had no true judgment, and was soon
determined by those whom he trusted : but he was obstinate against all other advices. He
was bred with high notions of the kingly authority, and laid it down for a maxim, that all
who opposed the king wTere rebels in their hearts *. He was perpetually in one amour or
other, without being very nice in his choice : upon which the king said once, " he believed
his brother had his mistresses given him by his priests for penance t." " He gave me this
account of his changing his religion : When he escaped out of the hands of the earl of
Northumberland, who had the charge of his education, trusted to him by the parliament,
and had used him with great respect, all due care was taken, as soon as he got beyond
ager, \vho came over to England more zealously to enforce affections some time after his obtaining the crown, when he
her opposition ; and who declared, that if ever the duchess created her countess of Dorchester. She bore him several
was admitted at Whitehall, she would at the same instant children, and he continued to visit her frequently. " This."
quit the palace. Her opposition ceased suddenly, and on says sir John Reresby, " gave the queen a great deal of
the eve of her return to France she was reconciled both uneasiness, but there was no help for it, until at length her
to the chancellor and his daughter. This sudden change majesty's party and priests did so importune the king, and
appears to have arisen from a message to her from the so %pressingly remonstrated with him on the sin of this
French ministry, intimating that they should be better amour, and the disparagement it would throw upon their
pleased if she would be reconciled to her two sons, and religion, that it was reported he sent her word, either to
those whom they most trusted. The particulars are very retire into France, or to expect to have her pension of
minutely detailed in the authority from which this is 4000J. a-year withdrawn." — Reresby 's Memoirs, 230. She
abstracted. appears to have retired into Ireland, but soon returned —
* Ignorance and obstinacy were the peculiar failings of Clarendon's Correspondence, i. 544 ; and, from the same
.lames the Second's mind. All his mistakes, false opi- authority, we learn, that, in 1689, she kept up an episto-
nions, and crimes, arc traceable to those mental defi- lary correspondence with him when in exile, which was
ciencies — deficiencies that probably arose from the imper- intercepted. — Ibid. ii. 279. For this she was in danger of
feet education afforded him. Clarendon says that, as a impeachment. — Dalrymple's Memoirs, ii. 186. When
youth, he was entirely dependent upon his mother ; " and entirely separated from James, she married David, earl of
there was not that care for the general part of his educa- Portmore. She died in 1717. Her father, sir Charles
tion, nor that indulgence to his person, as ought to have Sedley, though one of the greatest profligates of his period,
been; moreover, the queen's own carriage and behaviour highly resented his daughter's dishonour. A scene between
to him was at least severe enough." -'-Clarendon's Auto- them is admirably imagined in the novel of " Walter
biography, i. 122. Colyton." He exerted himself most strenuously to effect
f This witticism was directed against Catherine Sedley, the expulsion of James, caustically observing that, "in
who serves as an example that superiority of mental gratitude, he would do his utmost to make his majesty's
accomplishments can retain an influence over man more daughter a queen, as he had made his own a countess." —
tin during than beauty. She preserved her place in James's Grainger's Biograph. Hist. vi. 1 54.
OF KING CHARLES 11. 115
sea, to form him to a strict adherence to the church of England : among other things
much was said of the authority of the church, and of the tradition from the apostles in
support of episcopacy : so that, when he came to observe that there was more reason to
submit to the Catholic church than to one particular church, and that other traditions
might be taken on her word, as well as episcopacy was received among us, he thought the
step was not great, -but that it was very reasonable to go over to the church of Rome ; and
Doctor Steward having taught him to believe a real but inconceivable presence of Christ in
the sacrament, he thought this went more than half way to transubstantiation. He said,
that a nun's advice to him to pray every day, that, if he was not in the right way, God
would set him right, did make a great impression on him ; but he never told me when or
where he was reconciled. He suffered me to say a great deal to him on all these heads. I
shewed the difference between submission and obedience in matters of order and indifferent
things, and an implicit submission from the belief of infallibility. I also shewed him the
difference between a speculation of a mode of Christ's presence, when it rested in an opinion,
and an adoration founded on it : though the opinion of such a presence was wrong, there
was no great harm in that alone : but the adoration of an undue object was idolatry. He
suffered me to talk much and often to him on these heads ; but I plainly saw, it made no
impression ; and all that he seemed to intend by it was, to make use of me as an instrument
to soften the aversion, that people began to be possessed with to him. He was naturally
eager and revengeful ; and was against the taking off any, that set up in an opposition to
the measures of the court, and who by that means grew popular in the House of Commons.
He was for rougher methods. He continued for many years dissembling his religion, and
seemed zealous for the church of England : but it was chiefly on design to hinder all propo-
sitions, that tended to unite us among ourselves. He was a frugal prince, and brought his
court into method and magnificence ; for he had 100,000/. a-year allowed him. He was
made high admiral, and he came to understand all the concerns of the sea very particularly.
He had a very able secretary about him, sir William Coventry, a man of great notions and
eminent virtues, the best speaker in the House of Commons, and capable of bearing tlie
chief ministry, as it was once thought he was very near it. The duke found all the great
seamen had a deep tincture from their education : they both hated popery, and loved liberty.
They were men of severe tempers, and kept good discipline *. But in order to the putting
the fleet into more confident hands, the duke began a method of sending pages of honour,
and other young persons of quality, to be bred to the sea. And these were put in com-
mand, as soon as they were capable of it, if not sooner. This discouraged many of the old
seamen, when they saw in what a channel advancement was like to go ; who upon that left
the service, and went and commanded merchantmen. By this means the virtue and disci-
pline of the navy is much lost. It is true, we have a breed of many gallant men, who do
distinguish themselves in action ; but it is thought, the nation has suffered much by the
vices and disorders of those captains who have risen by their quality, more than by merit
or service.
The duchess of York was a very extraordinary woman. She had great knowledge, and a
lively sense of things. She soon understood what belonged to a princess, and took state
on her rather too much. She wrote well ; and had begun the duke's life, of which she
shewed me a volume. It wassail drawn from his journal, and he intended to have employed
me in carrying it on. She was bred to great strictness in religion, and practised secret con-
fession. Morley told me, he was her confessor. She began at twelve years old, and continued
under his direction, till, upon her father's disgrace, he was put from the court. She was
enerous and friendly, but was too severe an enemy.
* James found the seamen were actuated by the same The king flattered them all he could ; went from ship to
tred against the papal religion, when, as king, he used ship ; called them his children ; said he had nothing to do
every method to introduce that creed among his subjects, with their religion, and that he granted liberty of con-
" The king," says sir John Reresby, "July 13, 1687, science to all; but that he expected they would behave
went down to the Thames' mouth, as pretended, only to like men of honour and courage when there should he
take a view of the fleet ; but the real cause was to appease occasion for their service. They were so far gratified
the seamen, who were ready to mutiny, because some of that all the priests were ordered on shore." — Reicsby's
their captains had publicly celebrated mass in their ships. Memoirs, 266.
116 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The king's third brother, the duke of Gloucester, was of a temper different from his two
brothers. He was active, and loved business, was apt to have particular friendships, and
had an insinuating temper, which was generally very acceptable. The king loved him
much better than the duke of York ; but he was uneasy when he saw there was no post left
for him, since Monk was general. So he spoke to the earl of Clarendon, that he might be
made lord treasurer. But he told him, it was a post below his dignity. He would not be
put off with that, for he could not bear an idle life, nor to see his brother at the head of the
fleet, when he himself had neither business nor dependence. But the mirth and entertain-
ments of that time raised his blood so high, that he took the small-pox, of which he died,
much lamented by all, but most particularly by the king, who was never in his whole life
seen so much troubled, as he was on that occasion. Those who would not believe he had
much tenderness in his nature, imputed this rather to his jealousy of the brother that sur-
vived, since he had now lost the only person that could balance him *. Not long after him
the princess royal died likewise of the small-pox ; but was not much lamented. She
had lived in her widowhood for some years with great reputation, kept a decent court, and
supported her brothers very liberally, and lived within bounds. But her mother, who had
the art of making herself believe any thing she had a mind to, upon a conversation with the
queen mother of France, fancied the king of France might be inclined to marry her : so she
wrote to her to come to Paris. In order to that, she made an equipage far above what she
could support : so she ran herself into debt, sold all her jewels, and some estates that were
in her power as her son's guardian ; and was not only disappointed of that vain expectation,
but fell into some misfortunes, that lessened the reputation she had formerly lived in.
Upon her death it might have been expected, both in justice and gratitude, that the king
would in a most particular manner have taken her son, the young prince of Orange, into
his protection : but he fell into better hands ; for his grandmother became his guardian, and
took care both of his estate and his education t.
Thus two of the branches of the royal family were cut off soon after the Restoration.
And so little do the events of things answer the first appearances, that a royal family of
three princes and two princesses, all young and graceful persons, that promised a numerous
issue, did moulder away so fast, that now, while I am writing, all is reduced to the person
of the queen, and the duchess of Savoy. The king had a very numerous issue, though
* Henry, duke of Gloucester, sometimes called Henry hard-hearted. And at the opening the chamber-door, the
of Oatlands, being born at that one of the twenty-four king returned hastily from the window, kissed them, and
palaces of Charles the First, was the youngest child of this so parted." — Wood's Athense Oxon. ii. 700. Clarendon
monarch. He was but seven years old when his father says, that Charles the First repeatedly impressed upon
was executed ; yet, young as he was, the advice and com- the youthful duke, that whatever attempts might be made
mauds imparted to him at their last interview, sank into to induce him to accept the crown to the prejudice of his
his mind, and were never forgotten. This pathetic parting elder brothers, or to induce him to change his religion,
has been described by Mr. Herbert, who attended Charles he must never assent to the proposals. A command that
at the time. It was on the day previous to his decapita- the duke, young as he then was, quoted and firmly
tion. The duke came with his sister, the princess Eliza- adhered to when his mother, some years after, used her
beth. " The princess being the elder, was the most sen- influence to convert him to the papal creed Clarendon's
sible of her royal father's condition, as appeared by her Hist, of Rebellion, iii. 52, 426. One of Clarendon's
sorrowful look and excessive weeping. Her little brother friends advised that the duke, who was only called
fceeing her weep, took the like impression, though by " Master Harry," should be bound out to some good
reason of his tender age, he could not have the likeappre- trade, that so he might get his bread honestly." — South's
hension. The king raised them both from off their Sermons, 448 He died in 1660, aged rather more than
knees, kissed them, gave them his blessing, and setting twenty years.
them on his knees, admonished them concerning their f I do not know what Burnet intended by the " mis-
duty and loyal observance to the queen, their mother; fortunes" that happened to the princess of Orange lessen-
the prince that was his successor, and love to the duke of ing her reputation. Whatever they were they could not
York, and his other relations. The king then gave them lessen her merit as the strenuous alleviator of the distress
all his jewels, save the George he wore, which was cut in incident to the exile of her brothers. She is described by
an onyx with great curiosity, and set about with twenty- other authorities as mild, patient, affectionate, and firm-
one fair diamonds, and the reverse set with the like num. minded. Her husband and herself fell victims to the
ber; and then again kissing his children, had such pretty same eruptive disease. She had only just arrived in
and pertinent answers from them both, as drew tears of England to congratulate her brother upon his restoration,
love and joy from his eyes : and then praying God when the fatal disorder seized her. She was buried on
Almighty to bless theiu, he turned about, expressing a the la&t day of 1660, in Henry the Seventh's chapel
tender and fatherly affection. Most sorrowful was this Fenton's Observations on Waller. — Walker's Hist, of
parting: and the young prince shedding tears, and crying Independency, iv. 99.— Clarendon's Hist, of Rebellion,
moet lamentably, moved others to pity that formerly were
OF KING CHARLES II. 117
none by his queen. The duke had by both his wives, and some irregular amours, a very
numerous issue. And the present queen has had a most fruitful marriage as to issue, though
none of them survive. The princess Henrietta was so pleased with the diversion of the
French court, that she was glad to go thither again to be married to that king's brother.
As the treaty with Portugal went on, France did engage in the concerns of that crown,
though they had by treaty promised the contrary to the Spaniards. To excuse their
perfidy, count Schomberg, a German by birth, and a Calvinist by his religion, was ordered
to go thither, as one prevailed with by the Portugal ambassador, and not as sent over by
the orders of the court of France. He passed through England to concert with the king
the matters of Portugal, and the supply that was to be sent thither from England. He
told me, the king had admitted him into great familiarities with him at Paris. He had
known him first at the Hague, for he was the prince of Orange's particular favourite ; but
had so great a share in the last violent actions of his life, seizing the states, and in the
attempt upon Amsterdam, that he left the service upon his death, and gained so great a
reputation in France, that, after the prince of Conde and Turenne, he was thought the best
general they had. He had much free discourse with the king, though he found his mind
was so turned to mirth and pleasure, that he seemed scarce capable of laying any thing to
heart. He advised him to set up for the head of the protestant religion : for though he
said to him, he knew he had not much religion, yet his interests led him to that. It would
keep the princes of Germany in a great dependence on him, and make him the umpire of
all their affairs ; and would procure him great credit with the Huguenots of France, and keep
that crown in perpetual fear of him. He advised the king to employ the military men that
had served under Cromwell, whom he thought the best officers he had ever seen : and he
was sorry to see they were dismissed, and that a company of wild young men were those
the king relied on. But what he pressed most on the king, as the business then in agita-
tion, was concerning the sale of Dunkirk. The Spaniards pretended it ought to be
restored to them, since it was taken from them by Cromwell, when they had the king and
his brothers in their armies : but that was not much regarded. The French pretended that,
by their agreement with Cromwell, he was only to hold it till they had repaid the charge of
the war : therefore they, offering to lay that down, ought to have the place delivered to
them. The king was in no sort bound by this : so the matter under debate was, whether
it ought to be kept or sold ? The military men, who were believed to be corrupted by
France, said, the place was not tenable ; that in time of peace it would put the king to a
great charge, and in time of war it would not quit the cost of keeping it. The earl of
Clarendon said, he understood not those matters, but appealed to Monk's judgment, who
did positively advise the letting it go for the sum that France offered. To make the business
go the easier, the king promised, that he would lay up all the money in the Tower ; and that
it should not be touched, but upon extraordinary occasions. Schomberg advised, in oppo-
sition to all this, that the king should keep it ; for, considering the naval power of England,
it could not be taken. He knew that, though France spoke big, as if they would break
with England unless that was delivered up, yet they were far from the thoughts of it. He
had considered the place well, and he was sure it could never be taken, as long as England
was master of the sea. The holding it would keep both France and Spain in a dependence
upon the king. But he was singular in that opinion : so it was sold ; and all the money
that was paid for it, was immediately squandered away among the mistress's creatures.
By this the king lost his reputation abroad. The court was believed venal. And because
the earl of Clarendon was in greatest credit, the blame was cast chiefly on him ; though his
son assured me, he had kept himself out of that affair entirely *. The cost bestowed on that
* By Monsieur d'Estrade's letters, published some years said ammunitions, artillery, and stores were worth." — Slate
after the author's death, it should seem, that the earl of Trials, ii. 557. fol. In the Continuation of Lord Cla-
^larendon had a considerable share in that negotiation. rendon's Life, there is a very particular account of his
The eleventh article in the impeachment of the earl lordship's conduct in this transaction. In this authority it W
of Clarendon was, "that he advised and effected decidedly stated, that he was opposed to the sale of the
the sale of Dunkirk to the French king, being part of his town, a sale the proposal of which originated with the earl
majesty's dominions ; together with the ammunitions, artil- of Southampton, lord treasurer. The proposition was sup-
lery, and stores there, and for no greater value, than the ported by the duke of Albemarle, the earl of Sandwich,
US THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
place since that time, and the great prejudice we have suffered by it, has made that sale to bo
often reflected on very severely. But it was pretended that Tangier, which was offered as
a part of the portion that the infanta of Portugal was to bring with her, was a place of
much greater consequence. Its situation in the map is indeed very eminent. And if Spain
had been then in a condition to put any restraint on our trade, it had been of great use to us ;
especially, if the making a mole there had been more practicable, than it proved to be. It
was then spoken of in the court in the highest strains of flattery. It was said, this would
not only give us the entire command of the Mediterranean trade, but it would be a place of
safety for a squadron to be alwrays kept there, for securing our West and East India trade.
And such mighty things were said of it, as if it had been reserved for the king's reign to
make England as glorious abroad, as it was happy at home : though since that time we have
never been able, either by force or treaty, to get ground enough round the town from the
Moors, to maintain the garrison. But every man that was employed there studied only his
own interest, and how to rob the king. If the money, that was laid out in the mole at dif-
ferent times, had been raised successively, as fast as the work could be carried en, it might
have been made a very valuable place. But there were so many discontinuings, and so many
new undertakings, that after an immense charge the court grew weary of it : and in the year
1688 they sent a squadron of ships to bring away the garrison, and to destroy all the works.
This matter of the king's marriage with the infanta of Portugal was at last concluded.
The earl of Sandwich went for her, and was the king's proxy in the nuptial ceremony. The
king communicated the matter both to the parliament of England, and Scotland. And so
strangely were people changed, that though they all had seen the mischievous effects of a
popish queen in the former reign, yet not one person moved against it in either parliament,
except the earl of Cassilis in Scotland ; who moved for an address to the king to marry a
protestant. He had but one to second him : so entirely were men run from one extreme to
another.
"When the queen was brought over, the king met her at Winchester in summer 1662. The
archbishop of Canterbury came to perform the ceremony : but the queen was bigoted to
such a degree, that she would not say the words of matrimony, nor bear the sight of the
archbishop. The king said the words hastily : and the archbishop pronounced them married
persons. Upon this some thought afterwards to have dissolved the marriage, as a marriage
only de facto, in which no consent had been given. But the duke of York told me, they were
married by the lord Aubigny, according to the roman ritual, and that he himself was one of
the witnesses : and he added, that, a few days before he told me this, the queen had said to
him, that she heard some intended to call her marriage in question ; and that, if that was
done, she must call on him as one of her witnesses to prove it. I saw the letter that the
king wrote to the earl of Clarendon the day after their marriage, by which it appeared very
plainly that the marriage was consummated, and that the king was well pleased with her.
The king himself told me, she had been with child : and Willis the great physician told
Dr. Lloyd, from whom I had it, that she had once miscarried of a child, which was so far
advanced, that, if it had been carefully looked to, the sex might have been distinguished.
But she proved a barren wife, and was a woman of a mean appearance, and of no agreeable
temper : so that the king never considered her much. And she made ever after but a
very mean figure. For some time the king carried things decently, and did not visit his
sir George C.irteret, all military authorities , by both se- residence having been enlarged soon after the town was sold,
cretaries of state, by the duke of York and the king, it was long satirised by the name of Dunkirk House, an
When the subject was finally debated, the chancellor intimation that the bribe he received to consent to the sale
being confined by the gout, all the above-named magnates had enabled him to increase the size of his dwelling,
met in his chamber. Upon their entrance, the earl of Andrew Marvel severely attacked the earl in the House of
Southampton said to the king jesting, and alluding to the Commons, and in one of his satires, for he was a poet as
chancellor's dislike of the measure, that he had better well as a legislator, he thus apostrophises him :
take the chancellor's staff from him otherwise his head „ Fools.coated gownman , SenSj to figbt with Hans,
might suffer. The only privy councillor who agreed with D disn?antiing Scotland, quarrels France."
Clarendon in opposition to this measure was the earl of
St. Albans. — Continuation of Clarendon's Life, ii. 204. These lines are allusive to the war with Holland, and
The popular opinion was against Clarendon, and his the dismantling of the Scotch forts.
OF KING CHARLES II.
mistress openly. But he grew weary of that restraint ; and shook it off so entirely, that he
had ever after that mistress to the end of his life, to the great scandal of the world, and to
the particular reproach of all that served about him in the church. He usually came from his
mistress's lodgings to church, even on sacrament days. He held as it were a court in them :
and all his ministers made application to them. Only the earls of Clarendon and Southampton
would never so much as make a visit to any of them, which was maintaining the decencies of
virtue in a very solemn manner. The lord Clarendon put the justice of the nation in very
good hands ; and employed some who had been on the bench in Cromwell's time, the famous
Sir Matthew Hale in particular.
The business of Ireland was a harder province. The Irish that had been in the rebellion
had made a treaty with the duke of Ormond, then acting in the king's name, though he had no
legal power under the great seal, the king being then a prisoner. But the queen-mother got, as
they gave out, the crown of France to become the guarantee for the performance. By the
treaty they were to furnish him with an army, to adhere to the king's interests, and serve
under the duke of Ormond ; and for this they were to be pardoned all that was passed, to
have the open exercise of their religion, and a free admittance into all employments, and to
have a free parliament without the curb of Poynings' law.* But after the misfortune at
Dublin, they set up a supreme council again, and refused to obey the duke of Ormond ; in
which the pope's nuncio conducted them. After some disputes, and that the duke of Ormond
saw he could riot prevail with them to be commanded by him any more, he left Ireland. And
Cromwell came over, and reduced the whole country, and made a settlement of the confiscated
estates, for the pay of the undertakers for the Irish war, and of the officers that had served
in it. The king had in his declaration from Breda promised to confirm the settlement of
Ireland. So now a great debate arose between the native Irish and the English settled in
Ireland. The former claimed the articles that the duke of Ormond had granted them. He
in answer to this said, they had broken them first on their part, and so had forfeited their
claim to them. They seemed to rely much on the court of France, and on the whole popish
party abroad, as they were the most considerable branch of it here at home. But England
did naturally incline to support the English interests. And, as that interest in Ireland had
gone in very unanimously to the design of the king's restoration, and had merited much on
that account, so they drew over the duke of Ormond to join with them, in order to an act
confirming Cromwell's settlement. Only a court of claims was set up, to examine the pre-
tensions of some of the Irish, who had special excuses for themselves, why they should not be
included in the general forfeiture of the nation. Some were under age : others were travelling,
or serving abroad ; and many had distinguished themselves in the king's service, when he was
in Flanders ; chiefly under the duke of York, who pleaded much for them, and was always
depended on by them, as their chief patron. It was thought most equitable, to send over
men from England, who were not concerned in the interests or passions of the parties of that
kingdom, to try those claims. Their proceedings were much cried out on : for it was said,
that every man's claim, who could support it with a good present, was found good, and that
all the members of that court came back very rich. So that, though the Irish thought they
had not justice enough done them, the English said they had too much. When any thing
was to be proved by witnesses, sets of them were hired, to depose according to the instructions
given them. This was then cried out on, as a new scene of wickedness, that was then opened,
and which must in the end subvert all justice and good government. The infection has spread
since that time, and crossed the sea. And the danger of being ruined by false witnessses haa
become so terrible, that there is no security against it, but from the sincerity of juries. And
if these come to be packed, then all men may be soon at mercy, if a wicked government
should set on a violent prosecution, as has happened oftener than once. I am not instructed
enough in the affiiirs of Ireland, to carry this matter into farther particulars. The English
* This law was so named from its being passed by the of that act, which were in force in England should have
Irish parliament, at the time sir Edward Poynings was equal force in Ireland. — Blackstone's Commentaries, 1.
lord lieutenant. It is among the Irish statutes, 1 0' Hen. VII. 1 03.
c. 2, and enacts that all statutes, previous to the passing
t.
120 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
interest was managed chiefly by two men of a very indifferent reputation : the earls of
Anglesey and Orrery *. The chief manager of the Irish interest was Richard Talbot, one of
the duke's bed-chamber men, who had much cunning, and had the secret both of his master's
pleasures, and of his religion, for some years, and was afterwards raised by him to be earl
and duke of Tyrconnel. Thus I have gone over the several branches of the settlement of
matters after the Restoration. I have reserved the affairs of the church last, as
those about which I have taken the most pains to be well informed ; and which I do
therefore offer to the reader with some assurance, and on which I hope due reflection will be
made.
At the Restoration, Juxon, the most ancient and most eminent of the former bishops, who
had assisted the late king in his last hours, was promoted to Canterbury, more out of decency,
than that he was then capable to fill that post ; for as he was never a great divine, so he was
now superannuated. Though others have assured me, that after some discourses with the king
he was so much struck with what he observed in him, that upon that he lost both heart and
hope. The king treated him with outward respect, but had no great regard to him. Sheldon
and Morley were the men that had the greatest credit. Sheldon was esteemed a learned man
before the war : but he was now engaged so deep in politics, that scarce any prints of what
he had been remained. He was a very dexterous man in business, had a great quickness of
apprehension, and a very true judgment. He was a generous and charitable man. He had a
great pleasantness of conversation, perhaps too great. He had an art, that was peculiar to
him, of treating all that came to him in a most obliging manner : but few depended much
on his professions of friendship. He seemed not to have a deep sense of religion, if any at
all : and spoke of it most commonly as of an engine of government, and a matter of policy.
By this means the king came to look on him as a wise and honest clergyman. Sheldon was
at first made bishop of London, and was upon Juxon's death promoted to Canterburyf .
Morley had been first known to the world as a friend of the lord Falkland' s : and that was
enough to raise a man's character. He had continued for many years in the lord Clarendon's
family, and was his particular friend. He was a Calvinist with relation to the Arminian
points, and was thought a friend to the puritans before the wars : but he took care after his
promotion to free himself from all suspicions of that kind. He was a pious and charitable
man, of a very exemplary life, but extremely passionate, and very obstinate. He was first
* Arthur Annesley, carl of Anglesea, is one of those Budgell's Memoirs of the Boyles ; Carte's Life of the
characters that the historian cannot record as either a Duke of Ormond ; Cox's History of Ireland. See also
faithful, or as a profligate minister of the government, article "Boyle," in the Biographia Britunnica.
There is a full and interesting narrative of his life in the f Dr. Gilbert Sheldon had the merit and satisfaction of
Biographia Britannica, vindicating him successfully from winning the highest distinctions of his profession by the
the severe reflections of Burnet and Wood, yet, as is exertion of his unaided talents. His father was a favourite
observed by Dr. Kippis, we search in vain for a perfect domestic of Gilbert earl of Shrewsbury. He rapidly dis-
consistency in the earl of Anglesea's character. A man tinguished himself, and having obtained the family chap-
•who began with appearing for Charles the First, and then laincy of lord-keeper Coventry, was, by that great lawyer,
•was zealous for the parliament ; who was president of the recommended to the notice of Charles the First, who made
republican council of state, and ardent for the restoration him chaplain in ordinary, and clerk of his closet. He had
of monarchy ; who could maintain his post for twenty- previously been elected warden of All Souls' College.
two years of such a reign as that of Charles the Second, Upon the Restoration, he was preferred to the deanery of
and afterwards manage so as to be thought of for lord the chapel royal, and finally succeeded Dr. Juxon, in the
chancellor to king James the Second, must have been of a bishopric of London, and archbishopric of Canterbury.
very accommodating turn of mind. He wrote a very He had claims upon the gratitude of Charles the Second,
spirited remonstrance to Charles the Second, warning him for Clarendon informs us, that during that king's exile,
against an infraction of the laws ; but he did not protest Sheldon supplied him with money from his own private
with other lords, in 1675, against the Test Act; yet he funds. He was born in 1598, and died in 1677- From
voted, though alone, against the Irish Plot ; protested the time of his heing made bishop of London, to his
also, without a companion, against the attainder of the earl decease, his brother told Anthony Wood, he had spent
of Strafford ; and voted with the earl of Clare against 66,000/. in charities, and public benefits. The erection of
passing the bill. He will be noticed in future pages. He the theatre at Oxford cost him 16,OOOJ. and 2,OOOJ. more
died in 1 686, aged seventy-three. for a fnnd to keep it in repair. Among all his acquaintance
Roger Boyle, earl of Orrery, though a licentious liver, he was distinguished for his learning, benevolence, and
was a good soldier, a discreet statesman, and, though an prudence. Sir Francis Wenman, who met him frequently
indifferent author, yet, was a bountiful patron of literature. at lord Falkland's, often said, "Dr. Sheldon was
He died in 1679, aged fifty-nine. For more in formation re- born and bred to be archbishop of Canterbury." — Wood's
lativc to Irish affairs at this period, the reader may consult, Athenae Oxon. ii. 162. — Clarendon's Life, i. 125 Bio-
with advantage, Morice's Memoirs of the Earls of Orrery ; graphia Britannica.
OF KING CHARLES II.
121
made bishop of Worcester * Doctor Hammond, for whom that see was designed, died a
little before the Restoration, which was an unspeakable loss to the church : for, as he was a
man of great learning, and of most eminent merit, he having been the person, that during
the bad times had maintained the cause of the church in a very singular manner, so he was a
very moderate man in his temper, though with a high principle ; and probably he would
have fallen into healing counsels. He was also much set on reforming abuses, and for raising
in the clergy a due sense of the obligations they lay under. But by his death Morley was
advanced to Worcester : and not long after he was removed to Winchester, void by Duppa's
death, who had been the king's tutor, though no way fit for that post ; but he was a meek
and humble man, and much loved for the sweetness of his temper ; and would have been
more esteemed, if he had died before the Restoration ; for he made not that use of the great
wealth that flowed in upon him, that was expected. Morley was thought always the honcster
man of the two, as Sheldon was certainly the abler man t.
The first point in debate was, whether concessions should be made, and pains taken to gair
the dissenters, or not ; especially the presbyterians. Tho earl of Clarendon was much for
it ; and got the king to publish a declaration soon after his Restoration concerning ecclesi-
astical affairs, to which if he had stood, very probably the greatest part of them might have
been gained. But the bishops did not approve of this : and after the service they did that
lord in the duke of York's marriage, he would not put any hardship on those who had so
signally obliged him. This disgusted the lord Southampton, who was for carrying on the
design, that had been much talked of during the wars, of moderating matters both with
relation to the government of the church, and the worship and ceremonies : which created
* Dr. George Morley, though of more gentle extraction
than his friend Sheldon, was like him chiefly indebted to
his own merits for his success in life. His father died
when he was but six years old, and his mother left him an
orphan before he was twelve — an orphan without any patri-
mony, this being lost by his father rendering himself
liable for the debts of others. After passing through the
usual university degrees with distinction, he was invited
to accept the domestic chaplaincy of the earl of Caer-
narvon, and remained in that nobleman's family, which,
says Clarendon, needed a wise and wary director, until he
was forty-three. He was deeply versed in theological
literature, was a good classic scholar, but was even still
more eminent for his wit. This dangerous gift, though
used by him with great discretion, and never unkindly, was
too frequently interpreted to his disadvantage. Thus,
being asked by a grave country gentleman, who was
desirous of hearing their tenets, " what the Arminians
held," Morley laughingly replied, that "they held all
the best bishoprics and deaneries in England," and this was
seriously disseminated as Mr. Morley's definition of Armi-
nianism. Throughout his life he was intimate with the
chief literary characters of that period. When a young
man, being one of those particularly noticed by " rare Beii
Jonson," he was always considered as one of those familiarly
known as his " sons." Lord Falkland, the earl of Clarendon,
Chilling-worth, and Edmund Waller, were among the
number of his English friends ; and whilst residing in
Holland, whither he retired upon the death of Charles the
First, he became intimate with Heinsius, Salmasius, Bo-
chart, Rivetius, &c. Upon the Restoration he was pre-
ferred successively to the deanery of Christchurch, and
the bishoprics of Worcester and Winchester. Upon trans-
lating him to the latter, Charles justly observed, " he
Would never be the richer for it ; " for besides a munifi-
cently charitable disposition, he had a taste for building.
He spent 8,000/. upon Farnham Castle ; 4,000/. upon
Winchester House, Chelsea; gaveanexcelle.it library, still
remaining, to Winches- ter Cathedral, and distributed his bene
four hours. This abstemiousness and regularity preserved
a good natural constitution : he passed from infancy to the
grave, a space of seventy-four years, without being con-
fined to his bed by sickness more than twice. He died in
1684. His writings are chiefly polemical ; in the preface
to a volume of his tracts, published in 1683, is a good
account of the religious character of Anne Hyde, duchess
of York, previous to her changing her communion. She
had been under his care and tuition whilst he resided with
the family at Antwerp. — Wood's Athense Oxon. ii. 770,
fo. — Clarendon's Autobiography, i. 25. — Life of Waller,
prefixed to his works, — Biosjraphia Britannica.
f Dr. Henry Hammond was one of the greatest orna-
ments of the English church. He was a consistent, uncom-
promising royalist. Charles the First had him constantly
in attendance until all his suite were removed.
His " Practical Catechism," and " Annotations upon
the New Testament," are two of the best works in our
voluminous theological literature. He died in 1660, aged
fifty-five. His " Life," by Dr. Fell, contains a good deaJ
of interesting information relative to the transactions of
the reign of the first Charles. Wood gives him this
extremely laudatory character. " Great were his natural
abilities, greater his acquired ; in the whole circle of the
arts he was most accurate. He was also eloquent in the
tongues; exact in ancient and modern writers ; well-versed
in philosophy, better in philology, and most learned in
school divinity. He was a great master in church anti-
quity, made up of fathers, councils, ecclesiastical historians
and liturgies, as may be seen at large in his most elaborate
works. — Wood's Athenae Oxon. ii. 245. Dr. Brian Duppa
does not appear to have merited the censure for want of
liberality passed upon him by Burnet. He built and
liberally endowed almshouses at Richmond, in Surrey ;
remitted rent, &c. to his tenants, to the amount of 30,000/. ;
and bequeathed 16,OOOJ. to various charitable and bene-
ficent purposes. Other authorities also state him to have been
well qualified for the place of tutor to Charles the Second ;
it is certain this monarch venerated his character, for, as the
volences profusely. He rose regularly at five in the morning, doctor lay upon his death-bed, the king knelt by his bed-
and retired to his bed nightly ?.t eleven. In the coldest side lo ask his blessing. He died in 1662 — Wood's
weather, he never had a fire when he arose, or a warming- Athens Oxon. ii. 269. — Biograph. Brit. — Graingcr'a
pan when he went to bed. He ate but once in the twenty- Biograph Hist., &c.
I
122 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
some coldness between him and the earl of Clarendon, when the lord chancellor went off from
those designs. The consideration that those bishops and their party had in the matter was
this : the presbyterians were possessed of most of the great benefices in the church, chiefly
in the city of London, and in the two universities. It is true, all that had come into the
room of those who were turned out by the parliament, or by the visitors sent by them, were
removed by the course of law, as men that were illegally possessed of other men's rights :
and that, even where the former incumbents were dead, because a title originally wrong wag
still wrong in law. But there were a great many of them in very eminent posts, who were
legally possessed of them. Many of these, chiefly in the city of London, had gone into the
design of the Restoration in so signal a manner, and with such success, that they had great
merit, and a just title to very high preferment. Now, as there remained a great deal of the
old animosity against them, for what they had done during the wars, so it was said, it
was better to have a schism out of the church than within it ; and that the half- conformity
of the puritans before the war, had set up a faction in every city and town between the
lecturers and the incumbents ; that the former took all methods to render themselves popular,
and to raise the benevolence of their people, which was their chief subsistence, by disparaging
the government both in church arid state. They had also many stories among them, of the
credit they had in the elections of parliament men, which they infused in the king, to possess
him with the necessity of having none to serve in the church, but persons that should be firmly
tied to his interest, both by principle, and by subscriptions and oaths. It is true, the
joy then spread through the nation had got at this time a new parliament to be elected, of
men so high and so hot, that unless the court had restrained them, they would have carried
things much farther than they did, against all that had been concerned in the late wars : but
they were not to expect such success at all times : therefore they thought it was necessary to
make sure work at this time : and, instead of using methods to bring in the sectaries, they
resolved rather to seek the most effectual ones for casting them out, and bringing a new set
of men into the church. This took with the king, at least it seemed to do so. But though
he put on an outward appearance of moderation, yet he was in another and deeper laid
design, to which the heat of these men proved subservient, for bringing in of popery. A
popish queen was a great step to keep it in countenance at court, and to have a great
many priests going about the court making converts. It was thought, a toleration was the
only method for setting it a going all the nation over. And nothing could make a toleration
for popery pass, but the having great bodies of men put out of the church, and put under
severe laws, which should force them to move for a toleration, and should make it reasonable
to grant it to them. And it was resolved, that whatever should be granted of that sort should
go in so large a manner, that papists should be comprehended within it. So the papists had
this generally spread among them, that they should oppose all propositions for comprehension,
and should animate the church party to maintain their ground against all the sectaries. And
in that point they seemed zealous for the church. But at the same time they spoke of tole-
ration, as necessary both for the peace and quiet of the nation, and for the encouragement of
trade. And with this the duke was so possessed, that he declared himself a most violent
enemy to comprehension, and as zealous for toleration. The king being thus resolved on
fixing the terms of conformity to what they had been before the war, without making
the least abatement or alteration, they carried on still an appearance of moderation, till
the strength of the parties should appear in the new parliament.
So, after the declaration was set out, a commission was granted to twelve of a side,
with nine assistants to each side, who were appointed to meet at the Savoy, and to con-
sider on the ways of uniting both sides. At their first meeting, Sheldon told them, that
those of the church had not desired this meeting, as being satisfied with the legal
establishment : arid therefore they had nothing to offer ; but it belonged to the other side
who moved for alterations, to offer both their exceptions to the laws in being, and the
alterations that they proposed. He told them, they were to lay all they had to offer
before them at once ; for they would not engage to treat about any one particular, till
they saw how far their demands went : and he said, that all was to be transacted in
writing, though the others insisted on an amicable conference : which wa^s at first denied :
OF KING CHARLES II. 123
yet some hopes were given of allowing it at last. Papers were upon this given in. The
presbyterians moved, that bishop Usher's reduction should be laid down as a ground- work
to treat on ; that bishops should not govern their dioceses by their single authority, nor
depute it to lay officers in their courts, but should in matters of ordination and jurisdiction
take along with them the counsel and concurrence of the presbyters. They did offer
several exceptions to the liturgy, against the many responses by the people ; and they
desired all might be made one continued prayer. They desired that no lessons should be
taken out of the apocryphal books : that the psalms used in the daily service should be
according to the new translation. They excepted to many parts of the office of baptism,
that import the inward regeneration of all that were baptised. But as they proposed these
amendments, so they did also offer a liturgy new drawn by Mr. Baxter. They insisted mainly
against kneeling at the sacrament of the Lord's supper, chiefly against the imposing it : and
moved that the posture might be left free, and that the use of the surplice, of the cross, in
baptism of god-fathers being the sponsors in baptism, and of the holy-days, might be
abolished. Sheldon saw well what the effect would be of putting them to make all their
demands at once. The number of them raised a mighty outcry against them, as people that
could never be satisfied. But nothing gave so great an advantage against them, as their
offering a new liturgy. In this they were divided among themselves. Some were for insisting
only on a few important things, reckoning that, if they were gained, and a union followed
upon that, it would be easier to gain other things afterwards. But all this was overthrown
by Mr. Baxter, who was a man of great piety : and, if he had not meddled in too many
things, would have been esteemed one of the learned men of the age : he wrote near two
hundred books : of these, three are large folios : he had a very moving and pathetical way of
writing, and was his whole life long a man of great zeal and much simplicity ; but was most
unhappily subtle and metaphysical in every thing *. There was a great submission paid to
him by the whole party. So he persuaded them, that from the words of the commission they
were bound to offer every thing, that they thought might conduce to the good or peace of
the church, without considering what was like to be obtained, or what effect their demanding
so much might have, in irritating the minds of those who were then the superior body in
strength and number. All the whole matter was at last reduced to one single point, whether
it was lawful to determine the certain use of things indifferent in the worship of God ? The
bishops held them to that point, and pressed them to shew that any of the things imposed
were of themselves unlawful. The presbyterians declined this ; but affirmed, that
other circumstances might make it become unlawful to settle a peremptory law about things
indifferent ; which they applied chiefly to kneeling in the sacrament, and stood upon it that
a law, which excluded all that did not kneel from the sacrament, was unlawful, as a limi-
tation in the point of communion put on the laws of Christ, which ought to be the only con-
dition of those who had a right to it. Upon this point there was a free conference that
lasted some days. The two men, that had the chief management of the debate, were the
most unfit to heal matters, and the fittest to widen them, that could have been found out.
* Richard Baxter was in every condition of life an " Paraphrase on the New Testament." He was fined five
extraordinary man. As a youth, though his education was hundred marks, to be imprisoned until they were paid,
neglected, yet by diligence he qualified himself for the and to find securities for his good behaviour during seven
masterships of Wroxeter and Dudley free-schools. He jears. After a short confinement, he was released, through
had an opportunity of advancing his fortune at court by the intervention of lord Powis.— Woolrych's Memoirs of
being kindly received by sir Henry Herbert, master of the Lord Jefferies, 178. He was born in 1615, and died in
revels, but he conscientiously objected to a courtier's life ; 1691. He was the author of one hundred and forty-five
this was one instance only of the high principle and piety distinct treatises, which have btOn published in four large
that marked his career, and they never pass unrewarded, folios. He was characterised by a deep sense of the truth
Although he had not been at a university, he was ordained and importance of Christianity. His zeal for its pro-
by the bishop of Winchester. He was alike admired by mulgation was indefatigable, yet it never degenerated into
episcopalians and by pi esbyturians, but entirely coincided enthusiasm. All dispassionate competent judges speak of
•with neither. We have seen in the text that he desired his character and practical writings with applause. It is
an alteration in the liturgy and the church ceremonies; impossible within the limits of a note to delineate his ex-
yet he was one of Charles the Second's chaplains, and we cellencies ; it may be best appreciated from the " Narrative
shall see that he was offered, and refused, a bishopric in of his own Life and Times ; " which is a diary that affords
1685. He was tried before the base and brutal Jefferies, much information relative to the period in which he lived,
for some reflections against episcopacy contained in his See also Calarny ; and Biogvaphia Britannica.
»24 THE HISTORY OF THE RETfiK
Baxter was the opponent, and Gunning was the respondent ; who was afterwards advanced,
first to Chichester, and then to Ely : he was a man of great reading, and noted for a special
subtilty of arguing : all the arts of sophistry were made use of by him on all occasions, in as
confident a manner, as if they had been sound reasoning : he was a man of an innocent life,
tmweariedly active to very little purpose : he was much set on the reconciling us with popery
in some points : and, because the charge of idolatry seemed a bar to all thoughts of recon-
ciliation with them, he set himself with very great zeal to clear the church of Rome of
idolatry. This made many suspect him as inclining to go over to them ; but he was far from
it : and was a very honest, sincere man, but of no sound judgment, and of no prudence in
affairs : he was for our conforming in all things to the rules of the primitive church, par-
ticularly in praying for the dead, in the use of oil, with many other rituals : he formed
many in Cambridge upon his own notions, who have carried them perhaps farther than he
intended*. Baxter and he spent some days in much logical arguing, to the diversion of the
town, who thought here were a couple of fencers engaged in disputes, that could never be
brought to an end, nor have any good effect. In conclusion, this commission being limited
to such a number of days, came to an end,- before any one thing was agreed on. The
bishops insisted on the laws that were still in force, to which they would admit of no excep-
tion, unless it was proved that the matter of those laws was sinful. They charged the pres-
byterians with having made a schism, upon a charge against the church for things, which
now they themselves could not call sinful. They said, there was no reason to gratify such a
sort of men in any thing ; one demand granted would draw on many more : all authority both
in church and state was struck at by the position they had insisted on, that it was not lawful
to impose things indifferent, since they seemed to be the only proper matter in which human
authority could interpose. So this furnished an occasion to expose them as enemies to all
order. Things had been carried at the Savoy with great sharpness, and many reflections.
Baxter said once, such things would offend many good men in the nation. Stearn, the arch-
bishop of York, upon that took notice that he would not say kingdom, but nation, because
he would not acknowledge a king. Of this great complaints were made, as an indecent
return for the zeal they had shewn in the restoration.
The conference broke up without doing any good. It did rather hurt, and heightened the
sharpness that was then in people's minds to such a degree, that it needed no addition to raise it
higher. The presbyterians laid their complaints before the king : but little regard was had to
them. And now all the concern that seemed to employ the bishops' thoughts was, not only
to make no alteration on that account, but to make the terms of conformity much stricter than
they had been before the war. So it was resolved to maintain conformity to the neight, and to
put lecturers in the s«>^e condition with the incumbents, as to oaths and subscriptions; and to
oblige all persons to ou^ouiibe an unfeigned assent and consent to all and every particular,
contained and prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. Many, who thought it lawful to
conform in submission, yet scrupled at this, as importing a particular approbation of every
thing : and great distinction was made between a conformity in practice, and so full and
distinct an assent. Yet men got over that, as importing no more but a consent of obedience :
for though the words of the subscription, which were also to be publicly pronounced
before the congregation, declaring the person's unfeigned assent and consent, seemed to import
this, yet the clause of the act that enjoined this carried a clear explanation of it ; for it
* Dr. Peter Gunning was a firm believer in Christianity, memory, he perhaps was never equalled as a tcxtuary. It
and an able controversialist— but he was better calculated bespeaks a kindness of heart, that when he obtained the
to confound than to convert its opponents, and its erring mastership of St. John's College, Cambridge, upon the
professois. He firmly advocated the cause of Charles the ejection of Dr. Tuckney, he allowed this nonconformist
First, even when the parliament was in the ascendant, and divine a handsome annuity during his life. His person
suffered a proportionate persecution. His publications are all was handsome, and his manner graceful, which will suffi-
controversial; one of them, entitled "Views and Corrections ciently account for the admiration he won of the court
of the Common Prayer," related to the topic mentioned in ladies, without asserting with " the Merry Monarch," that
the text. He was born in 1613, and died in 1684. A "they admired his preaching, because they did not under-
full detail of his character was given by Dr. Gower in a stand him." — Wood's Atliense Oxon. 763, fo. — Master's
book entitled UA Discourse delivered in Two Sermons Hist. Corpus Christi College, 157 — Salmon's Lives of
in the Cathedral at Ely." No man had ever more English Bishops, 259.
thoroughly studied the Bible; and, having a powerful
OF KING CHARLES II. 125
enacted this declaration as an assent and consent to the use of all things contained in the book.
Another subscription was enacted, with relation to the league and covenant : by which they
were required to declare it not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take arms against the
king, renouncing the traitorous position of taking arms by his authority against his person, or
those commissioned by him, together with a declaration, that no obligation lay on them, or
any other person, from the league or covenant, to endeavour any change or alteration of
government in church and state, and that the covenant was in itself an unlawful oath. This was
contrived against all the old men, who had both taken the covenant themselves, and had
pressed it upon others. So they wyere now to own themselves very guilty in that matter.
And those, who thought it might be lawful, upon great and illegal provocation, to resist
unjust invasions on the laws and liberties of the subjects, excepted to the subscription, though
it was scarcely safe for any at that time to have insisted on that point. Some thought, that
since the king had taken the covenant, he at least was bound to stand to it.
Another point was fixed by the act of uniformity, which was more at large formerly : those,
who came to England from the foreign churches, had not been required to be ordained among
us : but now all, that had not episcopal ordination, were made incapable of holding any
ecclesiastical benefice. Some few alterations were made in the liturgy by the bishops them-
selves : a few new collects were made, as the prayer for all conditions of men, and the ge-
neral thanksgiving : a collect was also drawn for the parliament, in which a new * epithet was
added to the king's title, that gave great offence, and occasioned much indecent raillery : he
was styled our most religious king. It was not easy to give a proper sense to this, and to
make it go well down ; since, whatever the signification of religion might be in the Latin
word, as importing the sacredness of the king's person, yet in the English language it bore
a signification that was no way applicable to the king. And those who took great liberties
with him have often asked him, what must all his people think, when they heard him prayed
for as their most religious king ? Some other lesser additions were made. But care was
taken, that nothing should be altered, as it had been moved by the presbyterians ; for it was
resolved to gratify them in nothing. One important addition was made, chiefly by Gawden's
men : he pressed that a declaration, explaining the reasons of their kneeling at the sacrament,
which had been in king Edward's liturgy, but was left out in queen Elizabeth's time,
should be again set where it had once been. The papists were highly offended, when they
saw such an express declaration made against the real presence, and the duke told me, that
when he asked Sheldon how they came to declare against a doctrine, which he had been
instructed was the doctrine of the church, Sheldon answered, " ask Gawden about it, who is
a bishop of your own making : " for the king had ordered his promotion for the service he
had done. The convocation that prepared those alterations, as they added some new holy
days, St. Barnabas, and the conversion of St. Paul, so they took in more lessons out of the
Apocrypha, in particular the story of Bel and the Dragon : new offices were also drawn for
two new days, the thirtieth of January, called king Charles the Martyr, and the twenty-
ninth of May, the day of the king's birth and return. Sancroft drew for these some offices
of a very high strain. Yet others of a more moderate strain were preferred to them. But
he, coming to be advanced to the see of Canterbury, got his offices to be published by the
king's authority, in a time when so high a style as was in them did not sound well in the
nation. Such care was taken in the choice and returns of the members of the convocation,
that every thing went among them as was directed by Sheldon and Morley. When they
had prepared all their alterations, they offered them to the king, who sent them to the house
of commons, upon which the act of uniformity was prepared by Keeling, afterwards lord
chief justice.
When it was brought into the house, many did apprehend that so severe an act might have
ill effects, and began to abate of their first heat : upon which reports were spread, and much
aggravated as they were reported to the house of commons, of the plots of the presbyterians
in several counties. Many were taken up on those reports : but none were ever tried for
them. So, the thing being let fall, it has been given out since, that these were forged by the
Burnet is incorrect if he considered the words, " our most religious king," were now for the first time introduced
the liturgy. They are in the prayer for the parliament used in 1625.
126 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
direction of some hot spirits, who might think such arts were necessary to give an alarm,
and, by rendering the party odious, to carry so severe an act against them. The lord Cla-
rendon himself was charged as having directed this piece of artifice : but I could never see
any ground for fastening it on him : though there were great appearances of foul dealing
among some of the fiercer sort. The act passed by no great majority : and by it, all who
did not conform to the liturgy by the twenty-fourth of August, St. Bartholomew's day, in
the year 1662, were deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices, without leaving any discretional
power with the king in the execution of it, and without making provision for the main-
tenance of those who should be so deprived : a severity neither practised by queen Elizabeth
in the enacting her liturgy, nor by Cromwell in ejecting the royalists, in both which a fifth
part of the benefice was reserved for their subsistence. St. Bartholomew's day was pitched
on, that, if they were then deprived, they should lose the profits of the whole year, since the
tithes are commonly due at Michaelmas. The presbyterians remembered what a St. Bar-
tholomew's had been held at Paris ninety years before, which was the day of that massacre,
and did not stick to compare the one to the other. The Book of Common Prayer with the
new corrections was that to which they were to subscribe : but the corrections were so long
a preparing, and the vast number of copies, above two thousand, that were to be wrought
off for all the parish churches of England, made the impression go on so slowly, that there
were few books set out to sale when the day came. So, many that were affected to the
church, but that made conscience of subscribing to a book that they had not seen, left their
benefices on that very account. Some made a journey to London on purpose to see it.
With so much precipitation was that matter driven on, that it seemed expected that the
clergy should subscribe implicitly to a book they had never seen. This was done by too
many, as I was informed by some of the bishops : but the presbyterians were now in great
difficulties ; they had many meetings, and much disputing about conformity. Reynolds
accepted of the bishopric of Norwich : but Calamy and Baxter refused the sees of Lichfield
and Hereford. And about two thousand of them fell under the parliamentary deprivation,
as they gave out. The numbers have been much controverted. This raised a grievous out-
cry over the nation, though it was less considered at that time than it would have been
at any other. Baxter told me, that had the terms of the king's declaration been stood to,
he did not believe that above three hundred of these would have been so deprived. Some
few, and but few, of the episcopal party were troubled at this severity, or apprehensive of
the very ill effects it was like to have. Here were many men, much valued, some on better
grounds, and others on worse, who were now cast out ignominiously, reduced to great
poverty, provoked by much spiteful usage, and cast upon those popular practices that both
their principles and their circumstances seemed to justify, of forming separate congregations,
and of diverting men from the public worship, and from considering their successors as the
lawful pastors of those churches in which they had served. The blame of all this fell
heaviest on Sheldon. The earl of Clarendon was charged with his having entertained the
presbyterians with hopes and good words, while he was all the while carrying on, or at least
giving way, to the bishop's project. When the convocation had gone through the Book of
Common Prayer, it was in the next place proposed, that, according to a clause in the king's
licence, they should consider the canons of the church. They had it then in their power
to have reformed many abuses, and particularly to have provided an effectual remedy to the
root of all those, which arise from the poor maintenance that is reserved to the incumbents
Almost all the leases of the church estates over England were fallen in, there having been
no renewal for twenty years. The leases for years were determined ; and the wars had
carried off so many men, that most of the leases for lives were fallen into the incumbents'
hands ; so that the church estates were in them : and the fines raised by the renewing the
leases rose to about a million and a half. It was an unreasonable thing to let those who
were now promoted carry off so great a treasure. If the half had been applied to the
buying of tithes or glebes for small vicarages, here a foundation had been laid down for a
great and effectual reformation. In some sees forty or fifty thousand pounds were raised,
and applied to the enriching the bishops' families. Something was done to churches
and colleges, in particular to St. Paul's in London ; and a noble collection was made for
OF KING CHARLES II
127
redeeming all the English slaves that were in any part of Barbary. But this fell far short
of what might have been expected. In this the lord Clarendon was heavily charged, as
having shewn that he was more the bishops' friend than the church's. It is true the law
made those fines belong to the incumbents ; but such an extraordinary occasion deserved
that a law should have been made on purpose. What the bishops did with those great
fines was a pattern to all the lower dignitaries, who generally took more care of themselves
than of the church. The men of merit and service were loaded with many livings and
many dignities. With this great accession of wealth there broke in upon the church a
great deal of luxury and high living, on the pretence of hospitality : while others made
purchases, and left great estates, most of which we have seen melt away. And with this
overset of wealth and pomp, that came on men in the decline of their parts and age, they,
who were now growing into old age, became lazy and negligent in all the true concerns of the
church ; they left preaching and writing to others, while they gave themselves up to ease
and sloth. In all which sad representation some few exceptions are to be made ; but so
few, that, if a new set of men had not appeared of another stamp, the church had quite
lost her esteem over the nation.
These were generally of Cambridge, formed under some divines, the chief of whom were
Drs. Whichcot, Cudworth, Wilkins, More, and Worthington. Whichcot was a man of
a rare temper, very mild and obliging. He had great credit with some that had been
eminent in the late times, but made all the use he could of it to protect good men of all
persuasions. He was much for liberty of conscience ; and being disgusted with the dry
systematical way of those times, he studied to raise those who conversed with him to a
nobler set of thoughts, and to consider religion as a seed of a deiform nature (to use one of
his own phrases.) In order to this,- he set young students much on reading the ancient
philosophers, chiefly Plato, Tully, and Plotin, and on considering the Christian religion as a
doctrine sent from God, both to elevate and sweeten human nature, in which he was a
great example, as well as a wise and kind instructor *. Cudworth carried this on with a
great strength of genius, and a vast compass of learning. He was a man of great conduct
and prudence ; upon which his enemies did very falsely accuse him of craft and dissimu-
lation t. Wilkins was of Oxford, but removed to Cambridge. His first rise was in the
elector palatine's family, when he was in England: afterwards he married Cromwell's
sister ; but made no other use of that alliance, but to do good offices, and to cover the univer-
sity from the sourness of Owen and Goodwin. At Cambridge he joined with those who
studied to propagate better thoughts, to take men off from being in parties, or from narrow
notions, from superstitious conceits, and a fierceness about opinions. He was also a great
observer and a promoter of experimental philosophy, which was then a new thing, and much
looked after. He was naturally ambitious, but was the wisest clergyman I ever knew. He
was a lover of mankind, and had a delight in doing good J. More was an open-hearted and
* Dr. Benjamin Whichcot is mentioned by Baxter as
" one of the best and ablest of the conformists ;" Dr. Til-
lotson preached his funeral sermon ; the earl of Shaftes-
bury, author of the " Characteristics ;" Archdeacon Jcf-
fery, and Dr. Samuel Clarke edited his " Discourses."
An individual admired by men so variously talented, and
so differing in opinions, must have had some peculiar
charm— this was his mildness and sweetness of temper,
which, united with a very exalted opinion of Christianity,
rendered him superior to that narrow-minded Pharisceism,
that has no charity for those beyond its sect. He died at
the house of his friend, Dr. Cudworth, in 1683, aged
eeventy-four. — General and Grainger's Biographical Dic-
tionaries.
•f1 Dr. Ralph Cudworth is justly said by Mr. Grainger,
to hold the same rank in metaphysics that Dr. Isaac Bar-
row does in sublime geometry. Dr. Cudworth was a man
of vast learning, and acute reasoning powers, which he
admirably and most opportunely directed for the defence
of Christianity against the atheistical doctrines of Hobbes.
During the predominance of the parliament and the puri-
tanical sectarians, the press and pulpit teemed with such
nonsensical and enthusiastic cant, tliat the whole com-
munity by degrees grew wearied of such absurdities.
Human nature being prone to extremes, readily listened to
those reasoners, who, professing to appeal to men's common
sense, declared that they would demonstrate the whole
system to be mere delusion and priestciaft. Cromwell and
his supporters were partly religious enthusiasts and partly
hypocrites; Charles the Second and his courtiers were
profligates and despisers of every serious consideration :
they set the example of general licentiousness, and patro-
nized all those who taught that a day of reckoning would
never come. Taking their own weapons, Cudworth met
them with logical and sound reasoning in his well-known
work, " The Intellectual System of the Universe;" a
work to which praise can add nothing, because it is univer-
sally allowed of immense learning, and sound reasoning.
There is a good memoir of liim, and an analysis of his
works, in Kippis's edition of the " Biographia Britannica."
He was born in 1617, and died aged seventy- one.
J Dr. John Wilkins is acknowledged, even by Anthony
I
128 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
sincere Christian philosopher, who studied to establish men in the great principles of reli-
gion against atheism, that was then beginning to gain ground, chiefly by reason of the
hypocrisy of some, and the fantastical conceits of the more sincere enthusiasts *.
Hobbes, who had long followed the court, and passed there for a mathematical man,
though he really knew little that way, being disgusted by the court, came into England
in Cromwell's time, and published a very wicked book, with a very strange title, The
Leviathan. His main principles were, that all men acted under an absolute necessity, in
which he seemed protected by the then received doctrine of absolute decrees. He seemed
to think that the universe was God, and that souls were material, thought being only subtle
and imperceptible motion. He thought interest and fear were the chief principles of society :
and he put all morality in the following that, which was our own private will, or advantage.
He thought religion had no other foundation than the laws of the land ; and he put all the
law in the will of the prince, or of the people : for he wrote his book at first in favour of
absolute monarchy, but turned it afterwards to gratify the republican party. These were
his true principles, though he had disguised them, in order to catch unwary readers. And
this set of notions came to spread much. The novelty and boldness of them set many on
reading them. The impiety of them was acceptable to men of corrupt minds, which were
but too much prepared to receive them, by the extravagancies of the late times f. So this
set of men at Cambridge studied to assert, and examine the principles of religion and
morality on clear grounds, and in a philosophical method. In this More led the way to
many that came after him. Worthington was a man of eminent piety and great humility,
and practised a most sublime way of self-denial and devotion J. All these, and those who
were formed under them, studied to examine farther into the nature of things than had
been done formerly. They declared against superstition on the one hand, and enthusiasm
on the other. They loved the constitution of the church, and the liturgy, and could well
live under them ; but they did not think it unlawful to live under another form. They
wished that things might have been carried with more moderation, and they continued to
Wood, to have been endowed with rare mental gifts. He them as coming "entire" from the grocer's store of
was celebrated as a theologist and preacher ; was an excel- waste paper ; but his " System of Ethics " is of a very
lent mathematician, astronomer, and experimentalist; and high degree of merit : having this proof of unobjectionable
a great promoter of natural, or, as it was then termed, excellence, that it was admired by the Christian Addison
" new," philosophy. It was at his rooms in Wadham and the infidel Hobbes. Mr. Grainger has justly observed,
college, Oxford, that those promoters of experimental that it is more natural than is usually imagined for the
science first met, who were afterwards incorporated as human mind to fly from one extreme to its opposite.
" The Royal Society of London." — Sprat's Hist, of the Many are the instances of unbelievers finally becoming
Royal Society, p. 53. Although Dr. Wilkins was a great Papists ; and Hobbes said, that " if his own philosophy was
advocate for that only correct mode of acquiring a know- not true, he knew none that he should sooner like than
ledge of Nature, which Bacon has well termed " asking Mo re's of Cambridge."
her questions," that is, making experimental researches, Dr. More was amiable in all the relations of life, and
yet he had many wild theoretical ideas. In one of his so unambitious, that he declined the highest ecclesiastical
works, entitled, " The Discovery of a New World, and preferments; and even resigned his prebeiulal stall in
the Possibility of a Passage thither ;" he maintains the favour of Dr. Fowler. He was born in 1614, and died
reasonableness of being able to travel to the moon, in 1687. — Ward's Life of Dr. More. — Grainger's Biog.
" Doctor,'' said the duchess of Newcastle to him, " where Hist., &c.
am I to find a place for baiting at, in the way up to that f Of Thomas Hobbes, I shall add nothing to what is
planet?" — "Madam," replied Wilkius, "of all the people said in the text but an expression of regret that a mind
in the world, I never expected that question from you, so gifted was not applied to benefit and improve rather
who have built so many castles in the air, that you may than to debase his fellow men. He was a sceptic in reli-
be every night at one of your own." The sister of the gion ; immoral in his philosophy ; wavering in his politics ;
protector, whom the doctor married, was Robina, widow of and a dogmatist in every thing. A scoffer at Christi-
Dr. French. He was born in 1614, and died in 1672. anity, and at the belief of a future state; yet he is known
Grainger describes bim as born for the improvement of to have frequently been a partaker of the eucharist ; and
every kind of knowledge to which he applied himself, and to have been fearful of spectral appearances. So difficult
as being a person truly exemplary as well as extraordi- is it to be consistent. He died in 1679, aged ninety-two,
nary. Anecdotes of his integrity will appear in other — Biograph.Britann. — Wood's Athenae. — Grainger's Biog.
pages of this work. — Biographia Britannica. — Wood's Hist.
Athense Oxon. &c. + Dr. Jpiia Worthington never obtained higher prefcr-
* Dr. Henry More was a most amiable philosopher, a ment than the mastership of Jesus' college, Cambridge,
most exemplary Christian, and consequently one of the and the rectory of Ingoldsby, Lincolnshire. He was the
best men of his, or any other age. His talented friend, author of several works that are distinguished for their
Mr. Norris, happily styled him " the intellectual epicure." good sense and piety. He was born in 1618, and died in
His poetical works are more than sufficiently bad, and 1671 — Birch's Life of Tillotson Wood's Fasti, Oxon,
perhaps merit the satire of Dr. Garth, who speaks of
OF KING CHARLES II. 120
keep a good correspondence with those who had differed from them in opinion, and allowed
a great freedom both in philosophy and in divinity : from whence they were called men of
latitude. And upon this men of narrower thoughts and fiercer tempers fastened upon them
the name of Latitudinarians. They read Episcopius much. And the making out the
reasons of things being a main part of their studies, their enemies called them Socinians.
They were all very zealous against popery : and so, they becoming soon very considerable,
the papists set themselves against them to decry them as atheists, deists, or at best
socinians. And now that the main principle of religion was struck at by Hobbes and his
followers, the papists acted upon this a very strange part. They went in so far even into
the argument for atheism, as to publish many books, in which they affirmed, that there was
no certain proof of the Christian religion, unless we took it from the authority of the church
as infallible. This was such a delivering up of the cause to them, that it raised in all
good men a very high indignation at popery ; that party shewing, that they chose to make
men, who would not turn papists, become atheists, rather than believe Christianity upon
any other ground than infallibility.
The most eminent of those, who were formed under those great men I have mentioned,
were Tillotson, Stillingfleet, and Patrick. The first of these was a man of a clear head,
and a sweet temper ; he had the brightest thoughts, and the most correct style of all our
divines, and was esteemed the best preacher of the age. He was a very prudent man, and
had such a management with it, that I never knew any clergyman so universally esteemed
and beloved, as he was for above twenty years. He was eminent for his opposition to
Popery. He was no friend to persecution, and stood up much against Atheism. Nor did
any man contribute more to bring the city to love our worship than he did. But there wras
so little superstition, and so much reason and gentleness in his way of explaining things,
that malice was long levelled at him, and in conclusion broke out fiercely on him *. Stil-
lingfleet was a man of much more learning, but of a more reserved, and a haughtier temper.
He in his youth wrote an Irenicum for healing our divisions, with so much learning and
moderation, that it was esteemed a master-piece. His notion was, that the apostles had
settled the church in a constitution of bishops, priests, and deacons ; but had made no per-
petual law about it, having only taken it in, as they did many other things, from the customs
and practice of the synagogue ; from which he inferred, that certainly the constitution was
lawful since authorised by them, but not necessary, since they had made no settled law about
it. This took with many ; but was cried out upon by others as an attempt against the
church. Yet the argument was managed with so much learning and skill, that none of
either side ever undertook to answer it. After that, he wrote against infidelity, beyond
any that had gone before him. And then he engaged to write against popery, which he did
with such an exactness and liveliness, that no books of controversy were so much read and
valued as his were. He was a great man in many respects. He knew the world wTell, and
was esteemed a very wise man. The writing of his Irenicum was a great snare to him :
for, to avoid the imputations which that brought upon him, he not only retracted the book,
but he went into the humours of a high sort of people, beyond what became him, perhaps
beyond his own sense of things. He applied himself much to the study of the law and
records, and the original of our constitution, and was a very extraordinary man •(•• Patrick
* Dr. John Tillotson is an example of genius triumph- "Fasts and Festivals." King William always spoke of
ing over the most complicated difficulties. He was the him affectionately, and declared " he never had a better
sou of a rigid Calvinist, a Yorkshire clothier ; many of friend." Several notices of him will be found in future
his relatives were quakers ; he was a nephew, by marriage, pages. A good "Life of Archbishop Tillotson" was
of Oliver Cromwell ; and he had no influential friends, published by Dr. Birch. He introduced the custom of
The character of Dr. Tillotson may be justly estimated pleaching from notes.
from the following anecdote, for throughout his life, he -f Dr. Edward Stillingfleet may be considered as owing
always upheld the essentials of our faith in preference to its his advancement entirely to the great merits of his publi-
ecclesiastical forms. Dr. Beveridge objected to reading a cations. It is true that he had a living, Sutton, in Bed.
brief in Canterbury cathedral for the benefit of the distressed fordshire, given to him by Sir Roger Burgoyne, before" he
Protestant refugees, because it was contrary to the rubric, was known as an author; but it was his "Irenicum,"
" Doctor, doctor," replied Tillotson, " Charity is above intended to heal the differences between the episcopalians
rubrics." — Lady Russel's Letters. It is an attestation of and nonconformists; his " Origiucs Sacrae ;" his " Rational
his genuine piety, that he died in the arms of Mr. Nelson, Account of the Protestant Religion," and his u Origincs
the author of a well-knowu work upon our church's Britannicac, or the Antiquities of the British Churches,"
130 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
was a great preacher. He wrote much, and well, and chiefly on the Scriptures. He was a
laborious man in his function, of great strictness of life, but a little too severe against those
who differed from him. But that was, when he thought their doctrines struck at the
fundamentals of religion. He became afterwards more moderate *. To these I shall add
another divine, who, though of Oxford, yet as he was formed by bishop, "Wilkias, so lit
went into most of their principles, but went far beyond them in learning. Lloyd was a
great critic in the Greek and Latin authors, but chiefly in the Scriptures ; of the words and
phrases of which he carried the most perfect concordance in his memory, and had it the
readiest about him, of all men that ever I knew. He was an exact historian, and the most
punctual in chronology of all our divines. He had read the most books, and with the best
iudgment, and had made the most copious abstracts out of them, of any in this age : so that
Wilkins used to say, he had the most learning in ready cash of any he ever knew. He
was so exact in every thing he set about, that he never gave over any part of study till he
had quite mastered it : but when that was done, he went to another subject, and did not lay
out his learning with the diligence with which he laid it in. He had many volumes of
materials upon all subjects laid together in so distinct a method, that he could with very
little labour write on any of them. He had more life in his imagination, and a truer judg-
ment, than may seem consistent with such a laborious course of study. Yet, as much as he
was set on learning, he had never neglected his pastoral care. For several years he had the
greatest cure in England, St. Martin's, which he took care of with an application and dili-
gence beyond any about him : to whom he was an example, or rather a reproach, so few
following his example. He was a holy, humble, and patient man, ever ready to do good
when he saw a proper opportunity : even his love of study did not divert him from that.
He did upon his promotion find a very worthy successor in his cure, Tennison, who carried
on, and advanced all those good methods that he had begun, in the management of that
great cure. He endowed schools, set up a public library, and kept many curates to assist
him in his indefatigable labours among them. He was a very learned man, and took much
pains to state the notions and practices of heathenish idolatry, and so to fasten that charge
on the church of Rome. And, Whitehall lying within that parish, he stood as in the
front of the battle all king James's reign ; and maintained, as well as managed, that dan-
gerous post with great courage and much judgment, and was held in very high esteem for
his whole deportment, which was ever grave and moderate t. These have been the greatest
divines we have had these forty years : and may we ever have a succession of such men,
to fill the room of those who have already gone off the stage, and of those who, being now
very old, cannot hold their posts long. Of these I have written the more fully, because I
knew them well, and have lived long in great friendship with them ; but most particularly
with Tillotson and Lloyd. And, as I am sensible I owe a great deal of the consideration that
has been had for me, to my being known to be their friend, so I have really learned the
tnat gradually gained him promotion terminating in the king James tried to induce him to cease from this pro-
bishopric of Worcester. When Tillotson died, queen Mary ceeding, he 'firmly replied, that " he could not desert the
wished to translate Stillingfleet to the primacy, but an ill- cause of a religion so well proved as that of the Protest-
regulated policy substituted Dr. Tennison. Stillingfleet ants.*' His Commentaries upon the Scriptures, and his
"was neglected upon the pretence that his age rendered him polemical works are all excellent. All authorities agree
unequal to the official duties. Some time after, archbishop in representing him as learned, indefatigable, and pious.
Tennison entered a room where Stillingfleet was sitting, Several occasions to notice him will occur in subsequent
the latter remained upon his chair, wittily observing, pages. He died in 1707, aged eighty-one. — Biograph.
" You know I am too old to rise.'" He was only sixty- Brit. — Wood's Fasti. — Grainger and Noble.
four when he died, in 1699. He was remarkably hand- f Dr. William Lloyd, successively bishop of St. Asaph
Borne, and manlv in his person, and this coinciding with the and Worcester, is generally allowed to have merited all
piety of his mind, obtained for him the hardly justifiable the eulogium passed upon him in the text. It is to be
appellation of " the beauty of holiness." — Biograph. Bri- lamented that one so replete with knowledge should have
tann Noble's Continuation of Grainger. so much employed himself with polemical controversy,
* Dr. Simon Patrick was one of those rarely occurring a species of literature the most ephemeral. He had done
characters that never swerve from the course to which they much in collecting materials for a " History of the English
feel their duty directs them. He was the incumbent of Church," but he gave them to our author, and contented
St. Paul's, Covent Garden, at the time the plague was himself with supervising the work of which they were the
ravaging London, but he refused to leave his parishioners basis, " The History of the Reformation." He was born
in this time of danger and sorrow. He was zealous, yet in 1627, and died in 1717. Frequent notices of him will
discreet, in writing against the errors of popery, and when occur hereafter — Wood's Athense Oxon. ; Biograph. Brit.
OF KING CHARLES II. 131
best part of what I know from them. But I owed them much more on the account of those
excellent principles and notions, of which they were in a particular manner communicative
to me. This set of men contributed more than can be well imagined to reform the way of
preaching ; which among the divines of England before them was overrun with pedantry, a
great mixture of quotations from fathers and ancient writers, a long opening of a text with
the concordance of every word in it, and a giving all the different expositions with the
grounds of them, and the entering into some parts of controversy, and all concluding in
some, but very short, practical applications, according to the subject, or the occasion. This
was both long and heavy, when all was piebald, full of many sayings of different lan-
guages. The common style of sermons was either very flat and low, or swelled up with
rhetoric to a false pitch of a wrong sublime. The king had little or no literature, but true
and good sense ; and had got a right notion of style ; for he was in France at a time w*hen
they were much set on reforming their language. It soon appeared that he had a true
taste. So this helped to raise the value of these men, when the king approved of the style
their discourses generally ran in ; which was clear, plain, and short. They gave a short
paraphrase of their text, unless where great difficulties required a more copious enlargement ;
but even then they cut off unnecessary shews of learning, and applied themselves to the
matter, in which they opened the nature and reasons of things so fully, and with that sim-
plicity, that their hearers felt an instruction of another sort, than had commonly been
observed before. So they became very much followed : and a set of these men brought off
the city in a great measure from the prejudices they had formerly to the church.
There was a great debate in council, a little before St. Bartholomew's -day, whether the
act of uniformity should be punctually executed, or not. Some moved to have the execu-
tion of it delayed to the next session of parliament : others were for executing it in the
main, but to connive at some eminent men, and to put curates into their churches to read
and officiate according to the common prayer, but to leave them to preach on, till they
should die out. The earl of Manchester laid all these things before the king with much
zeal, but with no great force. Sheldon on the other hand pressed the execution of the law.
England was accustomed to obey laws ; so while they stood on that ground, they were safe,
and need fear none of the dangers that seemed to be threatened : he also undertook to fill
all the vacant pulpits that should be forsaken in London, better and more to the satisfaction
of the people than they had been before : and he seemed to apprehend that a very small
number would fall under the deprivation, and that the gross of the party would conform.
On the other hand, those who led the party tojk great pains to have them all stick together.
They infused it into them, that if great numbers stood out, that would shew their strength,
and produce new laws in their favour ; whereas they would be despised, if, after so much
noise made, the greater part of them should conform. So it was thought that many went
out in the crowd to keep their friends company. Many of these were distinguished by their
abilities and zeal. They cast themselves upon the providence of God, and the charity of
their friends, which had a fair appearance, as of men that, were ready to suffer persecution
for their consciences. This begot esteem, and raised compassion : whereas the old clergy,
now much enriched, were as much despised : but the young clergy that came from the
universities did good service. Learning was then high at Oxford, chiefly the study of
the oriental tongues, which was much raised by the Polyglot bible, then lately set forth.
They read the fathers much there. Mathematics and the new philosophy were in great
esteem. And the meetings that Wilkins had begun at Oxford were now held in London
too, in so public a manner, that the king himself encouraged them much, and had many
experiments made before him.
The men that formed the Royal Society in London were sir Robert Murray, the lord
Broimker, a profound mathematician, and Doctor Ward, soon after promoted to Exeter,
and afterwards removed to Salisbury. Ward was a man of great reach, went deep in
mathematical studies, and was a very dexterous man, if not too dexterous ; for his sincerity
was much questioned. He had complied during the late times, and held in by taking
I the covenant : so he was hated by the high men as a time-server. But the lord Clarendon
saw, that most of the bishops were men of merit by their sufferings, but of no great
..
132
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
capacity for business. He brought Ward in as a man fit to govern the church : fcr Ward,
to get his former errors to be forgotten, went into the high notions of a severe conformity,
and became the most considerable man on the bishop's bench. He was a profound states-
man, but a very indifferent clergyman *. Many physicians and other ingenious men went
into the Society for natural philosophy. But he who laboured most, at the greatest charge,
and with the most success at experiments, was Robert Boyle, the earl of Cork's youngest
son. He was looked on by all who knew him, as a very perfect pattern. He was a
very devout Christian, humble and modest, almost to a fault, of a most spotless and
exemplary life in all respects. He was highly charitable ; and was a mortified and self-
denied man, that delighted in nothing so much as in the doing good. He neglected his
person, despised the world, and lived abstracted from all pleasures, designs, and interests.
I preached his funeral sermon, in which I gave his character so truly, that I do not think it
necessary now to enlarge more upon it t. The Society for Philosophy grew so consider-
* Dr. Seth Ward was the first \vho caused the study
of mathematics to be much attended to at Cambridge.
He was succeeded in his lectureship by Dr. Barrow and
sir Isaac Newton. Burnet seems to be in error vvhenhe
states that Dr. Ward took the covenant ; for other autho-
rities say that he refused, and was in consequence ejected
from a fellowship of Sidney College, Cambridge. How-
ever, he swore to be faithful to the commonwealth, in
•which he was justified, for it was then the established
government. It is needless to follow him through his
various preferments. He died in 1689, aged seventy-one,
bishop of Salisbury. His mind failed some months before
his death, a deprivation that is believed to have been
brought on by a dispute, in which he was involved with the
dean of his bishopric. — Pope's Life of Ward ; Wood's
Athenae Oxon. Burnet is too severe upon him in terming
him " a very indifferent clergyman." He was pious
and very charitable.
f Robert Boyle was gifted with a genius which no
unfavourable circumstances could repress — pleasures failed
in alluring his mind from science as completely as poverty
would have been unable to depress it. He was the only
son of the family who attained to manhood without the
reward of a peerage ; yet by universal consent he is de-
clared to be the greatest of his kindred. " He was a Boyle"
said one of his family, " but we are mere Pimples."
He was the fourteenth child of the earl of Cork, usually
distinguished as *' the great," and born at Lismore, in
Ireland, on the 25th of February, 1627. Talented even
in infancy, he was fit for Eton school when he was only
eight years old ; and he repeatedly declared, that its
master, Mr. Harrison, was the means of cherishing by his
kindness and attention, that desire of knowledge which
ever characterised him ; and it is equally worthy of remark,
that he often enthusiastically affirmed that it was the
reading of Quintus Curtius that created that relish for
learning which Mr. Harrison aided in encouraging. At
&n early period of life he doubted the truth of Christianity,
but not being of the number of those who dare to treat it
as a subject of secondary consideration, he applied his great
mind to the examination of its momentous topics ; and
concluded by attaining such firm conviction of its veracity,
that he spent very large sums in the translation of the
Scriptures into foreign languages, and acquired such a vene-
ration for the Deity, that he never uttered his name
•without pausing.
He travelled for several years upon the continent, assi-
duously applying at the same time to the study of modern
languages and mathematics ; but upon acquiring urfder
his father's will the Stalbridge estate, he retired thither in
1646, cultivating his mind, and acquiring an acquaintance
with the learned men of his times. He was one of the
first members of tbe philosophical college, which eventu-
ally ripened into the Royal Society of London, but which
at that period held its meetings so quietly and retiredly,
that Boyle was accustomed to call it the Invisible.
Whilst at Oxford, in 1658, with the assistance of
Mi- Hooke, he perfected the air-pump, a machine, the
invention of which may be said to have created the
science of pneumatics. Otto Guericke was the first who
publicly suggested the idea of exhausting a vessel of air
by means of a -sucking pump, though Boyle assures us
he had previously made similar trials. This attempt was
rude in the extreme, and the chief experiment Guericke
tried was the exhausting two hemispheres whose edges
were made accurately to correspond, and which then, from
the pressure of the atmosphere, required considerable force
to be separated. This, from the place of Guericke's resi-
dence, was called the Magdeburg experiment. It was first
made publicly known in 1654, and was justly considered
so important a discovery, as first demonstrating the pressure
of the atmosphere, that it was exhibited at the Diet at
Ratisbon in the presence of the foreign ministers, and the
deputies of the empire.
Boyle's first literary efforts were in the cause of religion,
and so highly was he esteemed for his performances, as well
as for his strict morality, that some of the chief officers of
the government, especially lord Clarendon, urged him to
enter into orders ; but from conscientious motives he
declined, at the same time declaring that, as a layman,
he thought his exertions in favour of religion would be
more influential.
It was well observed of Boyle, that, being born the same
year that lord Bacon died, he seemed by nature to have
been designed as his successor ; and it is certain that he
was as strenuous an opponent of the Aristotelian and
Cartesian philosophy, as he was the advocate of the philo-
sophy of experiment. Public honours appear to have had
a much inferior value in his estimation than lei'sure for
study and the acquirement of knowledge. Dignities in
the church, the provostship of Eton, and even the presi
dency of the Royal Society, were offered to him in vain.
He settled finally in London in 1669, at the house of his
sister lady Ranelagh, in Pall Mall, devoting stated periods
of each day to his correspondence, to the reception of
scientific visitors, and to his experiments and writings for
the press. In 1688 he found his health so declining, that
he publicly announced his inability to receive visitors, and
applied with additional ardour to complete some of hit
works then unfinished; thus labouring, notwithstanding
the natural sickliness of his constitution and the agonies
of a calculous disorder, he continued until his foot was
upon the retiring threshold of life, for his eyes did not fail
until within four hours of his death, three hours only
previously to which was he confined to his bed. It
occurred on the 31st of December 16S1.
If the editor was writing a particular biography of this
eminently taknted and good man, he would be as undcter-
OF KING CHARLES II. ISO
able, that they thought fit to take out a patent, which constituted them a body, by the
name of the Royal Society : of which sir Robert Murray was the first president, bishop
"Ward the second, and the lord Brounker the third *. Their history is written so well by
Doctor Sprat, that I will insist no more on them, but go on to other matters.
After St. Bartholomew's day, the dissenters, seeing both court and parliament were so
much set against them, had much consultation together what to do. Many were for
going over to Holland, and settling there with their ministers. Others proposed New England,
and the other plantations. Upon this the earl of Bristol drew to his house a meeting of
the chief papists in town : and after an oath of secresy, he told them, now was the
proper time for them to make some steps towards the bringing in of their religion : in
order to that it seemed advisable for them to take pains to procure favour to the noncon-
formists ; (for that became the common name to them all, as puritan had been before the
war :) they were the rather to bestir themselves to procure a toleration for them in general
terms., that they themselves might be comprehended within it. The lord Aubigny seconded
the motion. He said it was so visibly the interest of England to make a great body of the
trading men stay within the kingdom, and be made easy in it, that it would have a good
grace in them to seem zealous for it : and, to draw in so great a number of those who had
been hitherto the hottest against them, to feel their care, and to see their zeal to serve them,
he recommended to them to make this the subject of all their discourses, and to engage all
their friends in the design. Bennet did not meet with them, but was known to be of the
secret ; as the lord Stafford told me in the Tow^er a little before his death. But that lord
soon withdrew from those meetings ; for he apprehended the earl of Bristol's heat, and that
he might raise a storm against them by his indiscreet meddling.
The king was so far prevailed on by them, that in December, 1662, he set out a declaration,
that was generally thought to be procured by the lord Bristol ; but it had a deeper root,
and was designed by the king himself. In it the king expressed his aversion to all seve-
rities on the account of religion, but more particularly to all sanguinary laws ; and gave
hopes both to papists and nonconformists, that he would find out such ways for temper-
ing the severities of the laws, that all his subjects should be easy under them. The
wiser of the nonconformists saw at what all this was aimed, and so received it coldly ;
but the papists went on more warmly, and were preparing a scheme for a toleration for
them. And one part of it raised great disputes among themselves. Some were for their
taking the oath of allegiance, which renounced the pope's deposing power : but all those
that were under a management from Rome refused this. And the internuncio at Brussels
proceeded to censure those that were for it, as enemies to the papal authority. A propo-
sition was also made for having none but secular priests tolerated in England, who should
be under a bishop, and under an established government. But that all the regulars, in
particular all Jesuits, should be, under the strictest penalties, forbidden the kingdom.
The earl of Clarendon set this on, for he knew well it would divide the papists among
themselves ; but, though a few honest priests, such as Blacklow, Serjeant, Caron, and Walsh
were for it, yet they could not make a party among the leading men of their own side.
It was pretended, that this was set on foot with a design to divide them, and so to break
their strength. The earl of Clarendon knew that Cardinal de Retz, for whom he saw the
king had a particular esteem, had come over incognito, and had been with the king in
private. So to let the king see how odious a thing his being suspected of popery would be,
and what a load it would lay on his government if it came to be believed, he got some of
his party, as sir Allen Brodrick told me, to move in the house of commons for an act
mined as Boerhaave, which of his works to select for especial Dr. Burnet was engaged in preparing his " History of the
praise. "Which," says he, "of all Mr. Boyle's writings shall Reformation," Mr. Boyle not only furnished him with
1 recommend ? — All of them." He published a work, euti- information, but contributed towards defraying the expense
tied "'The Christum Virtuoso," and in that, unintention- of its publication.
filly lie has delineated his own character, for in him exalted * The charter bears the date of April 22nd, 1663. See
Christian piety and extensire learning were combined, an account of it in the work noticed by Burnet, entitled
Those who desire to know more concerning this admirable " The History of the Royal Society of London. By
an, will be gratified by consulting his " Life," written Thomas Sprat." But a far better biography of th*
Dr. Birch, and the Biographia Britannica. When Society is that by Dr. Thomas Birch.
134 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
rendering it capital to say the king was a pap'st. And, whereas the king was made to
believe that the old cavaliers were become milder with relation to popery, the lord Clarendon
upon this new act inferred, that it still appeared that the opinion of his being a papist
would so .certainly make him odious, that for that reason the parliament had made the
spreading those reports so penal. But this was taken by another handle, while some said, that
this act was made on purpose, that, though the design of bringing in popery should become
ever so visible, none should dare to speak of it. The earl of Clarendon had a quite contrary-
design in it, to let the king see how fatal the effects of any such suspicions were like to be.
When the earl of Bristol's declaration was proposed in council, lord Clarendon and the
bishops opposed it : but there was nothing in it directly against law, hopes being only given
of endeavours to make all men easy under the king's government : so it passed. The
earl of Bristol carried it as a great victory. And he, with the duke of Buckingham, and all
lord Clarendon's enemies, declared openly against him. But the poor priests who had made
those honest motions, were very ill looked on by all their own party, as men gained on design
to betray them. I knew all this from Peter Walsh himself, who was the most honest and
most learned man I ever knew among them. He was of Irish extraction, and of the Fran-
ciscan order ; and was, indeed, in all points of controversy, almost wholly Protestant : but
he had senses of his own, by which he excused his adhering to the church of Rome ; and he
maintained, that with these he could continue in the communion of that church without
sin. And he said, that he was sure he did some good staying still on that side, but that
he could do none at all if he should come over. He thought no man ought to forsake that
religion in which he was born and bred, unless he was clearly convinced that he must
certainly be damned if he continued in it. He was an honest and able man, much prac-
tised in intrigues, and knew well the methods of the Jesuits, and other missionaries. He
told me often, there was nothing which the whole popish party feared more than an union
of those of the church of England with the presbyterians ; they knew we grew the weaker,
the more our breaches were widened ; and that the more we were set against one another,
wo would mind them the less. The papists had two maxims, from which they never
departed : the one was to divide us, and the other was to keep themselves united, and either
to set on an indiscriminated toleration, or a general prosecution ; for so we loved to soften
the harsh word of persecution. And he observed, not without great indignation at us for
our folly, that we, instead of uniting among ourselves, and dividing them, accoiding to
their maxims, did all we could to keep them united, and to disjoint our own body : for he
was persuaded, if the government had held a heavy hand on the regulars and the Jesuits, and
had been gentle to the seculars, and had set up a distinguishing test, renouncing all sort of
power in the pope over the temporal rights of princes, to which the regulars and the Jesuits
could never submit, that this would have engaged them into such violent quarrels among
themselves, that censures would have been thundered at Rome against all that should take
any such test ; which would have procured much disputing, and might have probably ended
in the revolt of the soberer part of that church. But he found, that, though the earl of
Clarendon and the duke of Ormond liked the project, little regard was had to it by the
governing party in the court *.
The church party was alarmed at all this ; and though they were unwilling to suspect
the king or the duke, yet the management for popery was so visible, that in the next
session of parliament the king's declaration was severely arraigned, and the authors of it
were plainly enough pointed at. This was done chiefly by the lord Clarendon's friends.
And at this the earl of Bristol was highly displeased, and resolved to take all possible
methods to ruin the earl of Clarendon. He had a great skill in astrology, and had possessed
the king with a high opinion of it ; and told the duke of Buckingham, as he said to the
Father Peter Walsh was a native of the county ot obliged his retreat to London. He died there in March,
Kildare. He became a Franciscan monk, and subse- 1688. Henry, earl of Clarendon observes in his "Diary,"
quently professor of divinity at Louvain. Being appointed "I hear that he had been reconciled, but I am told he
procurator of the Irish clergy, he returned to his native would not retract any thing he had written. Some of his
country, where he persuaded many of his brother priests order seized his books and papers as soon as he was dead."
to subscribe a declaration disclaiming the Pope's temporal He wrote a History of the early State of Ireland, and
supremacy. The storm which this raised against hid, various other works. — Harris's Hist, of Ware.,
OF KING CHARLES II 13,5
earl of Rochester, Wilmot, from whom I had it, that he was confident that he would lay
that before the king, which would totally alienate him both from his brother and from the
lord Clarendon : for he could demonstrate by the principles of that art, that he was to fall
by his brother's means, if not by his hand : and he was sure this would work on the king.
It would so, said the duke of Buckingham, but in another way than he expected ; for it
would make the king be so afraid of offending him, that he would do any thing rather than
provoke him. Yet the lord Bristol would lay this before the king. And the duke of
Buckingham believed that it had the effect ever after, that he had apprehended ; for
though the king never loved nor esteemed the duke, yet he seemed to stand in some sort of
awe of him.
But this was not all : the lord Bristol resolved to offer articles of impeachment against
the earl of Clarendon to the house of lords, though it was plainly provided against by the
statute against appeals in the reign of Henry the Fourth. Yet both the duke of Buck-
ingham, and the lord Bristol, the fathers of these two lords, had broken through that in
the former reign. So the lord Bristol drew his impeachment, and carried it to the king,
who took much pains on him in a soft and gentle manner to dissuade him from it. But
he would not be wrought on. And he told the king plainly, that, if he forsook him, he
would raise such disorders that all England should feel them, and the king himself should
not be without a large share in them. The king, as the earl of Lauderdale told me, who
said he had it from himself, said, he was so provoked at this, that he durst not trust him-
self in answering it, but went out of the room, and sent the lord Aubigny to soften him ;
but all was in vain. It is very probable that the lord Bristol knew the secret of the
king's religion, which both made him so bold, and the king so fearful. The next day he
Harried the charge to the house of lords. It was of a very mixed nature : in one part he
charged the lord Clarendon with raising jealousies, and spreading reports of the king's being
a papist : and yet in the other articles he charged him with correspondence with the court
of Rome, in order to the making the lord Aubigny a cardinal, and several other things of a
very strange nature. As soon as he put it in, he, it seems, either repented of it, or at
least was prevailed with to abscond. He was ever after that looked oa as a man capable
of the highest extravagancies possible. He made the matter worse by a letter that he
wrote to the lords, in which he expressed his fear of the danger the king was in by the
duke's having of guards. Proclamations went out for discovering him ; but he kept out of
the way till the storm was over *. The parliament expressed a firm resolution to maintain
the act of uniformity : and the king being run much in debt, they gave him four subsidies,
being willing to return to the ancient way of taxes by subsidies. But these were so evaded,
and brought in so little money, that the court resolved never to have recourse to that
method of raising money any more, but to betake themselves for the future to the assoss-
* The conduct of the earl of Bristol in. this affair was after many reflections upon the ill-government of the
consonant with the other extravagant acts of his life, nation, the king's loss of honour, &c., he concluded by
Lord Clarendon agrees with Burnet in stating that the charging the lord chancellor Clarendon of high treason,
earl endeavoured by threats to force the king to coincide The latter defended himself successfully from the charges
with his plans. He told his majesty " he knew well the of his accuser ; and the king told him at dinner the same
cause of his withdrawing his favour from him; that it day that he felt the accusation inculpated himself as much
proceeded only from the chancellor, who governed him as it did the accused. The opinions of the judges were
and managed all his affairs, whilst himself spent his time taken upon the charges, and they concurred in deciding
only in pleasures and debauchery.'* This and many that one peer could not exhibit a charge of high treason
other truths which ought to have been more respectfully against another peer before the house of lords ; and more-
and decently mentioned, were uttered in *he presence of over, that all the charges did not amount to that crime,
lord Aubigny, who was as much surprised as the king. When called upon to substantiate his charges, the earl of
The earl proceeded in this burst of extravagance by add- Bristol delayed so long, that the king issued warrants to
ing that, if satisfaction was not afforded him by his majesty a serjeant-at-arms to apprehend him; but he absconded,
within twenty-four hours, " he would do somewhat that and continued concealed for two years, sending occasion-
woulvl awaken him out of his slumber, and make him look ally letters and petitions to his majesty, who would not
better to his own business ;" concluding with many threats receive them. Finally, the countess and sir Harry Ben -
against the chancellor. Charles retorted with more net prevailed with Charles to admit the earl to a private
warmth than was customary, yet he lamented afterwards interview, but he was not allowed to come to court, nor
that he had not presence of mind, it being in his own were the warrants for his apprehension withdrawn. He
closet, to call for the guard, and send the earl to the did not appear publicly until Clarendon was forced into
"Wei. When the twenty-four hours had elapsed, the exile. — Clarendon's Continuation of his Life, 210;
" of Bristol appeared before the house of peers, and Chandler's Debates in House of Lords, i. 55 — 65.
130 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
merit begun in the war. The convocation gave at the same time four subsidies, which
proved as heavy on them, as they were light on the temporality. This was the last aid
that the spiritualty gave : for the whole proving so inconsiderable, and yet so unequally
heavy on the clergy, it was resolved on, hereafter, to tax church benefices as temporal
estates were taxed ; which proved indeed a lighter burden, but was not so honourable as
when it was given by themselves. Yet interest prevailing above the point of honour, they
acquiesced in it. So the convocations being no more necessary to the crown, this made that
there was less regard had to them afterwards. They were often discontinued and pro-
rogued : and when they met, it was only for form. The parliament did pass another act,
that w^as very acceptable to the court, and that shewed a confidence in the king, repealing the
act of triennial parliaments, which had been obtained with so much difficulty, and was
clogged with so many clauses, which seemed to transfer the power from the crown to the
people, that, when it was carried, it was thought the greatest security that the people had
for all their other liberties. But it was now given up without a struggle, or any clauses
for a certainty of parliaments, besides a general one, that there should be a parliament called
within three years after the dissolution of the present parliament, and so ever afterwards,
but without any severe clauses, in case the act was not observed.
As for our foreign negotiations, I know nothing in particular concerning them. Secretary
Bennet had them all in his hands ; and I had no confidence with any about him. Our con-
cerns with Portugal were public ; and I knew no secrets about these.
By a melancholy instance to our private family, it appeared that France was taking all
possible methods to do every thing that the king desired. The commonwealth's-men were
How thinking, that they saw the stream of the nation beginning to turn against the court :
mid upon that they were meeting, and laying plots to retrieve their lost game. One of
these being taken, and apprehending he was in danger, begged his life of the king, and said,
if he might be assured of his pardon, he would tell where my uncle Wariston was, who was
then in Rouen ; for the air of Hamborough agreed so ill with him, that he was advised to go
to France ; and this man was in the secret. The king sent one to the court of France,
desiring he might be put in his hands ; and this was immediately done. And no notice
was sent to my uncle to go out of the way, as is usual in such cases, when a person is not
charged with assassinations or any infamous action, but only with crimes of state. He was
sent over, and kept some months in the Tower of London, and from that was sent to
Scotland, as shall be told afterwards.
The design of a war with Holland was now working. I have been very positively assured
by statesmen of both sides, that the French set it on in a very artificial manner ; for while
they encouraged us to insist on some extravagant demands, they at the same time pressed
the Dutch riot to yield to them : and as they put them in hopes, that, if a rupture should
follow, they would assist them according to their alliance, so they assured us that they
would do us no hurt. Downing was then employed in Holland, a crafty, fawning man,
who was ready to turn to every side that was uppermost, and to betray those who by their
former friendship and services thought they might depend on him ; as he did some of the
regicides, whom he got in his hands under trust, and then delivered them up. He had
been Cromwell's ambassador in Holland, where he had offered personal affronts both to the
king and the duke : yet he had by some base practices got himself to be so effectually
recommended by the duke of Albemarle, that all his former offences were forgiven, and he
was sent into Holland as the king's ambassador, whose behaviour towards the king himself
the states had observed. So they had reason to conclude he was sent over with no good
intent, and that he was capable of managing a bad design, and very ready to undertake it *.
* Sir George Downing was the son of Dr. Calybute obtained his favour, he was several times elected member
Downing and resembled him in character, according to of the parliaments of 1654 and 1656, and married a
Anthony Wood, being " a sider with all times and very beautiful lady of noble extraction. Whilst in Hoi-
changes, well skilled in the common cant, and a preacher land, serving as Cromwell's representative, he took unne-
sometimes to boot." Clarendon says, he had been partly cessary occasions to annoy the exiled king, but when the
educated in New England. It is certain that before he protector died, and he saw the Stuart interest ascending,
had the appointment of resident in Holland, he had he took care, through the duke of Ormond, to give the
passed through many offices in Cromwell's army. Having king secret and highl) useful information, and a tender
OF KING CHARLES II. 137
There was no visible cause of war. A complaint of a ship taken was ready to have been
satisfied ; but Downing hindered it. So it was plain, the king hated them ; and fancied
they were so feeble, and the English were so much superior to them, that a war would
humble them to an entire submission and dependence on him in all things. The States had
treated, and presented the king with great magnificence, and at a vast charge, during the
time that he had staid among them, after England had declared for him. And, as far as
appearances could go, the king seemed sensible of it ; insomuch that the party for the prince
of Orange were not pleased, because their applications to him could not prevail to make
him interpose, either in the behalf of himself, or of his friends, to get the resolutions taken
against him to be repealed, or his party again put in places of trust and command. The
king put that off as not proper to be pressed by him at that time ; but neither then nor
afterwards did he bestir himself in that matter : though, if either gratitude or interest had
been of force, and if these had not been overruled by some more prevalent considerations,
he must have been inclined to make some jeturns for the services the late prince did him ;
and he must have seen what a figure he must make by having the prince of Orange tied to
him in interest, as much as he was by blood. France and popery were the true springs of
all these counsels. It was the interest of the king of France, that the armies of the States
might fall under such a feebleness, that they should be in no condition to make a vigorous
resistance, when he should be ready either to invade them, or to fall into Flanders, which
he was resolved to do, whensoever the king of Spain should die. The French did thus set
on the war between the English and the Dutch, hoping that our fleets should mutually
weaken one another so much, that the naval force of France, which was increasing very
considerably, should be near an equality to them, when they should be shattered by a war.
The States were likewise the greatest strength of the protestant interest, and were therefore
to be humbled. So, in order to make the king more considerable both at home and
abroad, the court resolved to prepare for a war, and to seek for such colours as might serve
to justify it. The earl of Clarendon was not let into the secret of this design, and was
always against it : but his interest was now sunk low, and he began to feel the power of
an imperious mistress over an amorous king, who was so disgusted at the queen, that he
abandoned himself wholly to amour and luxury.
This was, as far as I could penetrate into it, the state of the court for the first four years
after the Restoration. I was in the court a great part of the years 1662, 1663, and 1664 ;
and was as inquisitive as I could possibly be, and had more than ordinary occasions to hear
and see a great deal.
But now I return to the affairs of Scotland : the earl of Middleton, after a delay of some
months, came up to London, and was very coldly received by the king. The earl of
Lauderdale moved that a Scotch council might be called. The lord Clarendon got this to
be delayed a fortnight. When it met, the lord Lauderdale accused the earl of Middleton of
many malversations in the great trust he had been in, which he aggravated severely. The
lord Middleton desired he might have what was objected to him in writing : and when he
had it, he sent it to Scotland, so that it was six weeks before he had his answer ready ; all
on design to gain time. He excused some errors in point of form, by saying, that, having
served in a military way, he understood not so exactly what belonged to law and form ; but
insisted on this, that he designed nothing, but that the king's service might go on, and
that his friends might be taken care of, and his enemies be humbled, and that so loyal a
parliament might be encouraged, who were full of zeal and affection to his service ; that,
in complying with them, he had kept every thing so entirely in his majesty's power, that
the king was under no difficulties by any thing they had done. In the meanwhile
Sheldon wras very earnest with the king to forgive the lord Middleton's crime, otherwise he
of his services. This was unknown to the Dutch govern- scntative of Morpeth in the parliament of May, 1661.
ment, and it was astomstied when Charles came to the The regicides he kidnapped were Barkstead, Okey, and
Hague, previous to embarking to resume the crown, when f Arbet. Subsequently he became secretary to the trea-
Downing was not only received graciously, but was sury, a teller of the exchequer, a commissioner of cus-
knighted, and continued as resident. Clarendon supports toms, and a baronet. Clarendon describes him as bold,
the statement of Burnet, that Downing promoted the proud, insolent, and loquacious. — Wood's Athenae Oxon. ;
involving England in the Dutch war. He was the repre- Clarendon's Continuation of his Life.
188 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
concluded the change so newly made in the church would be so ill supported, that it must
fall to the ground. The duke of Albemarle, who knew Scotland, and had more credit on
that head than on any other, pretended that the lord Middleton's party was that on which
the king could only rely : he magnified both their power and their zeal, and represented the
earl of Lauderdale's friends as cold and hollow in the king's service : and, to support all
this, the letters that came from Scotland were full of the insolencies of the presbyterians,
and of the dejection the bishops and their friends were under. Sharp was prevailed on to
go up. He promised to all the earl of Middleton's friends, that he would stick firm to
him, and that he would lay before the king, that his standing or falling must be the
standing or falling of the church. Of this the earl of Lauderdale had advice sent him.
Yet when he came to London, and saw that the king was alienated from the lord Middle-
ton, he resolved to make great submissions to the lord Lauderdale. When he reproached
him for his engagements with the earl of Middleton, he denied all ; and said, he had
never gone farther than what was decent, considering his post. He also denied he had
written to the king in his favour ; but the king had given the original letter to the lord
Lauderdale, who upon that shewed it to Sharp ; with which he was so struck, that he fell
a crying in a most abject manner. He begged pardon for it ; and said, what could a com-
pany of poor men refuse to the earl of Middleton, who had done so much for them, and had
them so entirely in his power. The lord Lauderdale upon this comforted him ; and said, he
would forgive them all that was past, and would serve them and the church at another rate
than lord Middleton was capable of doing. So Sharp became wholly his. Of all this
lord Lauderdale gave me a full relation the next day ; and shewed me the papers that
passed between lord Middleton and him. Sharp thought he had escaped well. The earl of
Middleton treated the bishops too much as his creatures, and assumed a great deal to him-
self, and expressed a sort of authority over them ; which Sharp was uneasy under, though
he durst not complain of it, or resist it : whereas he reckoned that lord Lauderdale, knowing
the suspicions that lay on him, as favouring the presbyterians, would have less credit and
courage in opposing any thing that should be necessary for their support. It proved that in
this he judged right ; for the lord Lauderdale, that he might maintain himself at court, and
with the church of England, was really more compliant and easy to every proposition that
the bishops made, than he would otherwise have been, if he had been always of the epis-
copal party. But all he did that way was against his heart, except when his passions were
vehemently stirred, which a very slight occasion would readily do.
"When the earls of Lauderdale and Middleton had been writing papers and answers for
above three months, an accident happened which hastened lord Middleton's disgrace. The
earl of Lauderdale laid before the king the unjust proceedings in the laying on of the fines :
and, to make all that party sure to himself, he procured a letter from the king to the council
in Scotland, ordering them to issue out a proclamation for superseding the execution of the
act of fining till farther order. The privy council being then for the greater part composed
of lord Middleton's friends, it was pretended by some of them, that, as long as he was the
king's commissioner, they could receive and execute no orders from the king, but through
his hands. So they wrote to him, desiring him to represent to the king, that this would be
an affront put on the proceedings of parliament, and would raise the spirits of a party that
ought to be. kept down. Lord Middleton wrote, back, that he had laid the matter before
the king ; and that he, considering better of it, ordered, that no proceeding should be made
upon his former letter. This occasioned a hot debate in council. It was said, a letter under
the king's hand could not be countermanded, but from the same hand. So the council wrote
to know the king's mind in the matter. The king protested he knew nothing of it, an£
that lord Middleton had not spoken one word on the subject to him. He upon that sent for
him, and chid him so severely, that lord Middleton concluded from it that he was ruined.
Yet he always stood upon it, that he had the king's order by word of mouth for what he
had done, though he was not so cautious as to procure an instruction under his hand for his
warrant. It is very probable that he spoke of it to the king, when his head was full of
somewhat else, so that he did not mind it ; and that, to get rid of the earl of Middleton, he
bid him do whatever he proposed, without reflecting much on it : for the king was at that
OF KING CHARLES II.
139
time often so distracted in his thoughts, that he was not at all times master of himself.
The queen-mother had brought over from France one Mrs. Stuart, reckoned a very great
beauty, who was afterwards married to the duke of Richmond. The king was believed to
be deeply in love with her *. Yet his former mistress kept her ground still ; and, what
with her humours and jealousy, and what with this new amour, the king had very little
quiet, between both their passions and his own.
Towards the end of May, the king called many of the English councillors together, and did
order all the papers that had passed between the earls of Laudcrdale and Middleton to be read
to them. When that was done, many of them, who were Middleton's friends, said much in
excuse of his errors, and of the necessity of continuing him still in that high trust. But the
king said, his errors were so great and so many, that the credit of his affairs must suffer, if
he continued them any longer in such hands. Yet he promised them, he would be still kind
to him ; for he looked on him as a very honest man. Few days after that secretary Morrice
was sent to him, with a warrant under the king's hand, requiring him to deliver up his com-
mission, which he did. And so his ministry came to an end, after a sort of a reign of much
violence and injustice : for he was become very imperious. He and his company were
delivered up to so much excess, and to such a madness of frolic and intemperance, that as
Scotland had never seen any thing like it, so upon this disgrace there was a general joy over
the kingdom : though that lasted not long ; for those that came after him grew worse than
ever he was like to be. He had lived in great magnificence, which made him acceptable to
many : and he was a firm friend, though a violent enemy. The earl of Rothes was declared
the king's commissioner. But the earl of Lauderdale would not trust him. So he went
down with him, and kept him too visibly in a dependence on him, for all his high character.
One of the first things that was done in this session of parliament, was the execution of
my unfortunate uncle, Wariston. He was so disordered both in body and mind that it was
a reproach to a government to proceed against him : his memory was so gone, that he did not
know his own children. He was brought before the parliament, to hear what he had to say,
why his execution should not be awarded. He spoke long, but in a broken and disordered
strain, which his enemies fancied was put on to create pity. He was sentenced to die. His
deportment was unequal, as might be expected from a man in his condition. Yet when the
day of his execution came, he was very serene. He was cheerful, and seemed fully satisfied
with his death. He read a speech twice over on the scaffold, that to my knowledge he com-
posed himself, in which he justified all the proceedings in the covenant, and asserted his own
sincerity ; but condemned his joining with Cromwell and the sectaries, though even in that
his intentions had been sincere, for the good of his country, and the security of religion.
Lord Lauderdale had lived in great friendship with him : but he saw the king was so set
against him, that he, who at all times took more care of himself than of his friends, would
not in so critical a time seem to favour a man, whom the presbyterians had set up as a sort
of an idol among them, and on whom they did depend more, than on any other man then alive.
The business of the parliament went on as the lord Lauderdale directed. The whole pro-
ceeding in the matter of the balloting was laid open. It appeared, that the parliament had
not desired it, but had been led into it by being made believe that the king had a mind to it. And
of all the members of parliament, not above twelve could be prevailed on to own, that they
had advised the earl of Middleton to ask leave of the king for it, whose private suggestions
he had represented to the king as the desire of the parliament. This finished his disgrace,
as well as it occasioned the putting all his party out of employments.
While they were going on with their affairs, they understood that an act had passed in the
parliament of England against all conventicles, im powering justices of peace to convict
* This was Frances Theresa, daughter of Captain
Walter Stuart, son of Lord Blantyre. Her mind was
not distinguished for its solidity or hrilliancy ; but in
person she was probably the most beautiful woman that
ever adorned the court of Charles the Second. Above
all, she had an unimpeached character. Rotier, the king's
iver, almost adored her. Her portrait, as Britannia,
tl
is on the reverse of the best coins of this reign.— Wai-
pole's Anecdotes of Painting; Evelyn's Numismata.
It was a very prevalent opinion that the king would
divorce himself from his queen, and marry her. The con-
sequences of her marriage with the duke of Richmond will
be seen in a future page. — Memoires de Grammont; Con-
tinuation cf Clarendon's Life ; Grainger's Biog. History.
140 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
offenders without juries : which was thought a great breach on the security of the English
constitution, and a raising the power of justices to a very arbitrary pitch. Any meeting for
religious worship, at which five were present more than the family, was declared a conventicle.
And every person above sixteen, that was present at it, was to lie three months in prison,
or to pay 51. for the first offence ; six months for the second offence, or to pay 201. fine ; and
for the third offence, being convict by a jury, was to be banished to any plantation, except
New England or Virginia, or to pay 1001. All people were amazed at this severity. But
the bishops in Scotland took heart upon it, and resolved to copy from it. So an act passed
there, almost in the same terms. And, at the passing it, lord Lauderdale in a long speech
expressed great zeal for the church. There was some little opposition made to it by the earl
of Kincardine, who was an enemy to all persecution. But though some few voted against
it, it was carried by a great majority.
Another act passed, declaring the constitution of a national synod. It was to be composed
of the archbishops and bishops, of all deans, and of two to be deputed from every presbytery ;
»f which the moderator of the presbytery named by the bishop was to be one : all things
were to be proposed to this court by the king or his commissioner. And whatsoever should
be agreed to by the majority and the president, the archbishop of St. Andrews, was to have
the force of an ecclesiastical law, when it should be confirmed by the king. Great exceptions
were taken to this act. The church was restrained from meddling with any thing, but as it
should be laid before them by the king ; which was thought a severe restraint, like that of the
proponentibus legatis so much complained of at Trent. The putting the negative, not in the
whole bench of the bishops, but singly in the president, was thought very irregular. But it
passed with so little observation, that the lord Landerdale could scarce believe it was penned
as he found it to be, when I told him of it. Primrose told me, Sharp put that clause in with
his own hand. The inferior clergy complained, that the power was wholly taken from them ;
since as one of their deputies was to be a person named by the bishops, so, the moderators
claiming a negative vote in their presbyteries as the bishops' delegates, the other half were
only to consist of persons to whom they consented. The act was indeed so penned, that no-
body moved for a national synod, when they saw how it was to be constituted.
Two other acts passed in favour of the crown. The parliament of England had laid great
impositions on all things imported from Scotland : so the parliament, being speedily to be
dissolved, and not having time to regulate such impositions on English goods, as might force
the English to bring that matter to a just balance, they put that confidence in the king, that
they left the laying of impositions on all foreign merchandise wholly to him.
Another act was looked on as a pompous compliment : and so it passed without obser-
vation, or any opposition. In it they made an offer to the king of an army of twenty
thousand foot and two thousand horse, to be ready upon summons to march with forty days'
provision into any part of his majesty's dominions, to oppose invasions, to suppress insur-
rections, or for any other cause in which his authority, power, or greatness was concerned.
Nobody dreamt, that any use was ever to be made of this. Yet the earl of Lauderdale had
his end in it, to let the king see what use he might make of Scotland, if he should intend to
set up arbitrary government in England. He told the king, that the earl of Middleton and
his party understood not, what was the greatest service that Scotland could do him : they had
not much treasure to offer him ; the only thing they were capable of doing was, to furnish
him with a good army, when his affairs in England should require it. And of this he made
great use afterwards to advance himself, though it could never have signified any thing to the
advancing the king's ends. Yet so easy was it to draw the parliament of Scotland to pass
acts of the greatest consequence in a hurry, without considering the effects they might have.
After these acts were passed, the parliament was dissolved ; which gave a general satisfaction
to the country, for they were a furious set of people. The government was left in the earl
of Glencairn's hands, who began, now that he had a little favour at court, to set himself on
all occasions to oppose Sharp's violent notions. The earl of Rothes stuck firm to Sharp ;
and was recommended by him to the bishops of England, as the only man that supported
their interests. The king at this time restored lord Lorn to his grandfather's honour, of
OF KING CHARLES II. 141
being earl of Argyle, passing over his father ; and gave him a great part of his estate, leaving
the rest to be sold for the payment of debts, which did not raise in value above a third part
of them. This occasioned a great outcry, that continued long to pursue him.
Sharp went up to London to complain of the lord Glencairn, and of the privy council ;
where, he said, there was such a remissness, and so much popularity appeared on all occasions,
that, unless some more spirit were put into the administration, it would be impossible to pre-
serve the church. That was the w^ord always used, as if there had been a charm in it. lie
moved, that a letter might be written, giving him the precedence of the lord chancellor.
This was thought an inexcusable piece of vanity : for in Scotland, when there was no com-
missioner, all matters passed through the lord chancellor's hands, who by act of parliament
was to preside in all courts, and was considered as representing the king's person. He also
moved, that the king would grant a special commission to some persons, for executing the
laws relating to the church. All the privy councillors were to be of it. But to these he
desired many others might be added, for whom he undertook, that they would execute them
with zeal. Lord Lauderdale saw that this would prove a high-commission court : yet he
gave way to it, though much against his own mind. Upon these things I took the liberty,
though then too young to meddle in things of that kind, to expostulate very freely with him.
I thought he was acting the earl of Traquair's part, giving way to all the follies of the bishops
on design to ruin them. He upon that ran into a great deal of freedom with me : he told me
many passages of Sharp's past life : he was persuaded he would ruin all : but, he said, he was
resolved to give him line : for he had not credit enough to stop him ; nor would he oppose
any thing that he proposed, unless it was very extravagant : he saw the earl of Glencairn
and he would be in a perpetual war : and it was indifferent to him, how matters might go
between them : things would run to a height : and then the king would of himself put a
stop to their career : for the king said often he was not priest-ridden : he would not venture
a war, nor travel again for any party. This was all that I could obtain from the earl of
Lauderdale. I pressed Sharp himself to think of more moderate methods. But he despised
my applications : and from that time he was very jealous of me.
Fairfoul, archbishop of Glasgow, died this year: and one Burnet succeeded him, who was
a near kinsman of the lord Rutherford's ; who, from being governor of Dunkirk, when it was
sold, was sent to Tangier, but soon after in an unhappy encounter, going out to view some
grounds, was intercepted, and cut to pieces by the Moors. Upon Rutherford's recommendation,
Burnet, who had lived many years in England, and knew nothing of Scotland, was sent
thither, first to be bishop of Aberdeen : and from thence he was raised to Glasgow. He was
of himself a soft and good natured man, tolerably learned, and of a blameless life : but was
a man of no genius : and though he was inclined to peaceable and moderate counsels, yet
he was much in the power of others, and took any impression that was given him very
easily. I was much in his favour at first, but could not hold it long : for as I had been bred
up by my father to love liberty and moderation, so I spent the greatest part of the year
1664, in Holland and France, which contributed not a little to root and fix me in those
principles.
I saw much peace and quiet in Holland, notwithstanding the diversity of opinion among
them ; which was occasioned by the gentleness of the government, and the toleration that
made all people easy and happy. An universal industry was spread through the whole
country. There was little aspiring to preferment in the state, because little was to be got
that way. They were then apprehending a war with England, and were preparing for it.
From thence, where every thing was free, I went to France, where nothing was free. The
king * was beginning to put things in great method, in his revenue, in his troops, in his
government at home, but above all in the increasing of trade, and the building of a great fleet.
His own deportment was solemn and grave, save only that he kept his mistresses very
avowedly. He was diligent in his own counsels, and regular in the despatch of his affairs :
so that all things about him looked like the preparing of matters for all that we have seen acted
since. The king of Spain was considered as dying : and the infant his son was like to die
* Lewis the Fourteenth.
142 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
as soon as he : so that it was generally believed, the French king was designing to set up a new
empire in the west. He had carried the quarrel at Rome about the Corses so high with the
house of Ghigi that the protestants were beginning to flatter themselves with great hopes.
When I was in France cardinal Ghigi came, as legate, to give the king full satisfaction in
that matter. Lord Hollis was then ambassador at Paris. I w~as so effectually recommended
to him, that he used me with great freedom, which he continued to do to the end of his
days. He stood upon all the points of an ambassador with the stiffness of former ages, which
made him very unacceptable to a high-spirited young prince, who began even then to be
flattered, as if he had been somewhat more than a mortal. This established me in my love
of law and liberty, and in my hatred of absolute power. When I came back, I stayed for
some months at court, and observed the scene as carefully as I could, and became acquainted
with all the men that were employed in Scotch affairs. I had more than ordinary opportunities
of being well informed about them. This drew a jealousy on me from the bishops, which
was increased from the friendship into which Leighton received me. I passed for one, who
was no great friend to church power nor to persecution. So it was thought, that lord Lau-
derdale was preparing me, as one who Mras known to have been always episcopal, to be set
up against Sharp and his set of men, who were much hated by one side, and not loved, nor
trusted, by the other.
In the mean while the earl of Glencairn died, which set Sharp at ease, but put him on new
designs. He apprehended, that the earl of Tweedale might be advanced to that post : for in
the settlement of the duchess of Buccleugh's estate who was married to the duke of Mon-
mouth, the best beloved of all the king's children, by which, in default of issue by her, it
was to go to the duke of Monmouth and the issue he might have by any other wife, the earl
of Tweedale, though his children were the next heirs, who were by this deprived of their
right, had yet given way to it in so frank a manner, that the king was enough inclined both
to oblige and to trust him. But Sharp had great suspicions of him as cold in their concerns.
So he wrote to Sheldon, that upon the disposal of the seals the very being of the church did
so absolutely depend, that he begged he would press the king very earnestly in the matter,
and that he would move that he might be called up before that post should be filled. The
king bid Sheldon assure him, he should take a special care of that matter, but that there was
no occasion for his coming up : for the king by this time had a very ill opinion of him.
Sharp was so mortified with this, that he resolved to put all to hazard ; for he believed all
was at stake : and he ventured to come up. The king received him coldly ; and asked him,
if he had not received the archbishop of Canterbur/s letter. He said, he had : but he would
choose rather to venture on his majesty's displeasure, than to see the church ruined through
his caution or negligence : he knew the danger they were in in Scotland, where they had but
few and cold friends, and many violent enemies : his majesty's protection, and the execution
of the law, were the only things they could trust to : and these so much depended on the good
choice of a chancellor, that he could not answer it to God and the church, if he did not bestir
himself in that matter : he knew many thought of himself for that post : but he was so far
from that thought, that, if his majesty had any such intention, he would rather choose to be
sent to a plantation : he desired, that he might be a churchman in heart, but not in habit, that
should be raised to that trust. These were his very words, as the king reported them. From
him he went to Sheldon, and pressed him to move the king for himself, and furnished him
with many reasons to support the proposition ; a main one being, that the late king had
raised his predecessor Spotiswood to that trust. Sheldon upon that did move the king with
more than ordinary earnestness in it. The king suspected Sharp had set him on, and charged
him to tell him the truth : the other did it, though not without some uneasiness. Upon that
the king told him what he had said to himself. And then it may be easily imagined in what
a style they both spoke of him. Yet Sheldon prayed the king that, whatsoever ho might
think of the man, he would consider the archbishop and the church : which the king assured
him he would do. Sheldon told Sharp, that he saw the motion for himself did not take ; so
he must think of somewhat else. Sharp proposed, that the seals might be put in the earl of
Rothes's hands, till the king should pitch on a proper person. He also proposed, that the
king would make him his commissioner, in order to the preparing matters for a national
f OF KING CHARLES II. 143
synod, that they might settle a book of common-prayer, and a book of canons. This, he said,
must be carried on slowly, and with great caution ; of which the late troubles did demonstrate
the necessity.
All this was easily agreed to : for the king loved the lord Rothes : and the earl of Lauder-
dale would not oppose his advancement ; though it was a very extravagant thing to see one
man possess so many of the chief places of so poor a kingdom. The earl of Crawford would
not abjure the covenant : so he had been made lord treasurer in his place ; he continued to be
still, what he was before, lord president of the council : and, upon the earl of Middleton's dis-
grace, he was made captain of a troop of guards : and now he was both the king's com-
missioner, and upon the matter lord chancellor. Sharp reckoned this was his master-piece.
Lord Rothes, being thus advanced by his means, was in all things governed by him. His
instructions were such as Sharp proposed, to prepare matters for a national synod, and in the
mean while to execute the laws, that related to the church, with a steady firmness, so, when
he parted from Whitehall, Sharp said to the king, that he had now done all that could be
desired of him for the good of the church : to that, if all matters went not right in Scotland,
none must bear the blame, but either the eail of Lauderdale or Rothes. And so they came
to Scotland, where a very furious scene of illegal violence was opened. Sharp governed lord
Rothes, who abandoned himself to pleasure. And, when some censured this, all the
answer that was made, was, a severe piece of raillery, " that the king's commissioner ought
to represent his person."
The government of Scotland as to civil matters was very easy. All were quiet and obe-
dient. But all those counties that lie towards the west became very fierce and intractable :
and the whole work of the council was to deal with them, and to subdue them. It was not easy
to prove any thing against any of them, for they did stick firm to one another. The people
complained of the new set of ministers, that was sent among them, as immoral, stupid, and
ignorant. Generally they forsook their churches. A;id if any of them went to church, they
said, they were little edified with their sermons. And the whole country was full of strange
reports of the weakness of their preaching;, and of the indecency of their whole deportment.
The people treated them with great contempt, and with an aversion that broke out often into
violence and injustice. But their ministers on their parts were not wanting in their com-
plaints, aggravating matters, and possessing the bishops with many stories of designs and
plottings against the state. So, many were brought bef are the council, and the new eccle-
siastical commission, for pretended riots, and for using their ministers ill, but chiefly for not
coming to church, and for holding conventicles. The proofs were often defective, and lay
rather in presumptions, than clear evidence : and the punishments proposed were often arbi-
trary, not warranted by law. So the judges and other lawyers, that were of those courts,
were careful to keep proceedings according to forms of law . upon which Sharp was often
complaining, that favour was shown to the enemies of the church, under the pretence of law.
It was said, that the people of the country were in such a combination, tint it was not pos-
sible to find witnesses to prove things fully : and he often said, must the church be ruined
for punctilios of law ? when he could not carry matters by a vote, as he had a mind, he
usually looked to the earl of Rothes ; who upon that was ever ready to say, he would take it
upon him to order the matter as Sharp proposed, and would do it in the king's name. Great
numbers were cast in prison, where they were kept long and ill used : and sometimes they
were fined, and the younger sort whipt about the streets. The people grew more sullen on
all this ill usage, many were undone by it, and went over to the Scots in Ulster, where they
were well received, and had all manner of liberty as to their way of religion.
Burnet was sent up to possess the king with the apprehensions of a rebellion, in the begin-
ning of the Dutch war. He proposed that about twenty of the chief gentlemen of those
counties might be secured : and he undertook for the peace of the country, if they were
clapped up. This was plainly illegal. Bvit the lord Lauderdale opposed nothing. So it was
done : but with a very ill effect. For those gentlemen knowing how obnoxious they were, had
kept measures a little better : but they being put in prison, both their friends and tenants
laid all to the door of the clergy, and hated them the more, and used them the worse for it.
The earls of Argyle, Tweedale, and Kincardine, who were considered as the lord Lauderdale's
144 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
chief friends, were cold in all those matters. They studied to keep proceedings in a legal
channel, and were for moderate censures. Upon which Sharp said., they appeared to be the
friends and favourers of the enemies of the church.
Wherever the people had generally forsaken their churches, the guards were quartered
through the country. Sir James Turner, that commanded them, was naturally fierce, but
was mad when he was drunk ; and that was very often. So he was ordered by the lord
Rothes to act according to such directions as Burnet should send him. And he went about
the country, and received such lists, as the ministers brought him, of those who came not to
church; and, without any other proof or any legal conviction, he set such a fine on them,
as he thought they could pay, and sent soldiers to lie on them till it was paid. I knew him
well afterwards, when he came to himself, being out of employment. He was a learned
man, but had been always in armies, and knew no other rule but to obey orders *. He
told me he had no regard to any law, but acted, as he was commanded, in a military way.
He confessed it went often against the grain with him to serve such a debauched and worth-
less company, as the clergy generally were ; and that sometimes he did not act up to the
rigour of his orders ; for which he was often chid,"both by lord Rothes and Sharp, but was
never checked for his illegal and violent proceedings. And though the complaints of him
were very high, so that, when he was afterwards seized on by the party, they intended to
make a sacrifice of him : yet when they looked into his orders, and found that his proceed-
ings, how fierce soever, fell short of these, they spared him, as a man that had merited by
being so gentle among them.
The truth is, the whole face of the government looked liker the proceedings of an inqui-
sition, than of legal courts : and yet Sharp was never satisfied. So lord Rothes and he went
up to court in the first year of the Dutch war. When they waited first on the king, Sharp
put him in mind of what he had said at his last parting, that if their matters went not
well, none must be blamed for it, but either the earl of Lauderdale, or of Rothes : and now
he came to tell his majesty, that things were worse than ever; and he must do the earl of
Rothes the justice to say, he had done his part. Lord Lauderdale was all on fire at this,
but durst not give himself vent before the king. So he only desired, that Sharp would
come to particulars, arid then he should know what he had to say. Sharp put that off in a
general charge, and said, he knew the party so well, that, if they were not supported by
secret encouragements, they would have been long ago weary of the opposition they gave
the government. The king had no mind to enter farther into their complaints. So lord
Rothes and he withdrew, and were observed to look very pleasantly upon one another, as
they went away. Lord Lauderdale told the king, ne was now accused to his face ; but he
would quickly let him see what a man Sharp was. So he obtained a message from the
king to him, of which he himself was to be the bearer, requiring him to put his complaints
in writing, and to come to particulars. He followed Sharp home, who received him with
such a gaiety, as if he had given him no provocation. But lord Lauderdale was more
solemn, and told him, it was the king's pleasure, that he should put the accusation with
which he had charged him, in writing. Sharp pretended, he did not comprehend his meaning.
He answered, the matter was plain ; he had accused him to the king ; and he must either
go through with it, and make it out, otherwise he would charge him with leasing -making ;
and spoke in a terrible tone to him. Upon that, as he told me, Sharp fell a trembling, and
weeping : he protested he meant no harm to him ; he was only sorry that his friends were,
upon all occasions, pleading for favour to the fanatics : (that was become the name of
reproach.) Lord Lauderdale said, that would not serve his turn : he was not answerable
for his friends, except when they acted by directions from him. Sharp offered to go with
him presently to the king, and to clear the whole matter. Lord Lauderdale had no mind to
break openly with him : so he accepted of this, and carried him to the king, where ho
retracted all he had said, in so gross a manner, that the king said afterwards, lord Lauder-
dale was ill-natured to press it so heavily, and to force Sharp on giving himself the lie in
such coarse terms.
* In 1683, he published " Essays cm the Art of War," and his " Memoirs," by himself, were published by the
OF KING CHARLES II. 145
This went to Sharp's heart : so he made a proposition to the earl of Dumfries, who was a
great friend of the lord Middleton's, to try if a reconciliation could be made between him
and the earl of Rothes, and if he would be content to come into the government under
lord Rothes. Lord Dumfries went into Kent, where the lord Middleton was then employed
in a military command, on the account of the war : and he laid Sharp's proposition before
him. The earl of Middleton gave lord Dumfries power to treat in his name ; but said, he
knew Sharp too well to regard any thing that came from him. Before lord Dumfries came
back, Sharp had tried lord Rothes, but found he would not meddle in it : and they both
understood that the earl of Clarendon's interest was declining, and that the king was like to
change his measures. So when lord Dumfries came back to give Sharp an account of his
negotiation, he seemed surprised, and denied he had given him any such commission. This
enraged the earl of Dumfries so, that he published the thing in all companies ; among others
lie told it very particularly to myself.
At that time Leighton was prevailed on to go to court, and to give the king a true
account of the proceedings in Scotland ; which, he said, were so violent, that he could not
concur in the planting the Christian religion itself, in such a manner, much less a form of
government. He therefore begged leave to quit his bishopric, and to retire ; for he thought
he was in some sort accessory to the violences done by others, since he was one of them,
and all was pretended to be done to establish them and their order. There were indeed no
violences committed in his diocese. He went round it continually every year, preaching
and catechising from parish to parish. He continued in his private and ascetic course of life,
and gave all his income, beyond the small expense of his own person, to the poor. He
studied to raise in his clergy a greater sense of spiritual matters, and of the care of souls ;
and was in all respects a burning and shining light, highly esteemed by the greater part of
his diocese : even the presbyterians were much mollified, if not quite overcome, by his mild
and heavenly course of life. The king seemed touched with the state that the country was
in ; he spoke very severely of Sharp ; and assured Leighton he would quickly come to other
measures, and put a stop to those violent methods ; but he would by no means suffer him to
quit his bishopric. So the king gave orders that the ecclesiastical commission should be
discontinued ; and signified his pleasure, that another way of proceeding was necessary for
his affairs.
He understood by his intelligence from Holland, that the exiles at Rotterdam were very
busy, and that perhaps the Dutch might furnish the malcontents of Scotland with money
and arms : so he thought it was necessary to raise more troops. Two gallant officers that
had served him in the wars, and, when these were over, had gone with his letters to serve in
Muscovy, where one of them, Dalziel, was raised to be a general ; and the other, Drummond,
was advanced to be a lieutenant-general, and governor of Smolensko, were now, not without
great difficulty, sent back by the Czar. So the king intended they should command some
forces that he was to raise. Sharp was very apprehensive of this ; but the king was
positive. A little before this, the act of fining, that had lain so long asleep that it was
thought forgotten, was revived : and all who had been fined were required to bring in one
moiety of their fines ; but the other moiety was forgiven those who took the declaration
renouncing the covenant. The money was by act of parliament to be given among those
who had served, and suffered for the king ; so that the king had only the trust of distri-
buting it. There were no more Scotch councils called at Whitehall after lord Middleton's
fall ; but upon particular occasions the king ordered the privy councillors of that kingdom,
that were about the town, to be brought to him ; before whom he now laid the necessity of
raising some more force for securing the quiet of Scotland : he only asked their advice, how
they should be paid. Sharp very readily said, the money raised by the fining was not yet
disposed of; so he proposed the applying it to that use. None opposed this, so it was
resolved on ; and by that means the cavaliers, who were come up with their pretensions,
were disappointed of their last hopes, of being recompensed for their sufferings. The blame
of all this was cast upon Sharp, at which they were out of measure enraged, and charged
him with it. He denied it boldly. But the king published it so openly, that he durst not
contradict him. Many, to whom he had denied that lie knew any thing of the matter, and
143 THE HISTCRY OF THE REIGN
called that advice a diabolical invention, affirmed it to the king : and the lord Lauderdale,
to complete his disgrace with the king, got many of his letters, which he had written to the
presbyterians, after the time in which the king knew that he was negotiating for episcopacy,
in which he had continued to protest, with what zeal he was soliciting their concerns, not
without dreadful imprecations on himself, if he was prevaricating with them, and laid these
before the king ; so that the king looked on him as one of the worst of men.
Many of the episcopal clergy in Scotland were much offended at all these proceedings.
They saw the prejudices of the people were increased by them. They hated violent courses,
and thought they were contrary to the meek spirit of the gospel, and that they alienated the
nation more from the church. They set themselves much to read church history, and to
observe the state of the primitive church, and the spirit of those times ; and they could not
but observe so great a difference between the constitution of the church under those bishops
and our own, that they seemed to agree in nothing but the name. I happened to be settled
near two of the most eminent of them, who were often moved to accept of bishoprics, but
always refused them, both out of a true principle of humility and self-denial, and also
because they could not engage in the methods by which things were carried on. One of
these, Mr. Nairn, was one of the politest clergymen I ever knew bred in Scotland. lie had
formed clear and lively schemes of things, and was the most eloquent of all our preachers.
He considered the pastoral function as a dedication of the whole man to God and his service.
He read the moral philosophers much, and had wrought himself into their equal temper, as
much as could consist with a great deal of fire that was in his own ; but he turned it all to
melting devotion. He had a true notion of superstition, as a narrowness of soul, and a
meanness of thought in religion. He studied to raise all that conversed with him to great
notions of God, and to an universal charity. This made him pity the presbyterians, as men
of low notions and ill tempers. He had indeed too much heat of imagination, which carried
him to be very positive in some things, in which he afterwards changed his mind ; and that
made him pass for an inconstant man. In a word, he was the brightest man I ever knew
among all our Scotch divines. Another of these was Mr. Charteris, a man of a composed
and serene gravity, but without affectation or sourness. He scarcely ever spoke in company,
but was very open and free in private. He made true judgments of things, and of men ;
and had a peculiar talent in managing such as he thought deserved his pains. He had
little heat, either in body or mind : for, as he had a most emaciated body, so he spoke both
slow, and in so low a voice that he could not easily be heard. He had great tenderness in
his temper, and was a very perfect friend, and a most sublime Christian. He lived in a con-
stant contempt of the w^orld, and a neglect of his person. There was a gravity in his conver-
sation that raised an attention, arid begot a composedness in all about him, without frighten-
ing them ; for he made religion appear amiable in his whole deportment. He had read all
the lives and the epistles of great men very carefully. He had read the fathers much, and
gave me this notion of them, that in speculative points, for which writers of controversy
searched into their works, they were but ordinary men : but their excellency lay in that,
which was least sought for, their sense of spiritual things, and of the pastoral care. In
these he thought their strength lay. And he often lamented, not without some indignation,
that, in the disputes about the government of the church, much pains were taken to seek
out all those passages that showed what their opinions were ; but that due care was not
taken to set out the notions that they had of the sacred function, of the preparation of mind,
and inward vocation, with which men ought to come to holy orders, or of the strictness of
life, the deadness to the world, the heavenly temper, and the constant application to the
doing of good, that became them. Of these he did not talk like an angry reformer, that set
up in that strain, because he was neglected or provoked ; but like a man full of a deep, but
humble sense of them. He was a great enemy to large confessions of faith, chiefly when
they were imposed in the lump as tests ; for he was positive in very few things. He had-*
gone through the chief parts of learning, but was then most conversant in history, as the I
innocentest sort of study, that did not fill the mind with subtlety, but helped to make a man \
wiser and better. These were both single persons, and men of great sobriety ; and they lived
in a constant low diet, which they valued more than severer fasting. Yet they both became
OF KING CHARLES 11. 147
miserable by the stone. Nairn went to Paris, where he was cut of a great one, of which
he recovered, but lived not many years after. Charteris lived to a great age, and died in the
end of the year 1700, having in his last years suffered unspeakable torment from the stone,
which the operators would not venture to cut. But all that saw what he suffered, and how
lie bore it, acknowledged that in him they saw a most perfect pattern of patience and sub-
mission to the will of God. It was a great happiness for me, after I had broken into the
world by such a ramble as I had made, that I fell into such hands, with whom I entered into
a close and particular friendship. They both set me right, and kept me right ; though I
made at this time a sally, that may be mentioned, since it had some relation to public affairs.
I observed the deportment of our bishops was in all points so different from what became
their function, that I had a more than ordinary zeal kindled within me upon it. They were
not only furious against all that stood out against them, but were very remiss in all the parts
of their function. Some did not live within their dioceses ; and those who did, seemed to
take no care of them. They showed no zeal against vice : the most eminently wicked in
the county were their particular confidants : they took no pains to keep their clergy strictly
to rules, and to their duty : on the contrary, there was a levity and a carnal way of living
about them, that very much scandalised me. There was indeed one Scon-gal, bishop of
Aberdeen, that was a man of rare temper, great piety and prudence : but I thought he was
too much under Sharp's conduct, and was at least too easy to him.
Upon all this I took a resolution of drawing up a memorial of the grievances we lay
under by the ill conduct of our bishops. I resolved that no other person besides myself
should have a share in any trouble it might bring on me ; so I communicated it to none.
This made it not to be in all the parts of it so well digested, as it otherwise might have
been : and I was then but three-and-twenty. I laid my foundation in the constitution of
the primitive church, and showed how they had departed from it, by their neglecting their
dioceses, meddling so much in secular affairs, raising their families out of the revenues of the
church, and, above all, by their violent prosecuting of those who differed from them. Of this
I wrote out some copies, and signed them, and sent them to all the bishops of my acquaint-
ance. Sharp was much alarmed at it, and fancied I was set on to it by some of the lord
Lauderdale's friends. I was called before the bishops, and treated with great severity.
Sharp called it a libel. I said, I had set my name to it, so it could not be called a libel.
He charged me with the presumption of offexing to teach my superiors. I said, such things
had been not only done, but justified in all ages. He charged me for reflecting on the king's
putting them on his councils : I said, I found no fault with the king for calling them to his
councils, but with them for going out of that which was their proper province, and for
giving ill counsel. Then he charged me for reflecting on some severities, which, he said,
was a reproaching public courts, and a censuring the laws. I said, laws might be made
in terrorem, not always fit to be executed : but I only complained of clergymen's pressing
the rigorous execution of them, and going often beyond what the law dictated. He broke
out into a great vehemence, and proposed to the bishops, that I should be summarily deprived
and excommunicated : but none of them would agree to that. By this management of his
the thing grew public. What I had ventured on was variously censured ; but the greater
part approved of it. Lord Lauderdale and all his friends were delighted with it ; and he
gave the king an account of it, who was not ill pleased at it. Great pains were taken to
make me ask pardon, but to no purpose ; so Sharp let the thing fall. But, that it might
appear that I had not done it upon any factious design, I entered into a very close state of
retirement ; and gave myself wholly to my study, and the duties of my function.
Thus I have run over the state of Scotland in the years 1663, ]664, 1665, and till near
the end of 1666. I now return to the affairs of England, in which I must write more
defectively, being then so far from the scene. In the winter of 1664, the king declared his resolu-
tion of entering into a war with the Dutch. The grounds were so slight, that it was visible
there was somewhat more at bottom than was openly owned. A great comet, which
appeared that winter, raised the apprehensions of those who did not enter into just specula-
tions concerning those matters. The house of commons was so far from examining nicely
into the grounds of the war, that without any difficulty they gave the king two millions
L 2
148 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
and a half for carrying it on. A great fleet was set out, which the duke commanded in
person, as Opdam had the command of the Dutch fleet. But as soon as the war broke out,
a most terrible plague broke out also in the city of London, that scattered all the inhabitants
that were able to remove themselves elsewhere. It broke the trade of the nation, and
swept away about a hundred thousand souls ; the greatest havoc that any plague had ever
made in England *. This did dishearten all people ; and, coming in the very time in which
so unjust a war was begun, it had a dreadful appearance. All the king's enemies, and the
enemies of monarchy, said here was a manifest character of God's heavy displeasure upon
the nation ; as indeed the ill life the king led, and the viciousness of the whole court, gave
but a. melancholy prospect. Yet God's ways are not as our ways. What all had seen in the
year 1660 ouo-ht to have silenced those who at this time pretended to comment on Provi-
dence. But there will be always much discourse of things that are very visible, as well as
very extraordinary.
When the two fleets met, it is well known what accidents disordered the Dutch, and what
advantage the English had. If that first success had been followed, as was proposed, it
might have been fatal to the Dutch, who finding they had suffered so much steered off. The
duke ordered all the sails to be set on to overtake them. There was a council of war called,
to concert the method of action, when they should come up with them. In that council,
Pen, who commanded under the duke, happened to say, that they must prepare for hotter
work in the next engagement. He knew well the courage of the Dutch was never so high,
as when they were desperate. The earl of Montague, who was then a volunteer, and one of
the duke's court, said to me, it was very visible that made an impression. And all the
duke's domestics said, he had got honour enough : why should he venture a second time ?
The duchess had also given a strict charge to all the duke's servants, to do all they could to
hinder him to engage too far. When matters were settled, they went to sleep : and the
duke ordered a call to be given him, when they should get up to the Dutch fleet. It is not
known what passed between the duke and Brounker, who was of his bedchamber, and was
then in waiting ; but he came to Pen, as from the duke, and said, the duke ordered the
sail to be slackened. Pen was struck with the order ; but did not go to argue the matter
with the duke himself, as he ought to have done, but obeyed it. When the duke had slept,
he, upon his waking, went out on the quarter-deck, and seemed amazed to see the sails
slackened, and that thereby all hope of overtaking the Dutch was lost. He questioned
Pen upon it. Pen put it on Brounker, who said nothing. The duke denied he had given
any such order ; but he neither punished Brounker for carrying it, nor Pen for obeying it.
He indeed put Brounker out of his service ; and it was said, that he durst do no more,
because he was so much in the king's favour, and in the mistress's. Pen was more in his
favour after that, than ever before, which he continued to his son after him, though a quaker :
and it was thought that all that favour was to oblige him to keep the secret. Lord Mon-
tague did believe, that the duke was struck, seeing the earl of Falmouth, the king's favourite,
and two other persons of quality, killed very near him ; and that he had no mind to engage
again, and that Pen was privately with him. If Brounker was so much in fault, as he
Denied to be, it was thought, the duke, in the passion that this must have raised in him,
would have proceeded to greater extremities, and not have acted with so much phlegm.
This proved the breaking the designs of the king's whole reign : for the Dutch themselves
believed that, if our fleet had followed them with full sail, we must have come up with them
next tide, and have either sank or taken their whole fleet t. De Wit was struck with this
* Sir John Reresby, in his " Memoirs," says the prevent the like on the day succeeding. He first went
number of those who died of this frightful disease was to Sir William Pen, who commanded the ship, and told
97,309, " It was usual for people to drop down in the him, ' that he knew well how miraculously the duke
streets as they went about their business." was preserved that day, and that they ought not farther to
"t* Clarendon, no friend to the duke, attributes the tempt God ; that the duke was the heir apparent of the
failure to Mr. Brounker. " The master of the duke's crown, &c. :' and concluded with desiring and advising
ships pursued his orders very punctually after the duke him to slacken the sails. Pen answered him honestly,
was gone to sleep, and kept within a just distance of the saying, ' He durst give no such orders, except he had a
Dutch fleet; but no sooner was the duke in sleep, but mind to be hanged, for the duke himself had given positive
Mr. Brounker, of his bedchamber, who with wonderful charge to the contrary.' Mr. Brounker then went to the
confusion had sustained the terror of the day, resolved to master ot the ship, who was an honest, stout man, and
OF KING CHARLES II. H9
misfortune ; and, imputing some part of it to errors in conduct, he resolved to go on board
himself, as soon as their fleet was ready to go to sea again.
Upon this occasion I will say a little of him, and of the affairs of Holland. His father
was the deputy of the town of Dort in the States, when the late prince of Orange was so
much offended with their proceedings, in disbanding a great part of their army ; and he was
one of those whom he ordered upon that to be carried to the castle of Lovestein. Soon
after that, his design on Amsterdam miscarrying, he saw a necessity of making up the best
he could with the States. But, before he had quite healed that wound, he died of the small-
pox. Upon his death all his party feF in disgrace, and the Lovesteiners carried all before
them. So De Wit got his son John, then but twenty-five years of age, to be made pensioner
of Dort. And within a year after, the pensioner of Holland dying, he was made pensioner
of Holland. His breeding was to the civil law, which he understood very well. He was a
great mathematician ; and, as his Elementa Curvarum show what a man he was that way,
so perhaps no man ever applied Algebra to all matters of trade so nicely as he did. He
made himself so entirely the master of the state of Holland, that he understood exactly all
the concerns of their revenue, and what sums, and in what manner, could be raised upon any
emergency of state ; for this he had a pocket-book full of tables, and was ever ready to show
how they could be furnished with money. He was a frank, sincere man, without fraud, or
any other artifice but silence ; to which he had so accustomed the world, that it was not
easy to know, whether he was silent on design, or custom. He had a great clearness of
apprehension ; and when any thing was proposed to him, how new soever, he heard all
patiently, and then asked such questions as occurred to him : and by the time he had done
all this, he was as much master of the proposition, as the person was that had made it.
He knew nothing of modern history, nor of the state of courts, and was eminently defective
in all points of form. But he laid down this for a maxim, that all princes and states
followed their own interests ; so, by observing what their true interests were, he thought he
could without great intelligence calculate what they were about. He did not enough con-
sider how far passions, amours, humours, and opinions wrought on the world, chiefly on
princes. He had the notions of a commonwealth from the Greeks and Romans ; and from
them he came to fancy, that an army, commanded by officers of their own country, was
both more in their own power, and would serve them with the more zeal, since they them-
selves had such an interest in the success. And so he was against their hiring foreigners,
unless it was to be common soldiers, thereby to save their own people. But he did not
enough consider the phlegm and covetousness of his countrymen, of which he felt the ill
effects afterwards. This was his greatest error, and it turned fatally upon him : but for the
administration of justice at home, and for the management of their trade, and their forces
by sea, he was the ablest minister they ever had. He had an hereditary hatred to the house
of Orange. He thought it was impossible to maintain their liberty, if they were still stadt-
holders. Therefore he did all that was possible to put an invincible bar in their way, by the
perpetual edict : but at the same time he took great care of preserving the young prince's
fortune, and looked well to his education, and gave him, as the prince himself told me, very
carefully kept the steerage himself, and, told him, * that continued hoth before and after Brounker's friend and
it was the duke's pleasure that he should slack the sails patron. It is certain the duke was not deficient in courage,
without taking notice of it to any man.' The master There is a very interesting narrative of all the intrigues
obeyed, considering that Mr. Brounker brought the order connected with, and the proceedings of this fleet, in the
from the duke. The next morning the Dutch had got Continuation of Clarendon's Life, from which the above
safc-ly away. Some years after this was noticed in parlia- is extracted. The Dutch lost their chief admiral, Opdam,
iiient, and Mr. Brounker, upon its being proved, was, and eighteen of their best ships; the English had one
in consequence, expelled the house of commons." It is small vessel destroyed, but lost a great many men,
somewhat a cause for suspicion, that notwithstanding this including many of dietinctioti, as the earl of Falmouth,
public disgrace, king James continued to patronise him ; lord Muskcrry, who was killed so close to the duke, that
though, Clarendon adds, " he was a man throughout his the latter was sprinkled \vith his blood ; the earl of Marl-
whole life notorious for nothing but the highest degree of borough, the earl of Portland, sir John Lawson, &c. The
impudence, stooping to the most infamous offices, and last-named was admiral of a squadron, and was a great
playing chess very well, which preferred him more than loss to the service. He had risen from being a common
the most virtuous qualities could have done." There is sailor to the rank he held, entirely by his merit. The
some cause to suspect that this withholding the pursuit parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of the duke, &c.
was done v.'itb the privity of Mr. secretary Coventry, who in this action, is in " Grey's Debate?," i. 140, &c.
160 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
just notions of every thing relating to their state. For he said, he did not know "but that
at some time or other he would be set over them : therefore he intended to render him fit
to govern well.
The town of Amsterdam became at that time very ungovernable. It was thought that
the West-India company had been given up chiefly by their means ; for it was in value so
equal to the East- India company, that the actions of both were often exchanged for one
another. When the bishop of Munster began his pretensions on the city of Munster, and
on a great part of Westphalia, they offered themselves up to the States, if they would pre-
serve them ; but the town of Amsterdam would not consent to it, nor submit to the charge
Yet they never seemed to set up for a superiority over the rest, nor to break the credit of
the court at the Hague ; only they were backward in every thing that was proposed, that
increased the charge. And they were become so weary of De Wit, that he felt how much
the late miscarriage at sea had shaken his credit ; since misfortunes are always imputed to
the errors of those that govern. So he resolved to go on board. De Ruyter often said, that
he was amazed to see, how soon he came to a perfect understanding of all the sea affairs.
The winds were so long backward, that it was not easy to get their great ships through
the Zuyder sea. So he went out in boats himself, and plumbed it all so carefully, that he
found many more ways to get out by different winds, than was thought formerly practicable.
He got out in time to be master of the sea, before the end of the season ; and so recovered
the affront of the former losses, by keeping at sea after the English fleet was forced to put
in. The earl of Sandwich was sent to the north with a great part of the fleet, to watch for
the East-India ships ; but he was thought too remiss. They got, before he was aware of it,
into Berghen in Norway. If he had followed them quickly, he would have forced the port,
and taken them all. But he observed forms, and sent to the viceroy of Norway demanding
entrance. That was denied him. But, while these messages went backward and forward,
the Dutch had so fortified the entrance into the port, that, though it was attempted with
great courage, yet Tiddirnan, and those who composed that squadron, were beaten off with
great loss, and forced to let go a very rich fleet : for which lord Sandwich was much blamed,
though he was sent ambassador into Spain, that his disgrace might be a little softened by
that employment. The duke's conduct was also much blamed ; and, it was said, he was
most in fault, but that the earl of Sandwich was made the sacrifice *.
Here I will add a particular relation of a transaction relating to that affair, taken from
the account given of it by sir Gilbert Talbot, then the king's envoy at the court of Den-
mark, in a MS. that I have in my hands. That king did in June, 1665, open himself very
freely to Talbot, complaining of the States, who, as he said, had drawn the Swedish war on
him, oil design that he might be forced to depend on them for supplies of money and ship-
ping, and so to get the customs of Norway and the Sound into their hands for their security.
Talbot upon that told him, that the Dutch Smyrna fleet was now in Berghen, besides many
rich West-India ships ; and that they staid there in expectation of a double East-India fleet,
and of De Ruyter, who was returning with the spoils of the coast of Guinea. So he said,
the king of Denmark might seize those ships before the convoy came, which they expected.
The king of Denmark said, he had not strength to execute that. Talbot said, the king, his
master, would send a force to effect it : but it was reasonable he should have half of the spoil.
To which the king of Denmark readily agreed, and ordered him to propose it to his master.
So he immediately transmitted it to the king, who approved of it, and promised to send a
fleet to put it in execution. The ministers of Denmark were appointed to concert the
matter with Talbot : but nothing was put in writing ; for the king of Denmark was ashamed
to treat of such an affair, otherwise than by word of mouth. Before the end of July, news
came that De Ruyter with the East-India fleet was on the coast of Norway. Soon after he
came into Berghen. The riches then in that port were reckoned at many millions.
The earl of Sandwich was then in those seas. So Talbot sent a vessel express to him with
the news. But that vessel fell into the hands of the Dutch fleet, and was sent to Holland.
The king of Denmark wrote to the viceroy of Norway, and to the governor of Berghen,
* There is a full account of this mismanaged affair in the Continuation of Clarendon's Life. It agrees with
Burnet's statement.
OF KING CHARLES II. 151
ordering them to use ail fair means to keep the Dutch still in their harbour, promising to
send particular instructions in a few days to them how to proceed. Talbot sent letters with
these, to be delivered secretly to the commanders of the English frigates, to let them know
that they might boldly assault the Dutch in port ; for the Danes would make no resistance,
pretending a fear that the English might destroy their town ; but that an account was to be
kept of their prizes, that the king of Denmark might have a just half of all : they were not
to be surprised if the Danes seemed at first to talk high : that was to be done for show ; but
they would grow calmer, when they came to engage. The earl of Sandwich sent his secre-
tary to Talbot, to know the particulars of the agreement with the king of Denmark : but
the vessel that brought him was ordered, upon landing the secretary, to come back to the
fleet. So that it was impossible to send by that vessel what was desked. And no other
ships could be got to carry back the secretary. And thus the earl of Sandwich went to
attack the Dutch fleet without staying for an answer from Talbot, or knowing what orders
the governor of Berghen had yet received : for though the orders were sent, yet it was so
great a way, ten or twelve days' journey, that they could not reach the place, but after the
English fleet had made the attack. The viceroy of Norway, who resided at Christiana, had
his orders sooner, and sent out two galleys to communicate the agreement to the earl of
Sandwich : but missed him, for he was then before Berghen. The governor of Berghen, not
having yet the orders that the former express promised him, sent a gentleman to the English
fleet, desiring they would make no attack for two or three days ; for by that time he
expected his orders. Clifford was sent to the governor, who insisted that till he had orders
he must defend the port, but that he expected them in a very little time. Upon Clifford's
going back to the fleet, a council of war was called, in which the officers, animated with the
hope of a rich booty, resolved without further delay to attack the port, either doubting the
sincerity of the Danish court, or unwilling to give them so large a share of that, on which
they reckoned as already their prize. Upon this Tiddiman began the attack, which ended
fatally. Divers frigates were disabled, and many officers and seamen were killed. The
squadron was thus ruined, and Tiddiman was ready to sink : so he was forced to slip his
cables, and retire to the fleet, which lay without the rocks. This action was on the third of
August ; and on the fourth the governor received his orders. So he sent for Clifford, and
showed him his orders. But as the English fleet had by their precipitation forced him
to do what he had done., so he could not, upon what had happened the day before, execute
those orders till he sent an account of what had passed to the court of Denmark, and had
the king's second orders upon it. And, if the whole English fleet would not stay in those
seas so long, he desired they would leave six frigates before the harbour, and he would
engage the Dutch should not in the mean while go out to sea. But the English were sullen
upon their disappointment, and sailed away. The king of Denmark was unspeakably
troubled at the loss of the greatest treasure he was ever like .to have in his hands. This was
a design well laid, that would have been as fatal to the Dutch as ignominious to the king
of Denmark, and was by the impatient ravenousness of the English lost, without possibility
of recovering it. And indeed there was not one good step made after this in the whole
progress of the war.
England was at this time in a dismal state. The plague continued for the most part of
the summer in and about London, and began to spread over the country. The earl of
Clarendon moved the king to go to Salisbury : but the plague broke out there. So the
court went to Oxford, where another session of parliament was held. And though the con-
duct at sea was severely reflected on, yet all that was necessary for carrying on the war
another year was given. The house of commons kept up the ill humour they were in
against the non-conformists very high. A great many of the ministers of London were
driven away by the plague ; though some few stayed. Many churches being shut up, when
the inhabitants were in a more than ordinary disposition to profit by good sermons, some of
the non-conformists upon that went into the empty pulpits, and preached ; and, it was given
out, with very good success : and in many other places they began to preach openly, not
without reflecting on the sins of the court, and on the ill usage that they themselves had
met with. This was represented very odiously at Oxford. So a severe bill was brought in,
152 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
requiring all the silenced ministers to take an oath, declaring it was not lawful on any pre-
tence whatsoever to take arms against the king, or any commissioned by him, and that they
would not at any time endeavour an alteration in the government of the church or state.
Such as refused this were not to come within five miles of any city, or parliament borough,
or of the church where they had served. This was much opposed in both houses, but
more faintly in the house of commons. The earl of Southampton spoke vehemently against
it in the house of lords. He said, he could take no such oath himself; for how firm soever
lie had always been to the church, yet, as things were managed, he did not know but he
himself might see cause to endeavour an alteration. Doctor Earl, bishop of Salisbury, died
at that time. But, before his death, he declared himself much against this act. He was
the man of all the clergy for whom the king had the greatest esteem. He had been his sub-
tutor, and had followed him in all his exile with so clear a character, that the king could
never see or hear of any one thing amiss in him. So he, who had a secret pleasure in find-
ing out any thing that lessened a man esteemed eminent for piety, yet had a value for him
beyond all the men of his order *. Sheldon and Ward were the bishops that acted and
argued most for this act, which came to be called The Five-Mile Act. All that were the
secret favourers of popery promoted it : their constant maxim being, to bring all the secta-
ries into so desperate a state, that they should be at mercy, and forced to desire a toleration
on such terms, as the king should think fit to grant it on. Clifford began to make a great
figure in the house of commons. He was the son of a clergyman, born to a small fortune,
but was a man of great vivacity. He was reconciled to the church of Rome before the
Restoration. The lord Clarendon had many spies among the priests ; and the news of this
was brought him among other things. So when Clifford began first to appear in the house,
he got one to recommend him to the lord Clarendon's favour. The lord Clarendon looked
into the advice that was brought him ; and by comparing tilings together, he perceived that
he must be that man : and upon that he excused himself the best he could. So Clifford
struck in with his enemies, and tied himself particularly to Bennet, made lord, and after-
wards earl of Arlington f . While the act was before the house of commons, Vaughan,
afterwards made chief justice of the common pleas, moved that the word " legally" might
be added to the words " commissioned by the king :" but Finch, the attorney-general, said,
that was needless ; since, unless the commission was legal, it was no commission ; and, to
make it legal, it must be issued out for a lawful occasion, and to persons capable of it, and
must pass in the due form of law. The other insisted that the addition would clear all
scruples, and procure an universal compliance. But that could not be obtained, for it was
intended to lay difficulties in the way of those against whom the act was levelled. When
the bill came up to the lords, the earl of Southampton moved for the same addition : but was
answered by the earl of Anglesey, upon the same grounds on which Finch went. Yet this
* Dr. John Earl well merited the esteem of all who arms against the king," should not come within five miles
knew him ; for all who mention him agree with Isaac of any city, corporate town, borough sending members to
Walton in admiring his wisdom, his " sanctified learn- parliament, or any parish or place wherein they have taken
ing," and his " pious, peaceable, primitive temper." upon themselves to preach. la the Statute-book it is
Wood says, " his younger years were adorned with ora- 17 Charles II., c. 2.
tory, poetry, and witty fancies; and his elder with quaint "f Thomas Clifford, first lord Clifford, of Chudleigh,
preaching and subtle disputes. He translated Hook's was the son of colonel Hugh Clifford, of Ugbrook, in
" Ecclesiastical Polity" and the " Eikon Basilike " into Devonshire. His grandfather was a clergyman, which
Latin. He died at Oxford in November, 1675, aged probably caused Burnet to make the erroneous statement
about seventy-six. — Wood's Athenae Oxon. in the text. His education was completed at Exeter col-
The good bishop might justly oppose " the Five- Mile lege, Oxford, and the Middle Temple. He sat in parlia-
Act," for it was a step in the progress of intolerant ment as the representative of Totnes : but his sanguine
cruelty that only just fell short of the stake and fire, temperament delighted in other scenes of excitement,
The Act of Uniformity and the Act against Conventicles besides those of the senate, and prompted him to be
had already forbidden Englishmen the enjoyment of liberty present as a volunteer in many of our naval actions with
of conscience, and now this act took from them their the Dutch. He was successively envoy to the courts of
accustomed means of subsistence, if they still dared to Sweden and Denmark, comptroller of the king's house-
differ from the episcopal church. It had this among its hold, and one of his privy council. This only led to
clauses — " All persons in holy orders, or pretended holy other preferments, which will be mentioned in future
orders, or pretending to holy orders," who should not pages. — Collins' s Peerage; Wood's Athense ; Prince'
have subscribed the Act of Uniformity, and sworn " that Worthies of Dwnn ; Biograph. Biitannica.
it is not lawful, upon any pretence whatever, to take
OF KING CHARLES II. 153
gave great satisfaction to many who heard it, this being the avowed sense of the legislators.
The whole matter was so explained by Bridgman, when Bates, with a great many more, came
into the court of common pleas to take the oath. The act passed : and the non-conformists
were put to great straits. They had no mind to take the oath. And they scarce knew
how to dispose of themselves according to the terms of the act. Some moderate men took
pains to persuade them to take the oath. It was said by " endeavour " was only meant an
unlawful endeavour ; and that it was so declared in the debates of both houses. Some
judges did on the bench expound it in that sense. Yet few of them * took it. Many more
refused it, who were put to hard shifts to live, being so far separated from the places from
which they drew their chief subsistence. Yet as all this severity in a time of war, and of
such a public calamity, drew very hard censures on the promoters of it, so it raised the com-
passions of their party so much, that I have been told they were supplied more plentifully
at that time than ever. There was better reason, than perhaps those of Oxford knew, to
euspect practices against the state.
Algernon Sidney, and some others of the commonwealth party, came to De Wit, and
pressed him to think of an invasion of England and Scotland, and gave him great assurance
of a strong party : and they were bringing many officers to Holland to join in the under-
taking. They dealt also with some in Amsterdam, who were particularly sharpened against
the king, and were for turning England again into a commonwealth. The matter was foi
some time in agitation at the Hague. But De Wit was against it, and got it to be laid
aside. He said, their going into such a design would provoke France to turn against them :
it might engage them in a long war, the consequences of which could not be foreseen :
and, as there was no reason to think, that, while the parliament was so firm to the king, any
discontents could be carried so far as to a general rising, which these men undertook for : so,
he said, what would the effect be of turning England into a commonwealth, if it could
possibly be brought about, but the ruin of Holland ? Since it would naturally draw many
of the Dutch to leave their country, which could not be kept and maintained but at a vast
charge, to exchange it for the plenty and security that England afforded. Therefore all that
he would engage in was, to weaken the trade of England, and to destroy their fleet ; in
which he succeeded the following year beyond all expectation. The busy men in Scotland
being encouraged from Rotterdam, went about the country, to try if any men of weight
would set themselves at the head of their designs for an insurrection. The earl of Cassilis
and Lockhart were the two persons they resolved to try. But they did it at so great a dis-
tance, that, from the proposition made to them, there were no danger of misprision of
treason. Lord Cassilis had given his word to the king, that he would never engage in any
plots ; and he had got under the king's hand a promise, that he and his family should not
be disturbed, let him serve God in what way he pleased. So he did not suffer them to come
so far as to make him any propositions. Lockhart did the same. They seeing no other
person that had credit enough in the country to bring the people about him, gave over all
the projects for that year. But, upon the informations that the king had of their caballing
at Rotterdam, he raised those troops of which mention was formerly made.
An accident happened this winter at Oxford, too inconsiderable, and too tender to be
mentioned, if it was not that great effects were believed to have followed on it. The duke
had always one private amour after another, in the managing of which, he seemed to
stand more in awe of the duchess, than, considering the inequality of their rank, could have
been imagined. Talbot was looked on as the chief manager of those intrigues. The
duchess's deportment was unexceptionable, which made her authority the greater. At
Oxford there was then a very graceful young man of quality that belonged to her court,
whose services were so acceptable, that she was thought to look at him in a particular man-
ner. This was so represented to the duke, that he, being resolved to emancipate himself
into more open practices, took up a jealousy ; and put the person out of his court with so
much precipitation, that the thing became very public by this means. The duchess lost the
power she had over him so entirely, that no method she could think of was like to recover
* That is, the non-conformists.
154 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
it, except one. She began to discover what his religion was, though lie still^came not only
to church, but to sacrament. And upon that she, to regain what she had lost, entered into
private discourses with his priests ; but in so secret a manner, that there was not for some
years after this the least suspicion given. She began by degrees to slacken in her constant
coming to prayers and to sacrament, in which she had been before that regular, almost to
superstition. She excused that on her ill health : for she fell into an ill habit of body,
which some imputed to the effect of some of the duke's distempers communicated to her.
A story was set about, and generally believed, that the earl of Southesk, that had married a
daughter of duke Hamilton's, suspecting some familiarities between the duke and his wife,
had taken a sure method to procure a disease to himself, which he communicated to his
wife, and was by that means sent round till it came to the duchess, who was so tainted with
it that it was the occasion of the death of all her children, except the two daughters, our
two queens ; and was believed the cause of an illness under which she languished long, and
died so corrupted, that in dressing her body after her death, one of her breasts burst,
being a mass of corruption. Lord Southesk was for some years not ill pleased to have this
believed. It looked like a peculiar strain of revenge, with which he seemed much delighted.
But I know he has to some of his friends denied the whole of the story very solemnly.
Another acted a better part. He did not like a commerce that he observed between the duke
and his wife. He went and expostulated with him upon it. The duke fell a commending
his wife much. He told him, he came not to seek his wife's character from him : the most
effectual way of commending her, was to have nothing to do with her. He added, that
if princes would do those wrongs to subjects, who could not demand such reparations of honour
from them, as they could from their equals, it would put them on more secret methods of
revenge : for some injuries were such, that men of honour could not bear them. And, upon
a new observation he made of the duke's designs upon his wife, he quitted a very good
post, and went with her into the country, where he kept her till she died. Upon the whole
matter the duke was often ill. His children were born with ulcers, or they broke out upon them
soon after : and all his sons died young, and unhealthy. This has, as far as any thing pre-
sumptive only, and not to be brought in the way of proof, prevailed to create a suspicion,
that so healthy a child as the pretended prince of Wales could neither be his, nor be born of
any wife, with whom he had lived long. The violent pain that his eldest daughter had in
her eyes, and the gout which has early seized our present queen, are thought the dregs of a
tainted original. Willis, the great physician, being called to consult for one of his sons,
gave his opinion in those words, mala stamina mtce^ which gave such offence, that he was
never called for afterwards.
I know nothing of the counsels of the year 1666, nor whose advices prevailed. It was
resolved on that the duke should not go to sea ; but that Monk should command the great fleet
of between fifty and sixty ships of the line, and that prince Rupert should be sent with a
squadron of about twenty-five ships, to meet the French fleet, and to hinder their con-
junction with the Dutch : for the French had promised a fleet to join the Dutch, but never
sent it. Monk went out so certain of victory, that he seemed only concerned for fear the
Dutch should not come out. The court flattered themselves with the hopes of .a very happy
year : but it proved a fatal one : the Dutch fleet came out, De Wit and some of the States
being on board. They engaged the English fleet for two days, in which they had a mani-
fest superiority. But it cost them dear ; for the English fought well. But the Dutch were
superior in number, and were so well furnished with chained shot (a peculiar contrivance of
which De Wit had the honour to be thought the inventor), that the English fleet was quite
unrigged. And they were in no condition to work themselves off. So they must have all
been taken, sunk, or burnt, if prince Rupert, being yet in the Channel, and hearing that they
were engaged by the continued roaring of guns, had not made all possible haste to get to
them. He came in good time. And the Dutch, who had suffered much, seeing so great a
force come up, sheered off. He was in no condition to pursue them ; but brought off our
fleet, which saved us a great loss that seemed otherwise unavoidable. The court gave out
that it was a victory : and public thanksgivings were ordered, which was a horrid
mocking of God, and a lying to the world. We had in one respect reason to thank God,
OF KING CHARLES II. 155
that we had not lost our whole fleet. A dreadful fire completed the miseries of this year :
the plague was so sunk in London, that the inhabitants began to return to it, and brought
with them a great deal of manufacture, which was lying on the hands of the clothiers and
others, now in the second year of the war, in which trade and all other consumptions were
very low. It was reckoned, that a peace must come next winter. The merchants were
upon that preparing to go to market as soon as possible. The summer had been the driest
that was known for some years. And London being for the most part built of timber filled
up with plaster, all was extremely dry. On the second of September a fire broke out, that
raged for three days, as if it had a commission to devour every thing that was in its way.
On the fourth day it stopped in the midst of very combustible matter.
I will not enlarge on the extent nor the destruction made by the fire : many books are
full of it. That which is still a great secret is, whether it was casual, or raised on design. The
English fleet had landed on the Vly, an island lying near the Texel, and had burnt it : upon
which some came to De Wit, and offered as revenge, that, if they were assisted, they would
set London on fire. He rejected the proposition : for he said, he would not make the breach
wider, nor the quarrel irreconcileable. He said it was brought him by one of the Labadists,
as sent to them by some others. He made no farther reflections on the matter till the city
was burnt. Then he began to suspect there had been a design, and that they had intended
to draw him into it, and to lay the odium of it upon the Dutch. But he could hear no
news of those who had sent that proposition to him. In the April before, some common-
wealth's-men were found in a plot, and hanged ; who at their execution confessed, they had
been spoken to, to assist in a design of burning London on the second of September. This
was printed in the Gazette of that week, which I myself read. Now the fire breaking out
on the second, made all people conclude, that there was a design some time before on foot
for doing it.
The papists were generally charged with it. One Hubatt, a French papist, was seized in
Essex7~as"he was getting out of the way in great confusion. He confessed, he had begun
the fire, and persisted in his confession to his death ; for he was hanged upon no other evi-
dence but that of his own confession. It is true, he gave so broken an account of the whole
matter, that he was thought mad. Yet he was blindfolded, and carried to several places of
the city : and then, his eyes being opened, he was asked if that was the place : and he being
carried to wrong places, after he looked round about for some time, he said, that was not the
place : but when he was brought to the place where it first broke out, he affirmed that was
the true place. And Tillotson told me, that Howell, then the recorder of London, was with
him, and had much discourse with him ; and that he concluded it was impossible chat it could
be a melancholy dream : the horror of the fact, and the terror of death, and perhaps some
engagements in confession, might put him in such disorder, that it was not possible to draw
a clear account of any thing from him, but of what related to himself. Tillotson, who
believed that the city was burnt on design, told me a circumstance, that made the papists
employing such a crazed man, in such a service, more credible. Langhorn, the popish
counsellor at law, \vho for many years passed for a protestant, was despatching a half-
witted man to manage elections in Kent before the Restoration. Tillotson, being present,
and observing what a sort of man he was, asked Langhorn, how he could employ him in
such services. Langhorn answered, it was a maxim with him, in dangerous services, to
employ none but half witted men, if they could be but secret and obey orders : for if they
should change their minds, and turn informers instead of agents, it would be easy to dis-
credit them, and to carry off the weight of any discoveries they could make, by showing
they were madmen, and so not like to be trusted in critical things.
The most extraordinary passage, though it is but a presumption, was told me by
Dr.Lloyd and the countess of Clarendon. The latter had a great estate in the New River,
that is brought from "Ware to London, which is brought- together at Islington, where there
is a great room full of pipes, that convey it through all the streets of London. The constant
order of that matter was, to set all the pipes running on Saturday night, that so the
cisterns might be all full by Sunday morning, there being a more than ordinary consumption
I
156 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
of water on that day. There was one Grant, a papist, under whose name sir William Petty
published his observations on the bills of mortality : he had some time before applied Him-
self to Lloyd, who had great credit with the countess of Clarendon ; and said, he could
raise that estate considerably, if she would make him a trustee for her. His schemes were
probable : and he was made one of the board that governed that matter : and by that he
had a right to come, as oft as he pleased, to view their works at Islington. He went
thither the Saturday before the fire broke out, and called for the key of the place where the
heads of the pipes were, and turned all the cocks that were then open, and stopped the water,
and went away, and carried the keys with him. So when the fire broke out next morning,
they opened the pipes in the streets to find water, but there was none. And some hours
were lost in sending to Islington, where the door was to be broken open, and the cocks
turned. And it was long before the water got to London. Grant indeed denied that he
had turned the cocks. But the officer of the works affirmed, that he had, according to order,
^et them all running, and that no person had got the keys from him, beside Grant ; who con-
fessed he had carried away the keys, but pretended he did it without design. There were
many other stories set about, as that the papists in several places had asked, if there was no
news of the burning of London, and that it was talked of in many parts beyond sea, long
before the news could get thither from London. In this matter I was much determined by
what sir Thomas Littleton, the father, told me. He was a man of a strong head, and sound
judgment. He had just as much knowledge in trade, history, the disposition of Europe,
and the constitution of England, as served to feed and direct his own thoughts, and no more.
He lived all the summer long in London, where I was his next neighbour, and had for seven
years a constant and daily conversation with him. He was treasurer of the navy in con-
junction with Osborn, who was afterwards lord treasurer, who supplanted him in that post,
and got it all into his own hands. He had a very bad opinion of the king ; and thought,
that he had worse intentions than his brother, but that he had a more dexterous way of
covering and managing them ; only his laziness made him less earnest in prosecuting them. >
He had generally the character of the ablest parliament man in his time. His chief estate
lay in the city, not far from the place where the fire broke out, though it did not turn that
way. He was one of the committee of the house of commons, that examined all the pre-
sumptions of the city's being burnt on design : and he often assured me, that there was no
clear presumption made out about it, and that many stories, which were published with good
assurance, came to nothing upon a strict examination. He was at that time, that the
inquiry was made, in employment at court. So, whether that biassed him, or not, I cannot
tell. There was so great a diversity of opinions in the matter, that I must leave it under
the same uncertainty in which I found it. If the French and Dutch had been at that
time designing an impression elsewhere, it might have been more reasonable to suppose it
was done on design to distract our affairs. But it fell out at a dead time, when no advantage
could be made of it. And it did not seem probable, that the papists had engaged in the
design, merely to impoverish and ruin the nation ; for they had nothing ready then to graft
upon the confusion that this put all the people in. Above twelve thousand houses were
burnt down, with the greatest part of the furniture and merchandise that was in them. All
means used to stop it proved ineffectual ; though the blowing up of houses wras the most
effectual of any. But the wind was so high, that fleaks of fire and burning matter were
carried in the air across several streets. So that the fire spread not only in the next neigh-
bourhood, but at a great distance. The king and the duke were almost all the day long
carried back with the guards, seeing to all that could be done, either for quenching the fire,
or for carrying off persons and goods to the fields all about London. The most astonishing
circumstance of that dreadful conflagration was, that, notwithstanding the great destruction
that was made, and the great confusion in the streets, I could never hear of any one person
that was either burnt, or trodden to death. The king was never observed to be so much
struck with any thing in his whole life, as with this. But the citizens were not so well
satisfied with the duke's behaviour. They thought he looked too gay, and too little con-
cerned. A jealousy of his being concerned in it was spread about with great industry, but
OF KING CHARLES II.
157
with very little appearance of truth. Yet it grew to be generally helieved, chiefly after he
owned he was a papist *.
In Scotland the fermentation went very high. Turner was sent again into the west in
October this year : and he began to treat the country at the old rate. The people were
* Clarendon, another contemporary, has given a still
fuller account of this vast conflagration, confirming all
Burnet's statements, but adding many more particulars.
He says the fire commenced at midnight, on Saturday, the
1st of September, or nearer the morning of Sunday, in a
baker's shop at the end of Thames-street next the Tower.
The fire spread so rapidly, the streets and alleys being
narrow, the houses built of timber, and stored with com-
bustible materials, that the people seemed confounded. It
raged furiously all the day, the people only gazing upon
it, buckets not supplying water fast enough to check it,
no one knowing how to act, and the magistrates issuing
no orders. The Tower was considered in imminent
danger, but in the night the wind changed, so that those
who went to bed late, at a great distance from any part
of the fire, were awakened before morning by their own
house being in flames. On Monday morning a suspicion
arose that the fire was the result of a conspiracy , " the
authors were concluded to be all the Dutch and all the
French in the town, though they had inhabited the samp..
places above twenty year's, I All of that kind, or, if they
Mve7e"l3tKffi^ers7 of 'what naflon soever, were laid hold of;
/ and after all the ill usage that can consist in words, with^ome
/ blows and kicks, they were thrown into prison.!^ Shortly
/ after, the same conclusion comprehended all the Roman
I Catholics, and though they kept within doors, some of
I them, and of quality, were taken by force out of their
houses and carried to prison." This conspiracy was so
generally and firmly believed, that any one controverting
the suspicion was immediately suspected. It was strength-
ened by the different points in which it continued to break
out ; and testimony was not wanting that the incendiaries
had been seen throwing fire-balls into houses, as a ser-
vant of the Portuguese ambassador was brought before lords
Hollis and Ashley upon this charge. A substantial citizen
was ready to make oath, that he saw the prisoner take a com-
bustible from his pocket, and throw it into a shop, which
immediately took fire. Bu> upon examination it came out, ?
that this Portuguese as he walked along, saw apiece of bread(
upon the ground, which he picked up, and laid upon a shelf
in the next house, which is a custom or superstition so'
common in Portugal, that its king would act in this man-i
ner. The bread was found where the prisoner described,!
and the fire had burst out iTOUJojors froiaJ
which he had placed it! '.'.The fire and the wind con-
tinued in the same excess all Monday, Tuesday, and Wed-
nesday until the afternoon, and scattered brands into all
quarters ; the nights more terrible than the days, and the
light the same, the light of the fire supplying that of the
sun Indeed, whoever WJ>L an eye-witness of that terrible
prospect, can never have so lively an image of the last
conflagration till he beholds it ; the faces of all people in
a wonderful dejection and discomposure, not knowing
where they could repose themselves for one hour's sleep,
and no distance thought secure from the fire, which sud-
denly started up before it was suspected ; so that people
left their houses, and carried away their goods from many
places which received no hurt, and whither they after-
wards returned again ; all the fields full of women and
children, who made a shift to bring thither some goods
and conveniences to rest upon as safer than any houses,
where yet they felt such intolerable heat and drought, as
if they had been in the middle of the fire." Clarendon
makes the same statement respecting the activity of the
king and the duke of York ; but docs not object to any
misplaced cheerfulness of the latter. The fire " continued
in its fury a direct line to the Thames side, all Cheapside
from beyond the Exchange, through Fleet-street ; inso-
much, as for that breadth, taking in both sides as far us tho
Thames, there was scarcely a house or church standing
from London Bridge to Dorset House, which was burned
on Tuesday night, after Baynard's Castle." The king
despaired of saving Whitehall, but was most fearful of the
safety of Westminster Abbey. " But it pleased God, con-
trary to all expectation, that on Wednesday, about four
or five of the clock in the afternoon, the wind fell ; and
as in an instant the fire decreased, having burnt all on the
Thames side to the new buildings of the Inner Temple
next to Whitefriars, and was stopped by tlyit vacancy
from proceeding farther into that house, but laid hold on
some old buildings which joined to Ram Alley, and swept all
those into Fleet Street ; and the other side being destroyed
to Fetter Lane.'' As soon as the fire abated, the king's
first care was to obtain a speedy supply of corn and other
provisions from the country for the houseless sufferers ;
and in four days, " which was more miraculous," all found
shelter either with their friends, or in huts built upon the
ruins of their own houses. The chief justice was sent
for from the country to examine witnesses, and endeavour
to discover whether there was any truth in the reported
conspiracy. — Notwithstanding the popular excitement
and clamour, no just grounds for suspecting its existence
could be detected. It is true the inscription on the Lon-
don Monument says otherwise, but, as the poet justly de-
scribes it,
" Like a tall bully, rears its head, and lies."
Hubert, mentioned by Burnet, was the son of a
famous watchmaker at Rouen : he had worked for some
years in London, and both here and in his native city was
considered insane. Notwithstanding the startling fact of his
identifying the place where the fire first commenced, but
which he might have easily done from knowing the pre-
mises before the calamity occurred, the whole of his ex-
amination was so incoherent and absurd, that the lord
chief justice, who was rather rigorous, told the king " he
did not believe the prisoner guilty." This was the ge-
neral opinion of the judges and others at his trial, but the
jury found him guilty, and the king did not extend to
him that mercy which is one of the brightest points of
his prerogative. " Certain it is," continues Clarendon,
" that upon the strictest examination that could be after-
wards made by the king's command, and then by the
diligence of the house, that upon the general jealousy and
rumour appointed a committee, that was very diligent
there was never any probable evidence (that poor crea-
ture's excepted) that there was any other cause of that
woful fire, than the displeasure of Almighty God : the
first accident of its beginning in a baker's shop, where
there was so great a stock of faggots, and the neighbour-
hood of much combustible matter, pitch, resin, &c., led
it in an instant from house to house through Thames
Street, with the agitation of so terrible a wind to scatter
it."
Above two-thirds of the city were reduced to ashes,
ana those " the most rich and wealthy parts, where the
greatest warehouses and the best shops stood : the Royal
Exchange, with all the streets about it, Lombard Street,
Cheapside, Paternoster Row, St. Paul's Church, with
almost all the other city churches, the Old Bailey, Lud-
gate, all Paul's Church-yard even to the Thames, and
the greatest port of Fleet Street." The value of what
;*•
168 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
alarmed, and saw they were to be undone. They met together and talked with some fiery
ministers. Semple, Maxwell, Welsh, and Guthry were the chief incendiaries. Two
gentlemen that had served in the wars, one a lieutenant-colonel, Wallace, and the other that
had been a major, Learmonth, were the best officers they had to rely on. The chief gentle-
men of those counties were all clapped up in prison, as was formerly told. So that preserved
them : otherwise they must either have engaged with the people, or have lost their interest
among them. The people were told, that the fire of London had put things in that confusion
at court, that any vigorous attempt would disorder all the king's affairs. If the newly levied
troops had not stood in their way, they would have been able to have carried all things
against them : for the two troops of guards, with the regiment of foot guards, would not
have been able to have kept their ground before them. The people, as some of them told
me afterwards, were made to believe that the whole nation was in the same disposition. So
on the thirteenth of November they ran together ; and two hundred of them went to Dum-
fries, where Turner then lay with a few soldiers about him ; the greatest part of his men
being then out in parties, for the levying of fines. So they surprised him before he could
get to his arms : otherwise, he told me, he would have been killed rather than taken, since
he expected no mercy from them. With himself they seized his papers and instructions, by
which it appeared he had been gentler than his orders were. So they resolved to keep him,
and exchange him as occasion should be offered. But they did not tell him what they in-
tended to do with him : so he thought, they were keeping him, till they might hang him
up with the more solemnity. There was considerable cash in his hands, partly for the pay
of his men, partly of the fines which he had raised in the country, that was seized ; but he,
to whom they trusted the keeping of it, ran away with it. They spread a report, which
they have since printed, and it passed for some time current, that this rising was the effect
of a sudden heat, that the country was put into, by seeing one of their neighbours tied on a
horse hand and foot, and carried away, only because he could not pay a high fine that was
set upon him ; and that upon this provocation the neighbours who did not know how soon
such usage would fall to their own turn ran together, and rescued him ; and that, fearing some
severe usage for that, they kept together, and that, others coming in to them, they went on,
and seized Turner. But this was a story made only to beget compassion : for, after the in-
surrection was quashed, the privy council sent some round the country, to examine the
violences that had been committed, particularly in the parish where it was given out that
this was done. I read the report they made to the council, and all the depositions that the
people of the country made before them : but this was not mentioned in any one of
them.
The news of this rising was brought to Edmuurgh, fame increasing their numbers to
some thousands. And this happening to be near Carlisle, the governor of that place sent an
express to court, in which the strength of the party was magnified much beyond the truth.
The earl of Rothes was then at court, who had assured the king, that all things were so
well managed in Scotland, that they were in perfect quiet. There were, he said, some
stubborn fanatics still left that would be soon subdued : but there was no danger from any
thing that they or their party could do. He gave no credit to the express from Carlisle :
but, two days after, the news was confirmed by an express from Scotland. Sharp was then
was destroyed could never be nearly computed. The Although, when rebuilt, the city was incalculably
Stationers' Company lost 200,000/." The lord mayor, improved by the houses being built more substantially, and
sir Thomas Blud worth, was much blamed for not acting the streets wider, yet the opportunity was lost of exer-
more energetically. When requested to order houses to cising the authority of the legislature, which for the
be pulled down, to cut off the means of communication public welfare might justly have enacted, that the plans
from the flames, he made no other answer than, " he of sir Christopher Wren should be pursued, which would
durst not do. it without the consent of the owners." — have rendered London the most elegant and most con-
Continuation of Clarendon's Life, 348, &c. venient city of Europe. One great national benefit
One of the inscriptions on the Monument thus details that was suggested by the calamity, originated with
the extent of the destruction. " It consumed 89 churches ; Dr. Barrow, one of the chief rebuilders of the city. This
the City Gates ; Guildhall ; many public structures : was the institution of an Insurance Office, afterwards
32,000 private houses ; 400 streets. Of the 26 wards sanctioned by the government,
it totally destroyed 15, and half-burnt 8 othcrg. The
ruins occupied 436 acres."
OF K1NU CHARLES II. 159
at the head of the government : so he managed this little war, and gave all the orders and
directions in it. Dalziel was commanded to draw all the forces they had together which lay then
dispersed in quarters. When that was done, he marched westward. A great many ran to
the rebels, who came to be called Whigs. At Lanark in Clydesdale they had a solemn
fast day, in which, after much praying, they renewed the covenant, and set out their mani-
festo : in which they denied, that they rose against the king ; they complained of the
oppression under which they had groaned ; they desired that episcopacy might be put down,
and that presbytery, and the covenant, might be set up, and their ministers restored again to
them ; and then they promised, that they would be in all other things the king's most obe-
dient subjects. The earl of Argyle raised fifteen hundred men, and wrote to the council
that he was ready to march upon order. Sharp thought, that if he came into the country,
either he or his men would certainly join with the rebels : so he sent him no order at all.
But he was at the charge of keeping his men together to no purpose. Sharp was all the
while in a dreadful consternation, and wrote dismal letters to court, praying that the forces
which lay in the north of England might be ordered down : for, he wrote, they were
surrounded with the rebels, and did not -know what was become of the king's forces. He
also moved, that the council would go, and shut themselves up in the Castle of Edinburgh.
But that was opposed by the rest of the board, as an abandoning of the town, and the
betraying an unbecoming fear, which might very much encourage the rebels, and such as in-
tended to go over to them. Orders were given out for raising the country : but there was no
militia yet formed. In the meanwhile Dalziel followed the rebels as close as he could. He
published a proclamation of pardon, as he was ordered, to all that should in twenty-four
hours' time return to their houses, and declared all that continued any longer in arms rebels.
He found the country was so well affected towards them, that he could get no sort of intelli-
gence, but what his own parties brought in to him. The Whigs marched towards Edinburgh,
and came within two miles of the town. But, finding neither town nor country declare for
them, and that all the hopes their leaders had given them proved false, they lost heart. From
being once above two thousand they were now come to be not above eight or nine hundred.
So they resolved to return back to the west, where they knew the people were of their
side ; and where they could more easily disperse themselves, and get either into England or
Ireland. The ministers were very busy in all those counties, plying people of rank not to
forsake their brethren in this extremity. And they had got a company of about three or
fourscore gentlemen together, who were marching towards them, when they heard of their
defeat : and upon that they dispersed themselves. The rebels thought to have marched
back by the way of Pentland Hill. They were not much concerned for the few horses they
had. And they knew that Dalziel, whose horse was fatigued with a fortnight's constant
march, could not follow them. And if they had gained but one night more in their march,
they had got out of his reach. But on the twenty-eighth of November, about an hour
before sunset, he came up to them. They were posted on the top of a hill : so he engaged
with a great disadvantage. They, finding they could not get off, stopped their inarch. Their
ministers did all they could by preaching and praying to infuse courage into them : and
they sung the seventy-fourth and the seventy-eighth psalms. And so they turned on the king's
forces. They received the first charge that was given by the troop of guards very resolutely,
and put them in disorder. But that was all the action ; for immediately they lost all order,
and ran for their lives. It was now dark : about forty were killed on the spot and a hundred
and thirty were taken. The rest were favoured by the darkness of the night, and the
weariness of the king's troops, that were not in case to pursue them and had no great heart
to it : for they were a poor harmless company of men, become mad by oppression : and they
had taken nothing during all the time they had been together, but what had been freely
given them by the countiy people. The rebellion was broken with the loss of only five on
the king's side. The general came next day into Edinburgh with his prisoners.
The two archbishops were now delivered out of all their fears : and the common obser-
vation that cruelty and cowardice go together, was too visibly verified on this occasion.
Lord Rothes came down full of rage : and that being inflamed by the two archbishops, he
resolved to proceed with the utmost severity against the prisoners. Burnet advised the
I
160 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
hanging of all those who would not renounce the covenant, and promise to conform to the
laws for the future : but that was thought too severe. Yet he was sent up to London, to
procure of the king an instruction, that they should tender the declaration renouncing the
covenant to all who were thought disaffected ; and proceed against those who refused that,
as against seditious persons. The best of the episcopal clergy set upon the bishops, to lay
hold on this opportunity for regaining the affections of the country, by becoming intercessors
for the prisoners, and for the country, that was like to be quartered on and eaten up, for the
favour they had expressed to them. Many of the bishops went into this, and particularly
Wishart of Edinburgh, though a rough man, and sharpened by ill usage. Yet upon this
occasion he expressed a very Christian temper, such as became one who had felt what the
rigours of a prison had been ; for he sent every day very liberal supplies to the prisoners ;
which was indeed done by the whole town, in so bountiful a manner, that many of them,
who being shut up had neither air nor exercise, were in greater danger by their plenty, than
they had been by all their unhappy campaign. But Sharp could not be mollified. On the
contrary he encouraged the ministers, in the disaffected counties, to bring in all the informa-
tions they could gather, both against the prisoners, and against all those who had been
among them, that they might be sought for, and proceeded against. Most of those got over
to Ireland. But the ministers in those parts acted so ill a part, so unbecoming their cha-
racters, that the aversion of the country to them was increased to all possible degrees : they
looked on them now as wolves, and not as shepherds. It was a moving sight to see ten of
the prisoners hanged upon one gibbet at Edinburgh : thirty-five more were sent to their
countries, and hanged up before their own doors ; their ministers all the while using them
hardly, and declaring them damned for their rebellion. They might all have saved their
lives, if they would have renounced the covenant : so they were really a sort of martyrs for
it. They did all at their death give their testimony, according to their phrase, to the
covenant, and to all that had been done pursuant to it : and they expressed great joy in their
sufferings. Most of them were but mean and inconsiderable men in all respects : yet even
these were firm and inflexible in their persuasions : many of them escaped, notwithstanding
that great search was made for them. Guthry, the chief of their preachers, was hid in my
mother's house, who was bred to her brother Wariston's principles, and could never be moved
from them : he died next spring. One Maccail, that was only a probationer preacher, and
who had been chaplain in sir James Steward's house, had gone from Edinburgh to them. It
was believed, he was sent by the party in town, and that he knew their correspondents. So
he was put to the torture, which in Scotland they call the boots ; for they put a pair of iron
boots close on the leg, and drive wedges between these mi the leg. The common torture
was only to drive these in the calf of the leg : but I have been told they were sometimes
driven upon the shin bone. He bore the torture with great constancy : and either he could
say nothing, or he had the firmness not to discover those who had trusted him. Every man of
them could have saved his own life, if he would accuse any other : but they were all true to
their friends. Maccail, for all the pains of the torture, died in a rapture of joy : his last
words were, " Farewell sun, moon, and stars, farewell kindred and friends, farewell world
and time, farewell weak and frail body, welcome eternity, welcome angels and saints, wel-
come Saviour of the world, and welcome God the Judge of all ; " which he spoke with a voice
and manner that struck all that heard it.
His death was the more cried out on, because it came to be known afterwards, that Burnet,
who had come down before his execution, had brought with him a letter from the king, in
which he approved of all that they had done ; but added, that he thought there was blood
enough shed, and therefore he ordered that such of the prisoners, as should promise to obey the
laws for the future, should be set at liberty, and that the incorrigible should be sent to the plan-
tations. Burnet let the execution go on, before he produced his letter, pretending there
was no council day between. But he, who knew the contents of it, ought to have moved
the lord Rothes to call an extraordinary council to prevent the execution. So that blood
was laid on him. He was, contrary to his natural temper, very violent at that time, much
inflamed by his family, and by all about him. Thus this rebellion, that might have been
so turned in the conclusion of it, that the clergy might have gained reputation and honour
OF KING CHARLES II. HU
by a wise and merciful conduct, did now exasperate the country more than ever against the
church. The forces were ordered to lie in the west, where Dalziel acted the Muscovite too
grossly. He threatened to spit men, arid to roast them : and he killed some in cold blood,
or rather in hot blood ; for he was then drunk, when he ordered one to be hanged, because
he would not tell where his father was, for whom he was in search. When he heard of any
that did not go to church, he did not trouble himself to set a fine upon him : but he set as
many soldiers upon him, as should eat him up in a night *. By this means all people were
struck with such a terror, that they came regularly to church. And the clergy were so
delighted with it, that they used to speak of that time, as the poets do of the golden age.
They never interceded for any compassion to their people ; nor did they take care to live
more regularly, or to labour more carefully. They looked on the soldiery as their patrons :
they were ever in their company, complying with them in their excesses : and, if they were
not much wronged, they rather led them into them, than checked them for them. Dalziel
himself and his officers were so disgusted with them, that they increased the complaints,
that had now more credit from them, than from those of the country, who were looked on as
their enemies. Things of so strange a pitch in vice were told of them, that they seemed
scarcely credible. The person, whom I believed the best as to all such things, was one sir
John Cunningham, an eminent lawyer, vho had an estate in the country, and was the most
extraordinary man of his profession in that kingdom. He was episcopal beyond most men
in Scotland, who for the far greatest part thought, that forms of government were in their
own nature indifferent, and might be either good or bad according to the hands in which
they fell ; whereas he thought episcopacy was of a divine right, settled by Christ. He was
not only very learned in the civil and canon law, and in the philosophical learning, but
was very universal in all other learning : he was a great divine, and well read in the fathers,
and in ecclesiastical history. He was, above all, a man of eminent probity, and of a sweet
temper, and indeed one of the most pious men of the nation. The state of the church in
those parts went to his heart : for it was not easy to know, how to keep an even hand
between the perverseness of the people on the one side, and the vices of the clergy on the
other. They looked on all those that were sensible of their miscarriages, as enemies of the
church. It was after all hard to believe all that was set about against them.
The king's affairs in England forced him to soften his government every where. So at
this time the earls of Tweedale and Kincardine went to court, and laid before the king the
ill state the country was in. Sir Robert Murray talked often with him about it. Lord
Lauderdale was more cautious by reason of the jealousy of his being a presbyterian. Upon
all which the king resolved to put Scotland into other hands. A convention of estates had
been called the year before, to raise money for maintaining the troops. This was a very
ancient practice in the Scottish constitution : a convention was summoned to meet within
twenty days : they could only levy money, and petition for the redress of grievances ; but
could make no new laws ; and meddle only with that for which they were brought together.
In the former convention Sharp had presided, being named by the earl of Rothes as the
king's commissioner. In the winter 1666, or rather in the spring 1667, there was another
convention called, in wrhich the king, by a special letter, appointed duke Hamilton to pre-
side. And the king, in a letter to lord Rothes, ordered him to write to Sharp to stay within
his own diocese, and to come no more to Edinburgh. He upon this was struck with so deep
a melancholy, that he shewed as great an abjectness under this slight disgrace, as he had
shewed insolence before, when he had more favour. The convention continued the assessment
for another year at 6,000^. a month. Sharp, finding he was now under a cloud, studied to
make himself popular by looking after the education of the marquis of Huntley, now duke
of Gordon. He had an order long before from the king to look to his education, that he
* General Thomas D;ilziel, or Dalyell, was a good fought in the Russian service against the Tartars and
soldier, and firm in his loyalty; what other mei its he Poles until the year 1665, when he was recalled by Charles
possessed are unknown to the editor. He never shaved his the Second. He continued as lieutenant-general in Scot-
beard after the execution of Charles the First, it conse- land until his death in 1685. Characteristic anecdotes
uently descended almost to his girdle. He was taken of him are given in sir John Dalrymple's Memoirs, and in
'soner by Cromwell at the battle of Worcester; but, Captain Creichton's Memoirs, printed in Swift's Works. —
a long imprisonment, he escaped from the Tower, and Grainger's Biog. History.
M
102 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
might be bred a protestant ; for the strength of popery within that kingdom lay in his
family. But, though this was ordered during the earl of Middleton's ministry, Sharp had
not all this while looked after it. The earl of Rothes's mistress was a papist, and nearly
related to the marquis of Huntley. So Sharp, either to make his court the better, or at the
Lord Rothes's desire, had neglected it these four years : but now he called for him. He was
then above fifteen, well hardened in his prejudices by the loss of so much time. What pains
were taken on him, I know not. But, after a trial of some months, Sharp said, he saw he
was not to be wrought on, and sent him back to his mother. So the interest that popery
had in Scotland, was believed to be chiefly owing to Sharp's compliance with the earl of
Rothes's amours. The neglect of his duty in so important a matter was much blamed : but
the doing it upon such a motive was reckoned yet more infamous. After the convention
was over, lord Rothes sent up Drummond to represent to the king the ill affections of the
western parts. And, to touch the king in a sensible point, he said, the covenant stuck so
deep in their hearts, that no good could be done till that was rooted out. So he proposed, as
an expedient, that the king would give the council a power, to require all whom they sus-
pected to renounce the covenant, and to proceed against such as refused it as traitors.
Drummond had yet too much the air of Russia about him, though not with Dalziel's fierce-
ness : he had a great measure of knowledge and learning, and some true impressions of reli-
gion : but he thought that upon such powers granted, there would be great dealing in bribes
and confiscations. A slight accident happened, which raised a jest that spoiled his errand.
The king flung the cover of the letter from Scotland into the fire, which was carried up all
in a flame, and set the chimney on fire : upon which it was said, that the Scotch letter had
fired Whitehall : and it was answered, the cover had almost set Whitehall on fire, but the
contents of it would certainly set Scotland all in a flame. It was said that the law for
renouncing the covenant, inferring only a forfeiture of employments, to those who refused it,
the stretching it so far as was now proposed would be liable to great exception. Yet in
compliance with a public message the instruction was sent down as it was desired : but by a
private letter lord Rothes was ordered to make no use of it, except upon a special command ;
since the king had only given way to what was desired, to strike terror into the ill affected.
The secret of it broke out : so it had no effect, but to make the lord Rothes and his party
more odious. Burnet, upon Sharp's disgrace, grew to be more considered. So he was sent
up with a proposition of a very extraordinary nature, that the western counties should be
cantoned under a special government, and peculiar taxes, together with the quartering of
soldiers upon them. It was said, that those counties put the nation to the charge of keep-
ing up such a force : and therefore it seemed reasonable that the charge should lie wholly
on them. He also proposed that a special council should be appointed to sit at Glasgow :
and, among other reasons to enforce that motion, he said to the king, and afterwards to lord
Lauderdale, that some at the council board were ill affected to the church, and favoured her
enemies, and that traitors had been pleaded for at that board. Lord Lauderdale wrote down
presently to know what ground there was for this ; since, if it was not true, he had Burnet
at mercy for leasing-making, which was more criminal when the whole council was con-
cerned in the lie that was made. The only ground for this was, that one of the rebels, ex-
cepted in the indemnity that was proclaimed some time before, being taken, and, it being
evident that his brain was turned, it was debated in council, whether he should be proceeded
against, or not : some argued against that, and said, it would be a reproach to the govern-
ment to hang a madman. This could in no sort justify such a charge : so lord Lauder-
dale resolved to make use of it in due time. The proposition itself was rejected, as that
which the king could not do by law. Burnet upon this went to the lord Clarendon, and
laid before him the sad state of their affairs in Scotland. He spoke to the king of it : and
he took care to set the English bishops on the king, with whom Burnet had more credit, as
more entirely theirs, than ever Sharp had. The earl of Clarendon's credit was then
declining : and it was a clear sign of it, when the king told lord Lauderdale all that he had
said to him on Scotch affairs, which provoked him extremely. Burnet was sent down with
good words : but the king was resolved to put the affairs of Scotland under another manage-
ment. Lord Kincardine came down in April, and told me that the Lord Rothes was to
OF KING CHARLES II. IGO
be stripped of all his places, and to be only loid chancellor. The earl of Tweedale and sii
Robert Murray were to have the secret in their hands. He told me, the peace was as good
as made : and when that was done, the army would be disbanded ; and things would
be managed with more temper both in church and state. This was then so great a secret
that neither the Lord Rothes, nor the two arehbishops, had the least hint of it. Some time
after this, lord Rothes went to the north : upon which an accident happened that hastened
his fall.
The Scots had, during the war, set out many privateers ; and these had brought in many
rich prizes. The Dutch, being provoked with this, sent Van Ghendt with a good fleet into
the Frith, to burn the coast, and to recover such ships as were in that part. He came into
the Frith on the first of May. If he had at first hung out English colours, and attacked
Leith harbour immediately, which was then full of ships, he might have done what mischief
he pleased : for all were secure, and were looking for sir Jeremy Smith with some frigates,
for the defence of the coast, since the king had set out no fleet this year. There had been
such a dissipation of treasure, that, for all the money that was given, there was not enough
left to set out a fleet. But the court covered this by saying, the peace was as good as con-
cluded at Breda, where the lord Hollis and sir William Coventry were treating about it as
plenipotentiaries : and though no cessation was agreed on, yet they reckoned on it as sure.
Upon this, a saying of the earl of Northumberland's was much repeated : when it was said,
that the king's mistress was like to ruin the nation, he said, it was she that saved the nation.
While we had a house of commons that gave all the money that was asked, it was better
to have the money squandered away in luxury and prodigality, than to have it saved for
worse purposes. Van Ghendt did nothing in the Frith for some hours : he shot against Brunt-
island without doing any mischief. The country people ran down to the coast, and made
a great show. But this was only a feint, to divert the king from that which was chiefly in-
tended : for he sailed out, and joined De Ruyter : and so the shameful attack was made
upon the river of Medway : the chain at the month of it, which was then all its security,
was broken : and the Dutch fleet sailed up to Chatham : of which I will say no more in this
place, but go on with the affairs of Scotland.
Lord Rothes being out of the way when the country was in such danger, was severely
aggravated by the lord Lauderdale, and did bring on the change somewhat the sooner. In
June, sir Robert Murray came down with a letter from the king superseding lord Rothes's
commission, putting the treasury in commission, and making lord Rothes lord chancellor.
He excused himself from being raised to that post all he could ; and desired to continue
lord treasurer : but he struggled in vain, and was forced to submit at last. Now all was
turned to a more sober, and more moderate management. Even Sharp grew meek and
humble : and said to myself, " it was a greut happiness to have to< deal with sober and
serious men ; for lord Rothes and his crew were perpetually drunk." When the peace of
Breda was concluded, the king wrote to the Scotch council, and communicated that to them ;
and with that signified, that it was his pleasure that the army should be disbanded. The
earl of Rothes, Burnet, and all the officers, opposed this much. The rebellious disposition
of the western counties was much aggravated : it seemed necessary to govern them by a
military power. Several expedients were proposed on the other hand. Instead of renouncing
the covenant, in which they pretended there were many points of religion concerned, a bond
was proposed for keeping the peace, and against rising in arms. This seemed the better
test ; since it secured the public quiet, and the peace of the country, which was at present
the most necessary : the religious part was to be left to time, and good management. So
an indemnity of a more comprehensive nature was proclaimed : and the bond was all the
security that was demanded. Many came into the bond : though there were some among
them that pretended scruples : for, it was said, peace was a word of a large extent : it
might be pretended, that obeying all the laws was implied in it. Yet the far greater
number submitted to this. Those who were disturbed with scruples were a few melancholy
inconsiderable persons.
In order to the disbanding the army with more security it was proposed, that a county
militia should be raised, and trained for securing the public peace. The two archbishops
M2
1G4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
did not like this : they said, the commons, of whom the militia must be composed, being
generally ill affected to the church, this would be a prejudice rather than a security. But,
to content them, it was concluded that in counties that were ill affected there should be no
foot raised, and only some troops of horse. Burnet complained openly, that he saw
episcopacy was to be pulled down, and that in such an extremity he could not look on, and
be silent. He wrote upon these matters a long and sorrowful letter to Sheldon : and upon
that Sheldon wrote a very long one to sir R. Murray ; which I read, and found more
temper and moderation in it, than I could have expected from him. Murray had got
so far into his confidence, and he seemed to depend so entirely on his sincerity, that no in-
formations against him could work upon Sheldon. Upon Burnet's carrying things so high,
Sharp was better used and was brought again to the council board, where he began to talk
of moderation : and in the debate concerning the disbanding the army, he said, it was better
to expose the bishops to whatsoever might happen, than to have the kingdom governed for
their sakes by a military power. Yet in private he studied to possess all people with pre-
judices against the persons then employed, as the enemies of the church. At that time lord
Lauderdale got the king to write to the privy council, letting them know that he had been
informed traitors had been pleaded for at that board. This was levelled at Burnet.
The council in their answer, as they denied the imputation, so they desired to know, who
it was that had so aspersed them. Burnet/ when the letter was offered to him to be signed
by him, said, he could not say traitors had never been pleaded for at that board, since he
himself had once pleaded for one, and put them in mind of the particular case. After this
he saw how much he had exposed himself, and grew tamer. The army was disbanded : so
lord Rothes^ authority as general, as well as his commission, was now at an end, after it had
lasted three years. The pretence of his commission was the preparing matters for a national
synod : yet in all that time there was not one step made towards one : for the bishops seemed
concerned only for their authority, and their revenues, and took no care of regulating, either
the worship, or the discipline. The earls of Rothcs and Tweedale went to court. The
former tried what he could do, by the duke of Monmouth's means, who had married his
niece. But he was then young, and was engaged in a mad ramble after pleasure, and
minded no business. So lord Rothes saw the necessity of applying himself to lord Lauder-
dale ; and he did dissemble his discontent so dexterously, that he seemed well pleased to be
freed from the load of business, that lay so heavy upon him. He moved to have his accounts
of the treasury passed, to which great exceptions might have been made ; and to have an
approbation passed under the great seal of all he had done while he was the king's commis-
sioner. Lord Tweedale was against both ; and moved, that he should be for some time kept
under the lash : he knew, that, how humble soever he was at that time, he would be no
sooner secured from being called to an account for what was passed, than he would set up a
cabal in opposition to every thing ; whereas they were sure of his good behaviour, as long
as he continued to be so obnoxious. The king loved lord Rothes : so the earl of Lauderdale
consented to all he asked. But they quickly saw good cause to repent of their for-
wardness.
At this time a great change happened in the course of the earl of Lauderdale's life, which
made the latter part of it "very different from what the former had been. Mr. Murray, of
the bed-chamber, had been page and whipping-boy to king Charles the First ; and had great
credit with him, not only in procuring private favours, but in all his counsels. He was well
turned for a court, very insinuating, but very false ; and of so revengeful a temper, that
rather than any of the counsels given by his enemies should succeed, he would have revealed
them, and betrayed both the king and them. It was generally believed, that he had dis-
covered the most important of all his secrets to his enemies. He had one particular quality,
that when he was drunk, which was very often, he was upon a most exact reserve, though he
was pretty open at all other times. He got a warrant to be an earl, which was signed at
Newcastle. Yet he got the king to antedate it, as if it had been signed at Oxford, to get
the precedence of some whom he hated : but he did not pass it under the great seal during
that king's life, but did it after his death ; so his warrant, not being passed, died with the
king. His eldest daughter, to whom his honour, such as it was, descended, married sir
OF KING CHARLES II. 10J
Lionel Tollmasli of Suffolk, a man of a noble family. After her father's death, she took the
title of countess of Dysart. She was a woman of great beauty, but of far greater parts.
She had a wonderful quickness of apprehension, and an amazing vivacity in conversation.
She had studied not only divinity and history, but mathematics and philosophy. She was
violent in every thing she set about, a violent friend, but a much more violent enemy. She
had a restless ambition, lived at a vast expense, and was ravenously covetous ; and would
have stuck at nothing by which she might compass her ends. She had been early in a cor-
respondence with lord Lauderdale, that had given occasion to censure. When he was prisoner
after Worcester fight, she made him believe he was in great danger of his life, and that she
saved it by her intrigues with Cromwell : which was not a little taken notice of. Cromwell
was certainly fond of her, and she took care to entertain him in it ; till he, finding what
was said upon it, broke it off. Upon the king's restoration, she thought that lord Lauder-
dale made not those returns that she expected. They lived for some years at a distance.
But upon her husband's death she made up all quarrels: so that lord Lauderdale and she
lived so much together, that his lady was offended at it, and went to Paris, where she died
about three years after. The lady Dysart came to have so much power over the lord Lauder-
dale, that it lessened him much in the esteem of all the world ; for he delivered himself up to
all her humours and passions. All applications were made to her : she took upon her to
determine every thing : she sold all places, and was wanting in no methods that could bring
her money, which she lavished out in a most profuse vanity. As the conceit took her, she
made him fall out with all his friends, one after another : with the earls of Argyle, Twee-
dale, and Kincardine, with duke Hamilton, the marquis of Athol, and sir Robert Murray,
who all had their turns in her displeasure, which very quickly drew lord Lauderdale's after it.
If after such names it is not a presumption to name myself, I had my share likewise. From
that time, to the end of his days, he became quite another sort of man than he had been, in
all the former parts of his life. Sir Robert Murray had been designed by her father to be
her husband, and was long her true friend. She knew his integrity was proof against all
attempts. He had been hitherto the lord Lauderdale's chief friend, and main support. He
had great esteem paid him, both by the king and by the whole court ; and he employed it
all for the earl of Lauderdale's service. He used great freedom with him at proper times ;
and was a faithful adviser, and reprover as far as the other could bear it. Lady Dysart laid
hold on his absence in Scotland to make a breach between them. She wade lord Lauderdale
believe, that Murray assumed to himself the praise of all that was done, and was not ill
pleased to pass as his governor. Lord Lauderdale's pride was soon fired with those ill
impressions.
The government of Scotland had now another face. All payments were regularly made :
there was an overplus of 10,000/. of the revenue saved every year. A magazine of arms was
bought with it : and there were several projects set on foot for the encouragement of trade and
manufactures. Lord Tweedale and sir Robert Murray were so entirely united, that, as they never
disagreed, so all plied before them. Lord Tweedale was made a privy councillor in England :
and, his son having married the earl of Lauderdale's only child, they seemed to be inseparably
united. When he came down from London, he brought a letter from the king to the council,
recommending the concerns of the church to their care : in particular, he charged them to
suppress conventicles, which began to spread generally through the western counties : for
upon the disbanding the army, the country, being delivered from that terror, did now
forsake their churches, and got their old ministers to come among them ; and they were
not wanting in holding conventicles from place to place. The king wrote also by him a
letter to Sharp with his own pen, in which he assured him of his zeal for the church, and
of his favour to himself. Lord Tweedale hoped this would have gained him to his side :
but he was deceived in it. Sharp quickly returned to his former insolence. Upon the earl
of Tweedale's return, there was a great application to public business : no vice was in repu-
tation : justice was impartially administered : and a commission was sent to the western
I counties to examine into all the complaints of unjust and illegal oppressions by Turner,
Dalziel, and others. Turner's warrants had been seized with himself: and, though upon
the defeat given the Whigs he was left by them, so that, beyond all men's expectations, he
1GG THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
escaped out of their hands, yet he had nothing to justify himself by. The truth is, this in-
quiry was chiefly levelled at lord Rothes and Burnet, to cast the odium of the late rebellion on
their injustice and ill conduct. And it was intended that Turner should accuse them ; but
he had 110 vouchers to shew. These were believed to be withdrawn by an artifice of the lord
Rothes. But, before the matter was quite ended, those in whose hands his papers were left,
sent them sealed up to his lodgings. But he was by that time broken. So since the govern-
ment had used him hardly, he, who was a man of spirit, would not show his vouchers
nor expose his friends. So that matter was carried no farther. And the people of the
country cried out against those censures. It was said, that when by such violent pro-
ceedings men had been inflamed to a rebellion, upon which so much blood was
shed, all the reparation given was, that an officer or two were broken ; and a great
man was taken down a little upon it, without making any public examples for the deterring
others.
Sir Robert Murray went through the west of Scotland. When he came back, he told me,
the clergy were such a set of men, so ignorant, and so scandalous, that it was not possible to
support them, unless the greatest part of them could be turned out, and better men found
to be put in their places. But it was not easy to know how this could be done. Burnet
had placed them all : and he thought himself in some sort bound to support them. The
clergy were so linked together, that none of them could be got to concur in getting proofs of
crimes brought against their brethren. And the people of the country pretended scruples.
They said, to accuse a minister before a bishop was an acknowledging his jurisdiction over
his clergy, or, to use a hard word much in use among them, it wTas homologating his power.
So Murray proposed, that a court should be constituted by a special commission from the
king, made up of some of the laity as well as the clergy, to try the truth of these scandalous
reports that went upon the clergy : and he wrote about it to Sheldon, who approved of it.
Sharp also seemed well pleased with it, though he abhorred it in his heart : for he thought it
struck at the root of their authority, and was Erastianism in the highest degree. Burnet
said, it was a turning him out of his bishopric, and the declaring him either incapable of
Judging his clergy, or unworthy of that trust. His clergy cried out upon it ; and said, it
was a delivering them up to the rage of their enemies, who hated them only for the sake of
their functions, and for their obedience to the laws ; and that, if irregular methods were taken
to encourage them, they would get any thing, true or false, to be sworn against them. The
difficulties that arose upon this put a stop to it. And the earl of Lauderdale's aversion to
sir Robert Murray began a disjointing of all the councils of Scotland. Lord Tweedale had
the chief confidence : and next him, lord Kincardine wTas most trusted. The presbyterians
seeing a softening in the execution of the law, and observing that the archbishops were jea-
lous of lord Tweedale, fancied he was theirs in his heart. Upon that they grew very in-
solent. The clergy were in many places ill used by them. They despaired of any farther
protection from the government. They saw designs were forming to turn them all out :
and, hearing that they might be better provided in Ireland, they were in many places brought
out, and prevailed on to desert their cures. The people of the country hoped, that, upon
their leaving them, they might have their old ministers again ; and upon that were willing
enough to enter into those bargains with them : and so in a very little time there were many
vacancies made all over those counties. The lord Tweedale took great pains to engage
Leighton into the same counsels with him. He had magnified him highly to the king, as
much the greatest man of the Scotch clergy. And the lord Tweedale's chief aim with
relation to church matters, was to set him at the head of them : for he often said to me, that j
more than two parts in three of the whole business of the government related to the church. 1
So he studied to bring in a set of episcopal men of another stamp, and to set Leighton at
their head. He studied to draw in Mr. Charteris. But he had such sad thoughts of man-
kind, and such humble ones of himself, that he thought little good could be done, and that as
to that little he was not a proper instrument. Leighton was prevailed on to go to London,
where, as he told me, he had two audiences of the king. He laid before him the madness of
the former administration of church affairs, and the necessity of turning to more moderate
:ounsels : in particular, he proposed a comprehension of the presbyterian party, by altering
OF KING CHARLES II. 107
the terms of the laws a little, and by such abatements as might preserve the whole for the
future, by granting somewhat for the present. But he entered into no expedients ; only he
studied to fix the king in the design that the course of his affairs led him to, though contrary
to his own inclinations, both in England and Scotland. In order to the opening this, I must
change the scene.
The Dutch war had turned so fatally on the king, that it made it necessary for him to
try how to recover the affections and esteem of his people. He found a slackening the
execution of the law went a great way, in the city of London, and with the trading part of
the nation. The house of commons continued still in their fierceness and aversion to all
moderate propositions ; but in the intervals of parliament the execution was softened. The
earl of Clarendon found his credit was declining, that all the secrets of state were trusted to
Bennet, and that he had no other share in them than his post required. The lady Castle-
main set herself most violently against him ; and the duke of Buckingham, as often AS he
was admitted to any familiarities with the king, studied with all his wit and humour to
make lord Clarendon and all his counsels appear ridiculous. Lively jests were at all times
apt to take with the king. The earl of Clarendon fell under two other misfortunes before
the war broke out. The king had granted him a large piece of ground near St. James's to
build a house on : he intended a good ordinary house ; but, not understanding those matters
himself, he put the managing of that into the hands- of others, who ran him into a vast
charge, of about 50,000^., three times as much as he had designed to lay out upon it. During
the wTar, and in the plague year, he had about three hundred men at work, which he thought
would have been an acceptable thing, when so many men were kept at work, and so much
money, as was duly paid, circulated about. But it had a contrary effect ; it raised a great
outcry against him. Some called it Dunkirk house, intimating that it was built by his
share of the price of Dunkirk. Others called it Holland house, because he was believed to
be no friend to the war : so it was given out, that he had the money from the Dutch; It
was visible, that in a time of public calamity he was building a very noble palace* Another
accident W7as, that before the war there were some designs on foot for the repairing of
St. Paul's ; and many stones were brought thither. That project was laid aside during the
war. He upon that bought the stones, and made use of them in building his own house.
This, how slight soever it may seem to be, yet had a great effect by tliq management of his
enemies *.
Another misfortune was, that he lost his chief friend, to whom he trusted most, and who
was his greatest support, the earl of Southampton. The pain of the stone grew upon him
to such a degree, that he had resolved to be cut : but a woman came to him, who pretended
she had an infallible secret of dissolving the stone, and brought such vouchers to him, that
he put himself into her hands. The medicine had a great operation, though it ended fatally ;
for he passed great quantities of gravel, that looked like the coats of a stone sliced off. This
encouraged him to go on, till his pains increased so, that no man was ever seen to die in
such torments : which made him oft tremble all over, so that the bed shook with it : yet he
bore it with an astonishing patience. He not only kept himself from saying any indecent
thing, but endured all that misery with the firmness of a great man, and the submission of
a good Christian. The cause of all appeared when he was opened after his death : for the
medicine had stripped the stone of its outward slimy coats, which made it lie soft and easy
upon the muscles of the bladder ; whereas, when these were dissolved, the inner and harder
parts of the stone, that were all ragged by the dissolution that was begun, lay upon the neck
* Clarendon, it seems, observed to sir Stephen Fox — first assurance to the courtiers of the chancellor's being
" If my friends can but forgive me the folly of the great in disfavour with the king, was the latter permitting Henry
house, there is nothing they may not well defend me upon Killigrew to mimic him. This wit and humorist imitated
against my enemies." — Oxford ed. of this work. The earl him very closely both as to voice and gesture, and the
of Dartmouth has left recorded, that he heard the earl of burlesque was rendered more ridiculous by his having
Carbcrry say, he did not know a single crime committed others to carry the fire-shovel before him as a mace, whilst
by Clarendon ; but he well knew that if he brought • he bore the 'bellows instead of the official purse. Tho
charges against the chancellor, he had so many enemies duchess of Cleveland took care to let the chancellor
that he should not fail for want of assistance to substan- know the insult that was thus offered him, with the hope
tiate them. — Ibid. The same authority states, that the that he would indignantly retire from office.
I
1G8
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
of the bladder, which raised those violent pains of which he died *. The court was now
delivered of a great man, whom they did not much love, and who they knew did not love
them. The treasury was put in commission ; and the earl of Clarendon had no interest
there t. He saw the war, though managed by other counsels, yet was like to end in his
ruin : for all errors were cast on him. The business of Chatham was a terrible blow ; and
though the loss was great, the infamy was greater. The parliament had given above five
millions towards the war ; but, through the luxury and waste of the court, this money was
so squandered away, that the king could neither set out a fleet, nor defend his coasts. Upon
the news of the Dutch fleet's being in the river, the king did not ride down himself, nor
appear at the head of his people, who were then in such imminent danger. He only sent
the duke of Albemarle down, and was intending to retire to Windsor. But that looked so
like a flying from danger, that he was prevailed on to stay. And it was given out, that he
was very cheerful that night at supper with his mistresses, which drew many libels upon
him, that were written with as much wit as malice, and brought him under a general con-
tempt. He was compared to Nero, who sang while Rome was burning. A day or two
after that he rode through London, accompanied with the most popular men of his court, and
assured the citizens he would live and die with his people, upon which there were some
acclamations ; but the matter went heavily. The city was yet in ashes ; and the jealousy
of burning it on design had got so among them, that the king himself was not free from
suspicion. If the Dutch had pursued their advantage in the first consternation, they might
have done more mischief, and have come a great way up the Thames, and burnt many
merchant ships ; but they thought they had done enough, and so they sailed away. The
court was at a stand what to do, for the French had assured them the treaty was as
good as finished. Whether the French set this on, as that which would both weaken the
fleet of England, and alienate the king so entirely from the Dutch, that he would be easily
engaged into new alliances to revenge this affront, as many believed, I cannot pretend to
determine J.
* It is not within the compass of a note to detail the
character given of Thomas Wrothesly, earl of Southamp-
ton, by him who knew him best, his intimate friend lord
Clarendon. " He was a person," says this authority, " of
extraordinary parts, of faculties very discerning, and
judgment very profound, great eloquence, without the
least affectation of words, for he always spoke best on the
sudden. He was naturally melancholy, and reserved in his
conversation, except towards those with whom he was well
acquainted ; with these he was not only cheerful, but occa-
sionally light and pleasant. He was naturally lazy, and
indulged over much ease to himself ; yet no man could
keep his mind longer bent, or take more pains. In the
treaty of Uxbridge, which was a continued fatigue of
twenty days, he never slept four hours in a night, who had
never used to allow himself less than ten ; and at the
end of the treaty was more vigorous than in the beginning.
He was a man of exemplary loyalty, courage, virtue, and
piety." — See anecdotes of him in Continuation of Claren-
don's Life. He died in May, 1667.
•f* This commission was in opposition to Clarendon's
wishes. The conversation between him, the king, and
the duke of York, is given in the " Continuation of
Clarendon's Life." The commissioners were the duke
of Albemarle, sir John. Duncombe, lord Ashley, and
sir Thomas Clifford.
{ The descent made upon the Dutch coast, at Vly,
or Flie, by our fleet, has been already mentioned ; and
M. De Witt often said, that for this injury and insult,
before any peace was concluded, " the Dutch would
leave some such mark of their having been upon the
English coast, as the English had left of their visit upon
that of Holland.'' To carry this threat into effect,
whilst the treaty at Breda was proceeding, De Ruyter,
having a iuir wind, steered for the Thames. The inha-
bitants of the Kentish coast, upon the appearance of the
Dutch fleet, fled into the interior. It happened that the
earl of Winchelsea, then lord lieutenant of the county,
was absent, as our ambassador in Turkey ; and the deputy-
lieutenants would not any of them venture to take the
chief command. The king immediately sent down
lieutenant-general Middleton, with a commission to draw
together the train-bands, and to command all the forces
raised. He assembled these forces at Rochester. " There
had been enough discourse all that year of erecting a fort
at Sheerness for the defence of the river. The king had
made two journeys thither in the winter, and had given
such orders to the commissioners of the ordnance respect-
ing the fortifications, that every body believed the work
was done. But whatever had been thought or directed,
very little had been done. There were a company or two
of very good soldiers there under excellent officers, but
the fortifications were so weak and unfinished, and all
other provisions so entirely wanting, that the Dutch cannon
soon beat all the works flat, and drove all the men from
the ground." This naturally raised the nation's indigna-
tion, and roused the enervated court; the duke of Albe-
marle marched to Chatham with the guards and other
hastily-collected troops. When he arrived there he found
general Middleton occupying a strong position, and with a
chain passed across the river ; but these were ill-judged
precautions. The Dutch were too wise to land, and as
soon as the tide served, the ships broke through the
chain without difficulty. The great oversight and folly
was, that no cannon were sent down to the place endan-
gered, for the troops without these could only mai
parallel to the advancing ships, who were without the range
of musketry. " There were two or three ships of the
royal navy, negligently, if not treacherously, left in the
river, which might have been very easily drawn into safety,
and could be of no imaginable use where they then were.'r
The duke of Albemarle put himself and a band ol bra\
OF KING CHARLES II.
The earl of Essex was at that time m Paris, on his v/ay home from the waters of Bourbon ;
and he told me, the queen-mother of England sent for him, as being one of her son's privy
council, and told him, the Irish had sent over some to the court of France, desiring money
and arms with some officers, and undertook to put that island into the hands of the French.
He told me, he found the queen was in her inclinations and advices true to her son's interest :
but he was amazed to see, that a woman, who in a drawing-room was the liveliest woman of
the age, and had a vivacity of imagination that surprised all who came near her, yet after
all her practice in affairs had so little either of judgment, or conduct ; and he did not \vonder
at the miscarriage of the late king's counsels, since she had such a share in them. But the
French had then greater things in view. The king of Spain was dead. And now after the
French had managed the war so, that they had been at no part of the expence of it, nor
brought a ship to the assistance of the Dutch in any engagement, and that both England and
Holland had made a great loss both in ships and treasure, they resolved to manage the
peace so, as to oblige the king by giving him a peace, when he was in no condition
to carry on a war. I enter not into our negotiation with the bishop of Munster, nor
his treacherous departing from his engagements, since I know nothing of that matter, but
what is in print.
As soon as the peace was made, the king saw with what disadvantage he was likely to meet
his parliament. So he thought, the disgracing a public minister, who by his being long in
so high a post had drawn upon himself much envy, and many enemies, would cover himself
and the rest of his court. Other things concurred to set this forward. The king was grown
very weary of the queen ; and, it was believed, he had a great mind to be rid of her. The
load of that marriage was cast on the lord Clarendon, as made on design to raise his own
grandchildren. Many members of the house of commons, such as Clifford, Osborn, Ker,
Littleton, and Seymour, were brought to the king ; who all assured him, that upon his
restoration, they intended both to have raised his authority, and to have increased his
revenue ; but that the earl of Clarendon had discouraged it, and that all his creatures had
possessed the house with such jealousies of the king, that they thought it was not fit to
trust him too much, nor too far. This made a deep impression on the king, who was weary
of lord Clarendon's imposing way, and had a mind to be freed from the authority, to which
he had been so long accustomed, that it was not easy to keep him within bounds.
Yet the king was so afraid to engage himself too deep in his own affairs, that it was a
doubt whether he would dismiss him or not, if a concern of one of his amours had not
sharpened his resentment ; so that what other considerations could not do, was brought
about by an ill-grounded jealousy. Mistress Stewart had gained so much on the king, and
yet had kept her ground with so much firmness, that the king seemed to design if possible
to legitimate his addresses to her *, when he saw no hope of succeeding any other way. The
duke of Richmond, being a widower, courted her. The king seemed to give way to it. and
young gentlemen into one, but was persuaded to leave it,
as it would be a useless sacrifice of their lives if they
attempted to defend it. These vessels and some laden
merchantmen were burnt by the Dutch ; and, without
doubt, if they had prosecuted the present advantage they
had with the necessary circumspection and courage, they
might have fired the royal navy at Chatham, and taken
or destroyed all the ships that lay higher in the river ; but
they thought they had done enough, and so returned with
the ebb." " The distraction and consternation of the court
and city was as great as if the Dutch had been not only
masters of the river, but had really landed an army of one
hundred thousand men. They who remember that con-
juncture, and were present in the galleries and privy
lodgings at Whitehall, whither all the world flocked with
equal liberty, can easily call to mind many instances of
such wild despair, and ridiculous apprehensions, that I am
willing to forget, and would not that the least mention of
them should remain. If the king's and duke's personal
composure had not restrained men from expressing their
B, there wanted not some who would have advised
them to leave the city." The Dutch made a demonstra-
tion as if they intended to make a similar descent upon the
coasts of Essex and .Suffolk, whither the duke of York
went to take the command ; but this proceeded no further
than the insult. — Clarendon's Continuation of his Life,
ii. 420. According to the duke of Albcmarle's statement,
laid before the house of commons, the chief blame of the
Dutch doing even the small damage they did, was to be
attributed to commissioner Pctt Chaiullcr's Debates in
House of Commons, i. 114. At the same time the house
shewed by its vote that they felt the chief blame was with
the government, for, notwithstanding the liberal supplies
to maintain the navy, " there was not a sufficient number
of ships left to secure the rivers Mcdway and Thames."
The most authentic narrative of the proceedings in parlia-
ment upon this and other " miscarriages," is in «' Grey's
Debates," i. 23, &c. Pett was impeached, but the pro-
ceedings fell to the ground. Ibid. 39.
* That was by divorcing his queen, and marrying this
lady.
170 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
pretended to take such care of her, that he would have good settlements made for her. He
hoped by that means to have broken the matter decently ; for he knew the duke of Rich-
mond's affairs were in disorder. So the king ordered lord Clarendon to examine the estate
he pretended to settle. But he was told, whether true or false I cannot tell, that lord
Clarendon told her, that the duke of Richmond's affairs, it was true, were not very clear ;
but that a family so nearly related to the king could never be left in distress, and that such
a match would not come in her way every day ; so she had best consider well, before she
rejected it. This was carried to the king, as a design he had that the crown might descend
to his own grandchildren ; and that he was afraid, lest strange methods should be taken to
get rid of the queen, and to make way for her. When the king saw that she had a mind to
marry the duke of Richmond, he offered to make her a duchess, and to settle an estate on
her. Upon this she said, she saw she must either marry him, or suffer much in the opinion
of the world. And she was prevailed on by the duke of Richmond, who was passionately
in love with her, to go privately from Whitehall, and marry him without giving the king
notice. The earl of Clarendon's son, the lord Cornbury, was going to her lodgings, upon
some assignation that she had given him about her affairs, knowing nothing of her intentions.
He met the king in the door coming out full of fury ; and he, suspecting that lord Cornbury
was in the design, spoke to him as one in a rage that forgot all decency, and for some time
would not hear lord Cornbury speak in his own defence. In the afternoon he heard him
with more temper, as he himself told me. Yet this made so deep an impression, that he
resolved to take the seals from his father. The king said to the lord Lauderdale, that he
had talked of the matter with Sheldon, and that he convinced him, that it was necessary to
remove lord Clarendon from his post * ; and, as soon as it was done, the king sent for
Sheldon, and told him what he had done. But he answered nothing. When the king
insisted, to oblige him to declare himself, he said, " Sir, I wish you would put away this
woman that you keep." The king upon that replied sharply, why had he never talked to
him of that sooner, but took this occasion now to speak of it. Lauderdale told me, he
had all this from the king ; and that the king and Sheldon had gone into such expos-
tulations upon it, that from that day forward Sheldon could never recover the king's
confidence.
The seals were given to sir Orlando Bridgman, lord chief justice of the common pleas,
* Clarendon was displaced through the influence of his " I doubt very much that the throwing off an old servant,
inveterate enemy, the duchess of Cleveland, aided by the who has served the crown in some trust near thirty years,
intrigues of sir William Coventry, Mr. Brounker, Mr. May, without any suggestion of a crime, nay, with a declaration
and others, who favoured the Roman Catholic party, of innocence, will call your majesty's justice and good-
Charles sent the duke of York to persuade Clarendon to nature in question ; and men will not know how securely
resign the seals, for he was very willing to sneak away to serve you, when they see it is in the power of three or
from the commission of the resolved injustice of disgracing four persons who had never done you any notable service,
so able, so faithful, and so old a servant. But the chan- nor were in the opinion of those who knew them likely to
cellor requested an audience, and then personally told do so, to dispose your majesty to so ungracious an act."
Charles, with the dignity natural to integrity, that he had In the warmth of his remonstrance, Clarendon says, he
no suit to prefer, or arguments to divert the resolution had an opportunity to mention the duchess of Cleveland,
that had been taken, but humbly to request that he might " with some reflections and cautions, which he might more
be informed what fault he had committed that had drawn advisedly have declined." ' The king was immovable in
upon him his majesty's severity. The king acknowledged his resolution, and the conference, after lasting two hours,
he had nothing to object to him, for he had been faithful terminated. " The garden, that used to be private, had
and honest, and he believed that never king had a better now many in it to observe the countenance of the king,
servant, but that he intended to remove him from office when he came from the room ; and when the chancellor
to assuage the anger of the parliament, and secure him retired, the duchess of Cleveland, lord Arlington, and
from its attacks. Moreover that, he believed that he him- Mr. May, looked together out of her open window with
self wished to resign. To this Clarendon replied, that he great gaiety and triumph." — Clarendon's Continuation of
would never have it understood, that he had willingly his Life, 438, &c. The insult was so marked, and before
delivered up the seals at a time when his majesty stood in so many, that Clarendon could not restrain himself from
need of honest advisers ; and that he would never acknow- addressing to her the rebuke — " Madam, if you live, you
ledge the removal to be for his benefit, because it was a will grow old :" a reflection which would bear with it a
declaration, on the part of his majesty, that he was blame- warning, and a bitter anticipation. On the 30th of
worthy. As to the anger of tlie parliament, he did not August, 1667, Mr. Secretary Maurice reluctantly brought
fear that, for he had never acted in any transaction in a to Clarendon a message requiring him to resign the seal,
way tliat he feared to be judged strictly by the law ; and No sooner was it delivered to the king in his closet, tlian
if the parliament should act injudiciously, the king hud a Mr. May came and kissed his majesty's hand, telling him
controlling power. In conclusion, said the chancellor, " he was now king, which he had never been before.'"
OF KING CHARLES II. 171
then in great esteem, which he did not maintain long after his advancement. His study-
arid practice lay so entirely in the common law, that he never seemed to apprehend what
equity was ; nor had he a head made for business, or for such a court. He was a man of
great integrity, and had very serious impressions of religion on his mind. He had been
always on the side of the church ; yet he had great tenderness for the nonconformists : and
the bishops having all declared for lord Clarendon, except one or two, he, and the new scene
of the ministry, were inclined to favour them *. The duke of Buckingham, who had been
in high disgrace before lord Clarendon's fall, came upon that into high favour, and set up for
a patron of liberty of conscience, and of all the sects. The see of Chester happened to fall
vacant soon after ; and Doctor Wilkins was by his means promoted to that see. It was no
small prejudice to him, that he was recommended by so bad a man. Wilkins had a courage
in him that could stand against a current, and against all the reproaches with which ill-
natured clergymen studied to load him. He said, he was called for by the king, without
any motion of his own, to a public station, in which he would endeavour to do all the good
he could, without considering the ill effects that it might have on himself. The king had
such a command of himself, that when his interest led him to serve any end, or to court any
sort of men, he did it so dexterously, and with such an air of sincerity, that till men were well
practised in him, he was apt to impose on them. He seemed now to go into moderation and
comprehension with so much heartiness, that both Bridgrnan and Wilkins believed he was in
earnest in it : though there was nothing that the popish counsels were more fixed in, than to
oppose all motions of that kind. But the king saw it was necessary to recover the affec-
tions of his people. And, since the church of England was now gone off from him, upon
lord Clarendon's disgrace, he resolved to shew some favour to the sects, both to soften them,
and to force the others to come back to their dependence upon him.
He began also to express his concerns in the affairs of Europe ; and he brought about the
peace between Spain arid Portugal. The French king pretended, that by the law of Bra-
bant, his queen, as the heir of the late king of Spain's first marriage, though a daughter,
was to be preferred to the young king of Spain, the heir of the second venter, without any
regard to the renunciation of any succession to his queen, stipulated by the peace of the
Pyrenees ; and was upon that pretension like to overrun the Netherlands. Temple was sent
over to enter into an alliance with the Dutch, by which some parts of Flanders were yielded
up to France, but a barrier was preserved for the security of Holland f. Into this the king
of Sweden, then a child, was engaged ; so it was called the Triple Alliance. I will say no
more of that, since so particular an account is given of it by him who could do it best,
Temple himself. It was certainly the masterpiece of king Charles's life ; and, if he had
stuck to it, it wTould have been both the strength and the glory of his reign. This disposed
his people to forgive all that was passed, and to renew their confidence in him, which was
much shaken by the whole conduct of the Dutch war.
The parliament were upon their first opening set on to destroy lord Clarendon. Some of
his friends went to him a few days before the parliament met, and told him, many were at
work to find out matter of accusation against him. He best knew, what could be brought
against him with any truth ; for falsehood was infinite, and could not be guessed at. They
desired he would trust some of them with what might break out, since probably nothing
could lie concealed against so strict a search. And the method in which his friends must
O
manage for him, if there was any mixture or alloy in him, was to be very different from that
they could use, if he was sure that nothing could be brought out against him. The lord
Burlington and bishop Morley both told me, they talked to this purpose to him. Lord
* Sir Orlando Bridgman was a son of Dr. Bridgman, common pleas. His disgrace will be mentioned in a future
bishop of Chester. Whilst only a pleader his practice was page. After that he lived in retirement. He was dead
very extensive. Mr. Johnson, his clerk, the editor of his in 1682, when his " Conveyances" were published.
"Conveyances," says, in the preface, he was "the great f Sir William Temple wrote "Memoirs" of this
oracle, not only of his fellow-sufferers, but of the whole embassy, but afterwards destroyed them. His " Memoirs"
Cation, in matters of law; his very enemies not thinking of his subsequent embassies are preserved. — Swift's Pre-
*huir estates secure without his advice." At the Restora- .face to the Third Part of the " Memoirs." This loss is
non, Bndgman was made lord chief baron of the ex- in some measure supplied by sir William's Letters. To
••ht-quer, and presided at the trial of the regicides. In a these Burnet seems to allude.
short time ne was advanced to the chief justiceship of the
172 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Clarendon upon that told them, that, if either in matters of justice, or in any negotiations
abroad, he had ever received a farthing, he gave them leave to disown all friendship to him.
The French king hearing he had sent for all the books of the Louvre impression, had sent
these to him, which he took, as thinking it a trifle, as indeed it was : and this was the only
present he ever had from any foreign prince. He had never taken any thing by virtue of
his office, but that which his predecessors had claimed as a right. But now a hue and cry
was sent out against him ; and all persons who had heard him say any thing that could bear
an ill construction, were examined. Some thought they had matters of great weight against
him ; and, when they were told these would not amount to high treason, they desired to
know what would amount to it.
When twenty-three articles were brought into the house against him, the next day he
desired his second son, the now earl of Rochester, to acquaint the house, that he, hearing
what articles were brought against him, did, in order to the dispatch of the business, desire
that those, who knew best what their evidence was, would single out any one of the article?
that they thought could be best proved ; and, if they could prove that, he would submit tt
the censure due upon them all. But those who had the secret of this in their hands, and ;
knew they could make nothing of it, resolved to put the matter upon a preliminary, in
which they hoped to find cause to hang up the whole affair, and fix upon the lords the
denial of justice. So, according to some few and late precedents, they sent up a general
impeachment to the lords' bar of high treason, without any special matter ; and demanded,
that upon that he might be committed to prison. They had reason to believe the lords
would not grant this ; and therefore they resolved to insist on it ; and reckoned, that when j
so much money was to be given, the king would prevail with the lords. Upon this occasion j
it appeared, that the private animosities of a court could carry them to establish the most
destructive precedent that could have been thought on. For if this had passed, then every -
minister upon a general impeachment was to be ruined, though no special matter was laid]
against him. Yet the king himself pressed this vehemently. It was said, the very sus- \
picion of a house of commons, especially such a one as this was, was enough to blast a man, -
and to have him secured ; for there was reason to think, that every person so charged would
run away, if at libc rty. Lord Clarendons enemies had now gone far. They thought they were
not safe till his head was off; and they apprehended, that, if he were once in prison, it would be
easy either to find, or at least to bring witnesses against him. This matter is all in print ; so I
will go no farther in the particulars. The duke was at this time taken with the small-pox; so he
was out of the whole debate. The peers thought that a general accusation was only a clamour,
arid that their dignities signified little if a clamour was enough to send them to prison. All
the earl of Clarendon's friends pressed the king much on his behalf, that he might be suffered
to go off gently, and without censure, since he had served both his father and himself so
long, so faithfully, and with such success. But the king was now so sharpened against
him, that, though he named no particulars, he expressed a violent and irreconcilable aversion
to him ; which did the king much hurt, in the opinion of all that were not engaged in the
party. The affair of the king's marriage was the most talked of, as that which indeed was
the only thing that could in any sort justify such a severity. Lord Clarendon did protest,
as some that had it from himself told me, that he had no other hand in that matter, than
as a councillor : and in that he appealed to the king himself. After many debates and con-
ferences, and protestations, in which the whole court went in visibly to that, which was
plainly destructive both to the king and to the ministry, the majority of the house stood
firm, and adhered to their first resolution against commitment. The commons were upon
that like to carry the matter far against the peers, as denying justice. The king seeing this,
spoke to the duke, to persuade lord Clarendon to go beyond sea, as the only expedient that
was left, to make up the breach between the two houses : and he let fall some words of
kindness, in case he should comply with this. The earl of Clarendon was all obedience and
submission ; and was charmed with those tender words, that the king had said of him. So,
partly to serve the king, and save himself and his family, but chiefly that he might not be
the occasion of any difference between the king and the duke, who had heartily espoused his
interest, he went privately beyond sea, and wrote a letter from Calais to the house of lords,
OF KING CHARLES If. 173
protesting liis innocence in all the points objected to him, and that he had not gone out of the
kingdom for fear, or out of any consciousness of guilt, but only that he might not be the
unhappy occasion of any difference between the two houses, or of obstructing public business.
This put an end to the dispute. But his enemies called it a confession of guilt, and a flying
from justice : such colours will people give to the most innocent actions*.
A bill was brought in, banishing him the king's dominions under pain of treason if he should
return : and it was made treason to correspond with him, without leave from the king. This act
did not pass without much opposition. It was said, there was a known course of law when any
man fled from justice ; and it seemed against the common course of justice, to make all corre-
,ponding with him treason, when lie himself was not attainted of treason ; nor could it be just to
banish him, unless a day were given him to come in ; and then, if he did not come in, he might
incur the punishment upon contempt. The duke, whom the king had employed to prevail with
him to withdraw himself, thought lie was bound in honour to press the matter home on the
king ; which he did so warmly, that for some time a coldness between them was very visible.
The part the king had acted in this matter came to be known ; and was much censured, as
there was just cause for it. The vehemence that he shewed in this whole matter was
imputed by many to very different causes. Those who knew him best, but esteemed him
least, said to me on this occasion, that all the indignation that appeared in him on this head,
was founded on no reason at all ; but was an effect of that easiness, or rather laziness of
nature, that made him comply with every person that had the greatest credit with him.
The mistress f, and the whole bedchamber, were perpetually railing at him. This, by a sort
i.f infection, possessed the king, who, without giving himself the trouble of much thinking,
;lid commonly go into any thing that was at the present time the easiest, without consider-
ing what might at any other time follow on it. Thus the lord Clarendon fell under the
common fate of great ministers, whose employment exposes them to envy, and draws upon
;hem the indignation of all who are disappointed in their pretensions. Their friends do
generally shew, that they are only the friends of their fortunes ; and upon the change of
'avour they not only forsake them in their extremity, but that they may secure to themselves
;he protection of a new favourite, they will labour to redeem all that is passed, by turning
is violently against them, as they formerly fawned abjectly upon them : and princes are so
little sensible of merit or great services, that they sacrifice their best servants, not only when
Jieir affairs seem to require it, but to gratify the humour of a mistress, or the passion of a
•ising favourite.
I will end this relation of lord Clarendon's fall with an account of his two sons. The
eldest, now the earl of Clarendon, is a man naturally sincere : he is a friendly and good-
tiatured man. He keeps an exact journal of all that passes, and is punctual to tediousness in
ill that he relates J. He was very early engaged in great secrets ; for his father, apprehend-
ing of what fatal consequence it would have been to the king's affairs, if his correspondence
* It is beyond contradiction that the retirement of recommending him to "withdraw coming to him from the
Clarendon into exile was rrot the suggestion of his own king, and stating " that it was absolutely necessary for
ears, and was in direct opposition to his own wishes. him speedily to be gone," he resolved to set off that
The motive that induced his voluntary withdrawal was a night. This was Saturday, the 29th of November, 1667,
desire to acquiesce in the repeatedly and urgently expressed and he proceeded in a coach with two servants, accom-
lesirc of the king ; and to terminate the collision that paired by his two sons and some friends on horseback, to
iad taken place between the two houses of parliament. Erith. Here he embarked, but from contrary winds did
M. Ravigny, the French ambassador, the bishop of Here- not land at Calais until after a lapse of three davs. From
ord, and the duke of York, successively urged upon him this place he wrote a defence to the house of lords, which
he king's wish ; and though his majesty would not grant so chagrined his enemies, that it was ordered to be burnt
lim a pass, yet he pledged his word that his passage by the hangman ! — Continuation of Clarendon's Life,
liould be uninterrupted. The dispute between the houses 4.50 — 459, fol. His son, Lawrence Hyde, earl of Roches-
fiords and commons nroscfrom the first refusing to order tcr, has left an excellent and most interesting paper, rela-
Clarcndon into custody until some specific charges were tive to his father's banishment, and subsequent conduct,
exhibited against him. The peers persisted in this refusal, too long to be inserted in this note. See it in the Claren-
vhidi so angered the king, that he entertained a propo- don Papers, edited by Mr. Singer, i. 646, &c.
s.ti(.n for sending a file of soldiers to his house, and con- t The duchess of Cleveland.
him thence to the Tower. The lieutenant of this J This with his Letters, &c. entitled "Correspondence
was ever, advised of the call's probable arrival, and of the Earls of Clarendon arid Rochester," has btea
he should not treat him with more civility than published, edited by Mr. Singer,
other prisoners." The last message to Clarendon
174
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
had been discovered by unfaithful secretaries, engaged him when very young to write all his
letters to England in cypher, so that he was generally half the clay writing in cypher, or
decyphering, and was so discreet, as well as faithful, that nothing was ever discovered by
him. He continued to be still the person whom his father trusted most, and was the most
beloved of all the family; for he was humble and obliging, though sometimes peevish. His
judgment was not to be much depended on ; for he was much carried away by vulgar preju-
dices, and false notions. He was much in the queen's favour, and was her chamberlain long.
His father's being so violently prosecuted on the account of her marriage, made that she
thought herself bound to protect him in a particular manner. He v/as so provoked at the ill
usage his father met with, that he struck in violently with the party that opposed the court ;
and the king spoke always of him with great sharpness, and much scorn *. His brother,
now earl of Rochester, is a man of far greater parts. He has a very good pen, but speaks
not gracefully. He was thought the smoothest man in the court ; and during all the dispute
concerning his father, he made his court so dexterously, that no resentments ever appeared
on that head. When he came into business, and rose to high posts, he grew violent ; but
was thought an incorrupt man. He has high notions of government, and thinks it must be
maintained with great severity. He delivers up his own notions to his party, that lie may
lead them. He passes for a sincere man, and seems to have too much heat to be false f.
Morley was long dean of the chapel ; but he stuck so to the lord Clarendon, that he was sent
into his diocese ; and Crofts, bishop ^" Hereford, was made dean in his room. Crofts was
a warm devout man, but of no discretion in his conduct ; so he lost ground quickly. He
used much freedom with the king, but it was in the wrong place, not in private, but in the
pulpit ;f.
* Henry Hyde, lord Corn bury, and on the death of the
chancellor, earl of Clarendon, was the eldest son of that
great statesman. He was born in 1638. After the
Restoration he was created a knight of the bath, master
of arts at Oxford, and appointed chamberlain to the queen.
Though disgraced by James, the university of Oxford
made him its high steward. His subsequent promotions
and misfortunes will be mentioned in other pages. He
died in 1709 Memoirs of Illustrious Persons who died
in 1711, 116-123; Collins's Peerage; Wai pole's Royal
and Noble Authors ; Wood's Fasti. Burnet's estimate
of his mental abilities is too low. His letters, his " His-
tory of the Irish Rebellion," and his " Account of the
Tombs in Winchester Cathedral," shew him to have had
a correct judgment, and a cultivated mind. A man who
could suffer neglect and oppression as he did without
flinching from the sentiments and conduct that attracted
the punishment, could not have been an unworthy, or
inferior character.
•f- Lawrence Hyde, earl of Rochester, was the second
son of the earl of Clarendon. In 1661, he made his
debut in public as one of the representatives of Oxford
university. Soon after he proceeded, with lord Crofts and
sir Charles Berkeley, to the court of France for the pur-
pose of congratulating the French king upon the birth of
the dauphin. When he returned he entered upon the
duties of master of the robes to the king, having previously
held an official appointment about the duke of York.
When the house of commons impeached his father,
Mr. Hyde defended him with a firmness, filial feeling,
and dignity, that must have raised him in the estimation
of every worthy mind. In 1676, he was sent as ambas-
sador-extraordinary to the king of Poland. His "Diary,"
during the embassages, has lately been edited by Mr. Sin-
ger, among others, of the Clarendon Papers. His subse-
quent employments will be mentioned in future pages.
He died in May, 1711. With his brother, lord Clarendon,
he edited his father's " History of the Rebellion." The
dedication in the second volume to the queen, was written
by the earl of Rochester, and has always been acknow-
ledged as a masterly production. — Memoirs of Persons
who died in 1711, 124-168.— Wood's Fasti Oxon. 131.
Burnet's character of Rochester seems to be coincident
with that of other contemporaries. Mackay and lord]
Dartmouth agree in acknowledging his abilities, as well
as the facility with which his anger could be excited.!
" I never knew," says the latter, " a man that was so soon
put in a passion, that was so long before he could bring
himself out of it, in which he would say things that were
never forgot by any body but himself. He therefore had :
always more enemies than he thought, though he had as;!
many professedly so, as any man of his time." — Oxford
ed. of this work.
J Dr. Herbert Croft was certainly one of the most
upright, conscientious men of his time. He was induced
by the example of his father, and the persuasions of th«
Douay priests, to conform to the papal church, but upon
his return to England and conferring with Dr. Morton,
bishop of Durham, he was convinced of the greater con-
formity with the scriptures of the creed of the English
church, and returned among her members. This was not
suggested by interest, for in the preamble of his will, lie
makes this dying profession : — " I do in all humble
manner most heartily thank God, that he hath been
most graciously, pleased, by the light of his most holy
gospel, to recall me from the darkness of popish errort
and gross superstitions, into which I was seduced in ray
younger days, and to settle me in the true ancient catho-
lic and apostolic faith professed by our church of England,"
&c. His disinterestedness is further shewn by his steady
refusal of all better preferment than the bishopric of Here-
ford, then not worth more than 800/. per annum. Con-
scientious scruples induced him to wish even to itsimi
this. His government of his diocese was admirable. His
loyalty was proved by his suffering with unsuroumbiiig
fortitude during the interregnum: his moderation and
Christian charity by his writings, in which he strenuously
endeavoured to reunite the dissenters with our church,
by shewing the impropriety of differing about non-essea-
tials, and at the same time deprecating all persecution.
Thus favouring toleration, he yet opposed most strenuously
the declaration issued by James the Second, which, h*
OF KING CHARLES II 175
The king was highly offended at the behaviour of most of the bishops ; and he took occa-
sion to vent it at the council-board. Upon the complaints that were made of some disorders,
and of some conventicles, he said, the clergy were chiefly to blame for these disorders ; for if
they had lived well, and had gone about their parishes, and taken pains to convince the
nonconformists, the nation might have been by that time well settled ; but they thought of
nothing but to get good benefices, and to keep a good table. This I read in a letter that
sir Robert Murray wrote down to Scotland : and it agrees with a conversation, that the king
was pleased to have with myself once, when I was alone with him in his closet. While we
were talking of the ill state the church was in, I was struck to hear a prince of his course
of life so much disgusted at the ambition, covotousness, and the scandals of the clergy. He
said, if the clergy had done their part, it had been an easy thing to ,run down the noncon-
formists : but, he added, they will do nothing, and will have me do every thing : and most
of them do worse than if they did nothing. He told me, he had a chaplain, that was a very
honest man, but a very great blockhead, to whom he had given a living in Suffolk, that
was full of that sort of people : he had gone about among them from house to house, thougli
he could not imagine what he could say to them ; for, he said, he was a very silly fellow ;
but that, he believed, his nonsense suited their nonsense, for he had brought them all to
church : and, in reward of his diligence, he had given him a bishopric in Ireland.
Bridgman and Wilkins set on foot a treaty, for a comprehension of such of the dissenters
as could be brought into the communion of the church, and a toleration of the rest. Hale, then
chief justice, concurred with them in the design. Tillotson, Stillingfleet, and Burton joined
also in it. Bates, Manton, and Baxter were called for on the side of the presbyterians *.
And a project was prepared, consisting chiefly of those things that the king had promised
by his declaration in the year 1660. Only in the point of re-ordination this temper was
proposed, that those who had presbyterian ordination should be received to serve in the
church by an imposition of hands, accompanied with words which imported, that the person
so ordained was received to serve as a minister in the church of England. This treaty
became a common subject of discourse. All lord Clarendon's friends cried out, that the
church was undermined and betrayed : it was said, the cause of the church was given up, if
we yielded any of those points, about which there had been so much disputing : if the sec-
taries were humble and modest, and would tell what would satisfy them, there might be
some colour for granting some concessions ; but it was unworthy of the church to go and
court, or treat with enemies, when there was no reason to think, that after we had departed
from our grounds, which wTas to confess we had been in the wrong, that we should gain
much by it, unless it was to bring scorn and contempt on ourselves. On the other hand, it
was said, the nonconformists could not legally meet together, to offer any schemes in the
name of their party : it was well enough known, what they had always excepted to, and
observed, covertly aimed at the promotion of the papal much, and queen Mary was in the constant habit of read-
religion. He resigned his royal chaplaincy, and retired ing his works. Lord keeper Bridgman having declared
from court disgusted with its irreclaimable immorality, from the bench that in the oath prescribed by " the Five-
He died in his diocese in the year 1691. — Wood's Athense Mile Act,M the words " endeavour to change the govern"
Oxon. ; Biographia Brit, by Kippis. It is curious that ment in church," meant only " unlawful endeavour,'*
Dr. Burnet should have written an antagonist pamphlet Dr. Bates and about twenty other presbyterian divine*
to one by Dr. Croft, in which the latter advocated tolera- took the oath, though Mr. Baxter was not satisfied by
tion and comprehension of the presbyterians by our church, his reasons for doing so. He died in 1 699, aged seventy-
Not having seen the pamphlets, I cannot decide upon what four — Calamy's Account of Ejected Ministers; Howe's
points they differ. We see, in the text, Burnet thought Funeral Sermon for Dr. Bates ; Biog. Britannica.
the other wanted " discretion." Thomas Manton, another leading divine among the
* William Bates was one of the most eminent and presbyterians, like tho preceding clergyman, was at the
most excellent of the nonconformist divines. At the Restoration made one of the king's chaplains, and doctor
time of the Restoration, when Charles the Second hypo- of divinity by royal mandamus, though he had previously
critically courted the assistance of all sects, he was made held the same office in the household of Oliver Cromwell,
one of the royal chaplains. It is said by Calamy, that if He was rector of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, and might,
Bates would have conformed to the established church, he if he would have conformed, have had the deanery of
might have been raised to any bishopric of the kingdom. Rochester. By the Bartholomew Act he lost his prefer-
Tf he had, it would not have exceeded his merits. Arch- ment, and suffered imprisonment for preaching elsewhere,
bishop Tillotson, lord keeper Bridgman, lord chancellor He died in 1677, aged fifty- seven. Dr. Bates preached
Finch, and many other distinguished persons, were among his funeral sermon. See this, and his " Life," by
his personal friends. William the Third esteemed him Dr. Harris ; also Wood's Atlieuae Oxon. 600, fol.
170 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
what would probably bring over most of the presbytcrians ; such a yielding in some lesser
matters would be no reproach, but an honour to the church ; that, how much soever she
might be superior, both in point of argument and of power, she would yet of her own accord,
and for peace sake, yield a great deal in matters indifferent : the apostles complying with
many of the observances of the Jews, and the offers that the church of Africa made to the
Donatists were much insisted on : the fears of popery, and the progress that atheism was
making, did alarm good and wise men : and they thought, every thing that could be done
without sin, ought to be done towards the healing our divisions. Many books were upon
that account written, to expose the presbyterians, as men of false notions in religion, which
led to antinomianism, and which w^ould soon carry them into a dissolution of morals, under
a pretence of being justified by faith only, without works. The three volumes of the
Friendly Debate, though written by a very good man, and with a good intent, had an ill
effect in sharpening people's spirits too much against them. But the most virulent of all
that wrote against the sects was Parker, afterwards made bishop of Oxford by king James ;
who was full of satirical vivacity, and was considerably learned ; but wras a man of no
judgment, and of as little virtue, and as to religion, rather impious. After he had for some
years entertained the nation with several virulent books, written with much life, he was
attacked by the liveliest droll of the age, who wrote in a burlesque strain, but with so pecu-
liar and so entertaining a conduct, that, from the king down to the tradesman, his books
were read with great pleasure. That not only humbled Parker, but the whole party : for
the author of the " Rehearsal Transprosed" had all the men of wit (or, as the French phrase
it, all the laughers) on his side *. But what advantages soever the men of comprehension
might have in any other respect, the majority of the house of commons was so possessed
against them, that when it was known in a succeeding session, that a bill was ready to be
offered to the house for that end, a very extraordinary vote passed, that no bill to that
purpose should be received.
An act passed in this session for rebuilding the city of London, which gave lord chief
justice Hale a great reputation: for it was drawn with so true a judgment, and so great
foresight, that the whole city was raised out of its ashes, without any suits of law ; which,
if that bill had not prevented them, would have brought a second charge on the city, not
much less than the fire itself had been. And upon that, to the amazement of all Europe,
London was in four years' time rebuilt, with so much beauty and magnificence, that we who
saw it in both states, before and after the fire, cannot reflect on it without wondering where
the wealth could be found, to bear so vast a loss as was made by the fire, and so prodigious
an expense as was laid out in the rebuilding it. This did demonstrate that the intrinsic
wealth of the nation was very high, when it could answer such a dead charge.
I return to the intrigues of the court. Lord Clarendon's enemies thought they were not
safe, as long as the duke had so much credit with the king, and the duchess had so much
power over him : so they fell on propositions of a strange nature to ruin them. The duke
of Buckingham pressed the king to own a marriage with the duke of Monmouth's mother ;
and he undertook to get witnesses to attest it. The duke of York told me, in general, that
there was much talk about it, but he did not descend to particulars. The earl of Carlisle
offered to begin the matter in the house of lords. The king would not consent to this : yet
he put it by in such a manner, as made them all conclude, he wished it might be done, but
did not know how to bring it about. These discourses were all carried to the duke of
Monmouth, and got fatally into his head. When the duke talked of this matter to me
in the year seventy-three, I asked him if he thought that the king had still the same inclina-
tions ? He said he believed not : he thought the duke of Monmouth had not spirit enough
* Dr. Samuel Parker was a despicable man. His that lie would not let probity or conscience be in the way of
talents only afford a proof, and therefore cause for regret, worldly preferment. He was a prcsbytcrian at first, thru
that genius and integrity are not inseparable. It was his a member cf the established church, a'nd, finally, popishly
" Discourse of Ecclesiastical Polity " that called forth inclined. He was only forty-seven when he died, in
Andrew Marveil's satire mentioned in the text. His 1687 — Wood's Athcnae Oxon. ; Nichol's Life of Bow-
acceptance of the presidency of Magdalen College from ycr. Dr. Parker's " History of his own Times," edited
king James the Second, and still more his Defence of the by his son, contains some interesting particulars of this
doctrine of transubstantiation and saint-worship, shewed period.
OF KING CHARLES II. 177
to think of it : and he commended the duchess of Monmouth so highly as to say to me,
that the hopes of a crown could not work on her to do an unjust thing. I thought he gave
that matter too much countenance by calling the duke of Monmouth nephew : but he said
it pleased the king. When the party saw they could make nothing of the business of the duke
of Monmouth, they tried next by what methods they could get rid of the queen ; that so
the king might marry another wife : for the king had children by so many different crea-
tures, that they hoped for issue, if he had a wife capable of any. Some thought, the queen
and he were not legally married : but the avowing a marriage, and the living many years in
that state, did certainly supply any defect in point of form. Others pretended, she was
barren from a natural cause, and that seemed equivalent to impotence in men. But the king
often said, he was sure she had once miscarried. This, though not overthrown by such an
evidence, could never be proved ; unless the having no children was to be concluded a bar-
renness : and the dissolving a marriage on such an account could neither be justified in law
or conscience. Other stories were given, out of the queen's person, which were false : for I
saw in a letter under the king's own hand that the marriage was consummated. Others
talked of polygamy : and officious persons were ready to thrust themselves into any thing,
that could contribute to their advancement. Lord Lauderdale and sir Robert Murray asked
my opinion of these things. I said, I knew speculative people could say a great deal, in
the way of argument for polygamy, and divorce : yet these things were so decried, that they
were rejected by all Christian societies : so that all such propositions would throw us into
great convulsions ; and entail war upon us, if any issue came from a marriage so grounded*.
An accident happened at that time, that made the discoursing of those matters the common
subject of conversation. The lord Roos, afterwards earl of Rutland, brought proofs of adul-
tery agains'ii his wife ; and obtained a sentence of divorce in the spiritual court : which
amounting only to a separation from bed and board, he moved for a bill dissolving the bond,
and enabling him to marry another wife. The duke and all his party apprehended the con-
sequences of a parliamentary divorce : so they opposed this with great heat : and almost all
the bishops were of that side : only Cosin f and Wilkins, the bishops of Durham and
Chester, were for it. And the king was as earnest in the setting it on, as the duke was in
opposing it. The zeal which the two brothers expressed on that occasion made all people
conclude, that they had a particular concern in the matter. The bill passed : and upon that
precedent some moved the king, that he would order a bill to be brought in to divorce him
from the queen. This went so far, that a day was agreed on for making the motion in the
house of commons, as Mr. May, of the privy purse, told me ; (who had the greatest and
longest share in the king's secret confidence of any man in that time ; for it was never broken
off, though often shaken, he being in his notions against every thing that the king was for,
* One of the most <lisreput«ible of our author's acts is be urged for Burnet but that he consented to -write
connected with this subject. He confesses in the text against his conscience, because he thought the birth of
that the dissolution of the king's marriage could not be legal offspring to the king was necessary for the interests
justified either in law or conscience ; yet of a project to of England. Yet Burnet's knowledge of history, to say
permit his majesty to have more than one wife he spoke nothing of the precepts of Christianity, ought to have
with less reprehension. Of this last opinion I am willing taught him that no action is expedient that is not good,
to admit that he might plead much iu extenuation : God's "f Dr. John Cosin deserves to be noticed as one of the
favoured people — David, the man " after God's heart" — most upright, learned, and munificent prelates that ever
were polygamists ; and as marriage is certainly only a civil added dignity to the English church. At the same time it is
contract. Burnet puts a plurality of wives upon the jnst but justice to remark that he was a lover of things as they
footing when he quotes the strongest argument against it are — he opposed the petition of the county of Durham
by observing that it is contrary to our laws, and it is rejected for permission to return members of parliament, because
by all Christian societies. Notwithstanding the opinions it was not in accordance with the privileges of his bishop-
thug expressed it appears to be too true, that Burnet ric ! If he was "somewhat too superstitious, the failing
wrote two treatises, one maintaining that a divorce is showed itself in the amiable form of having a profound
justifiable if a wife proves to be unfruitful, and the other reverence for everything connected with the worship of
concluding with these words, " I see nothing so strong God. During the twelve years he presided over the see of
against polygamy as to balance the great and visible immi- Durham he spent nearly 30,000/. in public and "private
nent hazards that hang over so many thousands, if it be benefactions. He died in January 1672, aged rather
not allowed.1' These papers appear to have been written more than seventy-seven — Hutchinson's History of
at the suggestion of the earl of Lauderdale, and were copied Durham ; Smith's Vita Joannis Cosini ; Basire's Funeral
by the archbishop of Glasgow in the year 1680. Mr. Sermon on Bishop Cosin. Cosin suffered much from the
flgons says he saw the originals in the possession of persecution of the parliament during the interregnum. Ho
honourable Archibald Campbell. — Bevil Higgons' continued an exile in France until the restoration,
marks on Bishop Burnet, 158, &c. No defence cw
'
173 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
l.otli France, popery, and arbitrary government ; but a particular sympathy of temper, and
his serving the king in his vices, created a confidence much envied, and often attempted to
be broken, but never with any success beyond a short coldness :) but he added, when he told
me of this design, that three days before the motion was to be made, the king called for him,
and told him, that matter must be let alone, for it would not do. This disturbed him much :
for he had engaged himself far in laying the thing, and in managing those who were to
undertake the debate.
At this time the court fell into much extravagance in masquerading : both king and queen,
and all the court, went about masked, and came into houses unknown, and danced there with
a great deal of wild frolic. In all this people were so disguised, that, without being in the
secret, none could distinguish them. They were carried about in hackney chairs. Once the
queen's chairmen, not knowing who she was, went from her : so she was alone, and was
much disturbed, and came to Whitehall in a hackney coach : some say it was in a cart. The
duke of Buckingham proposed to the king, that he would give him leave to steal her away,
and send her to a plantation, where she should be well and carefully looked to, but never
heard of any more : so it should be given out, that she had deserted : and upon that it would
fall in with some principles to carry an act for a divorce, grounded upon the pretence of a
wilful desertion. Sir Robert Murray told me, that the king himself rejected this with horror.
He said, it was a wicked thing to make a poor lady miserable, only because she was his wife,
and had no children by him, which was no fault of hers. The hints of this broke out : for
the duke of Buckingham could conceal nothing. And upon that the earl of Manchester,
then lord chamberlain, told the queen, it was neither decent nor safe for her to go about in
such a manner as she had done of late : so she gave it over. But at last all these schemes
settled in a proposition, into which the king went ; which was to deal with the queen's con-
fessor, that he might persuade her to leave the world, and to turn religious : upon which the
parliament would have been easily prevailed on to pass a divorce. This came to be known :
but what steps were made in it were never known. It was believed, that upon this the
duchess of York sent an express to Rome with the notice of her conversion ; and that orders
were sent from Rome to all about the qeeen to persuade her against such a proposition, if any
should suggest it to her. She herself had no mind to be a nun : and the duchess was afraid
of seeing another queen : and the mistress, at that time created duchess of Cleveland, knew
that she must be the first sacrifice to a beloved queen : and she reconciled herself upon this
to the duchess of York/ The duke of Buckingham upon that broke with her, and studied
to take the king from her by new amours : and because he thought a gaiety of humour
would take much with the king, he engaged him to entertain two players one after another,
Davies and Gwyn *. The first did not keep her hold long : but Gwyn, the most indiscreet
and most wild creature that ever was in a court, continued to the end of the king's life in
great favour, and was maintained at a vast expense. The duke of Buckingham told me,
that when she was first brought to the king, she asked only 500£. a year : and the king
refused it. But when he told me this, about four years after, he said, she had got of the
king above sixty thousand pounds. She acted all persons in so lively a manner, and was
such a constant diversion to the king, that even a new mistress could not drive her away.
But, after all, he never treated her with the decencies of a mistress. The king had another
mistress, that was managed by lord Shaftesbury, who was the daughter of a clergyman,
Roberts : in whom her first education had so deep a root, that, though she fell into many
scandalous disorders, with very dismal adventures in them all, yet a principle of religion was
so deep laid in her, that, though it did not restrain her, yet it kept alive in her such a con-
stant horror at sin, that she was never easy in an ill course, and died with a great sense of
her former ill life. I was often with her the last three months of her life. The duchess of
Cleveland, finding that she had lost the king, abandoned herself to great disorders : one of
which, by the artifice of the duke of Buckingham, was discovered by the king in person,
the party concerned leaping out of the window. She also spoke of the king to all people in
such a manner, as brought him under much contempt. But he seemed insensible : and
though libels of alJ sorts had then a very free course, yet he was never disturbed at it.
* Memoirs of these and others of the king's concubines have been given at p. 111.
OF KING CHARLES II. 170
The three most eminent wits of that time, on whom all the lively libels were fastened,
•were the earls of Dorset and Rochester, and sir Charles Sedley. Lord Dorset was a generous
good-natured man. He was so oppressed with phlegm, that till he was a little heated with
wine he scarcely ever spoke : but he was upon that exaltation a very lively man. Never was
so much ill nature in a pen as in his, joined with so much goodnature as was in himself, even
to excess ; for he was against all punishing even of malefactors. He was bountiful, even to
run himself into difficulties : and charitable to a fault : for he commonly gave all he had
about him when he met an object that moved him. But he was so lazy, that though the
king seemed to court him to be a favourite, he would not give himself the trouble that
belonged to that post. He hated the court, and despised the king, when he saw he was
neither generous nor tender-hearted *. Wilmot, earl of Rochester, was naturally modest,
till the court corrupted him. His wit had in it a peculiar brightness, to which none could
ever arrive. He gave himself up to all sorts of extravagance, and to the wildest frolics that
a wanton wit could devise. He would have gone about the streets as a beggar, and made
love as a porter. He set up a stage as an Italian mountebank. He was for some years
always drunk, and was ever doing some mischief. The king loved his company for the
diversion it afforded, better than his person : and there was no love lost between them. He
took his revenges in many libels. Lie found out a footman that knew all the court, and he
furnished him with a red coat and a musket as a sentinel, and kept him all the winter long
every night, at the doors of such ladies, as he believed might be in intrigues. In the court a
sentinel is little minded, and is believed to be posted by a captain of the guards to hinder a
combat : so this man saw who walked about, and visited at forbidden hours. By this means
lord Rochester made many discoveries. And when he was well furnished with materials, he
used to retire into the country for a month or two to write libels. Once, being drunk, he in-
tended to give the king a libel that he had written on some ladies : but by a mistake he gave
him one written on himself. He fell into an ill habit of body : and in. several fits of sickness
he had deep remorses ; for he was guilty both of much impiety, and of great imjnoralitics.
But as he recovered he threw these off, and turned again to his former ill courses. In the last
year of his life I was much with him, and have written a book of what passed between him
and me. I do verily believe, he was then so entirely changed, that, if he had recovered, he
would have made good all his resolutions 1 . Sedley had a more sudden and copious wit,
* Charles Sackville, sixth earl of Dorset and Middle- employed upon it, and only retouched or finished it, oa
sex, was born in 1637. His character has been elegantly the memorable evening. But even this, whatever it may
sketched by Prior, and the chief events of his life by Dr. subtract from his facility, leaves him his courage." Sub-
Johnson : from the latter production the following are sequently he was a gentleman of Charles the Second's
extracts. " Though chosen a representative of East Grin- bed-chamber, and his representative in several minor
stead in the first parliament after the restoration, he under- embassies. On the death of his uncle the earl of Middle-
took no public employment, being too eager of the riotous sex, he succeeded to his estates, in 1674, and in the fol-
and licentious pleasures which young men of high rank, lowing year was raised to that title by patent. In 1677,
who aspired to be thought wits, at that time imagined on the death of his father, he became earl of Dorset. His
themselves entitled to indulge. One of these frolics opposition to James the Second, and promotion under
has, by the industry of Wood, come down to posterity. William, will be noticed in future pages. He died in 1706.
Sackville, who was then lord Buckhurst, with sir Charles " He was a man whose elegance and judgment were uni-
Sedley and sir Thomas Ogle, got drunk at the Cock in versally confessed, and whose bounty to the learned and
Bow Street by Covent Garden, and, going into the bal- witty was generally known. To the indulgent affection
cony, exposed themselves to the populace in very indecent of the public, lord Rochester bore ample testimony in this
postures. At last, as they grew warmer, Sedley stood remark : / know not how it is, but lord Buckhurst may
forth naked, and harangued the populace in such profane do what he will, yet is never in the wrong ! " As a
language, that the public indignation was awakened ; the poet, Dr. Johnson observes " his performances are, what
crowd attempted to force the door, and, being repulsed, they pretend to be, the effusions of a man of wit ; gay,
drove in the performers with stones. For this misdemea- vigorous, and airy." — Johnson's Lives of the Poets; Wal-
uour Sedley was fined 50 OJ. ; what was the sentence of pole's Royal and Noble Authors.
the others is not known." Sackville, then lord Buck- f John Wilmot, earl of Rochester, was born in 1647,
hurst, was a volunteer in the action with the Dutch, when and died in 1680. Of this talented, licentious, but
their admiral Opdam was blown up in his vessel. " On finally repentant nobleman nothing further need be
tbe day before the battle, he is said to have composed the observed here, as many notices will occur in subsequent
celebrated song, To all you ladies now on land, with pages. Those who wish to know more of his life will
equal tranquillity of mind and promptitude of wit. find a memoir in Wood's Athena; Oxoriiensis ; the cha-
Seldom any splendid story is wholly true. I have heard racter of his works in Johnson's Lives of the Poets ; and
i the late lord Orrery, who was likely to have heredi- the narrative of his conversion in Burnet'6 " Some
intelligence, that lord Buckhurst had been a week Passages in the Life and Death of John, Earl of Rochester •"
N 2
JTO THE HISTOKl Of THE REIGN
which furnished a perpetual run of discourse : but he was not so correct as lord Dorset nor
so sparkling as lord Rochester *. The duke of Buckingham loved to have these much about
him : and he gave himself up to a monstrous course of studied immoralities of the worst
kinds ; he was so full of mercury, that he could not fix long in any friendship, or to any
design. Bennet (now made lord Arlington) and he fell out : Bennet was all cunning and
artifice, and so could not hold long with him, who was so open that he disclosed every
thing. Lord Arlington was engaged in a great intimacy with Clifford, Littleton, and
Duncombe. I have already given some account of the two first. Duncombe wa-s a judi-
cious man, but very haughty, and apt to raise enemies against himself: he was an able
parliament man : but could not go into all the designs of the court ; for he had a sense
of religion, and a zeal for the liberty of his country t. The duke of Buckingham's chief friends
were the earls of Shaftesbury and Lauderdale, but, above all, sir Thomas Osborn, raised
afterwards to be lord treasurer and earl of Danby, and since made duke of Leeds by the
late king.
The king took sir "William Coventry from the duke, and put him in the treasury. He was
in a fair way to be the chief minister, and deserved it more than all the rest did. But he
was too honest to engage in the designs into which the court was resolved to go, as soon as
it had recovered a little reputation ; which was sunk very low by the ill management of the
Dutch war, and the squandering away of the money given for it. He was a man of the
finest and the best temper that belonged to the court. The duke of Buckingham and he
fell out, I know not for what reason : and a challenge passed between them, upon which
Coventry was forbidden the court. And he upon that seemed to retire very willingly : and he
was become a very religious man when I knew him. He was offered after that the best posts
in the court, oftener than once : but he would never engage again. He saw what was at
bottom, and was resolved not to go through with it ; and so continued to his .death in a retired
course of life J.
The duke of Ormond continued still in the government of Ireland, though several interests
joined together against him — the earls of Orrery and Ranelaghxon the one hand, and Talbot
on the other. Lord Orrery loved to appear in business ; but dealt so much underhand, that
he had not much credit with any side. Lord Ranelagh was a young man of groat parts, and
as great vices : he had a pleasantness in his conversation that took much with the king, and
had a great dexterity in business. Many complaints were secretly brought against the duke
a work, says Dr. Johnson '* which the critic ought to read hood, telling him withal, it was to perform a promise to
for its elegance, the philosopher for its arguments, and the his relations." This stranger Avas Mr. Duncombe. In
paint for its piety. It were an injury to the reader to offer 1667, he was appointed one of Charles the Second's privy
him an abridgment.''1 council, a commissioner of the ordnance, and soon after a
* The best fame of sir Charles Sedley rests upon his commissioner of the treasury. In 1672, upon the earl of
dramatic works, and his exertions to promote the revo- Shaftesbury's resignation, he was promoted to be chancellor
lution, though the latter it is to be feared arose from a and under-treasurer of the exchequer. — Wood's Athenae
spirit of revenge rather than of patriotism. He was born Oxon. ii. 688, fol.
in 1639, and died at the age of eighty. — Wood's Athense J Sir William Temple in his " Memoirs," (p. 449), and
Oxon. — Biog. Brit. the earl of Dartmouth (Oxford ed. of this work), bear
•fThis was the John Duncomhe of Battlesden, in Bed- testimony that sir William Coventry was the most beloved
fordshirc, mentioned by Wood. Charles the First, when and trusted by the ho-ise of commons, of the courtiers
in Carisbrook Castle, amused himself by having various dis- who sat among them. His word was always considered
Dutations relative to the church service with a presbyterian a sufficient assurance. The earl of Dartmouth relates
divine, who was the governor's chaplain. "The king that the duke of Buckingham wishing sir William to abuse
being a good logician, and well read in history and matters this confidence by saying something to deceive the house,
of controversy, gained ground of his opponent, and would led to the challenge mentioned in the text,
please himself with one passage that happened, which was Sir William was the fourth son of lord keeper Co-
this. During their discourse, the chaplain then standing ventry. After the restoration he represented Yarmouth,
at the end of the presence-chamber, between a lieutenant in Norfolk. He was secretary to the duke of York and
of the garrison, who had a sword in his hand, and a gen- to the admiralty. In 1665, he was knighted and made a
tlernan who was not known there, the king, in the heat ol privy councillor. Some other events in his political
his discourse, suddenly disarmed the lieutenant by taking career will he noticed hereafter. He continued a
the sword out of his hand, which made him look strangely, bachelor until his death, which was caused by the gout
and the more when his majesty drew it, for that frightened in his stomach, mistaken by his physicians for a calculous
the chaplain also, he not imagining the reason, until disordei. He died in 1686, aged .sixty. He bequeathed
the stranger, better understanding the king's meaning, fell 2,000£. to the French protestants, and 3,000/. for the re-
upon his knees, and the king laying the naked sword upon demption of captives at Algiers. — Wood's Athena; Oxon.
his shoulder, conferred upon him the honour of knigat-- He wrote several works relating to the politics of his era
OF KING CHARLES II. 181
of Ormond. Tho king loved him : and he accommodated himself much to the king's humour.
Yet ths king was, with much difficulty, prevailed on to put an end to his government of
Ireland, and to put lord Roberts, afterwards made earl of Radnor, in his place ; who was a
morose man, believed to be severely just, and as wise as a cynical humour could allow him
to be. The manner cf removing the duke of Ormond will give a particular character of the
king's temper. He sent lord Arlington to him for his commission. The duke of Ormond
said, he had received it from the king's own hands, and he would go and deliver it to him.
"When lie carried it to the king, the king denied he had sent any such message. Two days
after that lord Arlington was sent again with the same message : and he had the same
answer : and the king disowned it again to the duke. So the king declared in the privy
council the change of the government of Ireland, and made Roberts lord lieutenant. And
it flew abroad as a piece of news. The duke of Ormond hearing that, came to the king in
great warmth, to expostulate upon it. But the king denied the whole thing, and sent him
away : but he sent for Fitzpat rick, who had married his sister, and who told me the whole story,
and sent him to the duke of Ormond, to tell him, the king had denied the matter, though it
was true, for he observed he was in such a heat, that he was afraid he might have said
indecent things : and he was resolved not to fall out with him : for though his affairs made
it necessary to change the government of Ireland, yet he would still be kind to him, and con-
tinue him lord steward. Lord Radnor did not continue long in Ireland : he was cynical in
his whole administration, and uneasy to the king in every thing : and in one of his peevish
humours he wrote to the king, that he had but one thing to ask of him, which if it might
be granted, he would never ask another, and that was to be discharged of his employment.
The lord Berkley succeeded him, who was brother to the lord Fitzharding, and from small
beginnings had risen up to the greatest post a subject was capable of. In the war he
was governor of Exeter for the king, and one of his generals. He was named by him
governor to the duke of York. He was now made lord lieutenant of Ireland ; and after-
wards sent ambassador to France, and plenipotentiary to Nimeguen. He was a man in whom
it appeared with how little true judgment courts distribute favours and honours. He had a
positive way of undertaking and determining in every thing, but was a very weak man, and
not incorrupt *.
The court delivered itself up to vice. And the house of commons lost all respect in the
nation ; for they gave still, all the money that was asked. Yet those who opposed the court
carried one great point, that a committee should be named to examine the accounts of the
money that was given during the Dutch war. It was carried, that they should be all men out
of the house t. Lord Brereton was the chief of them, and had the chair. He was a philoso-
phical man, and was all his life long in search of the philosopher's stone, by which he
neglected his own affairs, but was a man of great integrity, and was not to be gained by the
flatteries, hopes, or threatenings of the court. Sir William Turner was another of the com-
mittee, who had been lord mayor of London the former year, under whose wise and just
administration the rebuilding of the city advanced so fast, that he would have been chosen
lord mayor for the ensuing year, if he had not declined it. Pierpoint was likewise of this
committee ; so was sir James Langham, a very weak man, famed only for his readiness of
speaking florid Latin, which he had attained to a degree beyond any man of the age ; but
his style was too poetical, and full of epithets and figures.
I name sir George Saville last, because he deserves a more copious character. He rose
afterwards to be viscount, earl, and marquis of Halifax. He was a man of a great and ready
wit ; full cf life, and very pleasant ; much turned to satire. He let his wit run much on
* George Berkley, carl Berkley, viscount Parsley., gave to Sion College a very valuable library of books col-
baron of Berkley, Mowbray, Scagrave, and Bruce, deserves lected by sir Robert Coke for the use of the London
little farther notice. His total incompeteney for the post clergy during "the troublous times." His lordship
of ambassador was noticed whilst at Nimeguen by sir also wrote " Historical Applications, &c." He died in
William Temple — Clarendon's Correspondence, i. 627. KJ98, aged seventy-one. — Walpole's Catalogue of Royal
Mr, Wychcrly is said to have sketched his character as and Noble Authors ; Grainger's Biog. Hist,
lord Plausible in " The Plain Dealer." It is doubtful if f This committee brought to light the most barefaced
Bnrnet is correct in representing him as vicious, though misapplication of the public money. See Grey's Debates,
the authority last quoted supports the accusation. Tie i. 157, &c.
182 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
matters of religion , so that he passed for a bold and determined atheist ; though he often
protested to me, he was not one ; and said, he believed there was not one in the world. Ho
confessed he could not swallow down every thing that divines imposed on the world : he
was a Christian in submission : he believed as much as he could, and he hoped that God
would not lay it to his charge, if he could not digest iron, as an ostrich did, nor take into his
belief things that must burst him : if he had any scruples they were not sought far, nor
cherished by him ; for lie never read an atheistical book. In a fit of sickness, I knew him
very much touched with a sense of religion. I was then often with him. He seemed full of
good purposes, but they went off with his sickness. He was always talking of morality and
friendship. He was punctual in all payments, and just in all his private dealings. But, with
relation to the public, he went backwards and forwards, and changed sides so often, that in
conclusion no side trusted him. He seemed full of commonwealth notions ; yet he went into
the worst part of king Charles's reign. The liveliness of his imagination was always too hard
for his judgment. A severe jest was preferred by him to all arguments whatsoever. And he
was endless in consultations : for when after much discourse a point was settled, if he could
find a new jest to make even that which was suggested by himself seem ridiculous, he could
not hold, but would study to raise the credit of his wit, though it might make others
call his judgment in question. When he talked to me as a philosopher of his contempt
of the world, I asked him, what he meant by getting so many new titles, which I called
the hanging himself about with bells and tinsel. He had no other excuse for it but this,
that, since the world were such fools as to value those matters, a man must be a fool for
company : he considered them but as rattles ; yet rattles please children ; so these might be
of use to his family. His heart was much set on raising his family ; but, though he made a
vast estate for them, he buried two of his sons himself, and almost all his grandchildren.
The son that survived was an honest man, but far inferior to him. I do not remember who
besides these were of that committee, which, because it sat in Brook-house, was called by the
name of that house *.
The court was much troubled to see an inquiry of this kind set on foot. It was said,
the king was basely treated, when all his expense was to be looked into. On the other
hand it was answered, that the parliament did not look into his revenue, but only to the
distribution of that treasure that was trusted to him for carrying on the war. I was told,
that, after all the most shameful items that could be put into an account, there was none
offered for about 800,000/. But I was not then in England ; so I was very imperfectly
informed as to this matter t. The chief men that promoted this were taken off, (as the
word then was for corrupting members,) in which the court made so great a progress, that it
was thought the king could never have been prevailed on to part with a parliament so much
practised on, and where every man's price was known ; for as a man rose in his credit in
the house, he raised his price, and expected to be treated accordingly. In all this inquiry
the carelessness and luxury of the court came to be so much exposed, that the king's spirit
was much sharpened upon it. All the flatterers about him magnified foreign governments
where the princes were absolute, that in France more particularly. Many to please him
said, it was a very easy thing to shake off the restraints of law, if the king would but set
about it. The crown of Denmark was elective, and subject to a senate, and yet was in one
day, without any visible force, changed to be both hereditary and absolute, no rebellion nor
convulsion of state following on it. The king loved the project in general, but would not give
himself the trouble of laying or managing it : and therefore, till his affairs were made easier,
and the project grew clearer, he resolved to keep all things close within himself; and went
on in the common maxim, to balance party against party, and by doing popular things to
get money of his parliament, under the pretence of supporting the Triple Alliance. So
money-bills passed easily in the house of commons, which by a strange reverse came to be
opposed in the house of lords ; who began to complain, that the money-bills came up so
thick, that it was said, there was no end of their giving. End signifying purpose, as well
* This nobleman is so frequently noticed in connexion f The charges substantiated against sir George Carteret,
with the events of this and the following reigns, that no for the misappropriation of the money voted for the use
further notice is required. He was born in lt>30. the navy, is in Grey's Debates, i. 157, &c.
»F KING CHARLES II.
183
as a measure, this passed as a severe jest at that time. Sir John Coventry made a gross
reflection on the king's amours. He was one of those who struggled much against the
giving money. The common method is : after those who oppose such bills fail in the main
vote, the next thing they endeavour is, to lay the money on funds that will be unacceptable,
and will prove deficient. So these men proposed the laying a tax on the play-houses, which
in so dissolute a time were become nests of prostitution. And the stage was defiled
beyond all example, Dryden, the great master of dramatic poesy, being a monster of immo-
desty, and of impurity of all sorts *. This was opposed by the court : it was said, the
players were the king's servants, and a part of his pleasure. Coventry asked, whether did
the king's pleasure lie among the men or the women that acted ? This was carried with
great indignation to the court. It was said, this was the first time that the king was person-
ally reflected on : if it was passed over, more of the same kind would follow ; and it
would grow a fashion to talk so : it was therefore fit to take such severe notice of this, that
nobody should dare to talk at that rate for the future. The duke of York told me, he
said all he could to the king to divert him from the resolution he took ; which was to send
some of the guards, and watch in the streets where sir John lodged, and leave a mark upon
him. Sandys and Obrian, and some others, went thither : and as Coventry was going home,
they drew about him. He stood up to the wall, and snatched the flambeau out of his
servant's hands : and with that in one hand, and his sword in the other, he defended himself
so well, that he got more credit by it, than by all the actions of his life. He wounded some
of them, but was soon disarmed : and then they cut his nose to the bone, to teach him to
remember what respect he owed to the king : and so they left him, and went back to the
duke of Monmouth's, where Obrian's arm was dressed. That matter was executed by orders
from the duke of Monmouth ; for which he was severely censured, because he lived then in
professions of friendship with Coventry ; so that his subjection to the king was not thought
an excuse, for directing so vile an attempt on his friend, without sending him secret notice
of what was designed. Coventry had his nose so well sewed up, that the scar was scarce to
be discerned t. This put the house of commons in a furious uproar. They passed a bill of
banishment against the actors of it, and put a clause in it, that it should not be in the king's
power to pardon them. This gave great advantages to all those that opposed the court, and
was often remembered, and much improved, by all the angry men of this time. The names of
the court and country party, which till now had seemed to be forgotten, were again revived.
When the city was pretty well rebuilt, they began to take care of the churches, which
had lain in ashes some years : and in that time conventicles abounded in all parts of the
city. It was thought hard to hinder men from worshipping God any way as they could,
when there were no churches, nor ministers to look after them. But they began to raise
churches of boards, till the public allowance should be raised towards the building the churches.
These they called tabernacles, and they fitted them up with pews and galleries, as churches.
* This must be understood of his writings for the
stage, for as to his personal character, there was nothing
remarkably vicious in it ; but some of his plays are the
fullest of obscenity of any now extant.
t Sir John Coventry was a grandson of the first earl of
Coventry, and nephew of sir William, and Mr. Henry
Coventry. At the coronation of Charles the Second, he
was made a knight of the Bath, and sat as the representa-
tive of Weymouth during all that monarch's reign. The
proposition, in the debate upon which sir John made the
witty observation that called down upon him the resent-
ment of the court, was, that every sitter in the boxes of a
theatre should pay one shilling; every one in the pit six-
pence, and each of the rest of the audience, threepence :
tins tax being towards the expenses of the government
Grey's Debates, i. 332. Reresby, Marvell, and other
authorities agree that the duke of Monmouth was the first
instigator of the cowardly outrage. It occurred on the 21st
of December, 1670. the very night the house adjourned.
J lie assassins, variously stated at fifteen and twenty-five,
lurked for their victim close by Suffolk-street, from ten at
night until two the following morning. At this hour he
returned from a tavern where he had supped. They
would have proceeded to further outrage if some strangers
had not come up. The ruffians were under the com-
mand of sir Thomas Sandys, a lieutenant in the duke of
Monmouth's troop. Mr. Obrian was a son of the earl of
Inchiquin. The house of commons showed its resent-
ment by refusing to proceed with any bill until they had
passed an act banishing these two worthies, who had fled
to the continent, Simon Parry, Miles Reeves, &c. ; and
they made this a preamble to an act, making them and all
future similar offenders felons, and incapable of being
pardoned, but by a special act of parliament. This, usually
called " the Coventry Act," is the 22nd and 23rd Car. 2,
cap. 1 . Sir John died a bachelor, and, which was never
suspected even by his family, a Roman catholic. His
will, giving the chief of his property to the Jesuits, was
annulled. He was the founder c! an hospital at Wivelis-
combe, for twelve poor persons. — Grainger's Biog. Hist.,
Oxford ed. of this work, &c.
184 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
So now an act was proposed, reviving the former act against conventicles, with some new
clauses in it. One was very extraordinary, that if any doubt should arise concerning the
meaning of any part of this act, it was to be determined in the sense that was the most
contrary to conventicles, it being the intention of the house to repress them in the most
effectual manner possible. The other was, the laying a heavy fine on such justices of the
peace, as should not execute the law, when informations were brought them *. Upon this
many, who would not be the instruments of such severities, left the bench, and would sit
there no longer. This act was executed in the city very severely in Starling's mayoralty,
and put things in such disorder, that many of the trading men of the city began to talk of
removing with their stocks over to Holland. But the king ordered a stop to be put to farther
severities. Many of the sects either discontinued their meetings, or held them very secretly
with small numbers, and not in hours of public worship. Yet informers were encouraged,
and were everywhere at work. The behaviour of the Quakers was more particular, and had
something in it that looked bold. They met at the same place and at the same hour aa
before. And when they were seized, none of them would go out of the way. They went
all together to prison ; they staid there till they were dismissed, for they would not petition
to be set at liberty, nor would they pay their fines set on them, nor so much as the jail fees,
calling these the wages of unrighteousness. And as soon as they were let out, they went to
their meeting-houses again ; and when they found these were shut up by order, they held
their meetings in the streets, before the doors of those houses. They said, they would not
disown or be ashamed of their meeting together to worship God ; but, in imitation of
Daniel, they would do it the more publicly, because they were forbidden the doing it. Some
called this obstinacy, while others called it firmness ; but by it they carried their point : for
the government grew weary of dealing with so much perverseness, and so began to let them
alone.
The king had by this time got all the money that he expected from the house of commons,
and that after great practice on both lords and commons. Many bones of contention were
thrown in, to create differences between the two houses, to try if by both houses insisting on
them the money-bills might fall. But, to prevent all trouble from the lords, the king was
advised to go, and be present at all their debates. Lord Lauderdale valued himself to me on
this advice, which he said he gave. At first the king sat decently on the throne, though
even that was a great restraint on the freedom of debate, which had some effect for a while :
though afterwards many of the lords seemed to speak with the more boldness, because, they
said, one heard it to whom they had no other access but in that place ; and they took the
more liberty, because what they had said could not be reported wrong. The king, who was
often weary of time, and did not know how to get round the day, liked the going to the
house, as a pleasant diversion. So he went constantly. And he quickly left the throne, and
stood by the fire, which drew a crowd about him, that broke all the decency of that house ;
for before that time every lord sat regularly in his place ; but the king's coming broke the
order of their sitting as became senators. The king's going thither had a much worse effect ;
for he became a common solicitor, not only in public affairs, but erven in private matters of
justice. He would in a very little time have gone round the house, and spoke to every man
that he thought worth speaking to. And he was apt to do that upon the solicitation of any
of the ladies in favour, or of any that had credit with them. He knew well on whom he
could prevail ; so, being once, in a matter of justice, desired to speak to the earl of Essex and
the lord Hollis, he said, they were stiff and sullen men : but when he was next desired to
solicit two others, he undertook to do it ; and said, " they are men of no conscience, so I will
take the government of their conscience into my own hands." Yet when any of the lords
told him plainly, that they could not vote as he desired, he seemed to take it well from them.
When the act against conventicles was debated in that house, Wilkins *f- argued long against
it. The king was much for having it pass, not that he intended to execute it, but he was
glad to have that body of men at mercy, and to force them to concur in the design for a
* This act is 22nd Charles 2, c. 1 5 its preamble of tender consciences, nave or may contrive at their ineet-
declares it to be "against the growing and dangerous ings insurrections, as late experience hath shown."
practices of seditious sectaries, &c. who, under pretence -|- Bishop of Chester
OF KING CHARLES II. 18/5
general toleration. He spoke to Wilkins not to oppose it. He answered, he thought it an
ill thing both in conscience and policy ; therefore, both as he was an Englishman, and a
bishop, he was bound to oppose it. The king then desired him not to come to the house
while it depended. He said, by the law and constitution of England, and by his majesty's
favour, he had a right to debate and vote ; and he was neither afraid nor ashamed to own
his opinion in that matter, and to act pursuant to it. So he went on ; and the king was
not offended with his freedom. But though he bore with such a frank refusing to comply
with his desire, yet if any had made him such general answers, as led him to believe they
intended to be compliant, and had not in all things done as he expected, he called that a
juggling with him ; and he was apt to speak hardly of them on that account. No sooner
was the king at ease, and had his fleet put in good case, and his stores and magazines well
furnished, than he immediately fell to negotiating with France, both to ruin Holland, and to
subvert the government of England. The Brook-house business, as well as the burning his
fleet, stuck as deep as any thing could do in his heart. He resolved to revenge the one, and
to free himself from the apprehensions of the others returning upon him. Though the house
of commons were so far practised on, that the report of Brook-house was let fall, and that
matter was no more insisted on, yet he abhorred the precedent, and the discovevies that had
been made upon it.
The prince of Orange came over to him in the winter of 16C9. He was then in the
twentieth year of his age : so he came over, both to see how the king intended to pay the
great debt that he owed him, which had been contracted by his father on his account, and
likewise to try what offices the king would do in order to his advancement to the statholder-
ship. The king treated him civilly. He assured him he would pay the debt, but did not
lay down any method of doing it : so these were only good words. He tried the prince, as
the prince himself told me, in point of religion ; he spoke of all the protestants as a factious
body, broken among themselves, ever since they had broken off from the main body : and
wished that he would take more pains, and look into these things better, and not be led by
his Dutch blockheads. The prince told all this to Zuylestein, his natural uncle. They
were both amazed at it, and wondered how the king could trust so great a secret, as his being
a papist, to so young a person. The prince told me, that he never spoke of this to any other
person till after his death : but he carried it always in his own mind, and could not hinder
himself from judging of all the king's intentions after that, from the discovery he had then
made of his own sentiments. Nor did he, upon his not complying with that proposition,
expect any real assistance of the king, but general intercessions, which signified nothing ;
and that was all he obtained.
" So far have I carried on the thread of the affairs of England, down from the peace of
Breda to the year 1670, in which the negotiation with the court of France was set on foot.
I am not sure, that every thing is told in just order, because I was all the while very much
retired from the world and from company. But I am confident I have given a true repre-
sentation of things ; since I had most of these matters from persons who knew them well,
and who were not likely to deceive me. But now I return to my own country, where the
same spirit appeared in the administration.
The king was now upon measures of moderation and comprehension : so these were also
pursued in Scotland. Leighton was the only person among the bishops who declared for
these methods ; and he made no step without talking it over to me. A great many
churches were already vacant. The people fell off entirely from all the episcopal clergy in
the western counties : and a set of hot, fiery, young teachers went about among them,
inflaming them more and more : so it was necessary to find a remedy for this. Leighton
proposed, that a treaty should be set on foot, in order to the accommodating our differences,
and for changing the laws that had carried the episcopal authority much higher than any of
the bishops themselves put in practice. He saw both church and state were rent : religion was
likely to be lost : popery, or rather barbarity, was likely to come in upon us : and therefore he
proposed such a scheme, as he thought might have taken with the soberest men of presbyterian
principles ; reckoning that, if the schism could be once healed, and order be once restored, it
might be easy to bring things into such management, that the concessions then to be offered
H6 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
should do no great hurt in present, and should die with that generation. He observed the
extraordinary concessions made by the African church to the donatists, who were every whit
as wild and extravagant as our people were ; therefore he went indeed very far in the exte-
nuating the episcopal authority : but he thought it would be easy afterwards, to recover what
seemed necessary to be yielded at present.
He proposed that the church should be governed by the bishops and their clergy, mixing
together in the church judicatories ; in which the bishop should act only as a president, and
be determined by the majority of his presbyters, both in matters of jurisdiction and ordina-
tion : and that the presbyterians should be allowed, when they sat down first in these judi-
catories, to declare, that their sitting under a bishop was submitted to by them only for
peace sake, with a reservation of their opinion with relation to any such presidency : and
that no negative vote should be claimed by the bishop: that bishops should go to the
churches, in which such as were to be ordained were to serve, and hear and discuss any
exceptions that were made to them, and ordain them with the concurrence of the pres-
bytery : that such as were to be ordained should have leave to declare their opinion, if they
thought the bishop was only the head of the presbyters. And he also proposed, that there
should be provincial synods, to sit in course every third year, or oftener, if the king should
summon them, in which complaints of the bishops should be received, and they should be
censured accordingly. The laws that settled episcopacy, and the authority of a national
synod, were to be altered according to this scheme. To justify, or rather to excuse these
concessions, which left little more than the name of a bishop, he said, as for their protesta-
tion, it would be little minded, and soon forgotten : the world would see the union that would
be again settled among us, and the protestation would lie dead in the books, and die with
those that made it : as for the negative vote, bishops generally managed matters so, that
they had no occasion for it ; but, if it should be found necessary, it might be lodged in the
king's name with some secular person, who should interpose as often as the bishop saw it
was expedient to use it : and if the present race could be but laid in their graves in peace,
all those heats would abate, if not quite fall off. He also thought it was a much dcccnter
thing for bishops to go upon the place where the minister was to serve, and to ordain after
solemn fasting and prayer, than to huddle it up at their cathedrals, with no solemnity, and
scarcely with common decency. It seemed also reasonable, that bishops should be liable to
censure, as well as other people : and that in a fixed court, which was to consist of bishops,
and deans, and two chosen from every presbytery. The liberty offered to such as were to
be ordained, to declare their opinion, was the hardest part of the whole. It looked like the
perpetuating a factious and irregular humour. But few would make use of it. All the
churches in the gift of the king, or of the bishops, would go to men of other principles. But
though some things of an ill digestion were at such a time admitted, yet, if by these means
the schism could be once healed, and the nation again settled in a peaceable state, the
advantage of that would balance all that was lost by those abatements, that were to be
made in the episcopal authority, which had been raised too high, and to correct that, was
now to be let fall too low, if it were not the good that was to be hoped for from this accom-
modation ; for this came to be the word, as comprehension was in England. He proposed
farther, that a treaty might be set on foot, for bringing the presbyterians to accept of these
concessions. The earl of Kincardine was against all treating with them ; they were a trifling
sort of disputatious people ; they would fall into much wrangling, and would subdivide among
themselves ; and the young and ignorant men among them, that were accustomed to popular
declamations, would say, here was a bargain made to sell Christ's kingdom, and his preroga-
tive. He therefore proposed, that since we knew both their principles and their tempers, we
ought to carry the concessions as far as it was either reasonable or expedient, and pass these
into laws ; and then they would submit to a settlement, that was made, and that could not
be helped, more easily than give a consent beforehand, to any thing that seemed to entrench
on that, which they called the liberty of the church. Leighton did fully agree with him in
this : but lord Lauderdale would never consent to that. He said, a law that did so entirely
change the constitution of the church, when it came to be passed and printed, would be con-
strued in England as a pulling down of episcopacy ; unless he could have this to say in
OF KING CHARLES II. 187
excuse for it, that the presbyterians were willing to come under that model. So he said,
since the load of what was to be done in Scotland would fall heaviest on him, he would not
expose himself so much, as the passing any such act must certainly do, till he knew
what effects would follow on it. So we were forced now to try how to deal with them in
a treaty.
I was sent to propose this scheme to Hutcheson, who was esteemed the most learned
man among them : but I was only to try him, and to talk of it as a notion of my own
He had married my cousin-germ an, and I had been long acquainted with him. He looked
on it as a project that would never take effect ; so he would not give his opinion about it.
He said, when these concessions were passed into laws, he would know what he should think
of them ; but he was one of many, so he avoided to declare himself. The next thing under
consideration was, how to dispose of the many vacancies, and how to put a stop to conven-
ticles. Leighton proposed, that they should be kept still vacant, while the treaty was on
foot, and that the presbyterians should see how much the government was in earnest, in
the design of bringing them to serve in the church, when so many places were kept open
for them.
The earl of Tweedale thought the treaty would run into a great length, and to many
niceties, and would perhaps come to nothing in conclusion : so he proposed the granting
some of the ousted ministers leave to go and serve in those parishes by an act of the king's
indulgence, from whence it came to be called the indulgence. Leighton was against this.
He thought nothing would bring on the presbyterians to a treaty so much as the hopes of
being again suffered to return to their benefices ; whereas, if they were once admitted to
them, they would reckon they had gained their point, and would grow more backward. I
was desired to go into the western parts, and to give a true account of matters, as I found
them there. So I went, as in a visit to the duke of Hamilton, whose duchess was a woman
of great piety, and great parts. She had much credit among them, for she passed for a
zealous presbyterian, though she protested to me she never entered into the points of contro-
versy, and had no settled opinion about forms of government ; only she thought their minis-
ters were good men, who kept the country in great quiet and order : they were, she said,
blameless in their lives, devout in their way, and diligent in their labours. The people were
all in a frenzy, and were in no disposition to any treaty. The most furious men among
them were busy in conventicles, inflaming them against all agreements : so she thought, that,
if the more moderate presbyterians were put in vacant churches, the people would grow
tamer, and be taken out of the hands of the mad preachers, that were then most in vogue :
this would likewise create a confidence in them ; for they were now so possessed with pre-
nidices, as to believe that all that was proposed was only an artifice to make them fall out
among themselves, and deceive them at last. This seemed reasonable ; and she got many
of the more moderate of them to come to me ; and they all talked in the same strain.
A strange accident happened to Sharp in July, 1 668, as he was going into his coach in
full day-light, the bishop of Orkney being with him : a man came up to the coach, and dis-
charged a pistol at him with a brace of bullets in it, as the bishop of Orkney was going up
into the coach. He intended to shoot through his cloak at Sharp, as he was mounting up ;
but the bullet stuck in the bishop of Orkney's arm, and shattered it so, that, though he
lived some years after that, they were forced to open it every year for an exfoliation. Sharp
was so universally hated, that, though this was done in full day-light, and on the high street,
yet nobody offered to seize the assassin. So he walked off, and went home, and shifted
himself of an odd wig, which he was not accustomed to wear, and came out, and walked in
the streets immediately. But Sharp had viewed him so narrowly, that he discovered him
afterwards, as shall be mentioned in its proper place. I lived then much out of the world ;
yet I thought it decent to go and congratulate him on this occasion. He was much touched
with it, and put on a show of devotion upon it. He said with a very serious look, " My
times are wholly in thy hand, 0 thou God of my life." This was the single expression
savouring of piety, that ever fell from him, in all the conversation that passed between him
and me. Proclamations were issued out with great rewards for discovering the actor > but
nothing followed on them. On this occasion it was thought proper that he should be called
I
188 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
to court, and have some marks of the king's favour put on him. He promised to make
many good motions ; and he talked for a while like a changed man ; and went out of his
way, as he was going to court, to visit me at my parsonage house, and seemed resolved to
turn to other methods. The king, as he had a particular talent that way, when he had a
mind to it, treated him with special characters of favour and respect. But he made nc
proposition to the king ; only in general terms he approved of the methods of gentleness and
moderation then in vogue.
When he came back to Scotland, he moved in council that an indulgence might be granted
to some of the public resolutioners, with some rules and restraints ; such as, that they should
not speak, or preach against episcopacy, and that they should not admit to either of the
sacraments any of the neighbouring parishes, without a desire from their own ministers ;
and that they should engage themselves to observe these rules. He knew that his propo-
sition, for all the show of moderation that was in it, could have no effect, for the resolutioners
and the protestors had laid down their old disputes, and were resolved to come under no
discrimination on that account ; nor would they engage to observe any limitations that should
be laid on them. They said, the government might lay restraints on them, and punish them,
if they broke through them : and they would obey them, or not, at their peril. But they laid
down this for a maxim : that they had received a complete ministry from Christ, and that
the judicatories of the church had only power to govern them in the exercise of their function.
If the king should lay any limitations on them, they might obey these, as prudence should
direct : but they would not bind themselves up by any engagement of their own. Burnet,
and his clergy (for the diocese of Glasgow is above the fourth part of all Scotland) came to
Edinburgh full of high complaints, that the churches were universally forsaken, and that
conventicles abounded in every corner of the country. A proclamation was upon that issued
out, in imitation of the English act, setting a fine of 50/. upon every landlord, on whose
grounds any conventicle was held, which he might recover, as he could, of those who were at
any such conventicle. This was plainly against law ; for the council had no power by their
authority to set arbitrary fines. It was pretended, on the other hand, that the act of parlia-
ment that had restored episcopacy had a clause in it, recommending the execution of that act
to the privy council, by all the best ways they could think of. But the lawyers of the council
board said, that in matters of property their power was certainly tied up to the direction of
the law : and the clause mentioned related only to particular methods, but could not be con-
strued so far, as this proclamation carried the matter. The proclamation went out, but was
never executed. It was sent up to London, and had a show of zeal ; and so was made use
of by the earl of Lauderdale to bear down the clamour that was raised against him and his
party in Scotland, as if they designed to pull down episcopacy. The model of the county
militia was now executed ; and above two thousand horse, and sixteen thousand foot, were
armed and trained, and cast into independent regiments and troops, who were all to be under
such orders as the council issued out. All this was against law ; for the king had only a
power upon an extraordinary occasion to raise, and march such a body of men, as he should
summon together ; and that at his own charge ; but the converting this into a standing
militia, which carried with it a standing charge, was thought a great stretch of prerogative.
Yet it was resolved on, though great exceptions were made to it by the lawyers, chiefly by
sir John Nesbit, the king's advocate, a man of great learning, both in law and in many other
things, chiefly in the Greek learning : he was a person of great integrity, and always stood
firm to the law. The true secret of this design was, that lord Lauderdale was now pressing
to get into the management of the affairs of England. And he saw what the court was
aiming at : and he had a mind to make himself considerable by this, that he had in his hand
a great army, with a magazine of arms, and a stock of money laid up in Scotland, for any
accident that might happen. So all his creatures, and lady Dysart more than all the rest,
had this up in all companies, that none before him ever dreamt how to make Scotland con-
siderable to the king ; but now it began to make a great figure. An army, a magazine, and
a treasure, were words of a high sound ; chiefly now that the house of commons was likely to
grow so intractable, that the duke of Buckingham despaired of being able to manage them.
He moved the dissolving the parliament, and calling a new one ; and thought the nation
Of KING CHARLES II. 189
would choose men less zealous for the church; for these were all against him. But the king
would not venture on it. He knew the house of commons was either firm to him by their
own principles, or by his management they could be made so ; and therefore he would not
run the risk of any new election. He had the dissenters much in his power by the severe
laws under which they lay at his mercy : but he did not know what influence they might
have in elections, and in a new parliament ; these he knew were in their hearts enemies to
prerogative ; which he believed they would show, as soon as they got themselves to be
delivered from the laws, that then put them in the king's power.
Lord Tweedale was then at London ; and he set on foot a proposition that came to nothing,
but made so much noise, and was of such importance, that it deserves to be enlarged on. It
was for the union of both kingdoms. The king liked it, because he reckoned that, at least
for his time, he should be sure of all the members that should be sent up from Scotland.
The duke of Buckingham went in easily to a new thing ; and lord keeper Bridgman was
much for it. The lord Lauderdale pressed it vehemently ; it made it necessary to hold a
parliament in Scotland, where he intended to be the king's commissioner. The earl of
Tweedale was for it on other accounts, both to settle the establishment of the militia, and to
get some alterations made in the laws that related to the church ; and he really drove at the
union, as a thing which he thought might be brought about. Scotland, he said, was even
then under great uneasiness, though the king knew the state of that kingdom; but when
another king should reign that knew not Joseph (so he expressed it) the nation would be
delivered up to favourites, and be devoured by them : rich provinces, like those that belonged
to Spain, could hold out long under oppression ; but a poor country would be soon dispeopled,
if much oppressed : and if a king of deep designs against public liberty should caress the
Scots, he might easily engage them ; since a poor country may be supposed willing to change
their seats, and to break in on a richer one : there was indeed no fear of that at present ; for
the dotage of the nation on presbytery, and the firmness with which the government sup-
ported episcopacy, set them so far from one another, that no engagement of that sort could
be attempted ; but if a king should take a dexterous method for putting that out of the way,
lie might carry Scotland to any design he thought fit to engage in. Lord Tweedale blamed
sir Francis Bacon much for laying it down as a maxim, that Scotland was to be reckoned as
the third part of the island, and to be treated accordingly : whereas he assured me, Scotland
for numbers of people was not above a tenth part, and for wealth not above a fortieth part
of the island.
The discourse of the union was kept up, till it was resolved to summon a new parliament
in Scotland. Then lord Lauderdale made the king reflect on the old schemes lie had laid
before him at the Restoration : and he undertook to manage the parliament so, as to make it
answer that end more effectually than any before him had ever done. This was resolved on in
the sunimer of 1669. I being then at Hamilton, and having got the best information of the
state o F the country that I could, wrote a long account of all I had heard to the lord Tweedale,
and concluded it with an advice to put some of the more moderate of the presbyterians into
the vacant churches. Sir Robert Murray told me, the letter was so well liked, that it was
read to the king. Such a letter would have signified nothing, if lord Tweedale had not
been fixed in the same notion. He had now a plausible thing to support it. So my princi-
ples, and zeal for the church, and I know not what besides were raised, to make my advice/
signify somewhat : and it was said, I was the man that went most entirely into Leighton's
maxims. So this indiscreet letter of mine, sent without communicating it to Leighton, gave
the deciding stroke. And, as may be easily believed, it drew much hatred on me from all
that either knew it, or did suspect it.
The king wrote a letter to the privy council, ordering them to indulge such of the presby-
tenans as were peaceable and loyal, so far as to suffer them to serve in vacant churches,
though they did not submit to the present establishment ; and he required them to set them
such rules as might preserve order and peace, and to look well to the execution of them ; and
as for such as could not be provided in churches at that time, he ordered a pension of 207,
sterling a year, to be paid every one of them, as long as they lived orderly. Nothing
followed on the second article of this letter : the presbyterians locked on this as the king's
I
100 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
hire to be silent, and not to do their duty : and none of them would accept of it. But, as
to the first part of the letter, on the first council day after it was read, twelve of the minis-
ters were indulged ; they had parishes assigned them ; and about thirty more were afterwards
indulged in the same manner ; and then a stop was put to it for some time. With the
warrants that they had for their churches, there was a paper of rules likewise put in their
hands. Hutcheson in all their names made a speech to the council : he began with decent
expressions of thanks to the king, and their lordships ; he said, they should at all times give
such obedience to laws and orders, as could stand with a good conscience. And so they were
dismissed. As for those of them that were allowed to go to the churches, where they had
served before, no difficulty could be made ; but those of them that were named to other
churches would not enter on the serving them, till the church sessions and the inhabitants of
the parish met, and made choice of them for their pastors, and gave them a call (as they
worded it) to serve among them. But upon this, scruples rose among some, who said the
people's choice ought to be free; whereas now they were limited to the person named
by the council, which looked like an election upon a conge- d'elire, with a letter naming the
person, with which they had often diverted themselves. But scruples are mighty things,
when they concur with inclination or interest ; and when they are not supported by these,
men learn distinctions to get free from them. So it happened in this case ; for though some
few were startled at these things, yet they lay in no man's way ; for every man went, and
was possessed of the church marked out for him. And at first the people of the country ran
to them with a sort of transport of joy. Yet this was soon cooled. It was hoped that
they would have begun their ministry with a public testimony against all that had been done
in opposition to what they were accustomed to call the work of God. But they were silent
at that time, and preached only the doctrines of Christianity. This disgusted all those who
loved to hear their ministers preach to the times, as they called it. The stop put to the
indulgence made many conclude, that those who had obtained the favour had entered into
some secret engagements. So they came to call them the king's curates., as they had called
the clergy in derision the bishops curates. Their caution brought them under a worse
character of dumb dogs, that could not bark. Those, who by their fierce behaviour had shut
themselves out from a share in the indulgence, began to call this erastianism, and the civil
magistrates assuming the power of sacred matters. They said, this was visibly an artifice to
lay things asleep with the present generation, and was one of the depths of 'Satan, to give a
present quiet, in order to the certain destruction of presbytery. And it was also said, that
there was a visible departing of the divine assistance from those preachers : they preached no
more with the power and authority that had accompanied them at conventicles. So, many
began to fall off from them, and to go again to conventicles. Many of the preachers con-
fessed to me, that they found an ignorance and a deadness among those, who had been the
hottest upon their meetings, beyond what could have been imagined. They that could have
argued about the intrinsic power of the church, and episcopacy, and presbytery, upon which
all their sermons had chiefly run for several years, knew very little of the essentials of reli-
gion. But the indulged preachers, instead of setting themselves with the zeal and courage
that became them, against the follies of the people, of which they confessed to myself they
were very sensible, took a different method, and studied by mean compliances to gain upon
their affections, and to take them out of the hands of some fiery men that were going up and
down among them. The tempers of some brought them under this servile popularity, into
which others went out of a desire to live easy.
The indulgence was settled in a hurry : but when it came to be descanted on, it appeared
to be plainly against law ; for by the act restoring episcopacy, none were capable of benefices
but such as should own the authority of bishops, and be instituted by them. So now the
episcopal party, that were wont to put all authority in the king, as long as he was for them,
began to talk of law. They said the king's power was bounded by the law, and that these
proceedings were the trampling of law under foot. For all parties, as they need the shelter
of law, or the stretches of the prerogative, are apt by turns to magnify the one, or the other.
Burnet and his clergy were out of measure enraged at the indulgence. They were not only
abandoned, but ill used by the people, who were beginning to threaten, or to buy them out
OF KING CHARLES II. 191
of tlieir churches, that they also might have the benefit of the indulgence. The synod of the
clergy was held at Glasgow in October ; and they moved that an address might be drawn up,
representing to the king the miseries they were under, occasioned by the indulgence : they
complained of it as illegal, and as likely to be fatal to the church. This was, according to the
words in some of their acts of parliament, a misrepresenting the king's proceedings, in order
to the alienating the hearts of his subjects from him ; which was made capital, as may appear
by the account given in the former book of the proceedings against the lord Balmerinoch.
He that drew this address was one Ross, afterwards archbishop, first of Glasgow, and then of
St. Andrews ; who was an ignorant man, and violent out of measure. So it was drawn full
of acrimony : yet they resolved to keep it secret, till advice should be taken upon it ; and
accordingly, to present it to the privy council, or not. A copy of this was procured by indi-
rect methods ; and it was sent up to court, after the earl of Lauderdale was come off, and
was in his way to hold a parliament in Scotland. Lord Lauderdale had left all his concerns
at court with sir Robert Murray ; for, though at his mistress's instigation, he had used him
very unworthily, yet he had so great an opinion of his virtue and candour, that he left all
his affairs to his care. As soon as the king saw the clergy's address, he said, it was a new
western remonstrance ; and he ordered that Burnet should not be suffered to come to the
parliament, and that he should be proceeded against, as far as the law could carry the matter.
It was not easy to stretch this so far, as to make it criminal : but Burnet being obnoxious
on other accounts, they intended to frighten him to submit, and to resign his bishopric.
The parliament was opened in November. Lord Lauderdale's speech ran upon two heads.
The one was, the recommending to their care the preservation of the church, as established
by law : upon which he took occasion to express great zeal for episcopacy. The other head
related to the union of both kingdoms. All that was done relating to this was, that an act
passed for a treaty about it ; and in the following summer, in a subsequent session, commis-
sioners were named, who went up to treat about it. But they made no progress, and the
thing fell so soon, that it was very visible it was never intended in good earnest *.
The two first acts that passed in parliament were of more importance, and had a deeper
design. The first explained, and asserted the king's supremacy; but carried it in such
general words, that it might have been stretched to every thing. It was declared that the
settling all things relating to the external government of the church was a right of the
crown : and that all things relating to ecclesiastical meetings, matters, and persons, were to
be ordered according to such directions as the king should send to his privy council ; and
that these should be published by them, and should have the force of laws. Lord Laudcr-
dale very probably knew the secret of the duke's religion, and had got into his favour. So
it was very likely that he intended to establish himself in it, by putting the church of Scot-
land wholly in his power. But that was yet a secret to us all in Scotland. The method he
took to get it passed was this : he told all those who loved presbytery, or that did not much
favour the bishops, that it was necessary to keep them under, by making them depend
absolutely on the king : this was, indeed, a transferring the whole legislature, as to the
* Sir John Nesbit was one of the commissioners on the nati, (Coke's Reports, vii. 1.) that those who, after tho
part of Scotland. When the Fnglish parliament met in descent of the English crown to king James, were born m
October, 1669, the king alluded to the proposed union Scotland, were no aliens in England, and, consequently
in his speech from the throne. The lord keeper, Bridgman, were capable, not only to hold lands, but to enjoy all
enlarged more upon the subject. He observed, that the other immunities, as if they had been born here. SucJt
king was convinced that nothing would tend more to the advances to a union being made, his majesty doth most
good and security of both nations than such a union ; heartily recommend that commissioners may be nominated
and then proceeded to shew the gradual advances that had to treat and consult with commissioners from Scotland
been made towards effecting it. James the First " went concerning its completion." The king gave similar recom-
EO far on towards this good work, that, by an act of pariia- mendations to the Scottish parliament, through the earl of
went in the first year of his reign, commissioners were Lauderdale : and, in consequence, as mentioned in the
authorised to treat and consult with commissioners from text, the commissioners met,, but without any progress
Scotland concerning it. In pursuance of their treating, in being made. There was too much bigotry upon the point
Uie fourth year of his reign, an act was made for the repeal of church government to permit a satisfactory result. —
•if hostile laws, and the abolition of the memory of hos- Chandler's Debates in the House of Commons, i. 127.
tility between the two nations. In the sixth year of the We shall see that this important measure was not effected
same reign, it was, by the judges of all the courts at West- until 1707, the sixth year of queen Anne's reign,
wiuster Hall, solemnly adjudged in the case of the Post-
102 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
11 att rs < f the church, from the parliament, and vesting it singly in the king : yet, ho
told them, if this were done, as the circumstances might happen to be favourable, the king
might be prevailed on, if a dash of a pen would do it, to change all on a sudden : whereas
that could never be hoped for, if it could not be brought about, but by the pomp
and ceremony of a parliament. He made the nobility see they need fear no more
the insolence of bishops, if they were at mercy, as this would make them. Sharp did
not like it, but durst not oppose it. He made a long dark speech, copied out of Dr.
Taylor, distinguishing between the civil and ecclesiastical authority, and then voted for it :
so did all the bishops that were present : some absented themselves. Leighton was against
any such act, and got some words to be altered in it. He thought it might be stretched to
ill ends : and so he was very averse to it. Yet he gave his vote for it, not having sufficiently
considered the extent of the words, and the consequences that might follow on such an act,
for which he was very sorry as long as he lived. But at that time there was no apprehen-
sions in Scotland of the danger of popery. Many of the best of the episcopal clergy, Nairn,
and Charteris in particular, were highly offended at the act. They thought it plainly made
the king our pope. The presbyterians said, it put him in Christ's stead. They said, the
king had already too much power in the matters of the church : and nothing ruined the
clergy more, than their being brought into servile compliances, and a base dependance upon
courts. I had no share in the counsels about this act. I only thought it was designed by
lord Tweedale to justify the indulgence, which he protested to me was his chief end in it.
And nobody could ever tell me how the words " ecclesiastical matters" were put in the act.
Leighton thought he was sure they were put in after the draught and form of the act were
agreed on. It was generally charged on lord Lauderdale. And when the duke's religion came
to be known, then all people saw how much the legal settlement of our religion was put in his
power by this means. Yet the preamble of the act being only concerning the external
government of the church, it was thought that the words " ecclesiastical matters" were to
be confined to the sense that was limited by the preamble.
The next act that passed was concerning the militia : all that had been done in raising it
was approved : and it was enacted, that it should still be kept up, and be ready to march
into any of the king's dominions, for any cause in which his majesty's authority, power, or
greatness should be concerned ; and that the orders should be transmitted to them from the
council board, without any mention of orders from the king. Upon this great reflections
were made. Some said that by this the army was taken out of the king's power and com-
mand, and put under the power of the council : so that if the greater part of the council
should again rebel, as they did in the year 1638, the army was, by the words of this act,
bound to follow their orders. But when jealousies broke out in England, of the ill designs
that lay hid under this matter, it was thought that the intent of this clause was, that if the
king should call in the Scotch army, it should not be necessary that he himself should send
any orders for it ; but that, upon a secret intimation, the council might do it without order,
and then, if the design should miscarry, it should not lie on the king, but only on the
council, whom in that case the king might disown; and so none about him should be
blameable for it. The earl of Lauderdale valued himself upon these acts, as if he had con-
quered kingdoms by them. He wrote a letter to the king upon it, in which he said, all
Scotland was now in his power : the church of Scotland was now more subject to him than the
church of England was : this militia was now an army ready upon call : and that every man in
Scotland was ready to march whensoever he should order it, with several very ill insinuations
in it. But a dangerous thing it is to write letters to princes : this letter fell into duke
Hamilton's hands some years after ; and I had it in my hands for some days. It was
intended to found an impeachment on it. But this happened at a time when the business
of the exclusion of the duke from the succession of the crown was so hotly pursued, that this,
which, at another time, would have made great noise, was not so much considered as the
importance of it might seem to deserve. The way how it came into such hands was this : the
king, after he had read the letter, gave it to sir Robert Murray ; and when he died it was j
found among his papers. He had been much trusted in the king's laboratory, and had \
several of his chemical processes in his hands. So the king, after his death, did order one to
OF KING CHARLES II. !93
look over all his papers, for chemical matters ; but all the papers of state were let alone *.
So this, with many other papers, fell into the hands of his executors. And thus this letter
came into duke Hamilton's hands, who would have made use of it if greater matters had not
been then in agitation. This is not the single instance that I have known, of papers of
great consequence falling into the hands of the executors of great ministers, that might have
been turned to very bad uses if they had fallen into ill hands. It seems of great concern,
that when a minister, or an ambassador dies, or is recalled, or is disgraced, all papers relating
to the secrets of his employment should be of right in the power of the government. But I,
of all men, should complain the least of this, since, by this remissness, many papers of a
high nature have fallen in my way.
By the act of supremacy the king was now master, and could turn out bishops at pleasure.
This had its first effect on Burnet ; who was offered a pension if he would submit and resign,
and was threatened to be treated more severely if he stood out. He complied, and retired to
a private state of life, and bore his disgrace better than he had done his honours. He lived
four years in the shade, and was generally much pitied : he was of himself good-natured and
sincere ; but was much in the power of others : he meddled too much in that which did not
belong to him, and he did not understand ; for he was not cut out for a court, or for the
ministry : and he was too remiss in that which was properly his business, and which ho
understood to a good degree ; for he took no manner of care of the spiritual part of his function.
At this time the University of Glasgow, to whom the choice of professor of divinity does
belong, chose me, though unknown to them all, to be professor there. There was no sort of
artifice or management to bring this about : it carne of themselves : and they did it without
any recommendation of any person whatsoever. So I was advised by all my friends to
change my post, and go thither. This engaged me both into much study, and in a great
deal of business. The clergy came all to me, thinking I had some credit with those that
governed, and laid their grievances and complaints before me. They were very ill used,
and were so entirely forsaken by their people, that in most places they shut up their
churches : they were also threatened and affronted on all occasions. On the other hand,
the gentlemen of the country came much to me, and told me such strange things of the
vices of some, the follies of others, and the indiscretions of them all, that though it was
not reasonable to believe all that they said, yet it was impossible not to believe a great
deal of it. And so I soon saw what a hard province I was like to have of it. Accounts
of the state of those parts were expected from me, and were likely to be believed. And
it was not easy to know what ought to be believed, nor how matters were to be repre-
sented : for I found calumny was so equally practised on both sides, that I came to mistrust
every thing that I heard. One thing was visible, that conventicles abounded, and strange
doctrine was vented in them. The king's supremacy was now the chief subject of declamation :
it was said, bishops were, indeed, enemies to the liberties of the church, but the king's
little finger would be heavier than their loins had been. After I had been for some
months among them, and had heard so much, that I believed very little, I wrote to lord
Tweedale, that disorders did certainly increase ; but, as for any particulars, I did not
know what to believe, much less could I suggest what remedies seemed proper : I therefore
proposed that a committee of council might be sent round the country to examine matters,
and to give such orders as were at present necessary for the public quiet ; and that they
might prepare a report against the next session of parliament, that then proper remedies
might be found out.
Duke Hamilton, lord Kincardine, Primrose, and Drummond were sent to these parts. They
met first at Hamilton, next at Glasgow : then they went to other parts ; and came back, and
< nded their circuit at Glasgow. They punished some disorders, and threatened both the
i in ulged ministers and the countries with greater severities, if they should still grow more
We have the testimony of Sheffield, duke of Buck- pretensions to the knowledge of the philosophers stone,
'•" am, in his " character of Charles the Second," to the as for their real merits. In some extended researches
ness of this monarch for chemical, or rather alchemi- into the early history of chemistry, the editor was especially
mrsuits. Ashmole, Kenelm, Digby, and others were struck by the prevalence of this delusion among the higher
onised by this monarch, as much for their chimerical classes during the seventeenth century.
O
194 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
and more insolent upon the favour that had been shewed them. I was blamed by the pre<-
byterians for all they did, and by the episcopal party for all they did not ; since these
thought they did too little, as the others thought they did too much. They consulted much
with me, and suffered me to intercede so effectually for those whom they had put in prison,
that they were all set at liberty. The episcopal party thought I intended to make myself
popular at their cost : so they began that strain of fury and calumny that has pursued me
ever since from that sort of people, as a secret enemy to their interest, and an imderminer of
it. But I was, and still am, an enemy to all force and violence in matters of conscience :
and there is no principle that is more hated by bad ill-natured clergymen than that.
The earls of Lauderdale and Tweedale pressed Leighton much to accept of the see of
Glasgow. He declined it with so much aversion, that we were all uneasy at it. Nothing
moved him to hearken to it, but the hopes of bringing about the accommodation that was
proposed, in which he had all assistance promised him from the Government. The king
ordered him to be sent for to court. He sent for me on his way, where he stopped a
day, to know from me what prospect there was of doing any good. I could not much
encourage him ; yet I gave him all the hopes that I could raise myself to : and I was
then inclined to think that the accommodation was not impracticable. Upon his coming
to London, he found lord Lauderdale's temper was much inflamed : he was become fierce
and intractable : but lord Tweedale made every thing as easy to him as was possible*
They had turned out an archbishop ; so it concerned them to put an eminent man in his
room, who should order matters with such moderation, that the Government should not
be under perpetual disturbance by reason of complaints from those parts.
But now the court was entering into new designs, into which lord Lauderdale was thrust-
ing himself with an obsequious or rather an officious zeal. I will dwell no longer at
present on that, than just to name the duchess of Orleans's coming to Dover, of which
a more particular account shall be given, after that I have laid together all that relates
to Scotland in the year 16JO, and the whole business of the accommodation. Leighton
proposed to the king his scheme of the accommodation, and the great advantages which
his majesty's affairs would have if that country could be brought into temper. The king
was at this time gone off from the design of a comprehension in England. Toleration
was now thought the best way. Yet the earl of Lauderdale possessed him with the
necessity of doing somewhat to soften the Scots, in order to the great design he was then
engaging in. Upon that the king, who seldom gave himself the trouble to think twice
of any one thing, gave way to it. Leighton's paper was, in some places, corrected by
sir Robert Murray, and was turned into instructions, by which lord Lauderdale was
authorised to pass the concessions that were to be offered into laws. This he would never
own to me, though Leighton showed me the copy of them. But it appeared probable,
by his conduct afterwards, that he had secret directions to spoil the matter, and that he
intended to deceive us all. Lord Tweedale was more to be depended on. But he began
to lose ground with Lady Dysart : and so his interest did not continue strong enough to
carry on such a matter.
. Leighton undertook the administration of the see of Glasgow : and it was a year after
this before he was prevailed on to be translated thither. He came, upon this, to Glasgow,
and held a synod of his clergy, in which nothing was to be heard but complaints of
desertion and ill usage from them all. Leighton, in a sermon that he preached to them,
and in several discourses, both in public and private, exhorted them to look up more to
God, to consider themselves as the ministers of the cross of Christ, to bear the contempt
and ill i^age they met with, as a cross laid on them, for the exercise of their faith and
patience, to lay aside all the appetites of revenge, to humble themselves before God, to
have many days for secret fasting and. prayers, and to meet often together, that they
might quicken and assist one another in those holy exercises ; and then they might expect
blessings from heaven upon their labours. This was a new strain to the clergy. They had
nothing to say against it : but it was a comfortless doctrine to them, and they had not been i
accustomed to it. No speedy ways were proposed for forcing the people to come to church, :
nor for sending soldiers among them, or raising the fines to which they were liable- So they
OF KING CHARLES II. 195
went home as little edified with their new bishop as he was with them. When this was
over, he went round some parts of the country to the most eminent of the indulged minis-
ters, and carried me with him. His business was, to persuade them to hearken to propo-
sitions of peace. He told them some of them would be quickly sent for to Edinburgh, where
terms would be offered them in order to the making up our differences : all was sincerely meant :
they would meet with no artifices nor hardships : and if they received those offers heartily,
they would be turned into laws : and all the vacancies then in the church would be filled by
their brethren. They received this with so much indifference, or rather neglect, that it
would have cooled any zeal that was less warm and less active than that good man's was.
They were scarcely civil ; and did not so much as thank him for his tenderness and care :
the more artful among them, such as Hutcheson, said it was a thing of general concern, and
that they were but single men. Others were more metaphysical, and entertained us
with some poor arguings and distinctions. Leighton began to lose heart. Yet he resolved
to set the negotiation on foot, and carry it as far as he could.
When lord Lauderdale came down to hold a session of parliament, letters were written to
six of the presbyterian preachers, ordering them to come to town. There was a long confer-
ence between Leighton and them, before the earls of Lauderdale, Rothes, Tweedale, and
Kincardine. Sharp would not be present at it : but he ordered Paterson, afterwards arch-
bishop of Glasgow, to hear ail, and to bring him an account of what passed. Leighton laid
before them the mischief of our divisions, and of the schism that they had occasioned ; many
souls were lost, and many more were in danger by these means : so that every one ought to
do all he could to heal this wide breach, that had already let in so many evils among us,
which were likely to make way to many more : for his own part, he was persuaded that
episcopacy, as an order distinct from presbyters, had continued in the church ever since the
days of the apostles ; that the world had every where received the Christian religion from
bishops, and that a parity among clergymen was never thought of in the church before the
middle of the last century, and was then set up rather by accident than on design : yet, how
much soever he was persuaded of this, since they were of another mind, he was now to offer
a temper to them, by which both sides might still preserve their opinions, and yet unite in
carrying on the ends of the gospel and their ministry : they had moderators amongst them,
which was no divine institution, but only a matter of order : the king, therefore, might name
these; and the making them constant could be no such encroachment on their function, as
that the peace of the church must be broken on such an account : nor could they say that
the blessing of the men named to this function, by an imposition of hands, did degrade them
from their former office, to say no more of it : so they were still at least ministers : it is true
others thought they had a new and special authority, more than a bare presidency : that did
not concern them, who were not required to concur with them in anything, but in sub-
mitting to this presidency : and, as to that, they should be allowed to declare their own
opinion against it, in as full and as public a manner as they pleased : he laid it to their con-
sciences to consider of the whole matter, as in the presence of God, without any regard to
party or popularity. He spoke, in all, nearly half an hour, with a gravity and force that made
a very great impression on those who heard it. Hutcheson answered, and said their opinion
for a parity among the clergy was well known : the presidency now spoken of had made way
to a lordly dominion in the church ; and, therefore, how inconsiderable soever the thing might
seem to be, yet the effects of it both had been, and would be, very considerable : he there-
fore desired some time might be given them to consider well of the propositions now made,
and to consult with their brethren about them : and, since this might seem an assembling
together against law, he desired they might have the king's commissioner's leave for it.
This was immediately granted. We had a second conference, in which matters were more
fully opened, and pressed home, on the grounds formerly mentioned. Lord Lauderdale made
us all dine together, and came to us after dinner : but could scarcely restrain himself from
/lying out, for their behaviour seemed both rude and crafty. But Leighton had prepared
him for it, and pressed him not to give them a handle to excuse their flying off by any
roughness in his deportment towards them. The propositions offered them were now gene-
rally known* Sharp cried out that episcopacy was to be undermined, since the negative
o2
196 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
vote was to be let go. The inferior clergy thought that if it took effect, and the presby-
terians were to be generally brought into churches, they would be neglected, and that their
people would forsake them. So they hated the whole thing. The bigoted presbyterians
thought it was a snare, and the doing that which had a fair appearance at present, and was
meant only to lay that generation in their graves in peace ; by which means episcopacy, that
was then shaking over all the nation, would come to have another root, and grow again out
of that. But the far greater part of the nation approved of this design : and they reckoned,
either we should gain our point, and then all would be quiet, or if such offers were rejected
by the presbyterians, it would discover their temper, and alienate all indifferent men from
them ; and the nation would be convinced how unreasonable and stubborn they were, and
how unworthy they were of any farther favour. All that was done in this session of par-
liament was, the raising a tax, and the naming commissioners for the union with England ;
besides two severe acts passed against conventicles.
There had been a great one held in Fife, near Dunfermline, where none had ever been held
before. Some gentlemen of estate were among them : and the novelty of the thing drew a
great crowd together ; for intimation had been given of it some days before. Many of these
came in their ordinary arms. That gave a handle to call them the rendezvous of rebellion.
Some of them were taken and brought to Edinburgh, and pressed to name as many as they
knew of their fellow conventiclers : but they refused to do it. This was sent up to court,
and represented as the forerunner of rebellion : upon which lord Lauderdale, hearing what
use his enemies made of it, was transported almost to fits of rage. Severe acts passed upon
it, by which their fines were raised higher, and they were made liable to arbitrary severities.
The earl of Lauderdale, with his own hand, put in a word in the act that covered the papists,
the fines being laid on such of the reformed religion as went not to church. He pretended
by this to merit with the popish party, the duke in particular ; whose religion was yet a
secret to us in Scotland, though it was none at court. He said to myself, he had put in
these words on design, to let the party know they were to be wTorse used than the papists
themselves. All field conventicles were declared treasonable : and in the preacher, they were
made capital. The landlords, on whose grounds they were held, were to be severely fined :
and all who were at them were to be punished arbitrarily if they did not discover all that
were present whom they knew. House conventicles, crowded without the doors, or at the
windows, were to be reckoned and punished as field conventicles. Sir Robert Murray told
me that the king was not well pleased with this act, as being extravagantly severe ; chiefly
in that of the preachers being to be punished by death. He said bloody laws did no good,
and that he would never have passed it if he had known it beforehand. The half of the '
parliament abhorred this act : yet so abject were they in their submissions to lord Lauder-
dale, that the young earl of Cassilis was the single person that voted in the negative. This
passed in parliament so suddenly, that Leighton knew nothing of it till it was too late. Ho
expostulated with lord Tweedale severely about it : he said the whole complexion of it was
so contrary to the common rules of humanity, not to say Christianity, that he was ashamed to
mix in counsels with those who could frame and pass such acts : and he thought it somewhat
strange that neither he nor I had been advised with in it. The earl of Tweedale said, the
late field conventicle being a new thing, it had forced them to severities that at another
time could not be well excused : and he assured us there was no design to put it in
execution.
Leighton sent to the western counties six episcopal divines, all, except myself, brought
from other parts : Nairn and Charteris were two of them : the three others, Aird, Cook, and
Paterson, were the best we could persuade to go round the country to preach in vacant
churches, and to argue upon the grounds of accommodation with such as should come to
them. The episcopal clergy, who were yet in the country, could not argue much for
any thing ; and would not at all argue in favour of a proposition that they hated. The
people of the country came generally to hear us, though not in great crowds. We were,
indeed, amazed to see a poor commonalty so capable of arguing upon points of govern-
ment, and on the bounds to be set to the power of princes in matters of religion : upon
all these topics they had texts of scripture at hand, and were ready with their answers
OF KING CHARLES II. 197
to any thing that was said to them. This measure of knowledge was spread even among
the meanest of them, their cottagers, and their servants. They were, indeed, vain of their
knowledge, much conceited of themselves, and were full of a most entangled scrupulosity ;
so that they found, or made, difficulties in every thing that could be laid before them. We
stayed about three months in the country ; and in that time there was a stand in the
frequency of conventicles : but, as soon as we were gone, a set of those hot preachers went
round all the places in which we had been, to defeat all the good we could hope to do. They
told them the devil was never so formidable as when he was transformed into an angel of
light.
The ousted ministers had many meetings in several parts of the kingdom. They found
themselves under great difficulties. The people had got it among them, that all that was
now driven at was only to extinguish presbytery, by some seeming concessions with tho
present generation ; and that if the ministers went into it they gave up their cause, that so
they themselves might be provided for during their lives, and die at more ease. So they,
who were strangely subdued by their desire of popularity, resolved to reject the propositions,
though they could not well tell on what grounds they should justify it. A report was also
spread among them, which they believed, and had its full effect upon them : it was said
that the king was alienated from the church of England, and v/eary of supporting episco-
pacy in Scotland ; and so was resolved not to clog his government any longer with it ; and
that the concessions now made did not arise from any tenderness we had for them, but from
an artifice to preserve episcopacy . so they were made believe that their agreeing to them was
really a strengthening of that government, which was otherwise ready to fall with its own
weight. And because a passage of scripture, according to its general sound, was apt to
work much on them, that of " Touch not, taste not, handle not," was often repeated among
them. It was generally agreed on to reject the offers made them. The next debate among
them was, about the reasons they were to give for rejecting them ; or whether they would
comply with another proposition which Leighton had made them, that if they did not like
the propositions he had made, they would see if they could be more happy than he was, arid
offer at other propositions. In their meetings they named two to maintain the debate, pro
and con. They disputed about the protestation that they were allowed to make : and
" protestatio contraria facto" was a maxim that was in great vogue among them. They
argued upon the obligation by the covenant to maintain the church as then established, in
doctrine, worship, discipline, and government : and so every thing that was contrary to that,
was represented as a breach of their covenant : and none durst object to that. But that they
might make a proposition which they were sure would not be hearkened to, they proposed
that, among the concessions to be insisted on, one might be, a liberty to ordain without the
bishops. When we heard what their reasonings were, papers were written, and sent among
them, in answer to them. But it is a vain thing to argue when a resolution is taken up, not
founded on argument — and arguments are only sought for to justify that which is already
resolved on. We pressed them with this, that, notwithstanding their covenant, they them-
selves had afterwards made many alterations much more important than this of submitting
to a constant moderator named by the king. Cromwell took from them the power of meet-
ing in general assemblies ; yet they went on doing the other duties of their function, though
this, which they esteemed the greatest of all their rights, was denied them. When an order
came out to sequester the half of the benefices of such as should still pray for the king, they
upon that submitted, though before they had asserted it as a duty to which they were bound
by their covenant : they had discontinued their ministry in obedience to laws and proclama-
tions now for nine years : and those who had accepted the indulgence had come in by the
king's authority, and had only a parochial government, but did not meet in presbyteries :
from all which we inferred, that when they had a mind to lay down any thing that they
thought a duty, or to submit to any thing that they thought an invasion of their rights,
they could find a distinction for it : and it was not easy to shew why they were not as com-
pliant in this particular. But all was lost labour: hot men among them were positive, and
all of them were full of contention.
Duchess Hamilton sent for some of them, Hutcheson in particular. She said she did not
193 THE H1STOPY OF THE REIGN
pretend to understand nice distinctions, and the terms of dispute : here was plain sense :
the country might be again at quiet, and the rest of those that were ousted admitted to
churches on terms that seemed to all reasonable men very easy : their rejecting this would
give a very ill character of them, and would have very bad effects, of which they might
see cause to repent when it would be too late. She told me all that she could draw from
him, that she understood, was, that he saw the generality of their party was resolved against
itfl treaties, or any agreement ; and that if a small number should break off from them, it
would not heal the old breaches, but would create new ones. In conclusion, nothing was
likely to follow on this whole negotiation : we, who were engaged in it, had lost all our own
side by offering at it ; and the presbyterians would not make one step towards us.
Leighton desired another meeting with them at Paisley, to which he carried me and one or
two more. They were about thirty. We had two long conferences with them. Leighton
laid out before them the obligations that lay on them to seek for peace at all times, but more
especially when we already saw the dismal effects of our contentions : there could be no
agreement unless on both sides there was a disposition to make some abatements, and some
steps towards one another : it appeared that we were willing to make even unreasonable
ones on our side : and would they abate nothing in theirs ? Was their opinion so mathe-
matically certain, that they could not dispense with any part of it for the peace of the church
and for the saving of souls ? Many poor things were said on their side which would have
made a less mild man than he was lose all patience. But he bore with all; and urged this
question on them, would they have held communion with the church of God at the time of
the council of Nice, or not ? If they should say not, he would be less desirous of entering
into communion with them ; since he must say of the church at that time, u Let my soul be
with theirs :" if they said they would ; then he was sure they would not reject the offers
now made them, which brought episcopacy much lower than it was at that time. One o*
the most learned among them had prepared a speech full of quotations, to prove the differ-
ence between the primitive episcopacy and ours at present. I was then full of those matters :
so I answered all his speech, and every one of his quotations, and turned the whole upon
him, with advantages that were too evident to be so much as denied by their own party :
and it seemed the person himself thought so, for he did not offer at one word of reply. In
conclusion, the presbyterians desired that the propositions might be given them in writing ;
for hitherto all had passed only verbally, and words, they said, might be misunderstood, mis-
repeated, and denied. Leighton had no mind to do it : yet, since it was plausible to say
they had nothing but words to shew to their brethren, he wrote them down, and gave me
the original, which I still have in my hands, but suffered them to take as many copies of it
as they pleased. At parting he desired them to come to a final resolution as soon as they
could, for he believed they would be called for by the next January to give their answers.
And by the end of that month, they were ordered to come to Edinburgh. I went thither at
the same time, upon Leighton's desire.
We met at the earl of Rothes's house, where all this treaty came to a short conclusion.
Hutcheson, in all their names, said they had considered the propositions made to them, but
were not satisfied in their consciences to accept of them. Leighton desired to know upon
what grounds they stood out. Hutcheson said it was not safe to argue against law.
Leighton said, that since the government had set on a treaty with them in order to
the altering the laws, they were certainly left to a full freedom of arguing against them :
these offers were no laws : so the arguing about them could not be called an arguing
against law : he offered them a public conference upon them, in the hearing of all that
had a mind to be rightly informed : he said the people were drawn into those matters
so far as to make a schism upon them : he thought it was therefore very reasonable that
they should likewise hear the grounds examined upon which both sides wfnt. Hutcheson
refused this : he said he was but one man ; and that what he said was in the name of his
brethren, who had given him no farther authority. Leighton then asked if they had nothing
on their side to propose towards the healing of our breaches. Hutcheson answered, their
f>rinciples -were well enough known, but he had nothing to propose. Upon this Leighton,
in a long discourse, told what was the design he had been driving at in all this negociation :
OF KING CHARLES II. l<j<)
it was to procure peace, and to promote religion : he had offered several things which he was
persuaded were great diminutions of the just rights of episcopacy : yet since all church
power was for edification, and not for distraction, he had thought that, in our present cir-
cumstances, it might have conduced as much to the interest of religion, that episcopacy
should divest itself of a great part of the authority that belonged to it, as the bishops' using
it in former ages had been an advantage to religion : his offers did not flow from any mis-
trust of the cause : he was persuaded episcopacy was handed down through all the ages of
the church from the apostles' days : perhaps he had wronged the order by the concessions he
had made : yet he was confident God would forgive it, as he hoped his brethren would
excuse it : now they thought fit to reject these concessions, without either offering any
reason for doing it, or any expedient on their side : therefore, the continuance of our divi-
sions must lie at their door, both before God and man : if ill effects followed upon this, he
was free of all blame, and had done his part. Thus was this treaty broken off, to the
amazement of all sober and dispassionate people, and to the great joy of Sharp, and the rest
of the bishops ; who now for a while seemed even pleased with us, because we had all along
asserted episcopacy, and had pleaded for it in a high and positive strain.
I hope this will be thought a useful part of the history of that time ; none knew the
steps made in it better than myself. The fierce episcopal men will see, how much they were
to blame for accusing that apostolical man Leighton, as they did, on this occasion : as if he
had designed in this whole matter to betray his own order, and to set up presbytery. The
presbyterians may also see, how much their behaviour disgusted all wise, moderate, aud good
men, when they rejected propositions, that came so home even to the maxims they had set
up, that nothing but the fear of offending, that is of losing the credit they had with their
party, could be so much as pretended for their refusing to agree to them. Our part in the
whole negociation was sincere and open. We were actuated by no other principle, and
had no other design, but to allay a violent agitation of men's spirits, that was throwing us
into great distractions, and to heal a breach that was likely to let in an inundation of miseries
upon us, as has appeared but too evidently ever since. The high party, keeping still their
old bias to persecution, and recovering afterwards their credit with the government, carried
violent proceedings so far, that, after they had thrown the nation into great convulsions, they
drew upon themselves such a degree of fury from enraged multitudes, whom they had
oppressed long and heavily, that, in conclusion, the episcopal order was put down, as shall
be told in its proper place. The roughness of our own side, and the perverseness of the
presbyterians, did so much alienate me from both, that I resolved to withdraw myself from
any farther meddling, and to give myself wholly to study. I was then, and for three years
after that, offered to be made a bishop ; but I refused it. I saw the counsels were, altering
above, so I resolved to look on, and see whither things would turn.
My acquaintance at Hamilton, and the favour and friendship I met with from both the
duke and duchess, made me offer my service to them, in order to the search of many papers,
that were very carefully preserved by them ; for the duchess's uncle had charged her to keep
them with the same care as she kept the writings of her estate ; since in these a full justifi-
cation of her father's public actings, and of his own, would be found when she should put
them in the hands of one that could set them in order, and in a due light. She put them
all in my hands, which I acknowledge was a very great trust : and I made no ill use of it.
I found there materials for a very large history. I wrote it with great sincerity, and concealed
none of their errors. I did indeed conceal several things that related to the king : I left
out some passages that were in his letters : in some of which was too much weakness, and
111 others too much craft and anger. I got through that work in a few months *. When
the earl of Lauderdale heard that I had finished it, he desired me to come up to him, for he
was sure lie could both rectify many things, and enlarge on a great many more. His true
design was to engage me to put in a great deal relating to himself in that work. I found
another degree of kindness and confidence from him upon my coming up, than ever before.
I had nothing to ask for myself, but to be excused from the offer of two bishoprics. But
* This work is a very authentic raid full authority concerning t'ae events of the struggle between Charles the First
aj'fl the parliament.
200 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
whatsoever I asked for any other person was granted ; and I was considered as his favourite.
He trusted me with all secrets, and seemed to have no reserves with me. He indeed pressed
me to give up with sir Robert Murray ; and I saw, that upon my doing that, I should have
as much credit with him as I could desire. Sir Robert himself apprehended this would be
put to me, and pressed me to comply with him in it. But I hated servitude, as much as
I loved him ; so I refused it flatly. I told lord Lauderdale that sir Robert had been as a
second father, or o-ovcrnor to me, and therefore I could not break friendship with him. But
I promised to speak to him of nothing that he trusted to me. And this was all that ever
he could bring me to, though he put it often to me. I was treated by him with an entire
confidence. Applications were made to me, and every thing that I proposed was done. I
laid before him the ill state the affairs of Scotland were falling into, by his throwing off so
many of his friends. Duke Hamilton and he had been for some years in ill terms. I laid
down a method for bringing them to a better understanding. I got kind letters to pass on
both sides, and put their reconciliation in so fair a way, that upon my return to Scotland it
was for that time fully made up. I had authority from him to try, how both the earls of
Argyle and Tweedale might return to their old friendship with him. The earl of Argyle
was ready to do every thing ; but the earl of Athol had proposed a match between his son
and lady Dysart's daughter, and he had an hereditary hatred to the lord Argyle and his
family ; so that could not be easily brought about. Lord Tweedale was resolved to with-
draw from business. The earl of Lauderdale had for many years treated his brother, the
lord Halton, with as much contempt as he deserved ; for he was both weak and violent, inso-
lent and corrupt. He had promised to settle his estate on his daughter, when the lord
Tweedale's son married her : but his brother offered now every thing that lady Dysart
desired, provided she would get his brother to settle his estate on him. So lord Halton was
now taken into affairs, and had so much credit with his brother, that all the dependence was
upon him. And thus the breach between the earls of Lauderdale and Tweedale was irrecon-
cileable, though I did all I could to make it up.
As to church affairs, lord Lauderdale asked my opinion concerning them. I gave it
frankly, to this purpose : there were many vacancies in the disaffected counties, to which no
conformable men of any worth could be prevailed on to go ; so I proposed, that the indul-
o-ence should be extended to them all, and that the ministers should be put into those
parishes by couples, and have the benefice divided between them ; and, in the churches.,
where the indulgence had already taken place, that a second minister should be added, and
have the half of the benefice : by this means I reckoned, that all the ousted ministers would
be again employed, and kept from going round the uninfected parts of the kingdom. I also
proposed that they should be confined to their parishes, not to stir out of them without leave
from the bishop of the diocese, or a privy councillor ; and that, upon transgressing the rules
that should be sent them, a proportion of their benefice should be forfeited, and applied to
some pious use. Lord Lauderdale heard me to an end : and then, without urging one word
upon any one branch of this scheme, he desired me to put it in writing ; which I did. And
the next year, when he came down again to Scotland, he made one write out my paper, and
turned it into the style of instructions ; so easily did he let himself be governed by those
whom he trusted, even in matters of great consequence. Four bishops happened to die that
year, of which Edinburgh was one. I was desired to make my own choice ; but I refused
them all : yet I obtained a letter to be written, by the king's order, to lord Rothes, that he
should call the two archbishops, and four of the officers of state, and send up their opinion
to the king of the persons fit to be promoted ; and a private letter was written to the lords,
to join with Leighton in recommending the persons that he should name. Leighton was
uneasy, when he found that Charteris, and Nairn, as well as myself, could not be prevailed
on to accept bishoprics. They had an ill opinion of the court, and could not be brought to
leave their retirement. Leighton was troubled at this. He said, if his friends left the whole
load on him, he must leave all to Providence : yet he named the best men he could think on.
And, that Sharp might not have too public an affront put on him, Leighton agreed to one of
his nomination. But now I go to open a scene of another nature.
The court was now going into other measures. The parliament had given the king alJ
OP KING CHARLES II. 201
the money he had asked for repairing his fleet, and for supplying his stores and magazines.
Additional revenues were also given for some years. But at their last sitting, in the begin-
ning of the year 1 670, it appeared that the house of commons were out of countenance for
Having given so much money, arid seemed resolved to give no more. All was obtained under
the pretence of maintaining the Triple Alliance. When the court saw how little reason
they had to expect farther supplies, the duke of Buckingham told the king, that now the
time was come, in which he might both revenge the attempt on Chatham, and shake off the
uneasy restraint of a house of commons. And he got leave from the king to send over sir
Ellis Leighton to the court of France, to offer the project of a new alliance and a new war.
Sir Ellis told me this himself ; and was proud to think, that he was the first man employed
in those black and fatal designs. But, in the first proposition made by us, the subduing of
England, and the toleration of popery, here was offered, as that with which the design must
be begun. France, seeing England so inclined, resolved to push the matter farther.
The king's sister, the duchess of Orleans, was thought the wittiest woman in France.
The king of France had made love to her, with which she was highly incensed, when she
saw it was only a pretence, to cover his addresses to Mademoiselle La Yaliere, one of her
maids of honour, whom he afterwards declared openly to be his mistress : yet she had recon-
ciled herself to the king, and was now so entirely trusted by him, that he ordered her to
propose an interview with her brother at Dover. The king went thither, and was so much
charmed with his sister, that every thing she proposed, and every favour she asked, was
granted. The king could deny her nothing. She proposed an alliance, in order to the con-
quest of Holland. The king had a mind to have begun at home ; but she diverted him
from that. It could not be foreseen what difficulties the king might meet with upon the
first opening the design : as it would alarm all his people, so it would send a great deal of
wealth and trade, and perhaps much people, over to Holland ; and by such an accession
they would grow stronger, as he would grow weaker. So she proposed that they should
begin with Holland, and attack it vigorously, both by sea and land : and upon their success
in that, all the rest would be an easy work. This account of that negotiation was printed
twelve years after, at Paris, by one Abbot Primi. I had that part of the book in my hands,
in which this was contained. Lord Preston was then the king's envoy at Paris ; so he,
knowing how great a prejudice the publishing this would be to his master's affairs, com-
plained of it. The book was upon that suppressed ; and the writer was put in the Bastille.
But he had drawn it out of the papers of M. Le Tellier's office : so there is little reason to
doubt of the truth of the thing. Madame, as this book says, prevailed to have her scheme
settled, and so went back to France. The journey proved fatal to her ; for the duke of
Orleans had heard such things of her behaviour, that it was said he ordered a great dose of
sublimate to be given her, in a glass of succory water, of which she died a few hours after,
in great torments ; and when she was opened, her stomach was all ulcerated *.
* It is almost certain she was poisoned. Mr. speaker he remained there, the duchess passed across the channel
Onslow says, he saw letters from the duke of Montague, to Dover, where Charles and all his courtiers met her.
then our ambassador to France, in which he hints at the This conduct inflamed the duke to the murderous reso.
fact ; and sir William Temple told the earl of Dartmouth, lution that followed, though we have no evidence in sup-
lie found sufficient cause to, ad vise the king to cease from port of the charge that seems to have brought his resent-
prosecuting the enquiry, as he was not in a condition to ment to a climax ; namely, that an incestuous intercourse
resent the crime as a monarch ought, and he might prejti- had taken place between her and king Charles. On the
lice her daughters' interests. One was afterwards married contrary, we have her dying declaration to Mr. Ralph Mon-
lo the king of Spain, the other to the duke of Savoy. — tague, that such accusation was false. — (Cunningham's Hisi
•Oxford edition of this work.) The whole conduct of the of Great Britain ; Fox's James the Second, &c.) The let-
•luchess was calculated to rouse the jealousy of her hus- tcrs of Colbert, the French ambassador, and other autho.
hand. She fully coincided with the licentious manners rities, demonstrate that the object of Charles in this secret
of the Parisian court ; was continually involved iu amorous treaty was to establish the papal religion in England, and
intrigues; and so far outraged decency as to bring with to obtain a pension from France. The dissolution of the
Her to England Louise de Qucrouaille, afterwards duchess Triple Alliance, by attacking Holland, was only a prclimi-
>f Portsmouth, for the avowed purpose of influencing her nary step, having for its object the weakening the protestant
Brother, by pandering to the passion of which he was most combination for mutual support. " The king told me,"'
the slave. The duke of Orleans was jealous of his wife's says Colbert, writing to his master, " he believed that I
^fidelity, and strictly forbade her journeying to London; must have thought, after reading his proposals, that he and
*•> the French king, on the plea of visiting the national all those to whom he had intrusted the conduct of this
i ortifications, came to Dunkirk with his court ; and whilst affair, must be mad to pretend to re-establish the catholic
202 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Since I mention her death, I will set down one story of her, that was told me by a person
of distinction, who had it from some who were well informed of the matter. The king of
France had courted Madame Soissons, and made a showr of courting Madame : but his affec-
tions fixing on Mademoiselle La Yaliere, she whom he had forsaken, as well as she whom he
had deceived, resolved to be revenged; and they entered into a friendship in order to that.
They had each of them a gallant ; Madame had the Count de Guiche, and the other had the
Marquis des Yardes, then in great favour with the king, and a very graceful person.
When the treaty of the king of France's marriage was set on foot, there was an opinion
generally received, that the infanta of Spain was a woman of great genius, and would have
a considerable stroke in all affairs. So, many young men of quality set themselves to learn
the Spanish language, to give them the more credit with the young queen. All that fell to
the ground, when it appeared how weak a woman she was. These two were of that number.^
Count de Guiche watched an occasion, when a letter from the king of Spain was given to
his daughter by the Spanish ambassador, and she tore the envelope, and let it fall. He
gathered up all the parcels of it, together with the seal. From these they learned to imitate
the king of Spain's writing. And they sent to Holland to get a seal engraven from the
impression of the wax. When all was prepared, a letter was written, as in the name of the
king of Spain, reproaching his daughter for her tameness in suffering such an affront, as the
king put on her by his amours, with reflections full both of contempt and anger upon the
king. There was one Spanish lady left about the queen ; so they forged another letter, as
from the Spanish ambassador to her, with that to the queen inclosed in it, desiring her to
deliver it secretly into the queen's own hand. And they made a livery, such as the Spanish
ambassador's pages wore ; and a boy was sent in it with the letter. The lady suspected
no forgery, but fancied the letter might be about some matter of state. She thought it
safest to carry it to the king, who reading it, ordered an enquiry to be made about it. The
Spanish ambassador saw he was abused in it. The king spoke to the Marquis des Yardes,
not suspecting that he was in it, and charged him to search after the author of this abuse,
that was intended to be put on him. The two ladies now rejoiced, that the looking
after the discovery was put in the hands of a man so much concerned in it. He
amused the king with the enquiries that he was making, though he was ever in a wrong
scent : but in all this time Madame was so pleased with his conduct, that she came to like
his person, and had so little command of herself, that she told Madame Soissons she was
her rival. The other readily complied with her : and, by an odd piece of extravagance, he
was sent for. And Madame Soissons told him, since he was in Madame's favour, she
released him from all obligations, and delivered him over to her. The Marquis des Yardes
thought this was only an artifice of gallantry, to try how faithful he was to his amours ; so
he declared himself incapable of changing, in terms full of respect for Madame, and of passion
for the other. This raised in Madame so deep a resentment, that she resolved to sacrifice
Des Yardes, but to save the Count de Guiche. So she gave him notice, that the king had
discovered the whole intrigue, and charged him to hasten out of France. And, as soon as
she believed that he was in Flanders, she told all to the king of France. Upon which Des
Yardes was not only disgraced, but kept long a prisoner in Aigues-Mortes : and afterwards
he was suffered to come to Montpelier. And it was almost twenty years after, before he
was suffered to come to court. I was at court when he came first to it. He was much
broken in health, but was become a philosopher, and was in great reputation among all Des
religion in England ; yet lie hoped, that, with your mnjes- the most specious pretences he could devise : that all the
ty s support, this great undertaking would have a happy magazines of arms were at his disposal, and all well filled:
issue : that the presbyterians and all the other sects had that he was assured of the principal places in England and
a greater aversion to the church of England than to the Scotland': that the governor of Hull was a catholic; that I
catholics : that all the sectaries breathed no other wish those of Portsmouth, Plymouth, &c. would never swerve
than for liberty of conscience ; and that, provided they from their obedience to him : that as to the troops in Ire- i
could obtain it, as it was his design they should, they would land, he hoped the duke of Ormorid, who had great credit i
not oppose his religion : that, besides, he had good tioops there, would be faithful to him ; and that though the duke,
well affected to him ; and that, if the late king, his father, not approving this change of religion, should fail in his duty, (
lad had so many, he would have stifled in their birth the lord Orrery, who was a catholic in his heart, and who j
troubles that caused his ruin : that he would still augment had much more influence in that army, would lead it !
as much as possible his regiments md companies, under wherever his majesty should command him."
OF KING CHARLES IT. 203
Cartes' followers, Madame had an intrigue with another person, whom I knew well, the
Count of Treville. When she was in her agony, she said, " Adieu Treville." He was so
struck with this accident, that it had a good effect on him ; for he went and lived many
years among the fathers of the Oratory, and became both a very learned and devout man.
He came afterwards out into the world. I saw him often. He was a man of a very sweet
temper, only a little too formal for a Frenchman : but he was very sincere. He was a
Jansenist. He hated the Jesuits, and had a very mean opinion of the king, which appeared
in all the instances in which it was safe for him to shew it.
Upon Madame's death, as the Marshal Bellefonds came from France with the compliment
to the court of England, so the duke of Buckingham was sent thither on pretence to return
the compliment, but really to finish the treaty. The king of France used him in so parti-
cular a manner, knowing his vanity, and caressed him to such a degree, that he went without
reserve into the interests of France : yet he protested to me, that he never consented to the
French fleet's coming into our seas and harbours. He said, he was offered 40,000/. if he
could persuade the king to yield to it ; and he appealed to the earl of Dorset for this, who
was in the secret. He therefore concluded, since, after all the uneasiness shewed at first, the
king had yielded to it, that lord Arlington had the money. Lord Shaftesbury laid the blame
of this chiefly on the duke of Buckingham : for he told me, that he himself had written a
peremptory instruction to him from the king, to give up all treaty, if the French did insist
on the sending a fleet to our assistance : and therefore he blamed him, as having yielded it
up, since he ought to have broken off all farther treaty, upon their insisting on this. But
the duke of York told me, there was no money given to corrupt the king's ministers ; that
the king and he had long insisted on having all their supplies from France in money, without
a fleet ; and that the French shewed them it was not possible for them to find out funds for
so great an expense, unless we took a squadron of their ships ; since they could not both
maintain their own fleet and furnish us with the money that would be necessary, if we took
not their squadron. It was agreed that the king should have 350,000/. a year during the
war, together with a fleet from France. England was to attack the Dutch by sea, while
the king of France should invade them by land with a mighty army. It was not doubted
but that the states would find it impossible to resist so great a force, and would therefore
submit to the two kings : so the division they agreed on was, that England should have
Zealand, and that the king of France should have all the rest, except Holland, which was
to be given to the Prince of Orange, if he would come into the alliance : and it should be
still a trading country, but without any capital ships. Lord Lauderdale said upon that
occasion to me, that whatsoever they intended to do, they were resolved to do it effectually
all at once ; but he would not go into farther particulars. That the year ] 6J2 might be
fatal to other commonwealths, as well as to the states, the duke of Savoy was encouraged to
make a conquest of Genoa, though he afterwards failed in the attempt ; and the king of
Denmark was invited into the alliance, with the offer of the town of Hamburgh, on which
he had long set his heart. The duke of Richmond was sent to give a lustre to that negoci-
ation, which was chiefly managed by Mr. Henshaw ; who told me, that we offered that king
some ships to assist him in seizing that rich town. But he was then in those engagements
with the states of Holland, that even this offer did not prevail on him.
Lockhart was at this time brought to court by lord Lauderdale, hoping that he would con-
tinue in an entire dependence on him, and be his creature. He was tinder so great a
jealousy from the government for his former actings, that he was too easy to enter into
any employment, that might bring him into favour, not so much out of any ambition to rise,
as from a desire to be safe, and to be no longer looked on as an enemy to the court ; for
when a foreign minister asked the king's leave to treat with him in his master's name, the
kino- consented; but with this severe reflection, that he believed he would be true to any
body but himself. He was sent to the courts of Brandenburgh and Lunenburgh, either to
draw them into the alliance, or if that could not be done, at least to secure them from all
apprehensions. But in this he had no success. And indeed when he saw into what a nego-
ciation he was engaged, he became very uneasy ; for, though the blackest part of the secret
204 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
was not trusted to him, as appeared to me by his instructions, which I read after his death,
yet he saw whither tilings were going. And that affected him so deeply, that it was believed
to have contributed not a little to the. languishing he soon fell under, which ended in his
death two years after.
The war being thus resolved on, some pretences were in the next place to be sought out to
excuse it ; for, though the king of France went more roundly to work, and published that
he was so ill satisfied with the conduct of the States, that it did not consist with his glory
to bear it any longer, yet we thought it decent for us to name some particulars. It was said,
we had some pretensions on Surinam, not yet completely satisfied ; and that the States har-
boured traitors that fled from justice, and lived in Holland : some medals were complained
of, that seemed dishonourable to the king ; as also some pictures ; and, though these were
not made by public order, yet a great noise was raised about them. But an accident
happened, that the court laid great hold of. The Dutch fleet lay off the coast of England
the former year ; and one of the king's yachts sailed by, and expected they should strike sail.
They said, they never refused it to any man of war ; but they thought that honour did not
belong to such an inconsiderable vessel. I was then at court, and I saw joy in the looks of
those that were in the secret. Selden had, in his Mare Clausum, raised this matter so high,
that he made it one of the chief rights and honours of the crown of England, as the acknow-
ledgement of the king's empire in the four seas. The Dutch offered all satisfaction for the
future in this matter ; but they would not send their admiral over as a criminal. While
France was treating with England, they continued to amuse the Dutch ; and they possessed
De Groot, then the Dutch ambassador at Paris, or they corrupted him, into a belief that they
had no design on them ; and the Dutch were too secure, and depended too much on his adver-
tisements. Yet the States entered into a negociation, both with Spain and the emperor, and
with the king of Denmark, the elector of Brandenburgh, and the duke of Ltmenburg. The
king of Sweden was yet under age ; and the ministry there desired a neutrality. France
and England sent two ambassadors to them, both men of great probity, Pomponne and
Mr. Henry Coventry, who were both recalled at the same time to be secretaries of state4
Coventry was a man of wit and heat, of spirit and candour. He never gave bad advices ;
but when the king followed the ill advices that others gave, he thought himself bound to
excuse, if not to justify them. For this the duke of York commended him much to me.
He said, in that he was a pattern to all good subjects, since he defended all the king's
counsels in public, even when he had blamed them most in private, with the king himself.
Our court having resolved on a war, did now look out for money to carry it on. The
king had been running into a great debt ever since his restoration. One branch of it was
for the pay of that fleet that brought him over. The main of it had been contracted during
the former Dutch war. The king, in order to the keeping his credit, had dealt writh some
bankers, and had assigned over the revenue to them. They drove a great trade, and had
made great advantage by it. The king paid them at the rate of eight per cent., and they
paid those who put money in their hands only six per cent., and had great credit ; for pay-
ments were made very punctually. The king had in some proclamations given his faith
that he would continue to make good all his assignments, till the whole debt should be paid,
which was now growing up to almost a million and a half. So one of the ways proposed
for supplying the king with money was, that he should stop these payments for a year ; it
being thought certain, that by the end of the year the king would be out of all his necessi-
ties, by the hopes they had of success in the war. The earl of Shaftesbury was the chief
man in this advice. He excused it to me, telling me what advantage the bankers had made,
and how just it was for the king to bring them to an account, for their usury arid extor-
tions ; and added, that he never meant the stop should run beyond the year. He certainly
knew of it beforehand, and took all his own money out of the bankers' hands, and warned
some of his friends to do the like. Lord Lauderdale did about this time marry lady Dysart,
upon his own lady's death ; and she wrote me a long account of the shutting up of the Ex-
chequer, as both just and necessary. The bankers were broke : and great multitudes, who
had trusted their money in their hands, were ruined by this dishonourable and perfidious
OF KING CHARLES II.
205
action. But this gave the king only his own revenue again. So other ways were to be
found for an increase of treasure".
By the peace of Breda it was provided, that, in order to the security of trade, no mer-
cnants' ships should be for the future fallen on, till six months after a declaration of war. The
Dutch had a rich fleet coming from Smyrna, and other parts in the Mediterranean, under
the convoy of a few men of war. Our court had advice of this ; and Holmes was ordered
to lie in wait for them, and to take them, near the Isle of Wight, with eight men of war.
As he was sailing thither he met Spragge, who was returning from the Straits with a
squadron of our ships, and told him that he had sailed along with the Dutch most of the
way, and that they would pass within a day or two. Holmes thought he was much too
strong for them, so did not acquaint Spragge with his design ; for if he had stopped him to
assist in the execution, probably the whole fleet had been taken, which was reckoned worth
a million and a half. When they came up, Holmes fell upon them ; but their convoy did
their part so well, that not only the whole fleet sailed away, while they kept him in play,
but they themselves got off at last favoured by a mist : and there were only a few ships
taken, of so small a value, that they were not worth the powder that was spent in the
action. This was a breach of faith, such as even Mahometans and pirates would have been
ashamed of. The unsuccessfulness of it made it appear as ridiculous as it was base. Holmes
was pressed to put it on the Dutch refusing to strike sail ; yet that was so false, and there
were so many witnesses to it, that he had not the impudence to affirm itt.
To crown all, a declaration was ordered to be set out, suspending the execution of aU
* The carl of Dartmouth has declared, that Shaftes-
bury told this event as probable to sir Charles Duncouibe,
who had a large sum of his own, and another belonging
to the marquis of Winchester, in the hands of bankers ;
from whom he withdrew them before the stoppage. This
was the cause of the duke of Bolton espousing his cause so
strenuously, when he was impeached, in the reign of
king William : a support that succeeded in rescuing him
by one vote.— (Oxford ed. of this work.) Echard, quoting
a MS. work of sir John T.yley's, says, that the king, dis-
tressed by the want of money, promised the lord-trea-
surership to any one- of his ministers who could devise
means to raise 1 ,500-OGO/. , without applying to parlia-
ment. The next day, the earl of Shaft esbury, then lord
Ashley, told sir Thomas Clifford there was a way to do
this ; but it was dangerous, and might by its consequences
inflame both parliament and people. Wine makes us bab-
blers; and by its due administration, sir Thomas obtained
the embryo project from his friend, and went immediately
to Whitehall, to claim the post of treasurer. The king
renewed his promise, and, approving the project, fulfilled
it.— Echard' s Hist. iii. 288. That such a bungling, dis-
lonest project required any great genius to conceive it, is
lot probable ; and the story is rendered still more im pro-
le by the fact, that lord Ashley, when he handed to
iim the treasurer's staff, passed on sir Thomas a eulogy
hat he would hardly have uttered in praise of a treacher-
ous friend. "Whoever \vas its first suggester, the project
\vas proposed in council on the 2nd of January, 1672, —
Life of sir W. Temple, p. 189,— and in four days after,
lie exchequer was closed. The natural consequences fol-
owed. The whole nation was panic-struck ; the bankers
topped payment ; few merchants were able to meet the
•ills they had accepted ; trade was paralysed ; and the
• cry ships could not be cleared .at the custom-house, for
want of money. A proclamation was issued, stating that
i was urgent necessity that had rendered the measure ne-
essary ; and promising the payment of six per cent, to
ne bankers, whilst their money was thus detained. This
ould not satisfy the public alarm, so the king's creditors
'•ere called to a meeting at the treasury, and promised
' lyincnt from the next parliamentary grant, or from the
vgular royal income. But parliament was not summoned
nitil February, 1673, and the exchequer continued closed
for nearly a year and a half. Some persons who had
deposited money with the bankers commenced actions
against them ; but by a ptill further illegal exercise of
power, these actions were not allowed to proceed, by in-
junctions issued out of chancery ' What were the judges
about, that they heeded injunctions so totally contrary to
law? Why did they not bring the measure at once to au
issue ? — and let Stuart tyranny, if it had dared, drag them
from the bench for respecting the laws they were sworn
to administer.
f Sir Robert Holmes had shewn himself qualified for
this treachery, by his conduct in 1661, when, being also
a time of peace, he seized Cape de Verde and other Dutch
settlements on the coast of Guinea. When he approached
the Dutch fleet, he made a show of amity, and invited on
board their admiral ; but he and his whole fleet were on
their guard. The fight continued two whole days. The
ministry, which from the initial letters of the five most
influential members, Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham,
Ashley, and Laudcrdale, was called the cabal, were
ashamed of this abortive injustice ; for want of success de-
prived it even of the glitter that deludes the ignorant.
In the Gazette it was represented as a mere rencontre,
consequent to the Dutch refusing to strike their topsails ;
but the same document inadvertently admitted they were
lowered. The declaration of war, which probably had
been delayed in the hope that this booty, worth one mil-
lion and a half sterling, might have been secured, was now
issued. This was on the 1 7th of March, 1672. The
conviction that right is on a nation's side, is as great a
support to its efforts, as it is to an individual similarly
combating ; therefore declarations of war usually contain
in their preambles the reasons that urge England inevita-
bly to this step. In this instance they were partly false,
and partly ridiculous ; and concluded with the palpable
and known falsehood, that England, notwithstanding this
war, intended " to maintain the true intent and scope " of
the peace made at Aix-la-Chapelle. The manifesto of
France was equally contemptible, and urged the disrespect
shewn to its monarch as a cause for commencing the war.
Yet the only offences that his ministers could instance
were, that there was insulting language in the Dutch
Gazette, and that the king having taken the sun as his
device, Van Benninghen, one of the negociators of the
200 THE HISTORY OF THE REHSiV
penal laws, both against papists and nonconformists. Papists were no more to be prose-
cuted for their way of worship in their own houses ; and the nonconformists were allowed to
have open meeting-houses, for which they were to take out licences : and none were to dis-
turb those who should meet for worship, by virtue of those licences. Lord-keeper Bridgman
had lost all credit at court, so they were seeking an occasion to be rid of him, who had indeed
lost all the reputation he had formerly acquired, by his being advanced to a post of which
he was not capable. He refused to put the seal to the declaration, as judging it contrary to
law. So he was dismissed, and the earl of Shaftesbury was made lord chancellor. Lord
Clifford was made lord treasurer, lord Arlington and lord Lauderdale had both of them the
garter, and as Arlington was made an earl, Lauderdale was made a duke : and this junto,
together with the duke of Buckingham, being called the calal, it was observed, that cabal
proved a technical word, every letter in it being the first letter of those five, Clifford, Ashley,
Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale. They had all of them great presents from France,
besides what was openly given them ; for the French ambassador gave them all a picture
ir of the king of France, set in diamonds, to the value of 3000/. Thus was the nation and our
4 religion, as well as the king's faith and honour, set to sale and sold. Lord Shaftesbury
resolved to recommend himself to the confidence of the court by a new strain, never before
thought of. He said the writs for choosing the members of the house of commons might be
issued out in the intervals of a session : and the elections made upon them were to be re-
turned into chancery and settled there. So the writs were issued out ; but whether any
elections were made upon them, and returned, I cannot tell. I know the house of commons
intended to have impeached him for this among other things ; but he had the foresight and
skill to prevent it*. When the declaration for toleration was published, great endeavours
were used, by the court, to persuade the nonconformists to make addresses and compliments
upon it. But few were so blind as not to see what wras aimed at by it.
The duke was now known to be a papist ; and the duchess was much suspected. Yet
the presbyterians came in a body ; and Dr. Manton, in their name, thanked the king for it,
which offended many of their best friends f. There was also an order to pay a yearly pen-
sion of fifty pounds to most of them, and of an hundred pounds a year to the chief of the
party. Baxter sent back his pension, and would not touch it ; but most of them took it.
All this I say upon Dr. Stillingfleet's word, who assured me he knew the truth of it ; and in
particular he told me, that Pool, who wrote the " Synopsis of the Critics," confessed to him
peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, had struck a medal, on which the protectorate, Manton, the peculiar chaplain to that
he compared himself to Joshua, who stayed the sun in dignity, as prelate to the protectorship, said prayers and
his course. This medal, be it remarked, the Dutch go- blessed him, his armies, his council, and people." In
vernment had suppressed. 1660, he took orders of the bishop of Galloway ; and soon
* That there were members returned upon the writs so after, by a mandate from the king, was made a doctor of
issued appears from the following statement: — " The new divinity, and was not averse to promotion to a deanery,
speaker was scarcely in the chair before a member, stand- But he refused it, and was one of the ejected noncon-
ing up and looking about him, said, ' he observed several formists in 1662. Manton was " round, plump and jolly."
new faces in the house, and did not remember that, before Such men are usually averse to active disputes, and ob-
their last rising, the house had been moved for the filling stmacy is rarely an ingredient of their dispositions. He
so many places ; so he doubted the regularity of the sitting was one of the commissioners at the Savoy conference ;
of those people, and moved their titles might be ex- and lord Clarendon told Baxter, that he should not hiive
amined.' Another member, seconding the motion, said, despaired of bringing that conference to a happy conchi-
Mie supposed those gentlemen would have the modesty to sion, if he had been as fat as Manton. Shakspeare had
•withdraw, while their case was under debate, and not made a similar observation upon human nature, for he
wait for the order of the house.' So this whole set of makes Csesar say,
new elects, though mostly loyalists, filed out, and came in
no more upon that choice.»-North'. Examen, 56. It If1 "? ha7e, men ab°f me1 ihat1are fej ;. , , „
was not determined against the validity of these elections Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights,
until after some angry debate, in which the attorney- Archbishop Usher called him " a voluminous preacher,"
general, Finch, argued strongly in their favour. — Gray's and his sermons seem to have been as heavy as they were
Debates, ii. 2. long, for Bolingbroke, writing to Swift, promised " njy
t Dr. Thomas Manton was born in 1620, and died in next shall be as long as one of Dr. Man ton's discourses,
1677. He was an example of the pains taken by Charles who taught my youth to yawn, and prepared me to be a
the Second to strengthen his interests with all sects ; and high churchman, that I might never hear him read, nor
the doctor, if he was the good man represented by Dr. read him more." His works have been published in five
Bates, in his funeral sermon, is at the same time an in- folio volumes ; one of which contains 190 sermons on ll»e
stance of admirable moderation. He was chaplain to 119th Psalm Wood's Athense Oxon.; Manton's Li'«
Oliver Cromwell, " and when Richard was inaugurated to by Dr. Harris. Calamy, &c.
OF KING CHARLES II, 207
that lie had had fifty pounds for two years*. Thus the court hired them to be silent; and
the greatest part of them were so, and very compliant. But now the pulpits were full of a
new strain. Popery was every where preached against, and the authority of the laws was
much magnified. The bishops, the bishop of London (Dr. Humphry Henchman) in parti-
cular, charged the clergy to preach against popery, and to inform the people of the contro-
versy between us and the church of Rome. This alarmed the court, as well as the city and
the whole nation. Clifford began to show the heat of his temper, and seemed a sort of en-
thusiast for popery. The king complained to Sheldon of this preaching on controversy, as
done on purpose to inflame the people, and to alienate them from him and his government.
Upon this Sheldon called some of the -clergy together, to consider what answer he should
make the king, if he pressed him any further on that head. Tillotson was one of these, and
he suggested this answer : that since the king himself professed the protestant religion, it
would be a thing without a precedent, that he should forbid his clergy to preach in defence
of a religion which they believed, while he himself said he was of it. But the king never
renewed the motion.
While things were in this fermentation, the duchess of York died. It was observed, that
for fifteen months before that time she had not received the sacrament ; and that, upon all
occasions, she was excusing the errors that the church of Rome was charged with, and was
giving them the best colours they wTere capable of. An unmarried clergy was also a com-
mon topic with her. Morley had been her father confessor ; for he told me she practised
secret confession to him from the time that she was twelve years old ; and when he was
sent away from the court, he put her in the hands of Blandford, who died bishop of Wor-
cester. Morley also told me, that upon the reports that were brought him of her slackness
in receiving the sacrament, she having been for many years punctual to once a month, he
had spoken plainly to her about it, and told her what inferences were made upon it. She
pretended ill health and business ; but protested to him, she had no scruples with relation to
her religion, and was still of the church of England ; and assured him, that no popish priest
had ever taken the confidence to speak to her of those matters. He took a solemn engage-
ment of her, that if scruples should arise in her mind, she would let him know them, and
hear what he should offer to her upon all of them. And he protested to me that, to her
death, she never owned to him that she had any scruples, though she was for some days
entertained by him at Farnham, after the date of the paper which was afterwards published
in her name. All this passed between the bishop and me, upon the duke's showing me that
paper, all written in her own hand, which was afterwards published by Maimburg. He
would not let me take a copy of it ; but he gave me leave to read it twice. And I went
immediately to Morley, and gave him an account of it ; from whom I had all the particulars
already mentioned. And upon that he concluded that that unhappy princess had been pre-
vailed on to give false words under her hand, and to pretend that these were the grounds of
her conversion. A long decay of health came at last to a quicker crisis than had been ap-
prehended. All of a sudden she fell into the agony of death. Blandford was sent for to
prepare her for it, and to offer her the sacrament. Before he could come, the queen came in
and sat by her. He was modest and humble, even to a fault ; so he had not presence of
mind enough to begin prayers, which probably would have driven the queen out of the
room. But that not being done she, pretending kindness, would not leave her. The bishop
spoke but little and fearfully. He happened to say, he hoped she continued still in the
truth. Upon which she asked, " What is truth ? " and then, her agony increasing, she
repeated the word " Truth, Truth,1' often : and, in a few minutes after, she died, very little
beloved or lamented. Her haughtiness had raised her many enemies. • She was indeed a
firm and a kind friend ; but the change of her religion made her friends reckon her death
rather a blessing than a loss, at that time, to them all. Her father, when he heard of her
shaking in her religion, was more troubled at it than at all his own misfortunes. He wrote
* The truly valuable work here mentioned, " Synop- of his age. Gates implicated him in the Popish Plot, and
nis Criticorum," was written by Matthew Pool during the consequently be retired to Amsterdam, where he died, aged
leisure afforded by his ejection for non-conformity. He fifty-five, in 16/9 Ant. Wood's Fasti Oxon, ; Gen.
was one of the most erudite, charitable, and devout men Biog. Diet., &c.
208 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
her a very grave and lo.ig letter upon it, enclosed in one to the duke *. But she was dead
before it came into England.
I have set down all th.it I know concerning the fatal alliance with France, and our pre-
parations for the second Dutch war. But that I may open the scene more distinctly, I wiL
give as particular an account as I was ahle to gather of the affairs of the states of Holland
at this time. And, because this was the fifth great crisis under which the whole Protestant
religion w-as brought, I will lead my reader through a full account of them all ; since I maji
probably lay things before him that he may otherwise pass over, without making due reflec-
tions on them.
The first crisis was, when Charles V., by the defeating the duke of Saxony, and the getting
him and the landgrave of Hksse into his hands, had subdued the Smalcaldic league f : in
which the strength of the protestant religion did then consist, having been weakened by the
succeeding deaths of Henry V III. and Francis I. Upon that defeat all submitted to the
emperor ; only the town of Magdeburgh stood out. The emperor should either not have
trusted Maurice, or have used him better : and it seems that he reckoned Maurice had neither
religion nor honour, since his ambition had made him betray his religion and abandon his
party. When Maurice had got the electorate, he made himself sure of the army, and en-
tered into an alliance with France and other princes of the empire ; and made so quick a
turn on the emperor, that he had almost surprised him at Innspruck, and of a sudden over-
turned all that design upon which the emperor had been labouring for many years. This
ended in the edict of Passau, which settled the peace of Germany for that time.
The second crisis was towards the end of queen Mary's reign, when the protestant reli-
gion seemed extinguished in England ; and the two cardinals of Lorrain and Granvell, then
the chief ministers of the two crowns, designed a peace for that very end, that their masters
might be at leisure to extirpate heresy, which was then spreading in both their dominions.
But after they had formed their scheme queen Mary dicdv and was succeeded by queen
Elizabeth in England. Soon after that the king of France was accidentally killed ; so that
kingdom fell' under a long continuance of a minority and a civil war. And the Netherlands
felt from thence, and from England, such encouragement, that they made the longest and
bravest resistance that is to be found in all history ; which was in a great measure owing to
the obstinate and implacable cruelty of Philip II., and his great distance from the scene of
the war ; and was past all possibility of being made up, by reason of his perfidious breach
of all agreements, and his using those that served him well in so base a manner, as he did
both the duke of Alva and the prince of Parma.
The third crisis lasted from 1585 to the year 1589. Then began the league of France.
The prince of Parma was victorious in the Netherlands. The prince of Orange wTas mur-
dered. The States fell under great distractions. And Spain entered into a design of de-
throning the queen of England, and putting the queen of Scots in her stead. In order to
that, they were for some years preparing the greatest fleet that the world had ever seen,
which came to be called the Invincible Armada. All Europe was amazed at these great
preparations, and many conjectures were made concerning the design of such a vast fleet.
Some thought of Constantinople, others talked of Egypt, in conjunction with the emperor of
the Abissynes ; but that which was most probable was, that king Philip intended to make
a great effort, and put an end to the war of the Netherlands in one campaign. At last the
true intent of it was found out. Walsingham's chief spies were priests ; as he used always
to say, an active but vicious priest was the best spy in the world. By one of these he had
advice, that the king of Spain had fixed on a resolution with relation to his fleet ; but that
it was not yet communicated to any of his ministers in foreign courts. The king himself
* These letters, with the reasons assigned by the the reasons for his sister becoming a pap'st ; and thanks
duchess for her conversion, are to be found in Mel- God, " that he did take her away before she had openly
moth's collection of " Elegant Epistles." As compo- declared this sad alteration." — Singer's Clarendon Cor-
sitions, they are all good ; but Clarendon's is especially respondence, i. 647.
noticeable for the prophetis warnings they contain of the + This was entered into in the year 1530, by the elector
ruin that would be incurred by the Stuarts if they sepa- of Saxony and other German princes, for the defence of
rated from their protestant subjects. Laurence Hyde, earl the protestant religion against the attacks of the emperoi*«|
of Rochester, in an unfinished paper, d\vells at length upon Germany. See Mosheioi's Eccles. Hist. cent. xvi. cup. 3.
OF KING CHARLES II. 209
had indeed written a letter about it to the pope ; but it was not entered in any office ; so
this was all that the intelligence from Madrid could discover. Upon this, one was sent to
Venice, from whence the correspondence with Rome was held. And at Rome it was found
out, that one of the pope's chief confidents had a mistress, to whom twenty thousand crowns
were given, for a sight and copy of that letter. The copy of it was sent over soon after
Christmas, in the winter of 1586. By it the king of Spain had acquainted the pope, that
the design of his fleet was to land in England, to destroy queen Elizabeth and heresy, and
to set the queen of Scots on the throne. In this he had the concurrence of the house of
Guise ; and he also depended on the king of Scotland. This proved fatal to the queen of
Scots. It is true, king James sent one Steward, the ancestor of the lord Blantyre, who
was then of his bedchamber, with an earnest and threatening message to queen Elizabeth,
for the purpose of saving his mother. But in one of the intercepted letters of the French
ambassador's then in Scotland, found among Walsingham's papers, it appears, that the king,
young as he was then, was either very double or very inconstant in his resolutions. The
French ambassador assured him, that Steward had advised the queen to put a speedy end to
that business, which way she pleased ; and that, as for his master's anger, he would soon be
pacified, if she would but send him dogs and deer. The king was so offended at this, that he
said he would hang him up in his boots as soon as he came back. Yet when he came back, it
was so far from that, that he lay all that night in the bedchamber. As for the pompous
embassy that was sent from France to protest against it, Maurier has told a very probable
story of Henry the Third writing a letter with them to the queen ; advising her to proceed
with all haste to do that which the embassy was sent to prevent. He saw the house of
Guise built a great part of their hopes on the prospect of their cousin's coming to the crown
of England, which would cut off all the hopes the house of Bourbon had of assistance from
thence. I have seen an original letter of the earl of Leicester's to the earl of Bedford, who
had married his sister, and was then governor of Berwick, telling him that, how high soever
the French ambassadors had talked in their harangues upon that occasion, calling any pro-
ceeding against the queen of Scots an open indignity, as well as an act of hostility against
France, since she was queen dowager of France ; yet all this was only matter of form and
decency that was extorted from the king of France, and, how high soever they might talk,
they were well assured he would do nothing upon it. So that unfortunate queen fell at that
time, by reason of the Spanish preparations to conquer England, under the pretence of setting
her on the throne. She died, much more decently than she had lived, in February, 1587.
But the court of England saw, that if king Philip's fleet was in a condition to conquer
England, he would not abandon the design for her being put out of the way, and that he
certainly intended to conquer it for himself, and not for another. So orders were given to
make all possible haste with a fleet : yet they were so little provided for such an invasion,
that, though they had then twenty good ships upon the stocks, it was not possible to get
them in a condition to serve that summer : and the design of Spain was to sail over in 1 587-
So, unless by corruption, or any other method, the attempt could be put off for that year,
there was no strength ready to resist so powerful a fleet ; but when it seemed not possible
to divert the present execution of so great a design, a merchant of London to their surprise
undertook it. He was well acquainted with the state of the revenue of Spain, with all their
charge, and all that they could raise. He knew all their funds were so swallowed up, that
it was impossible for them to victual and set out their fleet, but by their credit in the bank
of Genoa. So he undertook to write to all the places of trade, and to get such drafts
made on that bank, that he should by that means have it so entirely in his hands, that there
should be no money current there, equal to the great occasion of victualling the fleet of
Spain. He reckoned the keeping such a treasure dead in his hands, till the season of
victualling was over, would be a loss of 40,000/. ; and at that rate he would save England.
He managed the matter with such secrecy and success, that the fleet could not be set out
that year. At so small a price, and with so skilful a management, was the nation saved at
that time. This, it seems, was thought too great a mystery of state to be communicated to
Camden, or to be published by him, when the instructions were put in his hands for writing
the history of that glorious reign. But the famous Boyle, earl of Cork, who had then a great
210 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
share in the affairs of Ireland, came to know it; and told it to two of his children, from
whom I had it. The story is so coherent, and agrees so well with the state of affairs at that
time, that it seems highly credible. And, if it is true, it is certainly one of the most
curious passages in our whole English history *. I return from this digression, which I hope
will be no unacceptable entertainment to the reader : it is well known how the design of the
Armada miscarried : and soon after that the duke of Guise was stabbed ; not long after
Henry the Third was also stabbed : and Henry the Fourth succeeded, who broke the league,
with which the great designs of Spain fell to the ground. So happily did this third crisis
pass over.
The fourth crisis was from the battle of Prague to the year 1630, in which, as was told in
the first book, not only the elector-palatine fell, but almost all the empire came under the
Austrian yoke. All attempts to shake it off proved unsuccessful, and fatal to those who
undertook it, till the young and great king of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, engaged in it.
The wars of Rochelle, together with the loss of that important place, seemed to threaten the
destruction of the protestants of France. England fell under those unhappy jealousies,
which began a disjointing between the king and his people. And the States were much
pressed by the Spaniards under Spinola. Breda was taken ; but the worst of all was, a
quarrel that was raised between prince Maurice and Barncvelt, that will require a fuller dis-
cussion than was offered in the former book. All agree that "William, prince of Orange, wag
one of the greatest men in story, who, after many attempts for the recovery of the liberty of
the provinces, was in conclusion successful, and formed that republic. In the doing of it he
was guilty of one great error, unless he was forced to it by the necessity of his affairs, which
was the settling a negative in every one of the towns of Holland, in the matters of religion,
of taxes, and of peace and war. It had been much safer, if it had been determined, that the
two-thirds must concur, by which the government would have been much stronger. Some
thought that he brought in so many little towns to balance the greater, of whom he could
not be sure ; whereas he could more easily manage these smaller ones. Others have said,
that he was forced to it, to draw them to a more hearty concurrence in the war, since they
were to have such a share in the government for the future. But, as he settled it, the
corruption of any one small town may put all the affairs of Holland in great disorder. He
was also blamed, because he laboured to raise the power of the stacltholder so high, that in
many regards it was greater than the power of the counts of Holland had been : but this
was balanced by its being made elective, and by the small appointments he took to himself.
It seems he designed to have settled that honour in his family; for, after his death, there
were several letters found among his papers from the duke of Anjou, when the provinces
invited him to be their prince, by which the duke engaged himself to leave Holland and
Zealand in the prince's hands. Before he died, he had in a great measure lost the affections
of the clergy ; because he was very earnest for the toleration of papists, judging that neces-
sary for the engaging men of all persuasions, in the common concerns of liberty, and for
encouraging the other provinces to come into the union. This was much opposed by the
preachers in Holland, who were for more violent methods. Those, who but a few years
before had complained of the cruelty of the church of Rome, were no sooner delivered from
that, than they began to call for the same ways of prosecuting those who were of the other
side. This made that great prince lose ground with the zealots of his own side before he
died. "With him all their affairs sank so fast, that they saw the necessity of seeking protec-
tion elsewhere. Their ministers did of themselves, without the concurrence of the States,
send to queen Elizabeth, to desire her to take them under her protection, on such terms a?
she should prescribe. And, though the States were highly offended at this, yet they durst
not at that time complain of it, much less punish it : but were forced by the clamour of
* Neither Watson in his "History of Philip the Second," the fatuously-named "invincible" fleet; and, stibse- j
nor Turner in his still more precise nan-alive of the reign quently, in the same year, captured two galloons and a
of Elizabeth, alludes to this circumstance. There scarcely cairack returning with a freight of treasure from tlie i
seems any other cause necessary to be assigned for the " No doubt but this/' said oui gallant suani'm in h's
Armada not sailing in the } ear 1587, than the fact that despatch, " which Hi-avcn has permitted us to do, will !
s:r F. Drake, in the spring of that year, destroyed nearly cause them to make great alteration of their intents." —
one hundred vessels loaded with stores and provisions for Strype's Lett. 664 ; Camden, 352.
OF KING CHARLES II. 211
their people to follow an example, that was so irregularly set them. This I had from Hale-
wyn of Dort, of whom I shall have occasion to write afterwards. When the queen sent over
the earl of Leicester, with a new title, and an authority greater than was either in the
counts of Holland, or in the stadtholder, by the name of supreme governor ; he, as soon as
he landed at Flushing, went first to church, where he ordered prayers to be offered up for a
blessing on his counsels, and desired that he might receive the sacrament next day; and
there he made solemn protestations "of his integrity and zeal. This pleased the people so
much, that Barnevelt, and the States at - the Hague, thought it necessary to secure them-
selves from the effects of such a threatening popularity : so they sent for the count, after-
wards prince Maurice, who was then at Leyden, not yet eighteen, and chose him stadtholder
of Holland and Zealand. There had been no provision made against that, in their treaty
with the earl of Leicester. Yet he was highly offended at it. I will go no farther into
the errors of his government, and the end that the queen put to it ; which she did, as soon
as it appeared that he was incapable of it, and was beginning to betray, and to sell their
best places.
Prince Maurice arid Barnevelt continued long in a perfect conjunction of counsels ; till
upon the negotiation for a peace, or at least for a truce, they differed so much, that their
friendship ended in a most violent hatred, and a jealousy that could never be made up.
Prince Maurice was for carrying on the war, which set him at the head of a great army :
and he had so great an interest in the conquests they made, that for that very reason Barne-
velt infused it into the States, that they were now safe, and needed not fear the Spaniards
any more ; so there was no reason for continuing the war. Prince Maurice on the other
hand said, their persecuted brethren in the popish provinces wanted their help to set them
at liberty. The work seemed very easy, and the prospect of success was great. In oppo-
sition to this, it was said, since the seven provinces were now safe, why should they extend
their territories ? Those who loved their religion and liberty in the other provinces might
come and live among them : this would increase both their numbers, and their wealth .
whereas the conquest of Antwerp might prove fatal to them ; besides, that both France and
England interposed : they would not allow them to conquer more, nor become more formid-
able. All the zealous preachers were for continuing the war; and those that were for
peace were branded as men of no religion, who had only carnal and political views. "While
this was in debate everywhere, the disputes began between Arminius and Gomarus, two
famous professors at Leyden, concerning the decrees of God, and the efficacy of grace ; in
which those two great men, Maurice and Barnevelt, went upon interest, to lead the two
parties, from which they both differed in opinion. Prince Maurice in private always talked
on the side of the Arminians ; and Barnevelt believed predestination firmly ; but, as he
left reprobation out in his scheme, so he was against the unreasonable severity with which
the ministers drove those points. He found the Arminians were the better patriots ; and he
hought the other side, out of their zeal, were engaged for carrying on the war, so as that
ihey called all the others indifferent as to all religions, and charged them as favourers of
Spain and popery. I will go no farther into the differences that followed, concerning the
authority of the States-general over the several provinces. It is certain that every province
s a separate State, and has an entire sovereignty within itself: and that the States-general
ire an assembly of the deputies of the several provinces, but without any authority over
them. Yet it was pretended, that extraordinary diseases required extraordinary remedies :
°,nd prince Maurice, by the assistance of a party that the ministers made for him among the
people, engaged the States to assume an authority over the province of Holland, and to put
the government in new hands. A court was erected by the same authority, to judge those
who had been formerly in the magistracy. Barnevelt was accused, together with Grotius,
and some others, as fomcntors of sedition, and for raising distractions in the country. He
was condemned, and beheaded. Others were condemned to perpetual imprisonment. And
every one of the judges had a great gold medal given them, in the reverse of which the
Synod of Dort was represented, which was called by the same authority. I saw one of
those medals in the possession of the posterity of one of those judges-. King James assisted
prince Maurice in all this : so powerfnlly do the interests of princes carry them to concur
p 2
212 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
in things that are most contrary to their own inclinations. The prevailing passion of that
king was his hatred of the puritans : that made him hate these opinions into which they
went with great heat : and, though he encouraged all thac were of the Arminian party in his
own dominions, yet he helped to crush them in Holland : he hated Barnevelt upon a other
score, for his getting the cautionary towns out of his hands ; and, according to the nature
of impotent passions, this carried him to procure his ruin. After this victory that prince
Maurice had got over the party that opposed him, he did not study to carry it much farther.
He found quickly how much he had lost the hearts of the people, who had before that time
made him their idol, and now looked on him with horror. He studied to make up matters
the best he could, that he might engage the States in the Bohemian war : but all that was
soon at an end. It was plain that he had no design upon their liberty ; though he could not
bear the opposition that he began to meet with from a free state.
His death put an end to all jealousies ; and his brother, prince Henry Frederick, quickly
settled the disputes of Arminianism by the toleration that was granted them. He was
known to be a secret favourer of their tenets ; he conducted the armies of the States with so
much success, and left them so much at liberty as to all their state affairs, that all the
jealousies which his brother's conduct had raised, were quite extinguished by him. The
States made him great presents. He became very rich ; and his son had the survivance of
the stadtholdership ; but his son had more of his uncle's fire in him, than of his father's
temper. He opposed the peace of Minister all he could. The States came then to see that
they had continued too long in their alliance with France against Spain, since France had
got the ascendant by too visible a superiority : so that their interest led them now to support
Spain against France. Prince William fell to be in ill terms with his mother. And she,
who had great credit with the States, set up such an open opposition to her son, that the
peace of Munster was in a great measure the effect of their private quarrel. Prince William,
being married into the royal family of England, did all he could to embroil the States with
the new commonwealth ; but he met with such opposition, that he, finding the States were
resolved to dismiss a great part of their army, suffered himself to be carried to violent
counsels. I need not enlarge on things that are so well known, as his sending some of the
States prisoners to Lovestein, and his design to change the government of Amsterdam, which
was discovered by the post-boy, who gave the alarm a few hours before the prince could get
thither. These things, and the effects that followed on them, are well known ; as is also
his death, which followed a few weeks after, in the most unhappy time possible for the
princess royal's pregnancy : for, as she bore her son a week after his death, in the eighth
month of her time, so he came into the world under great disadvantages. The States were
possessed with great jealousies of the family, as if the aspiring to subdue the liberties of their
country was inherent in it, and inseparable from it. His private affairs were also in a
very bad condition : two great jointures went out of his estate, to his mother, and grand-
mother, besides a vast debt that his father had contracted to assist the king. Who could
have thought that an infant, brought into the world with so much ill health, and under so
many ill circumstances, was born for the preservation of Europe, and of the protcstant reli-
gion ? So unlike do the events of things prove to their first appearances. And, since I am
writing of his birth, I will set down a story, much to the credit of astrology, how little
regard soever I myself have to it. I had it from the late queen's own mouth ; and she
directed me to some who were of the prince's court in that time, who confirmed it to me.
An unknown person put a paper into the old princess's hands, which she took from him,
thinking it was a petition. When she looked into it, she found it was her son's nativity,
together with the fortunes of his life, and a full deduction of many accidents, which followed
very punctually, as they were predicted. But that which was most particular was, that
he was to have a son by a widow, and was to die of the small-pox in the twenty-fifth year
of his age. So those who were apt to give credit to predictions of that sort fancied, that
the princess royal was to die, and that he was upon that to marry the widow of some other
person. It was a common piece of raillery in the court, upon the death of any prince, to
ask what a person his widow was. But when he was taken ill of the small-pox, then the
deciphering the matter was obvious, and it struck his fancy so much, that probably it had
OF KING CHARLES II. 213
an ill effect upon him. Thus was the young prince born, who was some years after barred
by the perpetual edict from all hopes of arriving at the stadtholdership.
The chief error in De Wit's administration was, that he did not again raise the authority
of the council of state ; since it was very inconvenient to have both the legislature and the
execution in the same hands. It seemed necessary to put the conduct of affairs in a body
of men that should indeed be accountable to the States, but should be bred to business.
By this means their counsels might be both quick and secret ; whereas, when all is to be
determined by the States, they can have no secrets ; and they must adjourn often to consult
their principals : so their proceedings must be slow. During De Wit's ministry, the council
of state was so sunk, that it was considered only as one of the forms of the government : but
the whole execution was brought to the States themselves. Certainly a great assembly is a
very improper subject of the executive part of power. It is indeed very proper that such a
body should be a check on those who have the executive power trusted to them. It is true
De Wit found it so, which was occasioned by reason of the English ambassador's being once
admitted to sit in that council. They pretended, indeed, that it was only on the account of
the cautionary towns, which moved the States to give England a right to some share in their
counsels. After these were restored, they did not think it decent to dispute the right of the
ambassador's sitting any more there ; but the easier way was, the making that council tc
signify nothing, and to bring all matters immediately to the States. It had been happy for
De Wit himself, and his country, if he had made use of the credit he had, in the great turn
upon prince William's death, to have brought things back to the state in which they had
been anciently ; since the established errors of a constitution and government can only be
changed in a great revolution. He set up on a popular bottom ; and so he was not only
contented to suffer matters to go on in the channel in which he found them, but in many things
he gave way to the raising the separated jurisdiction of the towns, and to the lessening the
authority of the courts at the Hague. This raised his credit, but weakened the union of the
provinces. The secret of all affairs, chiefly the foreign negotiations, lay in a few hands.
Others, who were not taken into the confidence, threw all miscarriges on him, which was
fatal to him. The reputation he had got in the war with England, and the happy conclusion
of it, broke a party that was then formed against him. After that he dictated to the States ;
and all submitted to him. The concluding the triple alliance in so short a time, and
against the forms of their government, showed how sure he was of a general concurrence
with everything that he proposed. In the negotiations between the States, and France, and
England, he fell into great errors. He still fancied that the king of England must see his
own interest so visibly, in the exaltation of the prince of Orange, that he reckoned that the
worst that could happen was, to raise him to the trust of stadtholder ; since England could
not gain so much by a conjunction with France, as by the king's having such an interest in
their government, as he must certainly come to have, when his nephew should be their stadt-
holder. So he thought he had a sure reserve to gain England at any time over to them.
But he had no apprehension of the king's being a papist, and his design to make himself
absolute at home : and he was amazed to find, that, though the court of England had talked
much of that matter of the prince of Orange, when the States were in no disposition to
hearken to it, and so used it as a reproach or a ground of a quarrel, yet when it came more
in view, they took no sort of notice of it, and seemed not only cold, but even displeased
with it. The prince, as his natural reservedness saved him from committing many errors, so
his gravity, and other virtues, recommended him much to the ministers, and to the body of
the people. The family of De Wit, and the town of Amsterdam, carried still the remem-
brance of what was passed fresh in their thoughts. They set it also up for a maxim, that
the making of a stadtholder was the giving up their liberty, and that the consequence of it
would be, the putting the sovereignty of their country in him, or at least in his family.
Tho long continuance of a ministry in one person, and that to so high a degree, must natu-
rally raise envy, and beget discontent, especially in a popular government. This made many
become De Wit's enemies, and by consequence the prince's friends. And the preachers
employed all their zeal to raise the respect of the people for a family, under which they had
been so long easy and happy.
214 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
When the prince was of full age, it was proposed in so many places that he should have
the supreme command of their armies and fleets, that De Wit saw the tide was too strong
to be resisted. So, after he had opposed it long, he proposed some limitations, that should
be settled, previously to his advancement. The hardest of all was, that he should bind himself
by oath never to pretend to be stadtholder, nor so much as to accept of it, though it should
be offered him. These conditions were not of an easy digestion ; yet, it was thought neces-
sary that the prince should be once at the head of their armies ; that would create a great
dependence on him ; and if God blessed him with success, it would not be possible to keep
him so low, as these limitations laid him : and the obligation never to accept of the stadt-
holdership could only be meant of his not accepting the offer from any tumultuary bodies
of the populace, or the army, but could not be a restraint on him, if the States should make
the offer, since his oath was made to them, and by consequence it was in their power to
release the obligation that did arise from it to themselves. The court of England blamed
him for submitting to such conditions : but he had no reason to rely much on the advices of
those who had taken so little care of him during all the credit they had with the States,
while the triple alliance gave them a great interest in their affairs. As soon as he was
brought into the command of the armies, he told me he spoke to De Wit, and desired to live
in an entire confidence with him. His answer was cold ; so he saw that he could not depend
upon him. When he told me this, he added, that he was certainly one of the greatest men
of the age, and he believed he served his country faithfully. De Wit reckoned that the
French could not come to Holland but by the Maese ; and he had taken great care of the
garrison of Maestricht ; but very little of those that lay on the Rhine and the Isel, where the
States had many places, but none of them good. They were ill fortified, and ill supplied.
But most of them were worse commanded, by men of no courage, nor practice in military
affairs, who considered their governments as places, of which they were to make all the
advantage that they could.
Now I come to f give an account of the fifth crisis brought on the whole reformation,
which has been of the longest continuance, since we are yet in the agitations of it. The
design was first laid against the States. But the method of invading them was surprising,
and not looked for. The elector of Cologn was all his life long a very weak man : yet it
was not thought that he could have been prevailed on to put the French in possession of his
country, and to deliver himself with all his dominions over into their hands. When he did
that, all upon the Rhine were struck with such a consternation, that there was no spirit nor
courage left. It is true they could not have made a great resistance ; yet if they had but
gained a little time, that had given the States some leisure to look round them, to see what
was to be done.
The king of France came down to Utrecht like a land flood. This struck the Dutch with
so just a terror, that nothing but great errors in his management could have kept them
from delivering themselves entirely up to him. Never was more applause given with Jess
reason than the king of France had upon this campaign. His success was owing rather to
De Wit's errors than to his own conduct. There was so little heart or judgment shown in
the management of that run of success, that, when that year is set out, as it may well be,
it will appear to be one of the least glorious of his life ; though, when seen in a false light,
it appears one of the most glorious in history. The conquest of the Netherlands at that
time might have been go easily compassed, that, if his understanding and his courage had not
been equally defective, he could not have miscarried in it. When his army passed the Rhine,
upon which so much eloquence and poetry have been bestowed, as if all had been animated
by his presence and direction, he was viewing it at a very safe distance. When he came to
Utrecht, he had neither the prince of Conde nor M. Turenne to advise with : and he was
wholly left to his ministers. The prince of Conde was slightly wounded, as he passed the
Rhine ; and Turenne was sent against the elector of Brandenburg, who was coming down
with his army, partly to save his own country of Cleve, but chiefly to assist his allies the
Dutch. So the king had none about him to advise with but Pomponne and Louvoy, when
the Dutch sent to him to know what he demanded. Pomponne's advice was wise and
moderate, and would in conclusion have brought about all that he intended. He proposed,
OF KING CHARLES II.
215
tliat the king should restore all that belonged to the seven provinces, and require of them
only the places that they had without them ; chiefly Maestricht, Bois le Due, Breda, and
Bergen-op-zoom : thus the king would maintain an appearance of preserving the seven pro-
vinces entire, which the crown of France had always protected. To this certainly the Dutch
would have yielded without any difficulty. By this he had the Spanish Netherlands entirely
in his power, separated from Holland and the empire, and might have taken them whenso-
ever he pleased. This would have an appearance of moderation, and would stop the motion
that all Germany was now in ; which could have no effect if the States did not pay and sub-
sist the troops. Louvoy on the other hand proposed, that the king should make use of the
consternation the Dutch were then in, and put them out of a condition of opposing him for
the future. He therefore advised, that the king should demand of them, besides all that
Pomponne moved, the paying a vast sum for the charge of that campaign ; the giving the
chief church in every town for the exercise of the popish religion ; and that they should put
themselves under the protection of France, and should send an ambassador every year with a
medal acknowledging it, and should enter into no treaties, or alliances, but by the directions'
of France. The Dutch ambassadors were amazed when they saw that the demands rose to
so extravagant a pitch. One of them swooned away when he heard them read : he could
neither think of yielding to them, nor see how they could resist them. There was an article
put in for form, that they should give the king of England full satisfaction. But all the
other demands were made without any concert with England, though Lockhart was then
following the court.
I say nothing of the sea-fight in Solbay, in which De Ruyter had the glory of surprising
the English fleet, when they were thinking less of engaging the enemy, than of an extrava-
gant preparation for the usual disorders of the twenty- ninth of May ; which he prevented,
engaging them on the twenty-eighth, in one of the most obstinate sea fights that has happened
in our age, in which the French took more care of themselves than became gallant men,
unless they had orders to look on, and leave the English and Dutch to fight it out, while they
preserved the force of France entire. De Ruyter disabled the ship in which the duke was.
whom some blamed for leaving his ship too soon. Then his personal courage began first to
be called in question. The admiral of the blue squadron (earl of Sandwich) was burnt by a
fire-ship, after a long engagement, with a Dutch ship much inferior to him in strength : in
it the earl of Sandwich perished with a great many about him, who would not leave him, as
he would not leave his ship, by a piece of obstinate courage, to which he was provoked by
an indecent reflection the duke made, on an advice he had offered, of drawing nearer the shore,
and avoiding an engagement, as if in that he took more care of himself than of the king's
honour *. The duke of Buckingham came aboard the fleet, though it was observed, that he
made great haste away when he heard the Dutch fleet was in view. The duke told rne, that
* Edward Montague, earl of Sandwich, was only in his
forty-seventh year, when he was thus lost to his country,
and thus adding to the long catalogue of misfortunes brought
upon it by the Stuarts. We may take his character from
bishop Parker's " History of His Own Times," a work
written by one not at all friendly to those who were dis-
liked by the duke of York. " He was," says this prelate,
" a gentleman adorned with all the virtues of Alcihiades,
and untainted by any of his vices; of high birth, full of
wisdom, a great commander at sea and land, and also
learned and eloquent ; affable, liberal, and magnificent."
Of the battle in which he lost his life, little need be said.
The duke of York anchored his fleet in Sol, or South wold
Bay, on the coast of Suffolk ; and, on the 28th of May,
Jie flag-officers and captains went on shore to the various
'owns iu the neighbourhood to carouse. The wind was
blowing from the north-east, and the earl of Sandwich
warned the duke that on that account the fleet was liable
to be surprised by the enemy, and it would be advisable to
out to sea; but the duke, instead of benefiting by
'he wise suggestion, reflected upon it as being prompted
fear. It was a fatal mistake ; the Dutch came, and
it vr.g only by cutting their cables that the ships were
enabled to escape their fire-ships : all was confusion ;
boats were hurrying to and from the shore to fetch the
too-negligent commanders ; and if a calm had not fortu-
nately prevented the rapid approach of the Dutch, these
would have been left behind. The earl dreadfully shat-
tered seven of the Dutch men-of-war, and beat off three
of their fire-ships ; but a fourth grappled his gallant vessel,
" the RoyalJames" and succeeded in firing her unquench-
ably. Six hundred, of a crew one thousand strong, lay
in frightful slaughter upon her decks, and the flames
threatened a still more painful death to the remainder.
The earl, seeing that all human efforts were vain, ordered
his captain, sir Richard Haddock, and the other survivors,
to save themselves the best way they could, and then
retired to his cabin. Sir Richard followed him thither
and urged him to save his life in a boat that still waited
for him ; but the earl, raising his face from the handker-
chief he held in his hand, firmly refused, saying, " I see
how things go, and I am resolved to perish with the ship."
His body was found, and interred with public honours by
the special command of the king. — Memoirs of James the
Second ; Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, &c.
H6 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
he said to him, since they might engage the enemy quickly, he intended to make sure cf
another world ; so he desired to know who was the duke's priest, that he might reconcile
himself to the church. The duke told him, Talbot would help him to a priest ; and he
brought one to him. They were for some time shut up together ; and the priest said, he had
reconciled him according to their form. The duke of Buckingham, who had no religion at
heart, did this only to recommend himself to the duke's confidence.
It may be easily imagined, that all things were at this time in great disorder at the
Hague. The French possessed themselves of Naerden : and a party had entered into
Muyden, who had the keys of the gates brought to them : but they, seeing it was an incon-
siderable place, not knowing the importance of it, by the command of the water that could
drown all to Amsterdam, flung the keys into the ditch, and went back to Naerden. But
when the consequence of the place was understood, another party was sent to secure it ; but
before their return two battalions were sent from the prince of Orange, who secured the
place, and by that means preserved Amsterdam, where all were trembling, and thought of
nothing but of treating and submission. The States were very near the extremities of despair.
They had not only lost many places, but all their garrisons in them. Guelder, Overyssel,
and Utrecht, were quite lost : and the bishop of Minister was making a formidable impres-
sion on Groninghen, and at last besieged it. All these misfortunes came so thick, one after
another, that no spirit was left. And to complete their ruin, a jealousy was spread through
all Holland, that they were betrayed by those who were in the government ; and that De
Wit intended all should perish rather than the family of Orange should be set up. Mombas,
one of their generals, who married De Groot's sister, had basely abandoned his post, which
was to defend the Rhine where the French passed it : and when he was put in arrest for
that, he made his escape, and went 'to the French for sanctuary. Upon this the people
complained loudly ; and the States were so puzzled that their hearts quite failed them.
When they were assembled, they looked on one another like men amazed ; sometimes all in
tears. Once the Spanish ambassador came, and demanded audience : and when he was
brought in he told them, that out of the affection that he bore them, and the union of his
master's interest with theirs, he came to blame their conduct : they looked sad : they never
appeared in the Vorhaut in their coaches : and upon all occasions they looked like men
despairing of their country. This quite disheartened their people ; therefore he advised them
to put on another countenance, to publish that they had good news, that their allies were in
march, and to feed their people with probable stories, and so to keep up their spirits. They
thought the advice was seasonable, and followed it.
They sent two ambassadors, Dycvelt and Halewyn, to join with Borel, who was still in
England, to try if it was possible to divide England from France. And the morning in
which they were despatched away they had secret powers given them to treat, concerning
the prince of Orange's being their stadtholder ; for lord Arlington had so often reproached
Borel for their not doing it, that he in all his letters continued still to press that on them.
When they came over they were for form's sake put under a guard. Yet Borel was suffered
to come to them, and was transported with joy when they told him what powers they had
in that affair of the prince ; and immediately he went to lord Arlington, but came soon
back like one amazed, when he found that no regard was had to that which he had hoped
would have entirely gained the court. But he was a plain man, and had no great depth.
The others were sent to Hampton Court, and were told that the king would not treat sepa-
rately, but would send over ambassadors to treat at Utrecht. They met secretly with many
in England, and informed themselves by them of the state of the nation. They gave money
liberally, and gained some in the chief offices to give them intelligence. The court under-
standing that they were not idle, and that the nation was much inflamed, since all the offers
that they made were rejected, commanded them to go back. The duke of Buckingham and
lord Arlington were ordered to go to Utrecht. And, to give the nation some satisfaction,
lord Halifax was sent over afterwards. But he was not in the secret. The Dutch, hearing
that their ambassadors were coming over without making peace with England, ran together
in great numbers to Maesland sluice, and resolved to cut them in pieces at their landing :
for they heard they were at the Brill. But, as they were crossing the Maese, a little boat
OF KING CHARLES II. 217
mot them, and told them of their danger, and advised them to land at another place, where
coaches were staying to carry them to the Hague. So they missed the storm that broke out
fatally at the Hague the next day, where men's minds were in great agitation.
De Wit was once at night going home from the States, when four persons set on him to
murder him. He shewed on that occasion both an intrepid courage and a great presence of
mind. He was wounded in several places ; yet he got out of their hands. One of them
was taken and condemned for it. All De Wit's friends pressed him to save his life ; but he
thought that such an attempt on a man in his post, was a crime not to be pardoned : though,
as to his own part in the matter, he very freely forgave it. The young man confessed his
crime and repented of it ; and protested that he was led to it by no other consideration but
that of zeal for his country and religion, which he thought were betrayed. And he died as
in a rapture of devotion, which made great impression on the spectators. At the same time
a barber accused De Wit's elder brother of a practice on him, in. order to his murdering the
prince. There wore so many improbabilities in his story, which was supported by no cir-
cumstances, that it seemed no way credible. Yet Cornelius de Wit was put to the torture on
it, but stood firm to his innocence. The sentence was accommodated rather to the state of
affairs, than to the strict rules of justice. In the mean time, while his brother had resigned
his charge of pensionary, and was made one of the judges of the high court, Cornelius De
Wit was banished ; which was intended rather as a sending him out of the way, than as a
sentence against him. I love not to describe scenes of horror, as was that black and infa-
mous one committed on the two brothers. I can add little to what has been so often printed.
De Wit's going in his own coach to carry his brother out of town was a great error, and
looked like a triumph over a sentence, which was unbecoming the character of a judge.
Some furious agitators, who pretended zeal for the prince, gathered the rabble together.
And by that vile action* that followed they did him (the prince) more hurt than they were
ever able to repair. His enemies have taken advantages from thence to cast the infamy of
this on him and on his party, to make them all odious ; though the prince spoke of it always
to me with the greatest horror possible. The ministers in Holland did upon this occasion
show a very particular violence. In their sermons, and in some printed treatises, they charged
the judges with corruption, who had carried the sentence no farther than to banishment : and
compared the fate of the De Wits to Hainan's.
I need not relate the great change of the magistracy in all the provinces, the repealing the
perpetual edict, and the advancing the prince of Orange to be stadtholder, after they had
voided the obligation of the oath he had taken, about which he took some time to deliberate.
O '
Both lawyers and divines agreed that those to whom he had made that oath releasing the
obligation of it, he was no longer bound by it. The States gave him, for that time, the full
power of peace and war. All this was carried farther by the town of Amsterdam ; for they
sent a deputation to him, offering him the sovereignty of their town. When he was pleased
to tell me this passage, he said, he knew the reason for which they made it was, because
they thought all was lost : and they chose to have the infamy of their loss fall on him rather
than on themselves. He added, that he was sure the country could not bear a sovereign ;
md that they would contribute more to the war, when it was in order to the preserving
their own liberty, than for any prince whatsoever. So he told them that, without taking
any time to consult on the answer to be made to so great an offer, he did immediately refuse
it. He was fully satisfied with the power already lodged with him, and would never en-
leavotir to carry it any farther.
* Both the De Wits were assassinated. Sir William sioner of Holland for about eighteen years, with great
Temple describes the circumstances that led to this mur- honour to his country and himself." In another place,
let in words similar to those employed by Burnct, add- the same faithful writer speaks of him as " a minister of
'iig, "Monsieur De Wit, foreseeing how the tragedy the greatest authority and sufficiency, the greatest applica-
would end, took his brother by the hand, and was at the tion and industry, that was ever known in the Dutch
>• une time knocked down with the butt-end of a musket, state." — Temple's Works, i. 107 — 380. fol. ed With-
'['hey were both presently laid dead upon the place, then out one extravagant habit, he died without having amassed
dragged about the town by the people in their fury, and any wealth : this demonstrates his disinterested integrity —
t<>rn in pieces. Thus ended one of the greatest lives of and his "Maxims of Government" are a record of his
any subject in our age, about the 47th of his own ; after honour, moderation, and justice, as a statesman.
1 iving served, or rather administered, that state as pen-
218 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The prince's advancement gave a new life to the whole country. He, though then very
young, and little acquainted with the affairs of state or war, did apply himself so to both,
that, notwithstanding the desperate state in which he found matters, he neither lost heart
nor committed errors. The duke of Buckingham and the lord Arlington tried to bring the
king of France (Louis the Fourteenth) to offer them better terms, but in vain. That prince
was so lifted up that he seemed to consider the king very little. While he was so high on
the one hand, and the prince cf Orange so steady on the other, the English ambassadors soon
saw that all the offices they could do were ineffectual. One day the prince (who told me
this himself) was arguing with them upon the king's conduct, as the most unaccountable
thing possible, who was contributing so much to the exaltation of France, which must prove
in conclusion fatal to himself; and was urging this in several particulars. The duke of
Buckingham broke out in an oath, which was his usual style, and said he was in the right :
and so offered to sign a peace immediately with the prince. Lord Arlington seemed amazed
at his rashness. Yet he persisted in it, and said positively he would do it. The prince,
upon that, not knowing what secret powers he might have, ordered the articles to be en-
grossed. And he believed, if he could possibly have got them ready while he was with
him, that he would have signed them. They were ready by next morning ; but by that
time he had changed his mind. That duke at parting pressed him much to put himself
wholly in the king's hands : and assured him he would take care of his affairs as of his own.
The prince cut him short : he said his country had trusted him, and he would never deceive
nor betray them for any base ends of his own. The duke answered, he was not to think
any more of his country, for it was lost ; if it should weather out the summer, by reason of
the waters that had drowned a great part of it, the winter's frost would lay them open : and
he repeated the words often, " Do not you see it is lost ? " The prince's answer deserves to
remembered : he said, he saw it was indeed in great danger, but there was a sure way never
to see it lost, and that was to die in the last ditch*.
The person that the prince relied on chiefly, as to the affairs of Holland, was Fagel, a man
very learned in the law, who had a quick apprehension and a clear and ready judgment.
He had a copious eloquence, more popular than correct ; and was fit to carry matters with
a torrent in a numerous assembly. De Wit had made great use of him ; for he joined with
him very zealously in the carrying the perpetual edict, which he negotiated with the States
of Freizland, who opposed it most ; and he was made Greffier, or secretary to the States-
general, which is the most beneficial place in Holland. He was a pious and virtuous man ;
only he was too eager and violent. He was too apt to flatter himself. He had much heart
when matters went well ; but had not the courage that became a great minister on uneasy
and difficult occasions.
* " The bait, which the French thought could not fail know what the true ends or subject of it was. The com-
of being swallowed by the prince, and about which the mon belief in England and Holland made it to be our
utmost artifice was employed, was the proposal of making jealousy of the French conquests going too fast, whilst
him sovereign of the provinces, under the protection of ours were so lame ; and great hopes were raised in Hoi-
England and France. And to say truth, at a time when land that it was to stop their course or extent ; but these
BO little of the provinces was left, and what remained was were soon dashed by the return of the ambassadors, after
under water, and in so imminent danger upon the first having renewed and fastened the measures formerly taken
frosts of winter, this seemed a lure to which a meaner soul between the two crowns. And the ambassadors were
than that of this prince might very well stoop. But his indeed content, as they passed through Holland, that the
was above it, and his answers always firm, that he never first should be thought; which gave occasion for a very
would betray a trust that was given him, nor ever sell the good repartee of the princess dowager to the duke of
liberties of his country that his ancestors had so lone de- Buckingham, who visited her as they passed through the
fended. Yet the game he played was then thought so Hague. He talking much of their being good Hollanders,
desperate, that one of his nearest servants told me he had she told him " that was more than they asked, which was
long expostulated it with his master, and asked him at only that they would be good Englishmen." He assured
last, " How he intended to live after Holland was lost?" her they were not only so, but good Dutchmen too ; that
The prince replied, that he was resolved to live upon the indeed they did not use Holland like a mistress, but they
lands he had left in Germany ; and that he had rather loved her like a wife. To which she replied, " Vraimcnt
pass his life in hunting there, than sell his country or his je croy que vous nous aitnez comme vous aimez la votre.*
liberty to France at any price. I will say nothing of the (Truly, I believe you love us as you love your own wife,
embassy sent at this time by his majesty to the French — Temple's Works, i. 382. fol. ed. These " Memoirs r
king at Utrecht, where the three ambassadors, the duke of of this truly honourable character are replete with infor-
Buckinghain, lord Arlington, and lord Halifax, found mation relative to the affairs of Holland about that
him in his highest exaltation ; for I cannot pretend to period.
OF KING CHARLES II. 219
Prince Waldeck was tlieir chief general, a man of a great compass and a true judgment :
equally able in the cabinet and in the camp. But he was always unsuccessful, because he
was never furnished according to the schemes that he had laid down. The opinion that
armies had of him, as an unfortunate general, made him really so ; for soldiers cannot have
much heart, when they have not an entire confidence in him that has the chief command.
Dycvelt on his return from England, seeing the ruin of the De Wits, with whom he was
formerly united, and the progress the French had made in Utrecht, where his estate and
interest lay, despaired too soon, and went and lived under them. Yet he did great service
to his province. Upon every violation of articles he went and demanded justice, and made
protestations with a boldness, to which the French were so little accustomed that they were
amazed at it. Upon the French leaving Utrecht, and on the re-establishing that province,
he was left out of the government. Yet his great abilities, and the insinuating smoothness
of his temper, procured him so many friends, that the prince was prevailed on to receive him
into his confidence ; and he had a great share of it to the last, as he well deserved. He
had a very perfect knowledge of all the affairs of Europe, and great practice in many em-
bassies. He spoke too long, and with too much vehemence. He was in his private deport-
ment a virtuous and religious man, and a zealous protestant. In the administration of his
province, which was chiefly trusted to him, there were great complaints of partiality, and of
a defective justice.
Halewyn, a man of great interest in the town of Dort, and one of the judges in the court
of Holland, was the person of them all whom I knew best, and valued most, and was the
next to Fagel in the prince's confidence. He had a great compass of learning, besides his own
profession, in which he was very eminent. He had studied divinity with great exactness,
and was well read in all history, but most particularly in the Greek and Roman authors.
He was a man of great vivacity : he apprehended things soon, and judged very correctly.
He spoke short, but with life. He had a courage and vigour in his counsels that became
one who had formed himself upon the best models in the ancient authors. He was a man of
severe morals. And as he had great credit in the court where he sat, so he took care that
the partialities of friendship should not mix in the administration of justice. He had in him
all the best notions of a great patriot, and a true Christian philosopher. He was brought in
very early to the secret of affairs, and went into the business of the perpetual edict very
zealously. Yet he quickly saw the error of bringing matters of state immediately into nu-
merous assemblies. He considered the States maintaining in themselves the sovereign power
as the basis upon which the liberty of their country was built. But he thought the admi-
nistration of the government must be lodged in a council. He thought it a great misfortune
ihat the prince was so young at his first exaltation \ and so possessed with military matters,
to which the extremity of their affairs required that he should be entirely applied, that he
did not then correct that error, which could only be done upon so extraordinary a conjunc-
ture. He saw the great error of De Wit's ministry, of keeping the secret of affairs so much
n his own hands. Such a precedent was very dangerous to public liberty, when it was in
-he power of one man to give up his country. Their people could not bear the lodging so
?reat a trust with one, who had no distinction of birth or rank. Yet he saw it was neces-
sary to have such an authority, as De Wit's merits and success had procured him, lodged
somewhere. The factions and animosities, that were in almost all their towns, made it as
necessary for their good government at home, as it was for the command of their armies
abroad, to have this power trusted to a person of that eminence of birth and rank, that he
might be above the envy that is always among equals, when any one of them is raised to a
disproportioned degree of greatness above the rest. He observed some errors that were in
the prince's conduct. But after all, he said, it was visible that he was always in the true
interest of his country ; so that the keeping up a faction against him was likely to prove fatal
to all Europe, as well as to themselves.
The greatest misfortune in the prince's affairs was, that the wisest and the most consider-
able men in their towns, that had been acquainted with the conduct of affairs formerly,
were new under a cloud, and were either turned out of the magistracy, or thought it conve-
nient to v& xe from business. And many hot, but poor, men, who had signalised their zeal
220 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
in the turn newly made, came to be called the prince's friends, and to be put everywhere
into the magistracy. They quickly lost all credit, having little discretion and no authority.
They were very partial in the government, and oppressive, chiefly of those of the other side.
The prince saw this sooner than he could find a remedy for it. But by degrees the men of
the other side came into his interest, and promised to serve him faithfully, in order to the
driving out the French and the saving their country. The chief of those were Halewyn of
Dort, Pats of Rotterdam, and Yan Beuning of Amsterdam.
The last of these was so well known both in France and England, and had so great credit
in his own town, that he deserves to be more particularly set out. Pie was a man of great
notions. He had a wonderful vivacity, but too much levity in his thoughts. His temper
was inconstant : firm and positive for a while, but apt to change, from a giddiness of mind
rather than from any falsehood in his nature. He broke twice with the prince after he came
into a confidence with him. He employed me to reconcile him to him for the third time ;
but the prince said he could not trust him any more. He had great knowledge in all
sciences, and had such a copiousness of invention, with such a pleasantness, as well as a
variety of conversation, that I have often compared him to the duke of Buckingham ; only
he was virtuous and devout, much in the enthusiastical way. In the end. of his days he
set himself wholly to mind the East India trade. But that was an employment not so well
suited to his natural genius. And it ended fatally ; for the actions sinking on the sudden
on the breaking out of a new war, that sunk him into a melancholy, which quite distracted
him. The town of Amsterdam was for many years conducted by him as by a dictator.
And that had exposed them to as many errors as the irregularity of his notions suggested.
The breaking the West India company, and the loss of Minister in the year 1658, was owing
to that. It was then demonstrated, that the loss of that town laid the States open on that
side ; and that Munster, being in their hands, would not only cover them, but be a fit place
for making levies in Westphalia. Yet Amsterdam would not consent to that new charge ;
and fancied there was no danger on that side. But they found afterwards, to their cost,
that their unreasonable managery in that particular drew upon them an expense of many
millions, by reason of the unquiet temper of that martial bishop, who had almost ruined
them this year on the side of Freizland. But his miscarriage in the siege of Groninghen,
and the taking Coevorden by surprise in the end of the year, as it was among the first things
that raised the spirits of the Dutch, so both the bishop's strength and reputation sunk so
entirely upon it, that he never gave them any great trouble after that.
Another error, into which the frugality of Amsterdam drew the States, was occasioned by
the offer that D'Estradcs, the French ambassador, made them in the year 1663, of a division
of the Spanish Netherlands, by which Ostend and a line from thence to Maestricht, within
which Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp, were to be comprehended, was offered to them ; the
French desiring only St. Omer, Valenciennes, Cambray, and Luxemburgh : and the domi-
nions that lay between those lines were to be a free commonwealth ; as Halewyn assured
me, who said he was in the secret at that time. This was much debated all Holland over.
It was visible that this new commonwealth, taken out of the hands of the Spaniards, must
naturally have fallen into a dependence on the States, and have become more considerable,
when put under a better conduct. Yet this wTould have put the States at that time to some
considerable charge. And, to avoid that, the proposition was rejected, chiefly by the oppo-
sition that Amsterdam made to it : where the prevailing maxim was, to reduce their ex-
pense, to abate taxes, and to pay their public debts. By such an unreasonable parsimony
matters were now brought to that state, that they were engaged into a war of so vast an
expense, that the yearly produce of their whole estates did not answer all the taxes that
they were forced to lay on their people.
After the prince saw that the French demands were at this time so high, and that it was
not possible to draw England into a separate treaty, he got the States to call an extraordinary
assembly, the most numerous that has been in this age. To them the prince spoke nearly
three hours, to the amazement of all that heard him, which was owned to me by one of the
deputies of Amsterdam. He had got great materials put in his hands, of which he made
very good use. He first went through the French propositions, and showed the consequence
OF KING CHARLES 11 221
and the effects that would follow on them ; that the accepting them would be certain ruin,
and the very treating about them would distract and dispirit their people ; he therefore
concluded, that the entertaining a thought of these was the giving up their country. If
any could hearken to such a motion, the lovers of religion and liberty must go to the Indies,
or to any other country where they might be free and safe. After he had gone through
this, nearly an hour, he in the next place showed the possibility of making a stand, notwith-
standing the desperate state to which their affairs seemed reduced. He showed the force of
all their allies ; that England could not hold out long without a parliament ; and they were
well assured that a parliament would draw the king to other measures. He showed the
impossibility of the French holding out long, and that the Germans coming down to the
Lower Rhine must make them go out of their country as fast as they came into it. In all
this he showed that he had a great insight into the French affairs. He came last to show,
how it was possible to raise the taxes that must be laid on the country, to answer such a
vast and unavoidable expense ; and set before them a great variety of projects for raising
money. He concluded, that if they laid down this for a foundation, that religion and liberty
could not be purchased at too dear a rate, and that therefore every man among them, and
every minister in the country, ought to infuse into all the people, that they must submit to
the present extremity, and to very extraordinary taxes ; by this means, as their people would
again take heart, so their enemies would loose theirs, who built their chief hopes on that uni-
versal dejection among them that was but too visible to all the world. Every one that was
present seemed amazed to hear so young a man speak to so many things, with so much
knowledge and so true a judgment. It raised his character wonderfully, and contributed
not a little to put new life into a country, almost dead with fear, and dispirited with so
many losses. They all resolved to maintain their liberty to the last ; and, if things should
run to extremities, to carry what wealth they could with them to the East Indies. The
state of the shipping capable of so long a voyage was examined : and it was reckoned that
they could transport above two hundred thousand people thither.
Yet all their courage would probably have stood them in little stead, if the king of France
could have been prevailed on to stay longer at Utrecht. But he made haste to go back to
Paris. Some said it was the effect of his amours, and that it was hastened by some quarrels
among his mistresses. Others thoughifhe was hastening to receive the flatteries that were
preparing for him there. And indeed in the outward appearances of things there was great
occasion for them, since he had a run of success beyond all expectation : though he himself
had no share in it, unless it was to spoil it. He left a garrison in every place he took,
against Turenne's advice, who was for dismantling them all, and keeping his army still about
him. But his ministers saw so far into his temper, that they resolved to play a sure game,
and to put nothing to hazard. Upon the elector of Brandenburg's coming down, Monsieur
Turenne was sent against him ; by which means the army about the king was so diminished,
that he could undertake no great design, besides the siege of Nimeguen, that held out some
weeks, with so small a force. And though the prince of Orange had not above eight thou-
sand men about him, employed in keeping a pass near Woerdcn, yet no attempt was made
to force him from it. Another probable reason of his returning back so soon was, a sugges-
tion of the desperate temper of the Dutch, and that they were capable of undertaking any
design, how black soever, rather than perish. Some told him of vaults under the streets of
Utrecht, where gunpowder might be laid to blow him up as he went over them ; and all
these were observed to be avoided by him. He would never lodge within the town, and
came but seldom to it. He upon one or other of these motives went back. Upon which
the prince of Conde said, he saw he had not the soul of a conqueror in him ; and that his
ministers were the best Commis, but the poorest ministers in the world, who had not souls
made for great things, or capable of them.
If the king had a mind to be flattered by his people, he found at his return enough even to
surfeit him. Speeches, verses, inscriptions, triumphal arches, and medals, were prepared with
a profusion, and excess of flattery, beyond what had been offered to the worst of the Roman
emperors, bating the ceremony of adoration. But blasphemous impieties were not wanting
to raise and feed his vanity. A solemn debate was held all about Paris, what title should
222 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
be given him. Le Grand was thought too common. Some were for Invincible. Others
were for Le Conquerant. Some, in imitation of Charlemagne, for Lewis Le Magne. Others
were for Maximus. But Tres Grand sounded not so well ; no more did Maxime. So they
settled on Le Grand. And all the bodies of Paris seemed to vie in flattery. It appeared
that the king took pleasure in it ; so there has followed upon it the greatest run of the most
fulsome flattery that is in history. Had the king of France left such a man as Turcnne at
Utrecht, it might have had ill effects on the resolutions taken by the Dutch. But he left
Luxemburgh there, who had no regard to articles ; but made all people see what was to be
expected, when they should come under such a yoke, that was then so intolerable a burden,
even while it ought to have been recommended to those, who were yet free, by a gentle ad-
ministration. This contributed not a little to fix the Dutch in those obstinate resolutions
they had taken up.
There was one very extraordinary thing that happened near the Hague this summer. I had
it from many eye-witnesses : and no doubt was made of the truth of it by any at the Hague.
Soon after the English fleet had refitted themselves, (for they had generally been much
damaged by the engagement in Solbay,) they appeared in sight of Scheveling, making up to
the shore. The tide turned ; but they reckoned that with the next flood they wculd cer-
tainly land the forces that were aboard, where they were like to meet with no resistance.
So they sent to the prince for some regiments to hinder the descent. He could not spare
many men, having the French very near him. So between the two the country was given up
for lost, unless De Ruyter should quickly come up. The flood returned, which they thought
was to end in their ruin. But to all their amazement, after it had flowed two or three
hours, an ebb of many hours succeeded, which carried the fleet again to the sea. And, before
that was spent, De Ruyter came in view. This they reckoned a miracle wrought for their
preservation. Soon after that they escaped another design, that otherwise would very pro-
bably have been fatal to them.
The earl of Ossory, eldest son to the duke of Ormond, a man of great honour, generosity,
and courage, had been often in Holland ; and, coming by Helvoetsluys, he observed, it was a
place of great consequence,', but very ill looked to. The Dutch trusting to the danger of
entering into it, more than to any strength that defended it, he thought it might be easy to
seize and fortify that place. The king approved this. So some ships were sheathed, and
victualled, as for a voyage to a great distance. He was to have five men of war, and trans-
port ships for twelve or fifteen hundred men ; and a second squadron, with a farther supply,
if he succeeded in the attempt, was to follow. He had got two or three of their pilots
brought out on a pretended errand ; and these he kept very safe to carry him in. This was
communicated to none, but to the duke, and to lord Arlington ; and all was ready for the
execution. Lord Ossory went to this fleet, and saw everything ready as was ordered, and
came up to receive the king's sailing orders ; but the king, who had ordered him to come
next morning for his despatch, discovered the design to the duke of Buckingham, who hated
both the duke of Ormond and lord Ossory, and would have seen the king and all his affairs
perish, rather than that a person whom he hated should have the honour of such a piece of
merit. He upon that did turn all his wit to make the thing appear ridiculous and imprac-
ticable. He represented it as unsafe on many accounts ; and as a desperate stroke, that put
things, if it should succeed, out of a possibility of treaty or reconciliation. The king could
not withstand this. Lord Ossory found next morning that the king had changed his mind :
and it broke out, by the duke of Buckingham's loose way of talking, that it was done by his
means ; so the design wras laid aside : but when the peace was made, lord Ossory told it to
the Dutch ambassadors ; and said, since he did not destroy them by touching them in that
weak and sore part, he had no mind they should lie any longer open to such another attack.
When the ambassadors wrote this over to their masters, all were sensible how easy it had
been to have seized and secured that place, and what a terrible disorder it would have put
them in ; and upon this they gave order to put the place in a better posture of defence for
the future. So powerfully did spite work on those about the king, and so easy was he to
the man of wit and humour. The duke stayed long at sea, in hopes to have got the East
India fleet ; but they came sailing so near the German coast, that they passed him before
OF iviNG CHARLES II. 223
/
he was aware of it; so lie came 1 ack after a long and inglorious campaign. He lost the
honour of the action that was at Solbay, and missed the wealth of that fleet, which he had
long waited for.
I will complete the transactions of this memorable year with an account of the impression
that Luxembtirgh made on the Dutch near the end of it, which would have had a very tragi-
cal conclusion, if a happy turn of weather had not saved them. Stoupe was then with him,
and was in the secret. By many feints, that amused the Dutch so skilfully, that there was
no suspicion of the true design, all was prepared for an invasion, when a frost should come.
It came at last ; and it froze and thawed by turns for some time, which they reckon makes
the ice the firmest. At last a frost continued so strong for some days, that upon piercing
and examining the ice, it was thought it could not be dissolved by any ordinary thaw, in
less than two days. So, about midnight, Luxemburgh marched out of Utrecht towards
Leyden, with about sixteen thousand men. Those of Utrecht told me, that, in the minute
in which they began to march, a thaw wind blew very fresh. Yet they marched on till day-
light, and came to Summerdam and Bodegrave, which they gained not without difficulty.
There they stopped, and committed many outrages of crying lust and barbarous cruelty, and
vented their impiety in very blasphemous expressions, upon the continuance of the thaw,
which now had quite melted the ice, so that it was not possible to go back the way that they
came, where all had been ice, but was now dissolved to about three feet depth of water.
There were cause-ways, and they were forced to march on these ; but there was a fort,
through which they must pass : and one Painevine, with two regiments, was ordered to keep
it, with some cannon in it. If he had continued there, they must all have been taken
prisoners, which would have put an end to the war ; but, when he saw them march to him
in the morning, he gave all for lost, and went to Tergow, where he gave the alarm, as if all
was gone ; and he offered to them to come to help them by that garrison to a better capi-
tulation : so he left his post, and went thither. The French army, not being stopped by that
fort, got safe home ; but their behaviour in those two villages was such, that, as great pains
were taken to spread it over the whole country, so it contributed not a little to the establish-
ing the Dutch in their resolutions, of not only venturing but of losing all, rather than come
under so cruel a yoke.
Painevine's withdrawing had lost them an advantage never to be regained : so the prince
ordered a council of war to try him. He pleaded, that the place was not tenable ; that the
enemy had passed it ; so he thought the use it was intended for was lost : and if the enemy
had come to attack him, he must have surrendered upon discretion : and he pleaded farther,
that he went from it upon the desire of one of their towns to save it. Upon this defence
he was acquitted as to his life, but condemned to infamy, as a coward, and to have his sword
broken over his head, and to be for ever banished the States dominions. But an appeal lay,
according to their discipline, to a council of war, composed of general officers ; and they
confirmed the sentence. The towns of Holland were highly offended at these proceedings.
They said, they saw the officers were resolved to be gentle to one another, and to save their
fellow-officers, how guilty soever they might be. The prince yielded to their instances, and
brought him to a third trial before himself, and a court of the supreme officers, in which they
had the assistance of six judges. Painevine stood on it, that he had undergone two trials,
which was all that the martial law subjected him to ; and in those he was acquitted. Yet
this was overruled. It was urged against him, that he himself was present in the council of
war that ordered the making that fort ; and he knew that it was not intended to be a place
tenable against an army, but was only meant to make a little stand for some time, and wars
intended for a desperate state of affairs ; and that therefore he ought not to have left his
post, because of the danger he was in : he saw the thaw began ; and so ought to have stayed,
at least till he had seen how far that would go ; and being put there by the prince, he was
to receive orders from none but him. Upon these grounds he was condemned, and executed,
to the great satisfaction of the States, but to the general disgust of all the officers, who
thought they were safe in the hands of an ordinary council of war, and did not like this new
method of proceeding.
They were also not a little troubled at the strict discipline that the prince settled, and at
224 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the severe execution of it : but by this means he wrought up his army to a pitch of obedience
and courage, of sobriety and good order, that things put on another face ; and all men began
to hope that their armies would act with another spirit, now that the discipline was so care-
fully looked to. It seems the French made no great account of them, for they released
twenty-five thousand prisoners, taken in several places, for fifty thousand crowns.
Thus I have gone far into the state of affairs of Holland in this memorable year. I had
most of these particulars from Dycvelt and Halewyn ; and I thought this great turn
deserved to be set out with all the copiousness with which my informations could furnish
me. This year the kin^ declared a new mistress, and made her duchess of Portsmouth.
She had been maid of honour to Madame, the king's sister, and had come over writh her to
Dover, where the king had expressed such a regard to her, that the duke of Buckingham,
who hated the duchess of Cleveland, intended to put her on the king. He told him, that
it was a decent piece of tenderness for his sister to take care of some of her servants : so she
was the person the king easily consented to invite over. That duke assured the king of
France that he could never reckon himself sure of the king, but by giving him a mistress
that should be true to his interests. It was soon agreed to. So the duke of Buckingham
sent her with a part of his equipage to Dieppe ; and said, he would presently follow. But
he, who was the most inconstant and forgetful of all men, never thought of her more, but
went to England by the way of Calais. So Montague, then ambassador at Paris, hearing of
this, sent over for a yacht for her, and sent some of his servants to wrait on her, and to defray
her charge, till she was brought to Whitehall ; and then lord Arlington took care of her.
So the duke of Buckingham-lost the merit he might have pretended to, and brought over a
mistress, whom his own strange conduct threw into the hands of his enemies. The king
was presently taken with her. She studied to please and observe him in every thing ; so
that he passed away the rest of his life in a great fondness for her. He kept her at a vast
charge ; and she, by many fits of sickness, some believed real, and others thought only pre-
tended, gained of him every thing she desired. She stuck firm to the French interest, and
was its chief support. The king divided himself between her and Mistress Gwyn, and had
no other avowed amour ; but he was so entirely possessed by the duchess of Portsmouth,
and so engaged by her in the French interest, that this threw him into great difficulties, and
exposed him to much contempt and distrust.
I now return to the affairs of Scotland, to give an account of a session of parliament, and
the other transactions there in this critical year. About the end of May, duke Lauderdale
came down with his lady in great pomp : he was much lifted up with the French success,
and took such pleasure in talking of De Wit's fate, that it could not be heard without horror.
He treated all people with such scorn, that few were able to bear it. He adjourned the
parliament for a fortnight, that he might carry his lady round the country ; and was every-
where waited on, and entertained with as much respect, and at as great a charge, as if the
king had been there in person. This enraged the nobility ; and they made great applica-
tions to duke Hamilton, to lead a party against him, and to oppose the tax that he demanded,
of a wrhole year's assessment. I soon grew so weary of the court, though there wras scarcely
a person so well used by him as I myself was, that I went out of town ; but duke Hamil-
ton sent for me, and told me, how vehemently he was solicited by the majority of the nobi-
lity to oppose the demand of the tax. He had promised me not to oppose taxes in general ;
and I had assured duke Lauderdale of it. But he said, this demand was so extravagant,
that he did not imagine it would go so far ; so he did not think himself bound, by a promise
made in general words, to agree to such a high one. Upon this I spoke to duke Lauderdale,
to show him the inclinations many had to an opposition to that demand, and the danger of
it. He rejected it in a brutal manner, saying, they durst as soon be damned as oppose him.
Yet I made him so sensible of it, that he appointed the marquis of Athol to go and talk in
his name to duke Hamilton, who moved that I might be present ; and that was easily
admitted. Lord Athol pressed duke Hamilton to come into an entire confidence with duke
Lauderdale ; and promised, that he should have the chief direction of all affairs in Scotland
under the other. Duke Hamilton asked, how stood the parliament of England affected to
the war. Lord Athol assured him, there was a settled design of having no more parliaments
OF KING CHARLES 11. 225
in England. The king would be master, and would be no longer curbed by a house of
commons. He also laid out the great advantages that Scotland, more particularly the great
nobility, might find by striking in heartily with the king's designs, and of making him abso-
lute in England. Duke Hamilton answered very honestly, that he would never engage in
such designs ; he would be always a good and faithful subject, but he would be likewise a
good countryman. He was very unwilling to concur in the land-tax. He said, Scotland
had no reason to engage in the war, since as they might suffer much by it, so they could
gain nothing, neither by the present war, nor by any peace that should be made. Yet he
was prevailed on, in conclusion, to agree to it. And upon that the business of the session
of parliament went on smoothly without any opposition.
The duchess of Lauderdale, not contented with the great appointments they had, set
herself by all possible methods to raise money. They lived at a vast expense, and every
thing was set to sale. She carried all things with a haughtiness that could not have been
easily borne from a queen. She talked of all people with an ungoverned freedom, and grew
to be universally hated. I was out of measure weary of my attendance at their court, but
was pressed to continue it. Many found I did good offices. I got some to be considered,
and advanced, that had no other way of access : but that which made it more necessary was,
that I saw Sharp and his creatures were making their court with the most abject flattery,
and all the submissions possible. Leighton went seldom to them, though he was always
treated by them with great distinction. So it was necessary for me to be about them, and
keep them right, otherwise all our designs were lost without recovery. This led me to much
uneasy compliance ; though I asserted my own liberty, and found so often fault with their
proceedings, that once or twice I used such freedom, and it was so ill taken, that I thought
it was fit for me to retire : yet I was sent for, and continued in such high favour, that I was
again tried if I would accept of a bishopric, and was promised the first of the two arch-
bishoprics that should fall. But I was still fixed in my former resolutions, not to engage
early, being then but nine-and-twenty, nor could I come into a dependence on them.
Duke Lauderdale at his coming down had expected, that the presbyterians should have
addressed themselves to him for a share in that liberty, which their brethren had now in
England, and which he had asserted in a very particular manner at the council table in
Whitehall. One Whatley, a justice of peace in Lincolnshire, if I remember the county
right, had disturbed one of the meeting-houses that had got a licence pursuant to the decla-
ration for a toleration ; and he had set fines on those that met in it, conformably to the act
against conventicles. Upon which he was brought up to council, to be reprimanded for his
high contempt of his majesty's declaration. Some privy councillors shewed their zeal in
severe reflections on his proceedings. Duke Lauderdale carried the matter very far. He
said, the king's edicts were to be considered, and obeyed as laws, and more than any other
laws. This was written down by some that heard it, who were resolved to make use of it
against him in due time. He looked on near two months after he came down from Scot-
land, waiting still for an application for liberty of conscience ; but the designs of the court
were now clearly seen into. The presbyterians understood they were only to be made use
of in order to the introducing of popery ; so they resolved to be silent and passive. Upon
this he broke out into fury and rage against them. Conventicles abounded in all places of
the country : and some furious zealots broke into the houses of some of the ministers,
wounding them and robbing their goods, forcing some of them to swear, that they would
never officiate any more in their churches. Some of these were taken, and executed. I
visited them in prison, and saw in them the blind madness of ill-grounded zeal, of which
they were never fully convinced. One of them seemed to be otherwise no ill man.
Another of them was a bold villain. He justified all that they had done, from the Israelites
robbing the Egyptians, and destroying the Canaanites.
That which gave duke Lauderdale a juster ground of offence was, that one Carstairs,
much employed since that time in greater matters, was taken in a ship that came from
Rotterdam. He himself escaped out of their hands, but his letters were taken. They had
a great deal written in white ink ; whch shewed that the design of sending him over was,
to know in what disposition the people were, promising arms and other necessaries, if they
Q
22(5 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
were in a condition to give the government any disturbance. But the whole was so darkly
expressed, much being referred to the bearer, that it was not possible to understand what
lay hid under so many mysterious expressions. Upon this a severe prosecution of conven-
ticles was set on foot, and a great deal of money was raised by arbitrary fines. Lord Athol
made of this in one week 1,900£ sterling. I did all I could to moderate this fury, but all
was in vain. Duke Lauderdale broke out into the most frantic fits of rage possible. When
I was once saying to him, was that a time to drive them into a rebellion ? Yes, said he,
would to God they would rebel, that so he might bring over an army of Irish papists to cut
all their throats. Such a fury as this seemed to furnish work for a physician, rather than
for any other sort of men ; but after he had let himself loose into these fits for near a month,
he calmed all on the sudden : perhaps upon some signification from the king ; for the party
complained to their friends in London, who had still some credit at court.
He called for me all on the sudden, and put me in mind of the project I had laid before
him, of putting all the ousted ministers by couples into parishes ; so that instead of wander-
ing about the country, to hold conventicles in all places, they might be fixed to a certain
abode, and every one might have the half of a benefice. I was still of the same mind ; and
so was Leighton, who compared this to the gathering the coals that were scattered over the
house, sotting it all on fire, into the chimney, where they might burn away safely. Duke
Lauderdale set about it immediately, and the benefit of the indulgence was extended to forty
more churches. This, if followed as to that of doubling them in a parish, and of confining
them within their parishes, would have probably laid a flame that was spreading over the
nation, and was likely to prove fatal in conclusion. But duke Lauderdale's way was, to
govern by fits, and to pass from hot to cold ones, always in extremes. So this of doubling
them, which was the chief part of our scheme, was quite neglected. Single ministers went
into those churches; and those who were not yet provided for, went about the country
holding conventicles very boldly without any restraint, and no care at all was taken of the
church.
Shaqi and his instruments took occasion from this to complain, that the church was ruined
by Leighton's means ; and I wanted not my share in the charge ; and indeed the remissness
of the government was such, that there was just cause of complaint. Great numbers met
in the fields ; men went to those meetings with such arms as they had : and we were blamed
for all this. It was said, that things went so far beyond what a principle of moderation
could suggest, that we did certainly design to ruin and overturn the constitution. Leighton
upon all this concluded he could do no good on either side ; he had gained no ground on the
presbyterians, and was suspected and hated by the episcopal party ; so he resolved to retire
from all public employments, and to spend the rest of his days in a corner, far from noise
and business, and to give himself wholly to prayer and meditation, since he saw he could not
carry on his great designs of healing and reforming the church, on which he had set his heart.
He had gathered together many instances out of church history of bishops that had left their
sees, and retired from the world, and was much pleased with these. He and I had many
discourses on this argument. I thought a man ought to be determined by the providence of
God, and to continue in the station he was in, though he could not do all the good in it that
he had proposed to himself : he might do good in a private way by his example, and by his
labours, more than he himself could know; and as a man ought to submit to sickness,
poverty, or other afflictions, when they are laid on him by the hand of Providence ; so I
thought the labouring without success was indeed a very great trial of patience, yet such
labouring in an ungrateful employment was a cross, and so was to be borne with submission ;
and that a great uneasiness under that, or the forsaking a station because of it, might be the
effect of secret pride, and an indignation against Providence. He on the other hand said,
his work seemed to be at an end : he had no more to do, unless he had a mind to please
himself with the lazy enjoying a good revenue. So he could not be wrought on by all that
could be laid before him, but followed duke Lauderdale to court, and begged leave to retire
from his archbishopric. The duke would by no means consent to this ; so he desired that he
might be allowed to do it within a year. Duke Lauderdale thought so much time wr.s
gained ; so, to be rid of his importunities, he moved the king to promise him, that, if ha did
OF KING CHARLES II.
227
not change his mind, he would within the year accept of his resignation. He came back
much pleased with what he had obtained, and said to me upon it, there was now but one
uneasy stage between him and rest, and he would wrestle through it the best he could.
And now I am come to the period that I set out for this book. The world was now in a
general combustion, set on by the ambition of the court of France, and supported by the
feebleness and treachery of the court of England. A. stand was made by the prince of
Orange, and the elector of Brandenburgh ; but the latter, not being in time assisted by the
emperor, was forced to accept of such conditions as he could obtain. This winter there was
great practice in all the courts of Europe, by the agents of France, to lay them every where
asleep, and to make the world look on their king's design in that campaign as a piece of
glory, for the humbling of a rich and proud commonwealth ; and that, as soon as that was
done suitably to the dignity of the great monarch, he would give peace to the world, after
he had shewn that nothing could stand before his arms. But the opening the progress
of these negotiations, and the turn that the affairs of Europe took, belongs to the next
period.
BOOK III.
OF THE REST OF KING CHARLES THE SECOND'S REIGN, FROM THE YEAR 1673 TO THE
YEAR 1685, IN WHICH HE DIED.
ITHERTO the reign of king Charles was pretty serene and
calm at home. A nation, weary of a long civil war, was not
easily brought into jealousies and fears, which are the seeds
of distraction, and might end in new confusions and troubles.
But the court had now given such broad intimations of an ill
design, both on our religion and the civil constitution, that it
was no more a jealousy : all was now open and barefaced. In
the king's presence the court-flatterers were always magnifying
absolute government, and reflecting on the insolence of a house
of commons. The king said once to the earl of Essex, as he
told me, that he did not wish to be like a grand seignior, with some mutes about him, and
bags of bow-strings to strangle men, as he had a mind to it ; but he did not think he was a
king, as long as a company of fellows were looking into all his actions, and examining his
ministers, as well as his accounts. lie reckoned, now he had set the church party at such a
distance from the dissenters, that it was impossible to make them join, in opposition to his
designs. He hoped the church party would be always submissive, and he had the dissenters
at mercy.
The proceedings of the former year had opened all men's eyes. The king's own religion
was suspected, as his brother's was declared : and the whole conduct shewed a, design to
govern by the French model. A French general was brought over to command our armies.
Count Schomberg, who was a German by birth, (but his mother was an English woman,)
was sent over. He was a firm protestant, and served at first in Holland, but upon the
prince of Orange's death he went into France, where he grew into so high a reputation, that
he was kept under, and not raised to be a marshal, only on the account of his religion. He
was a calm man, of great application and conduct : he thought much better than he spoke.
He was a man of true judgment, of great probity, and of an humble and obliging temper :
and at . any other time of his life he would have been very acceptable to the English ; but
now he was looked on as one sent over from France, to bring our army under a French dis-
cipline ; and so he was hated by the nation, and not much loved by the court *. He was
always pressing the king to declare himself the head of the protestant party. He pressed
him likewise to bring his brother over from popery ; but the king said to him, " you know
my brother long ago, that he is as stiff as a mule." He liked the way of Charenton so well,
that he went once a week in London to the French church there, that was according to that
form : so the duke and lord Clifford looked on him as a presbyterian, and an unfit man for
their purpose. The duke of Buckingham hated him, for he hoped to have commanded the
army ; and as an army is a very unacceptable thing to the English nation, so it came to be
the more odious when commanded by a general sent over from France. Schomberg told me,
he saw it was impossible that the king could bring any great design to a good effect. He
loved his ease so much, that he never minded business ; and every thing that was said to hin>
of affairs was heard with so little attention, that it made no impression.
* Frederick Schomberg, eventually made duke of France, was born in Germany during the year 1608. His
Schomberg, marquis of Harwich, earl of Brentford, baron father was count Schomberg, and his mother a daughter
of Tays, knight of the garter, &c. by William the Third ; of lord Dudley. His career is noticed in future pages — •
» couat of Germany and of Portugal, and a mareschal of See Birch's Lives, &c.
OF KING CHARLES II. 229
The ministry was all broken to pieces. The duke of Buckingham was alone, hated by all,
as he hated all the rest ; but he went so entirely into all their designs, that the king con-
sidered him, and either loved, or feared him so much, that he had a deep root with him.
Lord Clifford stuck firm to the duke, and was heated with the design of bringing in popery,
even to enthusiasm. It was believed, if the design had succeeded, he had agreed with his
wife to take orders, and to aspire to a cardinal's hat. He grew violent, and could scarcely
speak with patience of the church of England, and of the clergy. The earl of Arlington
thought that the design was now lost, and that it was necessary for the king to make up
with his people in the best manner he could. The earl of Shaftesbury was resolved to save
himself on any terms.
The money was exhausted, so it was necessary to have a session of parliament ; and one
was called in the beginning of the year. At the opening it, the king excused the issuing
out the writs, as done to save time, and to have a full house at the first opening : but he left
that matter wholly to them : he spoke of the declaration for liberty of conscience in another
style : he said, he had seen the good effects of it, and that he would stick to it, and maintain
it : he said, he was engaged in a war for the honour of the nation, and therefore he demanded
the supplies that were necessary to carry it on. On these heads lord Shaftesbury enlarged ;
but no part of his speech was more amazing than that, speaking of tho war with the Dutch,
he said, Delenda est Carthago. Yet, while he made a base complying speech in favour of
the-eourt, and of the war, he was in a secret management with another party *.
The hoiise^pf commons was upon this all in a flame. They saw popery and slavery lay at
the bottom ; yel^tlmt they might not grasp at too much at once, they resolved effectually to
break the whole design of popery. They argued the matter of the declaration, whether it
was according to law\>r not. It was plainly an annulling of the penal laws, made both
against papists and dissenters. It was said, that though the king had a power of pardoning,
yet he had not a power to authorise men to break laws. This must infer a power to alter
the whole government. The strength of every law was the penalty laid upon offenders ;
and, if the king could secure offenders by indemnifying them beforehand, it was a vain thing
to make laws, since by that maxim they had no force, but at the king's discretion. Those
who pleaded for the declaration pretended to put a difference between penal laws in spiritual
matters, and all others ; and said, that the king's supremacy seemed to give him a peculiar
authority over these : by virtue of this it was, that the synagogue of the Jews, and the
Walloon churches, had been so long tolerated. But to this it was answered, that the intent
of the law in asserting the supremacy was only to exclude all foreign jurisdiction, and to
lodge the whole authority with the king ; but that was still to be bounded, and regulated
by law : and a difference was to be made between a connivance, such as that the Jews lived
under, by which they were still at mercy, and a legal authority : the parliament had never
disputed the legality of the patent for the Walloon congregations, which was granted to
encourage strangers, professing the same religion, to come among us, when they were perse-
cuted for it in their own country : it was at first granted only to strangers ; but afterwards,
in the days of their children, who were natives, it had been made void: and now they were
( xcepted by a special clause out of the Act of Uniformity. The house came quickly to a
very unanimous resolution, that the declaration was against law t : and they set that forth,
n an address to the king, in which they prayed that it might be called in. Some were
tudying to divert this, by setting them on to inquire into the issuing out the writs. And
he court seemed willing that the storm should break on lord Shaftesbury, and would have
gladly compounded the matter by making hi'm the sacrifice. He saw into that, and so was
(•solved to change sides with the first opportunity.
The house was not content with this ; but they brought in a bill, disabling all papists
roin holding any employment or place at court, requiring all persons in public trust to
uceive the sacrament in a parish church, and to carry an attested certificate of that, with
* The speeches of the king, and the earl of Shaftes- in matters ecclesiastical cannot be suspended but by act of
;ry, are in Chandler's Debates, i. 163. parliament." The majority was 168; the minority, 116.
•f The conclusion \vas far from unanimous. After a — Gray's Debates, ii. 26.
ig and able debate, it was resolved, " That peuai statutes
230 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
\vitnesses to prove it, into Chancery, or the county sessions, and there to make a declaration
renouncing transubstantiation in full and positive words. Great pains were taken by the
court to divert this. They proposed that some regard might be had to protestant dissenters,
and that their meetings might be allowed. By this means they hoped to have set them and
the church party into new heats; for now all were united against popery. Love, who served
for the city of London, and was himself a dissenter, saw what ill effects any such quarrels
might have ; so he moved, that an effectual security might be found against popery > and that
nothing might interpose till that was done. When that was over, then they would try to
deserve some favour ; but at present they were willing to lie under the severity of the laws,
rather than clog a more necessary work with their concerns. The chief friends of the sects
agreed to this. So a vote passed to bring in a bill in favour of protestant dissenters, though
there was not time enough, nor unanimity enough, to finish one this session : for it went no
farther than a second reading, but was dropped in the committee. But this prudent
behaviour of theirs did so soften the church party, that there were no more votes nor bills
offered at against them, even in that angry parliament, that had been formerly so severe
upon them.
The court was now in great perplexity. If they gave way to proceedings in the house
of commons, there was a full stop put to the design for popery ; and if they gave not way
to it, there was an end of the war. The French could not furnish us with so much money
as was necessary ; and the shutting up the exchequer had put an end to all credit. The
court tried what could be done in the house of lords. Lord Clifford resolved to assert the
declaration with all the force, and all the arguments he could bring for it. He shewed the
heads he intended to speak on to the king, who approved of them, and suggested some other
hints to him. He began the debate with rough words : he called the house of commons
Monstrum horrendum ingens, and ran on in a very high strain. He said all that could be
said with great heat, and many indecent expressions. When he had done, the earl of Shaftes-
bury, to the amazement of the whole house, said, he must differ from the lord that spoke
last toto ccelo. He said, while those matters were debated out of doors, he might think with
others, that the supremacy, asserted as it was by law, did warrant the declaration ; but now
that such a house of commons, so loyal and affectionate to the king were of another mind, he
submitted his reasons to theirs : they were the king's great council ; they must both advise
and support him : they had done it, and would do it still, if their laws and their religion
were once secure to them. The king was all in a fury to be thus forsaken by his chancellor,
and told lord Clifford, how well he was pleased with his speech, and how highly he was
offended with the other. The debate went on, and upon a division the court had the
majority ; but against that vote about thirty of the most considerable of the house pro-
tested : so the court saw they had gained nothing in carrying a vote that drew after it such
a protestation *.
This matter took soon after that a quick turn. It had been much debated in the cabinet,
what the king should do. Lord Clifford and duke Lauderdale were for the king's standing
his ground. Sir Ellis Leighton assured me, that the duke of Buckingham and lord Berkeley
offered to the king, if he would bring the army to town, that they would take out of both
houses the members that made the opposition. He fancied the thing might have been easily
brought about, and that, if the king would have acted with the spirit that he sometimes put
on, they might have carried their business. Duke Lauderdale talked of bringing an army
• Whatever the king may have declared to the con- read it in confidence to Shaftesbury, who promised to join
trary, there is good reason to believe that he was inclining prominently in the debate. He had now the opportunity,
to recall the declaration. One contemporary historian which he is said to have desired, of repaying Clifford after his
tells as, that lord Shaftesbury perceived this, and con- own example, or "ploughing with his heifer," as he termed
ducted himself on the above occasion accordingly. On the it, in the project of shutting up the exchequer. The king
day lord Clifford had undertaken to open the debate in and the duke of York were in the house during the debate,
the house of lords for establishing a perpetual fund, which and while Shaftesbury was speaking, the duke whispered
would have the effect of rendering parliaments of little to his brother, " What a rogue have you of a lord chan-
consequence, lord Shaftesbury appeared in the house at cellor." To which the king replied, " What a fool have
the head of those peers who were most zealous against the you of a lord treasurer." — Echard's and Ralph's Historic*
catholic religion, the war with Holland, and the alliance of England,
with France. Lord Clifford had prepared his speech, and
^ x - f1 C* J.1
OF KING CHARLES II. 231
out of Scotland, and seizing on Newcastle ; and pressed this with as much vehemence, as if
he had been able to have executed it. Lord Clifford said to the king, his people did now
see through all his designs, and therefore he must resolve to make himself master at once, or
be for ever subject to much jealousy and contempt. The earls of Shaftesbury and Arlington
pressed the king on the other hand to give the parliament full content : and they undertook
to procure him money for carrying on the war ; and, if he was successful in that, he might
easily recover what he must in this extremity part with. This suited the king's own temper,
yet the duke held him in suspense.
Colbert's brother, Croissy, was then the French ambassador here. Lord Arlington pos-
sessed him with such an apprehension of the madness of violent counsels, and that the least
of the ill effects they might have would be the leaving the war wholly on the French king,
and that it would be impossible to carry it on, if the king should run to such extremities, as
some were driving him to at home ; that he gained him both to press the king and his
brother to comply with the parliament, and to send an express to his own master, represent-
ing the whole matter in the light in which lord Arlington had set it before him.
In the afternoon of the day in which the matter had been argued in the house of lords,
the earls of Shaftesbury and Arlington got all those members of the house of commons on
whom they had any influence, (and who had money from the king, and were his spies, but
had leave to vote with the party against the court, for procuring them the more credit) to
go privately to him, and to tell him that upon lord Clifford's speech the house was in such
fury, that probably they would have gone to some high votes and impeachments ; but the
lord Shaftesbury speaking on the other side restrained them. They believed, he spoke the
king's sense, as the other did the duke's : this calmed them. So they made the king appre-
hend that the lord chancellor's speech, with which he had been so much offended, was really
a great service done him : and they persuaded him farther, that he might now save himself,
and obtain an indemnity for his ministers, if he would part with the declaration, and pass
the bill. This was so dexterously managed by lord Arlington, who got a great number of
the members to go one after another to the king, who by concert spoke all the same lan-
guage, that before night the king was quite changed, and said to his brother, that lord Clif-
ford had undone himself, and had spoiled their business by his mad speech ; and that,
though lord Shaftesbury had spoken like a rogue, yet that had stopped a fury which the
indiscretion of the other had kindled, to such a degree that he could serve him no longer.
He gave him leave to let him know all this. The duke was struck with this, and imputed
it wholly to lord Arlington's management. In the evening he told lord Clifford what the
king had said. The lord_Clifford, who was naturally a vehement man, went upon that to
the king, who scarce knew how to look him in the face. Lord Clifford said, he knew how
many enemies he must needs make to himself by his speech in the house of lords : but he
hoped that in it he both served and pleased the king, and was therefore the less concerned in
every thing else ; but he was surprised to find, by the duke, that the king was now of
another mind. The king was in some confusion : he owned that all he had said was right
it itself ; but he said, that he, who sat long in the house of commons, should have considered
better what they could bear, and what the necessity of his affairs required. Lord Clifford
in his first heat was inclined to have laid down his white staff, and to have expostulated
roundly with the king ; but a cooler thought stopped him. He reckoned he must now
retire, and therefore he had a mind to take some care of his family in the way of doing it ; so he
restrained himself, and said, he was sorry that his best meant services were so ill understood *.
* This disgrace, after a short pre-eminence of six to his native place, Ugbrook, in Devonshire. As a states-
months, hastened lord Clifford's death, though there does man \ve have seen he was a traitor to his country's liberties,
not seem any just reason for a rumour of the day that he and a sustainer of despotism ; but in private life he appears
fell by his own hand. Prince, in his " Worthies of to have been virtuous and amiable. Evelyn says he was
Devon,*' says he died of a calculous disease in September, " a valiant, uncorrupt gentleman ; ambitious, not covetous ;
1673. Evelyn was his intimate, and in his "Diary" generous, passionate, and a most sincere, constant friend.''
states many interesting particulars of his displaced friend. Prince bears a similar testimony ; he describes him as " a
At their parting, which proved to be the last, he says, gentleman of a proper manly body, of a large and noblo
" Lord Clifford wrung me by the hund, and said, 4 Good mind, of a sound head, and a stout heart." — Evelyn's Diary
bye; I shall never see thee more : do not expect it. I will by Bray ; Prince's Worthies of Devon ; Biographia Biitan-
aever see this place, this city, or court again.'" He retired nica, &c.
C32 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Soon after this, letters came from the French king, pressing the king to do all that was
necessary to procure money of his parliament, since he could not bear the charge of the wai
alone. He also wrote to the duke, and excused the advice he gave upon the necessity of
affairs ; but promised faithfully to espouse his concerns, as soon as he got out of the war,
and that he would never be easy, till he recovered that which he was now forced to let go.
Some parts of these transactions I had from the duke, and from duke Lauderdale ; the rest
that related to the lord Clifford, Titus told me he had from his own mouth.
As soon as lord Clifford saw he must lose the white staff, he went to the duke of Buck-
ingham, who had contributed much to the procuring it to him, and told him he brought
him the first notice that he was to lose that place to which he had helped him, and that he
would assist him to procure it to some of his friends. After they had talked round all that
were in any sort capable of it, and had found great objections to every one of them, they at
last pitched on sir Thomas Osborn, a gentleman of Yorkshire, whose estate was much sunk.
He was a very plausible speaker, but too copious, and could not easily make an end of his
discourse. He had been always among the high cavaliers, and missing preferment he had
opposed the court much, and was one of lord Clarendon's bitterest enemies. He gave him-
self great liberties in discourse, and did not seem to have any regard to truth, or so much as
to the appearances of it : and was an implacable enemy ; but he had a peculiar way to
make his friends depend on him, and to believe he was true to them. He was a positive
and undertaking man : so he gave the king great ease, by assuring him all things would go
according to his mind in the next session of parliament. And when his hopes failed him,
he had always some excuse ready to put the miscarriage upon. And by this means he got
into the highest degree «f confidence with the king, and maintained it the longest of all that
ever served him *.
The king now went into new measures. He called for the declaration, and ordered the
seal put to it to be broken. So the act for the taking the sacrament, and the test against
transubstantiation went on ; and together with it an act of grace passed, which was desired
chiefly to cover the ministry, who were all very obnoxious by their late actings. The court
desired at least 1,200,000^. ; for that sum was necessary to the carrying on the war. The
great body of those who opposed the court had resolved to give only 600,000^., which was
enough to procure a peace, but not to continue the war. Garroway and Lee had led the
opposition to the court all this session in the house of commons ; so they were thought the
properest to name the sum. Above eighty of the chief of the party had met over night, and
had agreed to name 600,000£. ; but Garroway named 1,200,000^., and was seconded in it by
Lee. So this surprise gained that great sum, which enabled the court to carry on the war.
When their party reproached these persons for it, they said they had tried some of the court
as to the sum intended to be named, who had assured them the whole agreement would be
broken, if they offered so small a sum ; and this made them venture on the double of it. They
had good rewards from the court ; and yet they continued still voting on the other side.
They said, they had got good pennyworths for their money : a sure law against popery,
which had clauses in it never used before ; for all that continued in office after the time
lapsed, they not taking the sacrament, and not renouncing transubstantiation (which came
to be called the, test, and the act from it the test act), were rendered incapable of holding any
office ; all the acts they did, in it were declared invalid and illegal, besides a fine of 500/. to
the discoverer. Yet upon that lord Cavendish, now duke of Devonshire, said, that when
much money was given to buy a law against popery, the force of the money would be
stronger in order to the bringing it in than the law could be for keeping it out. 1
never knew a thing of this nature carried so suddenly, and so artificially, in the house
of commons, as this was; to the great amazement of the Dutch, who relied on the
* He is more generally known, and will be noticed in In conversation, lie had the art to extract the opinions
future pages, as the earl of Danby, marquis Carmarthen, of others without discovering his own; and he was thus
and duke of Leeds. The earl of Dartmouth formed an enabled, much to his advantage, to undertake that such
estimate of this statesman's talents more favourable than persons should support measures, because he had ante-
Burnet's, saying of him, that he never knew any one that cedently possessed himself of their judgments respecting
expressed himself so clearly, or that seemed to carry his them. — Oxford ed. of this work,
point so much by the force of a superior understanding.
OF KING CHARLES II. 233
parliament, and did not doubt but that a peace with England would be procured by their
interposition.
Thus this memorable session ended. It was indeed much the best session of that long
parliament. The church party showed a noble zeal for their religion ; and the dissenters got
great reputation by their silent deportment. After the session was over, the duke carried
all his commissions to the king, and wept as he delivered them up ; but the king showed no
concern at all. Yet he put the admiralty in a commission composed wholly of the duke's
creatures : so that the power of the navy was still in his hands. Lord Clifford left the trea-
sury, and was succeeded by Osborn, who was soon after made earl of Danby. The earl of
Shaftesbury had lost the king's favour quite. But it was not thought fit to lay him aside,
till it should appear what service he could do them in another session of parliament. Lord
Arlington had lost the duke more than any other. He looked on him as a pitiful coward,
who would forsake and betray anything, rather than run any danger himself. Prince Rupert
was sent to command the fleet. But the captains \vere the duke's creatures ; so they crossed
him all they could, and complained of everything he did. In a word, they said he had
neither sense nor conduct left. Little could be expected from a fleet so commanded, and so
divided. He had two or three engagements with the Dutch, that were well fought on both
sides, but were of no great consequence, and were drawn battles. None of the French ships
engaged, except one, who charged their admiral for his ill-conduct ; but, instead of reward,
he was clapped in the Bastile, upon his return to France*. This opened the eyes and
mouths of the whole nation. All men cried out and said, we were engaged in a war by the
French, that they might have the pleasure to see the Dutch and us destroy one another,
while they knew our seas and ports, and learned all our methods, but took care to preserve
themselves. Count Schomberg told me he pressed the French ambassador to have the matter
examined. Otherwise, if satisfaction was not given to the nation, he was sure the next par-
liament would break the alliance. But by the ambassador's coldness, he saw the French
admiral had acted according to his instructions. So Schomberg made haste to get out of
England, to prevent an address to send him away ; and he was by that time as weary of the
court, as the court was of him.
The duke was now looking for another wife. He made addresses to the lady Bellasis, the
widow of the lord Bellasis' son. She was a zealous protestant, though she was married into
a popish family. She was a woman of much life and great vivacity, but of a very small
proportion of beauty ; as the Duke was often observed to be led, by his amours, to objects
that had no extraordinary charms. Lady Bellasis gained so much on the duke, that he gave
her a promise under his hand to marry her. And he sent Coleman to her to draw her over to
popery ; but in that she could not be moved. "When some of her friends reproached her for
admitting the duke so freely to see her, she could not bear it, but said that she could show
that his addresses to her were honourable. "When this came to the lord Bellasis' ears, who
was her father-in-law, and was a zealous papist, and knew how intractable the lady was in
those matters, he gave the whole design of bringing in their religion for gone, if that was
not quickly broken ; so he, pretending a zeal for the king, and the duke's honour, went and
told the king all he had heard. The king sent for the duke, and told him, it was too much
that he had played the fool once : that was not to be done a second time, and at such an
nge. The lady was also so threatened, that she gave up the promise, but kept an attested
copy of it, as she herself told mef . There was an archduchess of Innspruck, to whom mar-
riage was solemnly proposed ; but, the empress happening to die at that time, the emperor
1 timself married her. After that a match was proposed to the duke of Modena's daughter,
which took effect. But because those at Rome were not willing to consent to it, unless she
might have a public chapel, which the court would not hearken to, another marriage was
roposed for a daughter of the duke of Crequi's. I saw a long letter of the duke's written
o sir William Lockhart, upon this subject, with great anxiety. He apprehended if he was
This was the French rear-admiral Martel. He not f Dean Swift mentions, in one of his letters to Mrs
"•ing in the secret of his court, fought in earnest in the Dingley, that lady Bellasis died in the reign of queen
•lion of the llth of August; and his narrative of the Anne, and that one of her executors, lord Berkley of
' little was suppressed. — Campbell's Admirals. Stratton, benefited 10,000/. by her death.
20-4
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
not married before the session of parliament, that they would fall on that matter, and limit
him so, that he should never be able to marry to his content ; he was vexed at the stiffness
of the court of Rome, who were demanding terms that could not be granted ; he had sent a
positive order to the earl of Peterborough, who was negotiating the business at Modena, to
come away by such a day, if all was not consented to. In the meanwhile he hoped the
king of France would not put that mortification on him, as to expose him to the violence of
the parliament (I use his own words) ; but that he would give order for dispatching that
matter with all possible haste. But while he was thus perplexed the court of Rome yielded,
and so the duke married that lady by proxy ; and the earl of Peterborough brought her over
through France*.
The Swedes offered at this time a mediation in order to a peace, and Cologne was pro-
posed to be the place of treaty. The king ordered the earl of Sunderland, sir Leolin Jen-
kins t, and sir Joseph Williamson { thither, to be his plenipotentiaries. Lord Sunderland
was a man of a clear and ready apprehension, and a 'quick decision in business. He had too
much heat both of imagination and passion, and was apt to speak very freely both of persons
and things. His own notions were always good; but he was a man of great expense.
And, in order to the supporting himself, he went into the prevailing counsels at court ; and
he changed sides often, with little regard either to religion or the interest of his country.
He raised many enemies to himself by the contempt with which he treated those who differed
from him. He had indeed a superior genius to all the men of business that I have yet
known. And he had the dexterity of insinuating himself so entirely into the greatest degree
* This princess was Mary Beatrix Eleanor D'Este,
daughter of the duke of Modena. Louis the Fourteenth
adopted her, and, it is said, gave hei a portion suitable to
her rank when she married the duke of York. But this
was denied by secretary Coventry, who said she had
400,000 crowns from her father. — Gray's Debates, ii.
190. She died at St. Germains, in April, 1718. She
will be frequently noticed as the queen of James the
Second.
t Sir Leolin Jenkins is said to have been the son of a
Glamorganshire tailor ; at all events, his father was in
humble circumstances, and the son was indebted for his
education to a distant relative, the intrepid Judge David
Jenkins, who told the parliament, in 1640, they were "a
den of thieves," and if they executed him for high-treason
he would mount the scaffold with the bible under one .
arm and Magna Charta under the other. Driven from
Oxford by the civil disturbances during the reign of the
first Charles, he acted as tutor to the sous of sir John
Aubrey and others, travelled on the continent with his
pupils, and thus profitably employed his time until the
Restoration. He then was ckosen a fellow of his col-
lege, Jesus, at Oxford, and soon after became its princi-
pal. He had made the civil law his particular study, and
consequently was capable of filling the offices of judge of
the admiralty and prerogative courts, to which he was pre-
ferred before the year 1668. In the year following, he
was sent by Charles the Second to the French court, to
claim the jewels of the queen-mother of England, then
lately deceased there. Upon his return he was knighted.
Upon his appointment to be a plenipotentiary, as men-
tioned in the text, he resigned the principality of his col-
lege. His other state employments will be mentioned in
future pages. Upon his final retirement from secular em-
ployments, in 1684, he retired to Hammersmith, and died
there the year following, aged sixty-two. — (Wood's Fasti,
132, fol. Life prefixed to his Letters and State Papers).
From the statements of sir W. Temple it would appear
that he very much mistrusted his own judgment, so that
he was not very well qualified for an ambassador ; and as
he once affirmed, in his place as a senator, that *' the king
might raise money without an act of Parliament," it is still
more certain that he did not understand 'he nature of our
government, or else he sold his conscience to increase his
influence with a despotic-minded king. Aubrey (MS. in
the Ashmolean Museum) relates, that sir Lionel preserved
e leather breeches he wore at Oxford, as a memorial of
his good fortune. This shows he had dignity of mind.
1 Sir Joseph Williamson was the son of a vicar of Bride-
kirk, in Cumberland; He was born about the year 1620.
A pupil of the philosopher Locke, and initiated in politics
as secretary under sir Edward Nicholas and the earl of
Arlington, it is not surprising that his great natural talents
rendered him one of the most able statesmen of his period.
It was. his abilities alone that brought him iuto notice,
and caused him more than once to be elected a represen-
tative at the same time for Rochester and Thetford. His
first appearance in parliament seems to have been during
that which began in 1661. He was made clerk of the
council and knighted in 1 671. Some of his other political
employments will be noticed in future pages. In 1674, he
was made one of the secretaries of state, giving the earl
of Arlington, his predecessor, 6000/. for the appointment
(Temple's Memoirs) ; and in that capacity, four years
afterwards, he so much incurred the resentment of the
house of commons, that it committed him to the Tower.
Charles, the same day, sent to the members of the house,
and told them, "Though you have committed my servant
without acquainting me, yet T intend to deal more freely
with you, and . acquaint you with my intention to release
him ;" which he did before they could draw up an op-
posing address. Sir Joseph devoted his leisure to litera-
ture and science. He was president of the Royal Society,
and at his death, as he had in his life, he studied to pro-
mote the improvement of knowledge. He bequeathed a
valuable collection of manuscripts and 60007. to Queen's
College, Oxford, where he had graduated ; founded a
mathematical school at Rochester; and left other muni-
ficent legacies. He married the sister and heiress of the
duke of Richmond, which lady had a daughter by a former
marriage with a son of the marquis of Thomond. This
daughter eloped with the son of Henry, the second earl of
Clarendon See Clarendon Correspondence, ii. 180, &c. ;
AVood's Fasti Oxon. ii. 197. fol. ; Noble's Continuation
of Grainger ; Gen. Biograph. Diet., &c.
OF KING CHARLES II. 235
of confidence with three succeeding princes, who set up on very different interests, that he
came by this to lose himself so much, that even those who esteemed his parts depended little
on his firmness *.
The treaty of Cologne was of a short continuance ; for the emperor, looking on Fursten-
berg, the dean of Cologne, and bishop of Strasburgh, afterwards advanced to be cardinal, who
was the elector's plenipotentiary at that treaty, as a subject of the empire, who had be-
trayed it, ordered him to be seized on. The French looked on this as such a violation of
the passports, that they set it up for a preliminary, before they would enter upon a treaty,
to have him set at liberty.
Maestricht was taken this summer ; in which the duke of Monmouth distinguished him-
self so eminently, that he was much considered upon it. The king of France was there.
After the taking of Maestricht he went to Nancy in Lorraine, and left the prince of Conde
with the army in Flanders, Turenne having the command of that on the upper Rhine against
the Germans ; for the emperor and the whole empire were now engaged.
But I return now to the intrigues of our court. I came up this summer, in order to the
publishing the " Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton." I had left Scotland under an uni-
versal discontent. The whole administration there was both violent and corrupt, and seemed
to be formed on a French model. The parliament had in the year 1663, in order to the
bringing our trade to a balance with England, given the king in trust a power to lay impo-
sitions on foreign commodities. So upon that a great duty was lately laid upon French
salt, in order to the better vending the salt made at home : upon which it was sold very
dear. And that raised great complaints ; for, as the salt was excessively dear, so it did not
serve all purposes. All people looked on this as the beginning of a gabel. An imposition
was also laid on tobacco ; and all brandy was prohibited to be imported, but not to be
retailed ; so those who had the grant of the seizures sold them, and raised the price very
much. These occasioned monopolies : and the price of those things that were of great con-
sumption among the commons was much raised ; so that a tmst lodged with the crown was
now abused in the highest degree. As these things provoked the body of the people, so
duke Lauderdale's insolence, and his engrossing everything to himself and to a few of his
friends, and his wife and his brother setting all things to sale, raised a very high discontent
all over the nation. The affairs of the church were altogether neglected ; so that in all
respects we were quite out of joint.
I went up with a full resolution to do my country all the service I could, and to deal very
plainly with the duke of Lauderdale, resolving, if I could do no good, to retire from all
affairs, and to meddle no more in public business. I lost indeed my best friend at court.
Sir Robert Murray died suddenly at that time. He was the wisest and worthiest man of
the age, and was as another father to me. I was sensible how much I lost in so critical a
conjuncture, being bereft of the truest and faithfullest friend I had ever known : and so I
saw, I was in danger of committing great errors, for want of so kind a monitor.
* Robert Spencer h:id for his father Henry, first earl of signed them in general without reading them, or asking
underland, who died in the king's cause at Newbury what were their contents — (Earl of Dartmouth, in Oxford
:ght, and his mother was the celebrated Dorothy Sidney, ed. of this work). The chief events of his political life
dest daughter of the earl of Leicester, go generally known will be noticed in following pages, and they suggest to us
s " Saccharissa," in the poems of Waller. He inherited the conclusion, that a minister who could allow himself to
ic talents and beauty of his parents : but his father's be the supporter of such totally opposite measures and
mstancy, even to death, for what he considered the light, principles as those which characterised the governments of
d not descend to the son. A contemporary authority Charles the Second, James the Second, and William the
presents him as singularly unqualified for, and negligent Third, must have been sufficiently pliant never to let his
f, public business ; stating that he was remarkable for own virtue and opinions stand in the way of his interest.
'.:ver speaking in public, nor even in the cabinet, more The Clarendon correspondence shows him acting traitor-
uin saying he was of that lord's opinion, or, he wondered ously and selfishly in the extreme. It appears he with-
>w any one could entertain such an opinion. When he held a letter that might have saved Monmouth from the
as secretary, which office he filled a few years subse- scaffold ; changed his profession of religion to establish
' ently, Mr. Bridgeman always attended to take the himself with James ; and continued to hold office whilst
nnutes for him ; and when president, the lord-chancellor he corresponded with him who came and dethroned him.
ivariably acted at the council in his stead. He never When finally disgraced, he retired to his seat at* Althorp,
•i'nt to the secretary's office ; but the papers were carried and died there generally despised, in 1702. — Park's Royal
o his house, where he was usually found at cards, and he and Noble Authors.
£30 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
At my coming to court, duke Lauderdale took me into his closet, and asked me the state
of Scotland. I, upon that, gave him a very punctual and true account of it. He seemed to
think that I aggravated matters ; and asked me, if the king should need an army from Scot-
land to tame those in England, whether that might be depended on ? I told him certainly
not : the commons in the southern parts were all presbyterians ; and the nobility thought
they had been ill-used, and were generally discontented, and only waited for an occasion to
show it. He said he was of another mind : the hope of the spoil of England would fetch
them all in I answered, the king was ruined if ever he trusted to that ; and I added, that
with relation to other more indifferent persons, who might be otherwise ready enough to
push their fortunes, without any anxious enquiries into the grounds they went on ; yet even
these would not trust the king, since he had so lately said he would stick to his declaration,
and yet had so soon after given it up. He said, Hinc illce lacrymce ; but the king was
forsaken in that matter, for none stuck to him but lord Clifford and himself; and then he
set himself into a fit of railing at lord Shaftesbury. I was struck with this conversation,
and by it I clearly saw into the desperate designs of the court, which were as foolish as they
were wicked ; for I knew that, upon the least disorder in England, they were ready in Scot-
land to have broken out into a rebellion : so far were they from any inclination to have
assisted the king in the mastering of England. I was much perplexed in myself what I
ought to do, whether I ought not to have tried to give the king a truer view of our affairs ;
but I resolved to stay for a fit opportunity. I tried the duchess of Lauderdale, and set
before her the injustice arid oppression that Scotland was groaning under ; but I saw she
got too much by it to be any way concerned at it. They talked of going down to hold a
session of parliament in Scotland : I warned them of their danger ; but they despised all I
could say. Only great offers were made to myself to make me wholly theirs, which made
no impression on me.
He carried me to the king, and proposed the licensing my " Memoirs " to him. The
king bid me bring them to him, and said he would read them himself. He did read some
parts of them, particularly the account I gave of the ill-conduct of the bishops, that occa-
sioned the beginning of the wars ; and told me that he was well pleased with it. He was
at that time so much offended with the English bishops for opposing the toleration, that he
seemed much sharpened against them. He gave me back my book to carry it to secretary
Coventry, in order to the licensing it. The secretary said, he would read it all himself; so
this obliged me to a longer stay than I intended. Sir Ellis Leighton carried me to the
duke of Buckingham, with whom I passed almost a whole night, and happened so far to
please him that he, who was apt to be fired with a new acquaintance, gave such a character
of me to the king, that ever after that he took much notice of me, and said he would hear
me preach. He seemed well pleased with my sermon ; and spoke of it in a strain that drew
much envy on me.
He ordered me to be sworn a chaplain, and admitted me to a long private audience, that
lasted above an hour, in which I took all the freedom with him, that I thought became my
profession. He run me into a long discourse about the authority of the church, which he
thought we made much of in our disputes with the dissenters, and then took it all away
when we dealt with the papists. I saw plainly what he aimed at in this, and I quickly
convinced him that there was a great difference between an authority of government in
things indifferent, and a pretence to infallibility. He complained heavily of the bishops for
neglecting the true concerns of the church, and following courts so much, and being so
engaged in parties. I went through some other things with relation to his course of life,
and entered into many particulars with much freedom. He bore it all very well, and
thanked me for it ; some things he freely condemned, such as living with another man's
wife ; other things he excused, and thought " God would not damn a man for a little irregu-
lar pleasure/' He seemed to take all I had said very kindly ; and during my stay at
court he used me in so particular a manner, that I was considered as a man growing into a
high degree of favour.
At the same time lord Anoram, a Scotch earl, but of a small fortune, and of no principles,
either as to religion or virtue, whose wife was a papist, and himself a member of the house
OF KING CHARLES II 237
of commons, told the duke that I had a great interest in Scotland, and might do him service
in that kingdom. He depended on duke Lauderdale, but hated him, because he did nothing
for him. We were acquainted there ; and he having studied the most divinity of any man
of quality I ever knew, we found many subjects of discourse. He saw I did not flatter
duke Lauderdale, and he fancied he might make a tool of me. So he seemed to wonder
that I ha,d not been carried to wait on the duke (of York), and brought me a message from
him, that he would be glad to see me ; and upon that he carried me to him. The duke
received me very graciously. Lord Ancram had a mind to engage me to give him an
account of the affairs of Scotland ; but I avoided that, and very bluntly entered into much
discourse with him about matters of religion. He said some of the common things, of the
necessity of having but one church, otherwise we saw what swarms of sects did rise up on
our revolt from Rome, and these had raised many rebellions and the shedding much blood ;
and he named both his father's death, and his great-grandmother's, Mary, queen of Scots. He
also turned to some passages in Heylin's History of the Reformation, which he had lying by
him ; and the passages were marked, to show upon what motives and principles men were
led into the changes that were then made. I enlarged upon all these particulars, and
showed him the progress that ignorance and superstition had^nade in many dark ages, and
how much bloodshed was occasioned by the papal pretensions ; for all which the opinion of
infallibility was a source never to be exhausted. And I spoke long to such things as were
best suited to his temper and his capacity. I saw lord Ancram helped him all he could, by
which I perceived how he made his court ; for which, when I reproached him afterwards,
he said it was ill-breeding in me to press so hard on a prince. The duke, upon this conver-
sation, expressed such a liking to me, that he ordered me to come oft to him ; and afterwards
he allowed rne to come to him in a private way, as oft as I pleased. He desired to know
the state of affairs in Scotland. I told him how little that kingdom could be depended on.
I turned the discourse often to matters of religion. He broke it very gently ; for he was
not at all rough in private conversation. He wished I would let those matters alone ; I
might be too hard for him and silence him, but I could never convince him. I told him it
was a thing he could never answer to God, nor the world, that, being born and baptised in
our church, and having his father's last orders to continue stedfast in it, he had suffered
himself to be seduced, and as it were stolen out of it, hearing only one side, without offering
his scruples to our divines, or hearing what they had to say in answer to them ; and that
he was now so fixed in his popery, that he would not so much as examine the matter. He
said to me, he had often picqueered out (that was his word) on Sheldon, and some other
bishops ; by whose answers he could not but conclude, that they were much nearer the
church of Rome than some of us young men were.
Stillingfleet had a little before this time published a book of the idolatry and fanaticism
of the church of Rome. Upon that the duke said, he asked Sheldon if it was the doctrine
of the church of England, that Roman catholics were idolaters : who answered him, it
was not ; but that young men of parts would be popular, and such a charge was the way
to it. He at that time shewed me the duchess's paper, that has been since printed ; it was
all written with her own hand. He gave me leave to read it twice over, but would not
suffer me to copy it. And upon the mention made in it of her having spoken to the bishops
concerning some of her scruples, and that she had such answers from them as confirmed and
heightened them, I went from him to Morley, as was said formerly, and had from him the
answer there set down. I asked the duke's leave to bring doctor Stillingfleet to him. He
was averse to it ; and said, it would make much noise, and could do no good. I told him,
even the noise would have a good effect ; it would shew he was not so obstinate, but that he
was willing to hear our divines. I pressed it much, for it became necessary to me, on my
own account, to clear myself from the suspicion of popery, which this extraordinary favour
had drawn upon me. I at last prevailed with the duke to consent to it : and he assigned
an hour of audience. Stillingfleet went very readily, though he had no hopes of success.
We were about two hours with him, and went over most of the points of controversy.
Stillingfleet thought, the point that would go the easiest, and be the best understood by him,
was the papal pretensions to a power over princes, in deposing them, and giving their domi-
238 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
nions to others : and upon that he shewed him, that popery was calculated to make the
pope the sovereign of all Christendom. The duke shifted the discourse from one point to
another ; and did not seem to believe the matters of fact and history alleged by us. So we
desired he would call for some priests, and hear us discourse of those matters with them in
his presence. He declined this ; and said, it would make a noise. He assured us, he desired
nothing but to follow his own conscience, whieh he imposed on nobody else, and that he
would never attempt to alter the established religion. He loved to repeat this often ; but
when I was alone with him, I warned him of the great difficulties his religion was likely to
cast him into. This was no good argument to make him change ; but it was certainly a
very good argument to make him consider the matter so well, that he might be sure he was
in the right. He objected to me the doctrine of the church of England in the point of sub-
mission, and of passive obedience. I told him, there was no trusting to a disputable opinion :
there were also distinctions and reserves, even in those who had asserted these points the
most ; and it was very certain, that when men saw a visible danger of being first undone,
and then burnt, they would be inclined to the shortest way of arguing, and to save them-
selves the best way they could ; interest and self-preservation were powerful motives. He
did very often assure me, he was against all violent methods, and all persecution for con-
science sake, and was better furnished to speak well on that head, than on any other. I
told him, all he could say that way would do him little service ; for the words of princes
were looked on as arts to lay men asleep : and they had generally regarded them so little
themselves, that they ought not to expect that others should have great regard to them. I
added, he was now of a religion in which others had the keeping of his conscience, who
would now hide from him this point of their religion, since it was not safe to own it, till
they had it in their power to put it in practice : and whenever that time should come, I was
sure that the principles of their church must carry him to all the extremities of extirpation
I carried a volume of judge Crook's to him, in which it is reported, that king James had once in
council complained of a slander cast on him, as if he was inclined to change his religion ; and
had solemnly vindicated himself from the imputation ; and prayed, that if any should ever
spring out of his loins that should maintain any other religion than that which he truly main-
tained and professed, that God would take him out of the world. He read it ; but it made no
impression : and when I urged him with some things in his father's book, he gave me the
account of it that was formerly mentioned. He entered into great freedom with me about all
his affairs ; and he shewed me the journals he took of business every day with his own hand ; a
method, he said, that the earl of Clarendon had set him on. The duchess had begun to write his
life. He shewed me a part of it in a thin volume in folio. I read some of it, and found it
written with a great deal of spirit *. He told me, he intended to trust me with his journals,
that I might draw a history out of them : and thus, in a few weeks' time, I had got far into his
confidence. He did also allow me to speak to him of the irregularities of his life, some of
which he very freely confessed : and when I urged him, how such a course of life did agree
with the zeal he shewed in his religion, he answered, " must a man be of no religion unless he
is a saint ? " Yet he bore my freedom very gently, and seemed to like me the better for it. My
favour with him grew to be the observation of the whole court. Lord Ancram said, " I might
be wiiat I pleased, if I would be a little softer in the points of religion." Sir Ellis Leighton
brought me a message from F. Sheldon, and some of his priests, assuring me, they heard so
well of me, that they offered me their service. He pressed me to improve my present
advantages to the making my fortune : the see of Durham was then vacant ; and he was
confident it would be no hard matter for me to compass it. But I had none of those views,
and so was not moved by them. The duke of Buckingham asked me, what I meant in
being so much about the duke ? If I fancied I could change him in point of religion, I
knew him and the world very little : if I had a mind to raise myself, a sure method for that
* These papers, beyond a doubt, afforded materials to affairs at this period. In the introduction to Fox's '* His-
the P6re d'Orl&ins, in his work relating to James the tory of James the Second," and in the " Memoirs of Sir
Second. Many of the Stuart papers, and the despatches J. Mackintosh," there are some very interesting particu-
of Barillon, preserved in the Depot des Affaires Etrang£rcs lars of the dispersion, and supposed destruction of the chief
at Paris, contain much information relative to our national of the Stuart papers.
OF KlrvG CHARLES II. 239
was, to talk to him of the reformation, as a thing done in heat and haste, and that in a
calmer time it might be fit to review it all. He said, I needed go no farther ; for such an
intimation would certainly raise me : and when I was positive not to enter into such a com-
pliance, he told me, he knew courts better than I did : princes thought their favours were no
ordinary things ; they expected great submissions in return, otherwise they thought they
were despised : and I would feel the ill effects of the favour I then had, if I did not strike
into some compliances : and, since I was resolved against these, he advised me to withdraw
from the court, the sooner the better. I imputed this to his hatred of the duke ; but I found
afterwards the advice was sound and good. I likewise saw those things in the duke's
temper, from which I concluded, I could not maintain an interest in him long. He was for
subjects submitting in all things to the king's notions ; and thought, that all who opposed
him, or his ministers in parliament, were rebels in their hearts ; and he hated all popular
things, as below the dignity of a king. He was much sharpened at that time by the pro-
ceedings of the house of commons.
In the former session it was known that he was treating a marriage with the archduchess,
and yet no address was made to the king to hinder his marrying a papist : his honour was
not then engaged ; so it had been seasonable, and to good purpose, to have moved in it then :
but now he was married by proxy, and lord Peterborough had brought the lady to Paris.
Yet the house of commons resolved to follow the pattern the king of France had lately set.
He treated with the elector Palatine for a marriage between his brother and the elector's
daughter ; in which one of the conditions agreed to was, that she should enjoy the freedom
of her religion, and have a private oratory for the exercise of it. When she came on her
way as far as Metz, an order was sent to stop her, till she was better instructed : upon
which she changed, at least as to outward appearance. It is true, the court of France gave
it out that the elector had consented to this method, for the saving his own honour ; and he
had given the world cause to believe he was capable of that, though he continued openly to
deny it. The house of commons resolved to follow this precedent, and to make an address
to the king, to stop the princess of Modena's coming to England till she should change her
religion. Upon this the duke moved the king to prorogue the parliament for a week : and
a commission was ordered for it. The duke went to the house on that day to press the
calling up the commons, before they could have time to go on to business. Some peers were
to be brought in. The duke pressed lord Shaftesbury to put that off, and to prorogue the
)arliament. He said coldly to him, there was no haste ; but the commons made more haste,
or they quickly came to a vote for stopping the marriage ; and by this means they were
engaged, (having put such an affront on the duke) to proceed farther. He presently told
me how the matter went, and how the lord chancellor had used him ; he was confident the
ling would take the seals from him, if he could not manage the sessions so as to procure him
money, of which there was indeed small appearance. I told him, I looked on that as a fatal
thing, if the commons began once to affront him ; that would have a sad train of conse-
quences, as soon as they thought it necessary for their own preservation, to secure themselves
"rom falling under his revenges. He said, he was resolved to stand his ground, and to sub-
mit to the king in every thing : he would never take off an enemy ; but he would let all the
world see, that he was ready to forgive every one that should come off from his opposition,
md make applications to him. When the week of the prorogation was ended, the session
was opened by a speech of the king's, which had such various strains in it, that it was plain
't was made by different persons. The duke told me that lord Clarendon, during his favour,
lad penned all the king's speeches ; but that now they were composed in the cabinet, one
minister putting in one period, while another made another ; so that all was not of a piece.
He told me lord Arlington was almost dead with fear ; but lord Shaftesbury reckoned him-
lf gone at court, and acted more roundly. In his speech he studied to correct his Delenda
Carthago *, applying it to the Lovestein party f , whom he called the Carthaginians : but
this made him as ridiculous as the other had made him odious. The house of commons took
up again the matter of the duke's marriage, and moved for an address about it. But it was
* A quotation he had made use of when speaking of holder, and so called from Lovestein Castle, in which the
<ur war with Holland. See p. 229. old prince of Orange had imprisoned some of the Scales
f This was a party iu Holland against having a stadt- who opposed him.
240 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
said, the king's honour was engaged : yet they addressed to him against it ; but the king
made them no answer *. By that time I had obtained a licence of secretary Coventry for
my book, which the king said should be printed at his charge.
But now I must give an account of a storm raised against myself, the effects of which
were very sensible to me for many years. The duke of Lauderdale had kept the Scotch
nation in such a dependence on himself, that he was not pleased with any of them that made
an acquaintance in England, and least of all in the court : nor could he endure that any of
them should apply themselves to the king or the duke, but through him. So he looked on
the favour I had got into with a very jealous eye. His duchess questioned me about it.
Those who know what court jealousies are will easily believe that I must have said some-
what to satisfy them, or break with them. I told her what was very true as to the duke,
that my conversation with him was about religion ; and that with the king I had talked of
the course of life he led. I observed a deep jealousy of me in them both, especially, because
I could not go with them to Scotland. I said I would follow as soon as the secretary would
dispatch me. And as soon as that was done I took post, and by a great fall of snow was
stopped by the way ; but I unhappily got to Edinburgh the night before the parliament met.
Duke Hamilton, and many others, told me how strangely duke Lauderdale talked of my
interest at court, as if I was ready to turn papist. Duke Hamilton also told me they were
resolved next day to attack duke Lauderdale, and his whole administration in parliament.
I was troubled at this, and argued with him against the fitness of it all I could : but he
said he was engaged. The earls of Rothes, Argyle, and Tweedale, and all the cavalier party,
had promised to stick by him. I told him, what afterwards happened, that most of these
would make their own terms, and leave him in the lurch ; and the load would lie on him.
"When I saw the thing was past remedy, I resolved to go home, and follow my studies, since
I could not keep duke Lauderdale and him any longer in a good understanding.
Next day, when the parliament was opened, the king's letter was read, desiring their
assistance in carrying on the war with Holland, and assuring them of his affection to them
in very kind words. This was seconded by duke Lauderdale in a long speech : and imme-
diately it was moved to appoint a committee to prepare an answer to the king's letter, as
was usual. Duke Hamilton moved, that the state of the nation might be first considered,
that so they might see what grievances they had : and he hinted at some. And then, as it
had been laid, about twenty men, one after anothej, spoke to several particulars. Some
mentioned the salt, others the tobacco, and the brandy : some complained of the administration
of justice, and others of the coin. With this the duke of Lauderdale was struck, as one
dead ; for he had raised his credit at court by the opinion of his having all Scotland in his
hand, and in a dependence on him : so a discovery of this want of credit with us he saw
must sink him there. He had not looked for this, though I had warned him of a great deal
of it : but he reflecting on that, and on the credit I had got at court, and on the haste I
made in my journey, and my coming critically the night before the session opened ; he laid
all this together, and fancied I was sent on design, as the agent of the party, and that the
licensing my book was only a blind : he believed sir Robert Murray had laid it, and that the
earl of Shaftesbury had managed it ; and because it was a common artifice of king Charles's
ministers to put the miscarriage of affairs upon some accident, that had not been foreseen by
them, but should be provided against for the future, he assured the king that I had been the
incendiary, that I had my uncle's temper in me, and that I must be subdued, otherwise I
would embroil all his affairs. The king took all things of that kind easily from his minis-
ters, without hearing any thing to the contrary ; for he was wont to say, all apologies were
lies : upon which one said to him once, then he would always believe the first lie. But all
this was much increased, when duke Lauderdale upon his coming up told the king, that I
had boasted to his wife of the freedom that I had used with him, upon his course of life.
"With this the king was highly offended, or at least he made much use of it, to justify many
hard things that he said of me ; and for many years he allowed himself a very free scope in
* The second address to the king against this marriage every measure that tended to strengthen the Roman
of the duke of York, was voted by a majority of one catholic interest. The debate, which was long and ani-
hundrtd and eighty-four against eighty-eight; affording mated, and the address voted, are given in Gray's Debates,
decisive evidence of the strong and general feeling against ii i30. 214.
OF KING CHARLES II. 241
talking of me. I was certainly to blame for the freedom I had used with the duchoss of
Lauderdale ; but I was surprised by her question, and I could not bring myself to tell a lie.
So I had no other shift ready to satisfy her. But the duke (of York) kept up still a very
good opinion of me. I went home to Glasgow, where I prosecuted my studies till the June
following, when I went again to London.
Duke Lauderdale put off the session of parliament for some time, and called a council, in
which he said great complaints had been made in parliament of grievances : he had full
authority to redress them all in the king's name ; therefore he charged the privy councillors
to lay all things of that kind before that board, and not to carry them before any other
assembly till they saw what redress was to be had there. Duke Hamilton said, the regular
way of complaints was to make them in parliament, which only could redress them effec-
tually ; since the putting them down by the authority of council was only laying them aside
for a while, till a fitter opportunity was found to take them up again. Upon this duke
Lauderdale protested that he was ready in the king's name to give the subject ease and
freedom, and that those who would not assist and concur with him in this, were wanting in
duty and respect to the king ; and since he saw the matter of the salt, the tobacco, and the
brandy, had raised much clamour, he would quash these. But the party had a mind to
have the instruments of their oppression punished, as well as the oppression itself removed,
and were resolved to have these things condemned by some exemplary punishments, and to
pursue duke Lauderdale and his party with this clamour.
Next session of parliament new complaints were offered. Duke Lauderdale said, these
ought to be made first to the lords of the articles, to whom all petitions and motions ought
to be made first ; and that they were the only judges, what matters were fit to be brought
into parliament. The other side said, they were only a committee of parliament, to put
motions into the form of acts, but that the parliament had still an entire authority to
examine into the state of the nation. In this debate they had the reason of things on their
side ; but the words of the act favoured duke Lauderdale. So he lodged it now where he
wished it might be, in a point of prerogative. He valued himself to the king on this, that
he had drawn the act that settled the power of the lords of the articles ; who being all upon
the matter named by the king, it was of great concern to him to maintain that, as the check
upon factious spirits there ; which would be no sooner let go, than the parliament of Scot'
land would grow as unquiet, as a house of commons was in England ; that was a consideration
which at this time had great weight with the king. I now return to give an account of this
year's session in England.
In the beginning of it, the duke of Ormond, the earls of Shaftesbury and Arlington, and
secretary Coventry, offered an advice to the king, for sending the duke for some time from
the court, as a good expedient both for himself and the duke. The king hearkened so far to
it, that he sent them to move it to the duke. He was highly incensed at it : he said he
would obey all the king's orders, but would look on those as his enemies, who offered him
such advices. And he never forgave this to any of them ; no, not to Coventry, for all his
*ood opinion of him. He pressed the king vehemently to take the seals from the earl of
Shaftesbury. So it was done : and they were given to Finch, then attorney-general, made
afterwards earl of Nottingham *. He was a man of probity, and well versed in the laws.
* There is reason to believe that the earl of Shaftes- integrity; but at the same time it is always just to believe
>ury, in promoting the alliance with France and sanction- a man honest until he is proved to be a knave. The earl
ng the declaration for toleration, had for his object the unquestionably was prone to be too energetic in the sup.
n-eaking down that spirit of bigotry which was then so port he gave to the policy he advocated. There was no
irevalent ; but he found public opinion was too strong necessity to destroy the power of Holland, as he seemed to
o be successfully opposed by individual talent; probably imply in his quotation — Delenda est Carthago — neither
till more was he influenced to change his measures, was there now any immediate necessity to intrigue with
•y observing that public opinion was right in considering the prince of Orange to support the protestaut interest
hat the king and the duke would not be content with against the designs of the king and the duke of York,
toleration for the Roman catholic religion, but aimed at Sir William Temple suspects he did — Temple's Works,
icquiring for it the ascendancy. He therefore directed his i. 394. fol. At all events, his proposition for the exile of
energies to prevent this greater evil ; and in doing so, had the duke of York was suggested by a desire to support the
x> oppose measures which he had originally supported, established church party ; and, as stated above, it lost him
This must justify a suspicion of a man's consistency and the chancellorship. Echard tfc -8 relates the circumsumces.
R
942 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
lie was long much admired for Ins eloquence, but it was laboured and affected ; and he saw
it as much despised before he died. He had no sort of knowledge in foreign affairs ; and yet
he loved to talk of them perpetually ; by which he exposed himself to those who understood
them. lie thought he was bound to justify the court in all debates in the house of lords,
which he did with the vehemence of a pleader, rather than with the solemnity of a senator.
He was an incorrupt judge, and in his court he could resist the strongest applications, even
from the king himself, though he did it no where else. He was too eloquent on the bench,
in the house of lords, and in common conversation. One thing deserves to be remembered of
him : he took great care of filling the church livings that belonged to the seal with worthy
men ; and he obliged them all to residence *. Lord Shaftesbury was now at liberty to open
himself against the court, which he did with as little reserve as decency.
The house of commons were resolved to fall on all the ministry. They began with duke
Laudcrdale, and voted an address to remove him from the king's councils and presence for
ever. They went next upon the duke of Buckingham ; and, it being moved in his name,
that the house would hear him, he was suffered to come to the house. The first day of his
being before them he fell into such a disorder, that he pretended he was taken ill, and desired
to be admitted again. Next day he was more composed. He justified his own designs,
laying all the ill counsels upon others, chiefly on lord Arlington ; intimating plainly that the
root of all errors wras in the king and the duke. He said hunting wras a good diversion, but
if a man would hunt with a brace of lobsters, he would have but -ill sport. He had used
that figure to myself, but had then applied it to prince Rupert and lord Arlington : but it
was now understood to go higher. His speech signified nothing towards the saving of him-
self; but it lost him the king's favour so entirely, that he never recovered it afterwards.
Lord Arlington was next attacked ; he appeared also before the commons, and spoke much
better than was expected ; he excused himself, but without blaming the king : and this had so
good an effect, that though he, as secretary of state, was more exposed than any other, by the
many warrants and orders lie had signed, yet he was acquitted, though by a small majority.
The carl was sent for to court on a Sunday morning, as when he was created a doctor of civil law, to give him a
was sir Hcneagc Finch, the attorney-general, to whom the gentle rebuke, by saying, " the university wished they had
seals were promised. As soon as the carl came he retired more colleges, and more chambers in which to entertain
with the king into the closet, while the prevailing party their guests, but by no means any more chimneys." In
waited in triumph to see him retire without the purse. 1670, lie became attorney-geneial and lord keeper, as
His lordship being alone with the king, said, " Sir, I know mentioned above, in November, 1673. Shortly after he
you intend to give the seals to the attorney-general, but was created lord Daventry, and in December, 1675, the
I am sure your majesty never intended to dismiss me with higher official title of lord high chancellor was conferred
contempt." The king, who could not do an ill-natured upon him. -'In 1681, he was advanced in the peerage to
thing, replied, " God's fish, my lord,* I will not do it the title of carl of Nottingham, but he did not long
with any circumstances that may look like an affront." — enjoy this honour, for he died the year following. As a
14 Then, Sir," said the earl, *'* I desire your majesty will statesman, though inclining too much to the enlargement
permit me to carry the seals before you to chapel, and of the crown's prerogative, yet he conducted himself with
send for them afterwards from my house." To this the such moderation and manifest integrity, that no one ever
king readily consented, and the carl entertained the king raised against him a disparaging voice. As judge of the
with news, and other diverting stories, until the very highest court of equity, he was deserving the greatest praise
minute he was to go to the chapel, purposely to keep the that can be uttered for his unflinching, unbiassed perform-
courtiers and his successor upon the lack for fear he should ancc of his duty. Concurrent circumstances " enabled
prevail upon the king to change his mind The king and him, in the course of nine years, to build a system of juris-
thc carl come out of the closet talking together, and smiling prudence and jurisdiction upon wide and rational founda-
as they went to chapel, which surprised every one, and tions, which have also been extended and improved by
some ran immediately to tell the duke of York all their many great men, who have since presided in chancery ;
measures were broken. The attorney-general was said to and from that time to this, the power and business of the
be inconsolable. — Echard's Hist, of England, 898. court have amazingly increased.'' — Blackstone's Com-
* Heneage Finch derived both his names from his merit, iii. p. 55; Wood's Athcnae, ii. 718; Biog. Britan-
fathcr, recorder of London. He was born in 1621, edu- nica. Drydcn, in his " Absalom and Achitophcl," cha-
cated at Westminster school, and Christchurch, Oxford ; raeterises this great equity lawyer under the name of Anni,
and went to the Inner Temple about the year 1638, of and only tells in verse, what others have recorded in
which inn he in succession was barrister, reader, bencher, prose, by saying —
and treasurer. At the restoration he was made solicitor-
general and a baronet. Anthony Wood gives a long list " Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem,
of the dignitaries, including the king, that he entertained Were coasted all, and fathom'd all by him :
when reader of the Temple in 1661. The same year he Ko rabbin speaks like him their mystic sense,
was elected the representative in parliament of Oxford So just, and with such charms of eloquence :
university, but not voting for its exemption from the To whom the double blessing does belong, —
hearth-tax, he gave an opportunity to its public orator With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue."
OF KING CHARLES II. 243
ut the care he took tc preserve himself, and his success in it, lost him his high favour with
&ie king, as the duke was out of measure offended at him : so he quitted his post, and was
made lord chamberlain *.
The house of commons was resolved to force the king to a peace with the Dutch.
The court of France recalled Croissy, finding that the duke wras offended at his being led
by lord Arlington. Rouvigny was sent over ; a man of great practice in business, and in
all intrigues. He was still a firm protestant, but in all other respects a very dexter-
jus courtier, and one of the greatest statesmen in Europe. He had the appointments of an
ambassador, but would not take the character, that he might not have a chapel, and mass
said in it. Upon his coming over, as he himself told me, he found all the ministers of the
allies were perpetually plying the members of the house of commons with their memorials.
He knew he could gain nothing on thern^ so he never left the king. The king was in great
perplexity ; he would have done any thing, and parted with any persons, if that would have
procured him money for carrying on the war. But he saw little appearance of that. He
found he was indeed at the mercy of the States. So lord Arlington pressed the Spanish
ministers to prevail with the States, and the prince of Orange, to get a proposition for a
peace to be set on foot : and that it might have some shew of a peace, both begged and
bought, he proposed that a sum of money should be offered the king by the States, which
should be made over by him to the prince, for the payment of the debt he owed him.
Rouvigny pressed the king much to give his parliament all satisfaction in points of religion.
The king answered him, " if it was not for his brother's folly, (la sottise de monfrere,)
he would get out of all his difficulties." Rouvigny drew a memorial for informing the house
of commons of the modesty of his master's pretensions ; for now the French king was sensible
of his errors in making such high demands as he had made at Utrecht ; and was endeavour-
ing to get out of the war on easier terms. The States committed a great error in desiring a
peace with England, without desiring, at the same time, that the king should enter into the
alliance for reducing the French to the terms of the triple alliance. But the prince of
Orange thought, that if he could once separate the king from his alliance with France, the
other point would be soon brought about : and the States were much set on the having a
peace with England, hoping then both to be freed of the great trouble of securing the coast
at a vast charge, and also by the advantage of their fleet to ruin the trade and to insult the
coasts of France. The States did this winter confer a new and extraordinary dignity on the
prince of Orange. They made him hereditary stadtholder ; so that this was entailed on
him, and his issue male. He had in a year and a half's time changed the whole face of
* The king understanding that the house was about to matters of religion, and support against onr only corn-
vote an address to him against the duke of Lauderdale, petitors at sea, than to things of less importance." The
made an effort to preserve him from the attack, that house met again in two months, not at all abated in their
caused a seenc in parliament such as was not unfreqnent determination to address the king to remove the dukes of
during the more violent struggles between the 'same Lauderdale and Buckingham, and the earl of Arlington,
branch of the legislature and his father. - On the 3rd of The first was included in the address without difficulty.
November, 1673, the commons adjourned to eight o'clock Buckingham was heard twice by the house in his defence,
of the following morning; but the speaker, sir Edward and examined upon several points. In his speeches and his
Seymour, who was treasurer of the navy, and in the inte- replies he threw the blame as much as he could upon the
rest of the court, did not come until ten. It had been earl ; but the house voted his name to be included in the
arranged by the ministry that the speaker and the usher address for removal. Arlington was similarly heard, but
of the black rod to summon them to a prorogation should with more dignity he only defended himself, and did not
come together into the house, which they did, but the attempt to inculpate any one. This may have gained the
speaker entering first, some of the members clapped to the good opinion of the house, but he had also a great support
door, and the speaker was hurried to his seat amid cries of in his friend, the earl of Ossory. This nobleman, eldest
" To the chair — to the chair." Sir Robert Thomas im- son of the duke of Ormond, was the most popular man of
mediately rose and moved, that our alliance with France his quality in England ; and during the five days the debate
was a grievance : that the evil counsellors about the occupied relating to his friend, he stood in the lobby soli-
king were a grievance, and that the duke of Lauderdale citing the members as they entered to favour him Ar-
was a grievance, and not fit to be trusted or employed in lington's name was determined to be omitted from the
any office. No debate was allowed, but an immediate address by a majority of 166 opposed by 127. The whole
cry " to the question — to the question :" but the black transaction is interestingly given at length in Grey's
rod knocking earnestly at the door, the speaker leaped out Debates, ii. pp. 222 — 329. See also Carte's Life of the
of the chair, and the house rose in great confusion. The Duke of Ormoud, ii. 503, and Echard's Hist, of England.
king briefly told them he intended to make a short recess, The hon. Architell Grey, whose reports are so fre-
*l that all good men might recollect themselves :" and ho quently quoted in these notes, was thirty years a rcpre-
suggested that it would be better for them to apply " to sentative of Derby, duri-g the parliaments of this period.
R 2
244 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
their affairs. He had not only taken Naerdcn, which made Amsterdam easy, but by a very
bold undertaking he had gone up the Rhine to Bonn, and had taken it in a very few days ;
and in it had cut off the supplies that the French sent down to their garrisons on the
Rhine and the Isel. So that the French finding they could not subsist longer there, were
now resolved to evacuate all those places, and the three provinces of which they were pos-
sessed ; which they did a few months after. An alliance was also made with the emperor ;
and by this means both the elector of Cologne, and the bishop of Minister, were brought to
a peace with the States. The elector of Brandenburgh was likewise returning to the alliance
with the States ; for in the treaty to which he was forced to submit with Turenne for a truce
of a year, he had put an article, reserving to himself a liberty to act in concurrence wi ti-
the empire, according to such resolutions as should be taken in the diet. This change of the
affairs of the States had got the prince of Orange the affections of the people to such »
degree, that he could have obtained every thing of them that he would have desired : and
even the loss of so important a place as Maestricht was not at all charged on him. So he
brought the States to make applications to the king in the style of those who begged a peace,
though it was visible they could have forced it. In conclusion, a project of a peace with
England was formed, or rather the peace of Breda was written over again, with the offer of
two or three hundred thousand pounds for the expense of the war. And the king signed it
at lord Arlington's office *.
He came up immediately into the drawing-room ; where, seeing Rouvigny, he took him
aside, and told him, he had been doing a thing that went more against his heart, than the
losing of his right hand : he had signed a peace with the Dutch, the project being brought
him by the Spanish ambassador : he saw nothing could content the house of commons, or
draw money from them ; and lord Arlington had pressed him so hard, that he had stood out
till he was weary of his life ; he saw it was impossible for him to carry on the war without
supplies, of which it was plain he could have no hopes. Rouvigny told him, what was done
could not be helped ; but he would let him see how faithfully he would serve him on this
occasion : he did not doubt but his master would submit all his pretensions to him, and
make him the arbiter and mediator of the peace. This the king received with great joy ;
and said, it would be the most acceptable service that could be done him. The French
resolved upon this to accept of the king's mediation ; and so the king got out of the war,
very little to his honour, having both engaged in it upon unjust grounds, and managed it all
along with ill conduct, and bad success ; and now he got out of it in so poor and so dis-
honourable a manner, that with it he lost his credit both at home and abroad. Yet he felt
little of all this. He and his brother were now at their ease. Upon this the parliament
was quickly prorogued : and the court delivered itself up again to its ordinary course of sloth
and luxury -f : but lord Arlington, who had brought all this about, was so entirely lost by it,
that though he knew too much of the secret to be ill used, yet he could never recover the
ground he had lost.
The duchess of York came over that winter ; she was then very young, about sixteen,
but of a full growth. She was a graceful person, with a good measure of beauty, and so
much wit and cunning, that during all this reign she behaved herself in so obliging a manner,
and seemed so innocent and good, that she gained upon all that came near her, and pos-
sessed them with such impressions of her, that it was long before her behaviour, after she
was a queen, could make them change their thoughts of her. So artificially did this young
Italian behave herself, that she deceived even the eldest and most jealous persons, both in the
court and country. Only sometimes a satirical temper broke out too much, which was
imputed to youth and wit, not enough practised in the world. She avoided the appearances
of a zealot, or a meddler in business, and gave herself up to innocent cheerfulness ; and \vas
universally esteemed and beloved, as long as she was duchess.
* The conferences and transactions of this period rela- fleets, and pay 300,000/. to the king towards paying the
tive to the peace, arc very fully given in sir W. Temple's expeHses of the war.
Works,!. 394, &c. The only additions to the peace of •{• The annunciation to the house of peace being signed,
Breda were, that the Dutch should lower their topsails to was on the llth of February, 1674, and parliament was
English ships of war, whether they were singly or in prorogued on the 24th of the same month. — Grej*l
Debates, ii. 413— 454.
OF KING CHARLES II. 245
She had one put about her to be her secretary, Coleman , who became so active in the
affairs of the party, and ended his life so unfortunately *, that since I had much conversa-
tion with him, his circumstances may deserve that his character should be given, though his
person did not. I was told he was a clergyman's son ; but he was early caught by the
Jesuits, and bred ma/iy years among them. lie understood the art of managing contro-
versies, chiefly that great one of the authority of the church, better than any of their priests.
He was a bold man, resolved to raise himself, which he did by dedicating himself wholly to
the Jesuits ; and so he was raised by them. He had a great easiness in writing in several
languages ; and wrote many long letters, and was the chief correspondent the party had in
England. He lived at a vast expense, and talked in so positive a manner, that it looked
like one who knew he was well supported. I soon saw into his temper, and I warned the
duke of it ; for I looked on him as a man much more likely to spoil business, than to carry it
on dexterously. He got into the confidence of P. Ferrier, the king of France's confessor, and
tried to get into the same pitch of confidence with P. de la Chaise, who succeeded him in
that post. He went ahout every where, even to the jails among the criminals, to make pro-
selytes. He dealt much both in the giving and taking of bribes. But now the affairs of
England were calmed, I look again to Scotland, which was yet in a storm.
The king wrote to duke Hamilton to come up ; and when he and lord Tweedale arrived,
they were so well received, that they hoped to carry their point : but the king's design in
this was, that, if he could have brought the house of commons to have given money, he was
resolved to have parted with duke Lauderdale, and have employed them : and his kind usage
of them was on design to persuade the commons to use himself better, by shewing that he
was ready to comply with them. He gave them so good a hearing, that they thought they
had fully convinced him ; and he blamed them only for not complaining to himself of those
grievances. But, as soon as he saw it was to no purpose to look for money from the house
of commons, and had signed the peace, he sent them down with full assurances that all things
should be left to the judgment of the parliament. They came down through the greatest fall
of snow that has been in all my life-time. When they got home, instead of a session, there
was an order for a prorogation ; which gave such an universal discontent, that many offered
at very extravagant propositions, for destroying duke Lauderdale and all his party. Duke
Hamilton, who told me this some years after, when an act of grace was published, was
neither so bad, nor so bold, as to hearken to these. The king wrote him a cajoling letter,
desiring him to come up once more, and to refer all matters to him ; and he assured him, he
would make up all differences.
In the mean while duke Lauderdale took all possible methods to become more popular.
He connived at the insolence of the presbyterians, who took possession of one of the vacant
churches of Edinburgh, and preached in it for some months. The earl of Argyle and sir
James Dalrymple were the men on whom the presbyterians depended most. Duke Lauder-
dale returned to his old kindness with the former ; and lord Argyle was very ready to forget
his late unkindness ; so matters were made up between them. Dalrymple was the president
of the session, a man of great temper, and of a very mild deportment, but a cunning man.
He was now taken into the chief confidence t. He told the presbyterians, if they wrould
now support duke Lauderdale, this would remove the prejudice the king had against them,
as enemies to his service. This wrought on many of them.
What influence soever this might have on the presbyterians, the strange conduct with
relation to them provoked the clergy out of measure. Some hot men, that were not pre-
ferred as they thought they deserved, grew very mutinous, and complained that things were
* Executed for being concerned in the Popish Plot. was appointed presioent of the court of session, but objeot-
•f- Sir James Dalrymple was the seventh baron, and ing most earnestly against the cruelties practised there, he
first viscount, Stair. He was born in 1619. During the was dismissed from office, and retired to the Hague. He
civil war he took up arms with the parliament, but appears here became a favourite with the prince of Orange, who,
soon to have disapproved of their proceedings, for he speedily as soon as he became king of England, restored him to his
retired from the army, and obtained the professorship of place as a judge, and made biji a viscount. He died in
philosophy at Glasgow. At the restoration he was parti- 1695. He published " An Apology for his Own Con-
cularly honoured, being created a baronet, a member of duct."— Gen. Bio. Diet.
the college of justice, and then baron Stair. In 1671, he
24<? THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN1
let fall into much confusion. And they raised a grievous outcry for the want of a national
synod, to regulate our worship and government : and so moved in the diocesan synods, that
a petition should be offered to the privy council, setting forth the necessity of having a
national synod. I liked no part of this. I knew the temper of our clergy too well to
depend much on them ; therefore I went out of the way on purpose when our synod was to
meet. Petitions were offered for a national synod, which was thought an innocent thing :
yet, it being done on design to heighten the fermentation the kingdom was in, great excep-
tions were taken to it. One bishop and four of the clergy were turned out by an order
from the king, pursuant to the act asserting the supremacy. After a year, upon their sub-
mission, they were restored. Though I was not at all concerned in this, (for I was ever
of Nazianzen's opinion, who never wished to see any more synods of the clergy) yet the
king was made believe, that I had laid the whole matter, even though I did not appear in
any part of it.
Another disorder broke out, which had greater effects. A cause being judged in the
supreme court of session, the party appealed to the parliament. This was looked on as a
high contempt, done on design to make the parliament a court of judicature, that so there
might be a necessity of frequent parliaments. So the judges required all the lawyers to
condemn this, as contrary to law. And they had the words of a law on their side : for
there lay no such appeal as stopped process, nor was there a writ of error in their law ; but
upon petitions, parliaments had, though but seldom, reviewed and reversed the judgments of
the courts. So the debate lay about the sense of the word " appeal." Sir George Lock-
hart, brother to the ambassador, was the most learned lawyer, and the best pleader I have
ever yet known in any nation ; and he had all the lawyers almost in a dependence on him.
He was engaged with the party, and resolved to stand it out. The king sent down an order
to put all men from the bar that did not condemn appeals : and, when that wrought not on
them, they were by proclamation banished Edinburgh, and twelve miles about it : and a new
day was assigned them for making their submission : the king, in a very unusual style,
declaring, on the word of a prince, that if they submitted not by that day, they should never
be again admitted to their practice. They stood it out, and the day lapsed without their
submitting. Yet afterwards they renounced appeals in the sense of the Roman law ; and,
notwithstanding the unusual threatening in the proclamation, they were again restored to
practice : but this made a stop for a whole year in all legal proceedings *.
The government of the city of Edinburgh was not so compliant as was expected. So duke
Lauderdale procured a letter from the king to turn out twelve of the chief magistrates, and
to declare them for ever incapable of all public trusts ; so entirely had he forgotten his com-
plaints formerly made against incapacity, even when passed in an act of parliament. The
boroughs of Scotland have, by law, a privilege of meeting once a year in a body, to consider
of trade, and of by-laws relating to it. At a convention held this year a petition was agreed
on, and sent to the king, complaining of some late acts that hindered trade, for the repeal
of which there was great need of a session of parliament : they therefore prayed, that when
the king sent down a commissioner to hold a session, he might be instructed in order to that
repeal. This was judged a legal thing by the lawyers there : for this was a lawful assembly :
they did not petition for a parliament, but only for instructions to the session ; yet it was
condemned as seditious, and those who promoted it were fined and imprisoned for it. Thus
duke Lauderdale was lifted up out of measure, and resolved to crush all that stood in his
way. He was made earl of Guildford, in England, and had a pension of 3,000^. : and he let
himself loose into a very ungoverned fury. When duke Hamilton and some other lords
came up, the king desired they would put their complaints in writing. They said, the laws
were so oddly worded, and more oddly executed, in Scotland, that the modestest paper they
could offer might be condemned as leasing-making, and misrepresenting the king's proceed-
ings ; so they would not venture on it. The king promised them, that no ill use should be
made of it to their prejudice ; but they did not think it safe to trust him, for he seemed to
be entirely delivered up to all duke Lauderdale' s passions.
* This act would stamp the despotic nature of Charles the Second, if all other evidence failed. He was deter-
mined not only that his will should be superior to the la*, but that all lawyers should admit it to be so.
OF KING CHARLES II, 247
It is no wonder then that I could not stand before him, though at my coming up the duke
of York received me with great kindness, and told me how he had got out of great difficul-
ties, and added, that the king was very firm to him ; he commended likewise his new
duchess much : he was troubled at our disorders : he was firm to duke Lauderdale, but he
would have endeavoured to reconcile matters, if there had been room for it. He told me
the king was highly incensed against me ; and was made believe, that I was the chief spring
of all that had happened : he himself believed me more innocent ; and said, he would
endeavour to set me right with him ; and he carried me to the king, who received me
coldly. Some days after, when the duke was hunting, the lord chamberlain told me, he had
orders to strike my name out of the list of the chaplains ; and that the king forbade me the
court, and expected I should go back to Scotland. The duke seemed troubled at this, and
spoke to the king about it : but he was positive. Yet he admitted me to say to him what
I had to ofrer in my own justification. I said all that I thought necessary, and appealed to
duke Hamilton, who did me justice in it. But the king said, he was afraid I had been too
busy, and wished me to go home to Scotland, and be more quiet. The duke upon this told
me, that, if I went home without reconciling myself to duke Lauderdale, I should be cer-
tainly shut up in a close prison, where I might perhaps lie too long. This I looked on as a
very high obligation ; so I resigned my employment, and resolved to stay in England. I
preached in many of the churches of London, and was so well received, that it was probable
I might be accepted of in any that was to be disposed of by a popular election. So a
church falling to be given in that way, the electors had a mind to choose me : but yet they
were not willing to offend the court. The duke spoke to duke Lauderdale, and told him
that he had a mind I should be settled in London, and desired he would not oppose it.
Duke Lauderdale said, all this was a trick of the party in Scotland, to settle me, that I
might be a correspondent between the factions in both kingdoms. Yet, upon the duke's
undertaking that I should not meddle in those matters, he was contented that the king
should let the electors know, he was not against their choosing me. Upon this duke Lauder-
dale, seeing what a root I had with the duke, sent a message to me, that, if I would promise
to keep no farther correspondence with duke Hamilton, I should again be restored to his
favour. I said I had promised the duke to meddle no more in Scotch affairs ; but I could
not forsake my friends, nor turn against them. By this he judged I was inflexible. So he
carried a story to the king the very night before the election, that upon enquiry was found
to be false, when it was too late to help what was done. Upon that the king sent a severe
message to the electors. So I missed that. And sometime after a new story was invented,
of which Sharp was indeed the author, by which the king was made believe, that I was pos-
sessing both lords and commons against duke Lauderdale. Upon that the king ordered
Coventry to command me to leave London, and not to come within twenty miles of it. The
duke told me what the particulars were, which were all false ; for lord Falconbridge and
lord Carlisle were the lords, into whom it was said I was infusing those prejudices. Now I
was known to neither of them ; for, though they had desired my acquaintance, I had declined
it. So I told all this to secretary Coventry, who made report of it to the king in the duke's
presence : and those lords justified me in the matter. I hoped the king would upon all this
recall his order ; but he would not do it : so I asked to have it in writing. The secretary
knew it was against law, so he would not do it. But I was forbidden the court*. The
* When this subject was examined by the house of no message direct from the king, even to forbid him the
commons at the beginning of the year following, 1675, court; such a messa£e would have come through the lord
Mr. secretary Coventry gave a somewhat different vers-ion or the vice chamberlain, he only advised him to absent
if what took place between himself and Burnet. He said himself. — Grey's Debates, iii. 19.
-ie told the doctor that the king had received some ill Mr Henry Coventry, who had the above conversation
impressions of him, for meddling with affairs which did with Burnet, was the third son of the first earl of Covcu-
not concern him, and therefore it was convenient for him trv. He took a master's degree in arts at All Souls
logo out of town. Burnet desired to have an interview College, Oxford. He adopted a line of politics very dif-
with his majesty ; but Coventry declined this, though he ferent to that pursued by his younger brother, sir William.
( onsented to present any address he might choose to send ; He suffered much for his adhesion to the king in the
:md Burnet accordingly wrote a petition, which was deli- civil war. At the restoration, he was appointed a groom
vered. Burnet soon after wished to have the king's mes- of the bedchamber. In 1664, he was sent envcy to
f-->ge :n writing, but Coventry told him that he hud had Sweden, and remained there ncaily two years. In 16'67,
•218 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
duke brought duke Lauderdale and me once together, to have made us friends ; but nothing
would do, unless I would forsake all my friends, and discover secrets. I said, I knew no
wicked ones ; and I could not break with persons, with whom I had lived long in great
friendship. The duke spoke to the lord treasurer *, to soften duke Lauderdale with relation
to me, and sent me to him. He undertook to do it, but said afterwards, duke Lauderdale
was intractable.
This violent and groundless prosecution lasted some months. And during that time I
said to some, that duke Lauderdale had gone so far in opening some wicked designs to me,
that I perceived he could not be satisfied unless I was undone. So I told what was men-
tioned before of the discourses that passed between him and me. This I ought not to have
done, since they were the effects of confidence and friendship. But such a course of provo-
cation might have heated a cooler and older man than I was, being then but thirty, to forget
the caution that I ought to have used. The persons who had this from me resolved to make
use of it against him, in the next session of parliament ; for which the earl of Danby and
he were preparing, by turning to new methods.
Lord Danby set up to be the patron of the church party, and of the old cavaliers ; and
duke Lauderdale joined himself to him. It was said the king had all along neglected his
best and surest friends ; so a new measure was taken up, of doing all possible honours to the
memory of king Charles the First, and to all that had been in his interests. A statue of brass
on horseback, that had been long neglected, was bought, and set up at Charing Cross ; and
a magnificent funeral was designed for himf. The building of St. Paul's, in London, was
now set on foot with great zeal. Morley and some of the bishops were sent for, and the
new ministry settled a scheme with them, by which it was offered to crush all the designs of
popery. The ministers expressed a great zeal in this, and openly accused all the former
ministers for neglecting it so long. But, to excuse this to the duke, they told him it was a
great misfortune that the church party and the dissenters were now run into one ; that the
church party must have some content given them ; and then a test was to be set on
foot that should for ever shut out all dissenters, who were an implacable sort of people. A
declaration renouncing the lawfulness of resistance in any case whatsoever, and an engage-
ment to endeavour no alteration in church or state, was designed to be a necessary qualifica-
tion of all that might choose or be chosen members of parliament. If this could be carried,
the king's party would be for ever separated from the dissenters, and be so much the more
united to him. In order to this, it was necessary to put out severe orders of council against
all convicted, or suspected, papists. The duke acquainted me with this scheme. He dis-
liked it much. He thought this would raise the church party too high. He looked on
them as intractable in the point of popery. Therefore he thought it was better to keep
them under, by supporting the papists. He looked on the whole project as both knavish
and foolish. And upon this he spoke severely of duke Lauderdale, who he saw would do
anything to save himself; he had been all along in ill terms both with Sheldon and Morley ;
but now he reconciled himself to them : he brought Sharp out of Scotland, who went about
assuring all people that the party set against him was likewise set against the church.
This, though notoriously false, passed for true among strangers. And Leighton coming up
at the year's end to quit his archbishopric of Glasgow, Burnet had made such submissions
he was our ambassador at Breda, and had a considerable when it was placed on its present pedestal, the work of
influence in breaking the Triple Alliance. In 1671, he Grinlyn Gibbons. The parliament had ordered it to be
was again ambassador in Sweden, and, returning the fol- 'sold and broken to pieces; but John Rivet, a brazier,
lowing year, was made secretary of state. Mr. speakei living near the Dial, Holborn Conduit, who was the pur-
Onslow considered him the only honest minister employed chaser, buried it umnutilated, and showed some fragments
by the king after Clarendon's removal. In 1679, he re- of brass as tokens of his obedience. M. d'Archenholz
tired from office, as the Gazette announced, "on account relates, that this brazier cast a vast number of knife and
of his infirmity of body," and entirely against the wish fork handles, and sold them as made of the broken statue.
of the king. 'He never again accepted employment. He They were bought by loyalists from affection to their
died in 1686, aged sixty-eight. — Crainger's Biog. Hi«t. monarch, and by the parliamentarians as a mark of
vi. 125; Oxford ed. of Burnet's Hist. triumph. The siatue was placed in its present situation
* Sir Thomas Osborne, earl of Danby and afterwards by an order from the earl of Danby Archenholz's Ta-
duke of Leeds. blcau d'Angletcrre, i. 163; Pennant's London, 93;
f This statue was cast in 1633, by Le Soeur, for the Walpole's Anecdotes, ii. 248.
earl of Arundel ; but it was not erected until about 1678,
OF KING CHARLES II. 249
that he was restored to it*. So that wound which had been given to episcopacy in Ins
person was now healed. And Leighton retired to a private house in Sussex, where lie
lived ten years in a most heavenly manner, and with a shining conversation. So now duke
Lauderdale was at the head of the church party.
The court was somewhat disturbed with discoveries that were made at this time. When
sir Joseph Williamson came back from Cologne, he secretly met with Wicquefort, who has
published a work about ambassadors f. He was the Dutch secretary that translated the
intelligence that came from England. And sometimes the originals were left in his hands.
Williamson prevailed with him to deliver these to him. Most of them were written by the
lord Howard's brother, who upon his brother's death was afterwards lord Howard. He was a
man of wit and learning, bold and poor, who had run through many parties in religion. In
Cromwell's time he was rebaptised, and had preached in London. He set up in opposition
to Cromwell, as a great commonwealth's man, and did some service in the Restoration.
But he was always poor, and ready to engage in anything that was bold. He went over in
the beginning of the war, and offered to serve De Wit. But he told me he found him a
dry man. As soon as the prince was raised, he waited on him and on Fagel ; and under-
took not only to send them good intelligence, but to make a great party for them. He
pressed the prince to make a descent on England, only to force the king to call a parliament,
and to be advised by it. And he drew such a manifesto as he believed would be acceptable
to the nation. He, and one of the Du Moulins that was in lord Arlington's office joined
together, and gave the States very good intelligence. Du Moulin, fearing that he was dis-
covered, took the alarm in time and got beyond sea. Most of the papers that Wicquefort
delivered were of Howard's writing. So upon his examination in the Tower, it appeared
they had his letters against him. And, when notice was sent of this to Holland, Wicquefort
was called on to bring before them all the original letters that were trusted to him ; and,
upon his not doing it, he was clapped up. And the States sent word to the king, that if
any person suffered in England on the account of the letters betrayed by him, his head should
go for it. Halewyn told me, when it was put to the judges to know what sort of crime this
could be made, since the papers were given up after the peace was concluded, (otherwise the
betraying the secrets of the state to enemies was a manifest crime), they came to this resolu-
tion, that as by the Roman law everything was made capital that was contra salntem Fopuli
Romani^ so the delivering up such papers was a capital crime. This threatening saved
Howard ^. But yet Wicquefort was kept very long in prison, and ruined by it. He had a
sort of a character from one of the princes of Germany, upon which he insisted. But the
States thought that his coming into their service was the throwing up of that character.
Upon this occasion Carstairs, mentioned in the year 1672, was sent over from Holland to
England. And \\Q. was seized on with a paper of instructions that were drawn so darkly,
that no wonder if they gave a jealousy of some ill designs then on foot. The prince said,
when asked about it, that it was only meant for a direction for carrying on the levies of
some regiments, that the king had allowed the Dutch to make in Scotland, which the king
did the better to excuse his letting so many continue in the French service. However,
mention being made of money to be paid and of men to be raised, and a compliment being
ordered to be made to duke Hamilton, this looked suspicious. Howard had confessed all
he knew upon promise of pardon. So that, and this, laid together, gave the court some
apprehensions. Duke Lauderdale made use of it to heighten the king's ill opinion of the
party against him. And, because lieutenant-general Drummond was, of all the military
men, he that had the best capacity and the greatest reputation, he moved that he might bo
* This prelate was no relation to our author. completed it he was seized and condemned to imprison-
t Abraham de Wicquefort wrote two works upon the nient for life for betraying state secrets, as will be immc-
duues of ambassadors — *• L'Ambassadeur e< scs fouc- diatcly noticed. In 1679 he escaped, and found a pro-
tions," and " Mdmoircs touchant les ambassadeursct les tcetor in the duke of Zcll. His " Hi&toirc dcs Provinces
inniistres publics " For thirty-two years ho had been Unies desPays-Bus, &c/' is an excellent aud authentic
resident-minister of the elector of Brandenburg!), but at work. — Moreri's Hist. Diet.
the end of that time was committed to the Bastile for com- £ This thoroughly base man was the chief evidence
municating intelligence to his native country, Holland, against his friends, Algernon Sidney and lord W. Rut-
When released, De Wit employed him to write the His- sell, whom, ho betrayed
tory of the Seveii United Provinces ; but before he hud
2oO THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
secured. The method lie took in doing it showed, that he neither suspected him, nor re-
garded the law. The ancient method was to require men to render themselves prisoners
by such a day. This was a snare to many, who, though innocent, yet hating restraint,
went out of the way, and were proceeded against by an outlawry ; but an act of parliament
had been made condemning that method for the future. Yet duke Laudcrdale resolved to
follow it. And Dnminjoiid, knowing his innocence, rendered himself as required ; and was
kept a year in a very cold and inconvenient prison at Dunbarton, on the top of a high rock.
This, coming after a whole life of loyalty and zeal, was thought a very extraordinary reward
for such high pretensions.
One thing on this occasion may be fit to be told. Lord Kincardine had served duke Lan-
der dale faithfully, even longer than he could do with a good conscience ; for he had stuck to
him, and was left by him with the king, when he went to Scotland, who knew well with
how much zeal he had supported his interest, and excused his faults. When duke Lauder-
dale was hotly pushed at, he then promised to all his friends that he would avoid all former
errors, if he got out of his trouble ; and that made lord KhxcanUne so earnest to serve him,
But, when he saw into how much fury he wras running, he tried to have persuaded him to
more temper, but found it was in vain. Then he confessed to me that I had judged truer
than he had done ; for I believed he would grow worse than ever. When lord Kincardine
found he could not hinder things in private, he opposed them in council, and so they broke
with him. He came up to justify himself to the king, who minded those matters very
little ; but thought it was necessary to give a full scope to duke Lauderd.ale's motions, who
had told the king there was a spirit of rebellion that run through all sorts of people, and that
was to be subdued by acts of power, though perhaps neither legal nor just ; and when that evil
spirit was once broken, then it would be fit to return to more legal and moderate counsels.
So lord Kincardine found there was no arguing with the king upon particulars. Therefore
he begged leave to stay some time at court, that he might not be obliged to oppose that
which the king was made believe his service required. The king consented to this, and
upon all occasions used him very well. Duke Laudcrdale could not bear that, and pressed
the king often to command him home ; which he refused to do. Once he urged it with
great vehemence ; and the king answered as positively, that he saw no reason for it, and lie
would not do it. Upon this he came home as in a fit of distraction, and was gathering
together all his commissions to deliver them up to the king. Upon that the marquis of
Athol, who was then in high favour with him, went to the king, and told him that he had
sent duke Lauderdale home half dead and half mad, and begged the king to take pity on
him. So the king sent a message to lord Kincardine, ordering him to go home. This lord
Athol himself told me afterwards.
Towards the end of summer the battle of Seneff was fought, in the beginning of which the
French had a great advantage ; but the prince of Conde pushed it too far : and the prince of
Orange engaged the whole army with so much bravery, that it appeared that the Dutch
army was now brought to another state than he had found it in. He charged himself in
many places, with too great a neglect of his person, considering how much depended upon
it. He once was engaged among a body of French, thinking they were his own men, and
bid them charge ; they told him they had no more powder ; he, perceiving they were none
of his men, with great presence of mind got out of their hands, and brought up a body of
his army to charge them, who quickly routed them. The action in the afternoon recovered
the loss that was made in the morning, and possessed all the world, the prince of Conde in
particular, with a great esteem of the prince's conduct and courage. I will say little of
foreign afiairs, because there are many copious accounts of them in print, and I can add little
to them. With relation to the battle of Seneff, the prince himself told me, that the day
before, lie saw a capuchin that came over from the French army, and had a long conversa-
tion with Zouch? the emperor's general, who behaved himself so ill on the day of battle, that
the prince said to his son at night, that his father had acted so basely, that, if it had not
been for the respect he bore the emperor, he would have shot him through the head. He
was disgraced on this. But the success of the campaign was lost by it. They had a noble
army, and might have dune much more than they did. Grave was retaken in the end of
OF KING CHARLES II 251
the campaign. So tlio Provinces were now safe on that side. And the prince had gained so
much credit with the States, that he was now more than ever the master of their counsels.
The alarm that those discoveries from Holland gave our court, made lord Arlington offer
at one trial more for recovering the king's confidence. He offered to go over to Holland with
the earl of Ossory, for they fancied they had a great interest in the prince, by their having
married two of Bevervardt's daughters ; and the prince had always a particular affection to
lord Ossory. Lord Arlington said he would go to the bottom of everything with the
prince, and did not doubt but he would bring him into an entire dependence on his uncle,
and particularly dispose him to a general peace ; on which the king was much set, it being
earnestly desired by the French. It was likewise believed, that he had leave to give the
prince the hope of marrying her whom he afterwards married. The duke told me he knew
nothing of the matter : he had heard lord Arlington had talked as if the managing that was
his chief errand ; and upon that he had asked the king, who assured him that he had a posi-
tive order not so much as to speak of that matter. Yet, whether notwithstanding this he
had a secret order, or whether he did it without order, he certainly talked a great deal of it
to the prince, as a thing which he might depend on, if he would in all other things be
governed by the king.
Sir William Temple had been sent over the summer before as ambassador ; and his chief
instructions were to dispose all peopled minds, chiefly the prince's, to a peace. But the
prince had avoided the seeing him till the end of the campaign. Lord Arlington had thrown
him off when he went into the French interest, and Temple was too proud to bear con-
tempt, or forget such an injury soon. He was a vain man, much blown up in his own con-,
ceit, which he showed too indecently on all occasions. He had a true judgment in affairs,
and very good principles with relation to government, but in nothing else. He seemed to
think that things are as they were from all eternity ; at least he thought religion was fit
only for the mob. He was a great admirer of the sect of Confucius in China, who were
atheists themselves, but left religion to the rabble. He was a corrupter of all that came
near him. And he delivered himself up wholly to study ease and pleasure *. He entered
into a close friendship with lord Danby, who depended much on him ; and was directed in
all his notions as to foreign affairs by him ; for no man ever came into the ministry that
understood the affairs of Europe so little as he did.
Of all the characters drawn by our author, this of her of the Irish Parliament, and in 1665 obtained his
ir William Temple is the most unfair and exaggerated, first official employment, being sent to Munster. He was
That he was very vain is generally acknowledged ; but, the chief means of obtaining the Triple Alliance between
nstead of our regretting this, we may justly agree with England, Sweden, and Holland, for the maintenance of
Srainger, that it is a happy circumstance for his readers, the protestant cause in Europe ; and, as resident at the
hat so polite and learned a writer was also a vain one ; Hague, promoted the marriage of the prince of Orange
for, like Montaigne, his vanity prompted him to dwell with our princess Mary, that was ultimately so instru-
upon the affairs in which he was concerned. Even Bur- mental in preserving our religion and constitution. In
net acknowledges his fidelity as an historian. The charge 1 679 he was absolutely compelled, by the king's urgency, tf
against him of being an atheist is totally without founda- accept the office of secretary of state, but resigned it tht,
tion — all other writers but Burnet, whether writing to following year, and retired to his seat of Moor Park, near
disparage or to praise him, speak in very different terms of Farnham, and passed the remainder of his life there in
lis religious opinions. It is true, he was no bigot, and that rural retirement and literary ease which he always
declares he "never could understand how those who loved. He died in 1700, and his heart, according to
Jail themselves, and the world usually calls, religious men, directions in his will, was buried in a silver box beneath
Jome to put so great weight upon those points of belief, a sun-dial in his garden, opposite the window from whence
which men never have agreed in, and so little upon those he was accustomed to contemplate the beauties of nature.
>f virtue and morality, in which they have hardly ever Nor was this, as the editor has elsewhere observed, an unphi-
lisagreed," and "since," as he observes in a preceding losophical clinging to that which it was impossible to retain ;
•aragraph, " the great and general end of all religion, next but rather a result of that grateful feeling common to our
to man's happiness hereafter, is their happiness here; as nature, of desiring finally to repose where in life \ve have
rppears by the commandments of God, being the best and been happy. As an author few men have been so gene-
neatest moral and civil, as well as divine, precepts that rally admired, and in the character of an essayist and his-
ave been given to a nation." — (Temple's Works, i. 55. torian he is equally excellent. Whoever wishes for a
ol.) As an ambassador and statesman he is above re- ftiithful and full narrative of the political transactions of
iroach of any kind ; and as a man, though having his this period, will find no work that will better gratify his
Knare of human weakness, yet his honour, integrity, and desire than sir W. Temple's " Memoirs." — Life prefixed to
kindness of heart, have never been impeached, He was his works ; Biograph. Britaii. ; and a Life of him, lately
l>orn in 1628 ; from Cambridge travelled on the continent published,
until the Restoration, when he returned, became a inem-
252 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
I will henceforth leave the account of our affairs beyond sea wholly to Temple's Letters,
in which they are very truly and fully set forth. And in them it appears, that the prince
of Orange, even while so young, and so little practised in affairs, had so clear and so just a
view of them, that nothing could misguide him ; and that the bad prospect he had from the
ill condition of affairs did not frighten him into accepting of any mean or base conditions of
peace. His fidelity to his country, and the public interest, was so firm, that no private con-
siderations of his own could bias him, or indeed be much considered by him. These letters
give him a character that is so sublime, as well as so genuine, that it raises him much above
all the performances of rhetoric or panegyric. I will mention very little that is to be found
in them. Holland was in great expectation, when they saw two such men as the earls of
Ossory and Arlington come over, together with the earl of Danby's eldest son, though the
last only made the show a little greater. Lord Arlington for some days insisted vehemently
on the prince's dismissing Du Moulin, who had discovered the secrets of his office to him.
In this the prince complied, Und Du Moulin was sent to one of their plantations. As to all
other things, lord Arlington talked to him in the strain of a governor ; and seemed to pre-
sume too much on his youth, and on his want of experience. But instead of prevailing on
the prince, he lost him so entirely, that all his endeavours afterwards could never beget any
confidence in him. So he came back, and reckoned this was his last essay, which succeed-
ing so ill, he ever after that withdrew from all business. He made himself easy to the king,
who continued to be still very kind to him.
At Easter a piece of private news came from France, which the duke was much delighted
with, because it did an honour to the order of the Jesuits, to whom he had devoted himself.
The new confessor had so pressed the king of France in Lent to send away his mistress, Mon-
tespan, that he prevailed at last. She was sent to a nunnery. And so the king received
the sacrament, as was said, in a state of contrition. This was written to the duke, and set
out with such circumstances as the French usually do everything that relates to their king.
The duke was much pleased with it. He told me, he had related it with all its circum-
stances to the king, in the duchess of Portsmouth's hearing ; and said, they both heard it
with great uneasiness, and were much out of countenance at it. The duke himself was then
in the best temper I had ever known him in. He was reading Nurembergius, " Of the
Difference of things Temporal and things Eternal ;" and we had much good discourse on
that subject. Lord Arlington ran so much in his mind, that he once said to me, if lord
Arlington would read that book he would not meddle in so many affairs as he did. I saw
he was very jealous of him, and of his interest in the king. Thus I have given a full account
of my acquaintance with the duke.
ijo&t-kish^avottr- stwm-irf^-tliiSt^JFp^^ a session of parliament was held, as
preparatory to one that was designed next winter, in which money was to be asked ; but
none was now asked, it being only called to heal all breaches, and to beget a good under-
standing between the king and his people. The house of commons fell upon duke Lauder-
dale. And those who knew what had passed between him and me, moved that I should be
examined before a committee. I was brought before them. I told them how I had been
commanded out of town. But though that was illegal, yet, since it had been let fall, it was
not insisted on. I was next examined concerning his design of arming the Irish papists.
I said, I, as well as others, had heard him say, he wished the presbyterians in Scotland would
rebel, that he might bring over the Irish papists to cut their throats. I was next examined
concerning the design of bringing a Scotch army into England. I desired to be excused as
to what had passed in private discourse ; to which I thought I was not bound to answer,
unless it were high treason. They pressed me long, and I would give them no other answer.
So they all concluded that I knew great matters, and reported this specially to the house.
Upon that I was sent for and brought before the house. I stood upon it as I had done at
the committee, that I was not bound to answer ; that nothing had passed that was high
treason ; and as to all other things, I did not think myself bound to discover them. I said
farther, I knew duke Lauderdale was apt to say things in a heat, which he did not intend
to do. And, since he had used myself so ill, I thought myself the more obliged not to say
an} thing that looked like revenge for what I had met with from him. I was brought four
OF KING CHARLES II, 253
times to the bar. At last I was told, the house thought they had a right to examine into
everything that concerned the safety of the nation, as well as into matters of treason ; and
they looked on me as bound to satisfy them ; otherwise they would make me feel the weight
of their heavy displeasure, as one that concealed what they thought was necessary to be
knowrn. Upon this I yielded, and gave an account of the discourse formerly mentioned.
They laid great weight on this, and renewed their address against duke Lauderdale *.
I was much blamed for what I had done. Some, to make it look the worse, added, that
I had been his chaplain, which was false ; and that I had been much obliged to him, though
I had never received any real obligation from him, but had done him great services, for
which I had been very unworthily requited. Yet the thing had an ill appearance, as the
disclosing what had passed in confidence : though I make it a great question how far even
that ought to bind a man, wrhen the designs are very wicked, and the person continued still
in the same post and capacity of executing them. I have told the matter as it was, and
must leave myself to the censure of the reader. My love to my country, and my private
friendships, carried me perhaps too far ; especially since I had declared much against clergy-
men meddling in secular affairs, and yet had run myself so deep in them.
This broke me quite with the court, and in that respect proved a great blessing to me.
It brought me out of many temptations : the greatest of all being the kindness that was
growing towards me from the duke, which might have involved me into great difficulties, as
it did expose me to much censure ; all which went off upon this occasion. And I applied
myself to my studies and my function, being then settled preacher at the Rolls, and soon
after lecturer of St. Clements. I lived many years under the protection of sir Harbottle
Grimstone, master of the Rolls, who continued steady in his favour to me, though the king
sent secretary Williamson to desire him to dismiss me. He said he was an old man, fitting
himself for another woild, and he found my ministry useful to him : so he prayed that he
might be excused in that. He was a long and very kind patron to me. I continued ten
years in that post, free from all necessities ; and I thank God that was all I desired. But,
since I was so long happy in so quiet a retreat, it seems but a just piece of gratitude that I
should give some account of that venerable old man.
He was descended from a long-lived family : for his great-grandfather lived till he was
ninety-eight, his grandfather to eighty-six, and his father to seventy-eight, and himself to
eighty-two. He had to the last a great soundness of health, of memory, and of judgment.
He was bred to the study of the law, being a younger brother. Upon his elder brother's
death he threw it up. But falling in love with judge Crook's daughter, the father would
not bestow her on him, unless he would return to his studies ; which he did with great suc-
cess. That judge was one of those who delivered his judgment in the exchequer chamber
against the ship money, which he did with a long and learned argument t. And sir Harbot-
tle's father, who served in parliament for Essex, lay long in prison, because he would not
pay the loan money. Thus both his family and his wife's, were zealous for the interest of
their country. In the beginning of the long parliament he was a great asserter of the laws :
and inveighed severely against all that had been concerned in the former illegal oppression.
His principle was, that allegiance and protection were mutual obligations ; and that the one
went for the other. He thought the law was the measure of both : and that when a legal
protection was denied to one that paid a legal allegiance, the subject had a right to defend
himself. He was much troubled when preachers asserted a divine right of regal government.
He thought it had no other effect but to give an ill impression of them as aspiring men :
nobody was convinced by it ; it inclined their hearers rather to suspect all they said besides ;
it looked like the sacrificing their country to their own preferment ; and an encouraging of
princes to turn tyrants. Yet when the Long parliament engaged in the league with Scot-
land, he would not swear to the covenant. And he discontinued sitting in the house till it
was laid aside. Then he came back and joined with Hollis and the other presbyterians, in a
* Grey, who was a member of the parliament, gives a daughter of sir Thomas Bermet, persuaded him nobly to
imilar account. dare to do right, whatever might follow.— Johnson's Life
t Sir George Crook at first hesitated, but his wife, a of Selden, 221.
2M THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
high opposition to the independents, and to Cromwell in particular, as was told in the first
book. And he was one of the secluded members that were forced out of the house. He fol-
lowed afterwards the practice of the law, but was always looked upon as one who wished
well to the ancient government of England. So he was chosen speaker of that house that
called home the king, and had so great a merit in that whole affair, that he was soon after,
without any application of his own, made master of the Rolls : in which post he continued
to his death with a high reputation, as he well deserved. For he was a just judge ; very
slow, and ready to hear everything that was offered, without passion or partiality. I
thought his only fault was, that he was too rich : and yet he gave yearly great sums in
charity, discharging many prisoners by paying their debts. He was a very pious and
devout man, and spent every day at least an hour in the morning, and as much at night, in
prayer and meditation. And even in winter, when he was obliged to be very early on the
bench, he took care to rise so soon, that he had always the command of that time which he
gave to those exercises. He was much sharpened against popery, but had always a tender-
ness to the dissenters, though he himself continued still in the communion of the church *.
His second wife, whom I knew, was niece to the great sir Francis Bacon, and was the last
heir of that family. She had all the high notions for the church and the crown, in which
she had been bred ; but was the humblest, the devoutest, and best tempered person that I
ever knew of that sort. It was really a pleasure to hear her talk of religion, she did it with
so much elevation and force. She was always very plain in her clothes : and went oft to
jails, to consider the wants of the prisoners, and relieve or discharge them ; and by the mean-
ness of her dress, she passed but for a servant trusted with the charities of others. When
she was travelling in the country, as she drew near a village, she often ordered her coach to
stay behind till she had walked about it, giving orders for the instruction of the children,
and leaving liberally for that end. With two such persons I spent several of my years very
happily. But I now return to the session of parliament.
In the house of commons the business against duke Lauderdale was taken up warmly at
three several times ; and three several addresses were made to the king against him. The
king's answer was, that he would protect no man against law and justice ; but would con-
demn none without special matter well made out. There was no money offered, so ad-
dresses were feeble things. The next attempt was against the earl of Danby, who had
begun to invert the usual methods of the exchequer. But the majority were for him, so
that charge came to nothing. Only those who began it formed a party against him, that
grew in conclusion to be too hard for him. He took a different method from those who were
in the ministry before him. They had taken off the great and leading men, and left the
herd as a despised company, who could do nothing, because they had none to head them
But lord Danby reckoned that the major number was the surer game, so he neglected the
great men, who he thought raised their price too high ; and reckoned that he could gain ten
ordinary men cheaper than one of those. This might have succeeded with him if they that
did lead his party had been wise and skilful men. But he seemed to be jealous of all such,
as if they might gain too much credit with the king. The chief men that he made use of
were of so low a size, that they were baffled in every debate. So that many who were in-
clined enough to vote in all obedience, yet were ashamed to be in the vote on the side that
was manifestly run down in the debate t.
The ablest man of his party was Seymour, who was the first speaker of the house of com-
mons that was not bred to the law. He was a man of great birth, being the elder branch
of the Seymour family ; and was a graceful man, bold and quick : but he had a sort of pride
* To the above character of Sii Harbottle Grimstone f The debates upon the charges against the Earl of
nothing can he added ; nor does it appear, from other au- Danby are very fully given by Grey, and whoever reads !
thorities, that anything need be abated. He was born at them will probably conclude, as the majority of the house
Bnulfield Hal!, near Manningtree, in Essex ; studied the did, that the articles of the proposed impeachment were j
.aw at Lincoln's Inn ; represented Harwich and Colches- not substantiated. Marvell, the satirist, says lie got off i
ter in parliament ; and was recorder of the last named by profuse bribing ; but assertion is not proof, and this is !
town. His other public employments are mentioned in altogether wanting in every one of the authorities the
other pages. (Biog. Brit. ; Morant's Hist, of Colchester; editor has consulted upon this subject.
Wood's Athenae Oxon. )
OF KING CHARLES II.
BO peculiar to himself, that I never saw any thing like it. lie had neither shame nor
decency with it. He was violent against the court, till he forced himself into good posts.
He was the most assuming speaker that ever sat in the chair. He knew the house, and
every man in it so well, that by looking about he could tell the fate of any question. So, if
any thing was put, when the court party was not well gathered together, he would have held
the house from doing any thing, by a wilful mistaking, or mis-stating, the question. By that
he gave time to those who were appointed for that mercenary work, to go about and gather
in all their party ; and he would discern when they had got the majority. And then he
would very fairly state the question, when he saw he was sure to carry it *.
A great many of the court grew to be so uneasy, especially when they saw the king was
under the influence of French and popish counsels, that they were glad to be out of the
way at critical times. On some occasions they would venture to vote against the court ;
of which the memorable answer of Hervey's, who was treasurer to the queen, was a noted
instance. He was one whom the king loved personally ; and yet upon a great occasion he
voted against that which the king desired* So the king chid him severely for it. Next
day, another important question falling in, he voted as the king would have him. So the
king took notice of it at night, and said, you were not against me to-day. He answered,
" No, Sir ; I was against my conscience to-day." This was so drily delivered, that the king-
seemed pleased with it : and it was much talked off. While things went thus in the house
of commons, there was the greatest and longest debate in the house of lords, that has been in
all my time. They sat upon it often till midnight.
It was about the test that lord Danby had contrived, as was formerly mentioned. Lord
Danby, and lord Finch, and some of the bishops, were the chief arguers for it. They said,
it was necessary that a method should be found out to discriminate the good subjects from
the bad : we had been lately involved in a long civil war, occasioned by the ill principles
* Sir Edward Seymour, the fifth of that name in lineal
succession, was born in 1633. From the time of his first
appearance in parliament, as a representative of the city of
Exeter, he became a very prominent member, (n 1667
he was the chief promoter of the Earl of Clarendon's im-
peachment. In io73 he was unanimously chosen speaker,
on the resignation, for assumed ill-health, of Sir Job
Charlton. Immediately afterwards he was made trea-
surer of the navy, a kind of retainer in the interest of the
court, that is not very commendable in the speaker of the
popular branch of the legislature. His future career
will appear in the course of this work. The last official
appointment he enjoyed was that of comptroller of the
household to queen Anne. From this he was dismissed
in 1704. He still continued to appear in parliament until
his death in 1708. He was buried at Maiden Bradley,
where there is a very beautiful monument erected to his
memory. Grainger's Biog. Diet. vi. 1 28, ed. 1 824.
The carl of Dartmouth has preserved an anecdote of him
fully illustrating Burnet's remark upon " his peculiar
pride." His coach breaking down near dialing Cross,
he ordered the beadles to stop the next gentleman's they
met, and bring it to him. The gentleman expostulated
at being turned out of his own coach, but sir Edward told
v)im it was more fitting for him to walk in the streets
ill an the speaker of the commons, and left him in that con-
dition without further apology. — Oxford cd. of this work.
Mr. Noble has accurately described him as a man of
morose disposition, but of great good sense, invincible
obstinacy, and incorruptible integrity ; feared more than
loved, and respected more than esteemed. The wags were
]>le:,scd when they could annoy this impersonation of pride
:<nd haughtiness. One gave him a petition of no moment,
to present to the house; Seymour took it from his pocket
v-'ith his accustomed gravity, and putting on his spectacle*,
•egan to read : — " The humble petition of Oliver Crom-
well— the devil !" The laugh was so loud and long,
that the old man, throwing down the paper, hastened from
the house, confuted and in wrath at the insult to his dig-
nity. Every Englishman, though he laughs at his pecu-
liarities, must love his virtues, and venerate him as the
man to whom we are principally indebted for the Habeas
Corpus Act. Temperate in the use of wealth, he was
frugal, yet liberal in his expenditure ; nor did he enrich
himself and his family as he might have done. Proud of
his ancestry, and haughty as he was, yet he would not
accept a barony from queen Anne ; but he permitted the
eldest son of his second marriage to take the title of Con-
way, whose descendants now possess one of the old Seymour
titles, the marquisatc of Hertford. In private life he was
worthy, if not amiable ; true to his two wives : and to his
children careful, if not kind; to his tenants and attendants
a good, though not bountiful landlord and master. His
eldest son and heir, sir Edward Seymour, was father of
Edward, the eighth duke of Somerset, who succeeded to
this title by the extinction of the male descendants of the
first duke, the protector Somerset, by his second marriage ;
who, to gratify the inordinate pride of his second wife,
procured his title to go to her posterity ; but she " conde-
scended" that the children of his first marriage should be
placed in the limitation, which, after two hundred years,
now reverted to them. — Noble's Continuation of Grain?,
ger, ii. 169.
t John Hervey was the eldest son of sir William Her-
vey, of Ickworth, in Suffolk. In the reign of the first
Chailes, he appeared both in parliament and in the field
on the side of the prerogative. lit the reign of the second
Charles, he was treasurer and receiver-general to the
queen. Throughout his life he was a leading member in
the house of commons. He was learned and accomplished,
and would deserve respect if he had no other merit than
being the friend and patron of the poet Cowley. He died
in 1679, and, having no issue, his property descended to
his brother Thomas, father of the first earl of Bristol.—
Grainger' B Hist. v. 106.
2£G THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
that some had taken up with relation to government : it was fit to prevent the retnrn of such
miseries. The king had granted a very full indemnity, and had observed it religiously ; but
there was no reason, while so much of the old leaven still remained, to leave the nation
exposed to men of such principles : it was not fit to make a parliament perpetual ; yet that
was a less evil than to run the hazard of a bad election, especially when jealousies and fears
had been blown about the nation : a good constitution was to be preserved by all prudent
methods. No man was to be pressed to take this test ; but, as they, who were not willing
to come into such an engagement, ought to have the modesty to be contented with the favour
and connivance of the government, so, if that did not teach them good manners, it might
be fit to use severer methods. To all this great opposition was made. It was plain, the
duke did not like it ; but the king was so set on it, that he did not declare himself against it :
but all the papists were against it. They thought the bringing any test in practice would
certainly bring on one that would turn them out of the house. The lords Shaftesbury, Buck-
ingham, Hollis, Halifax, and all those who were thought the country party, opposed this
mightily. They thought there ought to be no tests beyond the oath of allegiance, upon the
elections to parliament ; that it being the great privilege of Englishmen, that tli^y were not
to be taxed but by their representatives ; it was therefore thought a disinheriting men of
the main part of their birthright, to do any thing that should shut them out from their votes
in electing : all tests in public assemblies were thought dangerous, and contrary to public
liberty ; for if a parliament thought any law inconvenient for the good of the whole, they
must be supposed still free to alter it ; and no previous limitation could bind up their legis-
lature. A great deal was said, to shew that the peace of the world was best secured by good
laws, and good government ; and that oaths or tests were no security : the scrupulous might
be fettered by them, yet the bulk of the world wTould boldly take any test, and as boldly
break through it ; of which the late times had given large proofs. The matter of this test
was very doubtful ; for, though generally speaking, the king's person and his power were not
to be distinguished, yet that was not universally true : an infant king, or a lunatic, wrere
exceptions ; as also a king in his enemies' hands, which was the case of Henry the Sixth, for
whose power his own party fought even against his person : so an exception was to be under-
stood ; otherwise the proposition, that affirmed it was a traitorous position to separate them,
was not true ; nor could it be reasonable to bind up men against alterations : every new law
was an alteration ; it was not easy to define how far the power of making alterations might
go, and where it must stop. These things were best left at large. Upon the whole matter, as
they were against any parliamentary test, so they were more particularly against this. Lord
Shaftestury distinguished himself more in this session than ever he had done before. He
spoke once a whole hour, to shew the inconvenience of condemning all resistance upon any
pretence whatsoever. He said, it might be proper to lay such ties upon those who served in
the militia, and in corporations, because there was still a superior power in parliament to
declare the extent of the oath : but it might be of very ill consequence to lay it on a parlia-
ment, since there might be cases, though so far out of view, that it was hard to suppose
them, in which he believed no man would say it was not lawful to resist. If a king would
make us a province, and tributary to France, and subdue the nation by a French army, or to
the papal authority, must we be bound in that case tamely to submit ? Upon which he
said many things, that did cut to the quick. And yet, though his words were watched, so
that it was resolved to have sent him to the Tower if any one word had fallen from him
that had made him liable to such a censure, he spoke both with so much boldness and so
much caution, that though he provoked the court extremely, no advantage could be taken
against him. The court carried every question in favour of the test, though with great
opposition, and a protestation made upon every step that was carried. So that the bill was
in a fair way to have passed ; and very probably it would have passed in the house of com
mons, when by an unlooked-for emergency the session was broken.
Ever since the end of king James the First's reign, petitions of appeal were brought to j
the house of lords from decrees in chancery. This rose from a parity of reason, because writs
of error lay from the courts of law to the house of lords ; and since the business of the ,
chancery grew to be so extended and comprehensive, it was not thought safe to leave i» ;
,
OF KING CHARLES II. 257
'holly to the lord chancellor's conscience, So this practice, though so lately begun, grew
on by degrees to be the main business of the house of lords. A petition of appeal was
brought against a member of the house of commons *. The lords received it, and made an
order upon it. The member being served with it, brought it into the house of commons ;
and they voted it a I- "ich of privilege for the lords to meddle with one of their house. The
lords on the other hand said, they were bound to do justice to all; and no privilege could lie
against that ; and, since they never sat but when the commons sat likewise, if a privilege
from that house could stop their proceedings, there must be a failure in justice ; and, since
no privilege was ever pretended in the case of a writ of error, it could not lie against an
appeal : so they resolved to proceed in the cause. The commons passed a vote against any
lawyers that should plead at the lords' bar in this cause ; but the lords commanded tie
counsel to go on, with which they complied. And as they went from the lords' bar, they
were by an order from the house of commons sent to the Tower. But they were by another
order from the lords set at liberty. So the two houses being as it were at war, it was neces-
sary to put an end to the session.
This was very uneasy to the court ; for they saw it was a very sure method to break a
session of parliament, every time that it was taken up. I am not sure if this was laid, or if
it happened by accident. Lord Shaftesbury said, it was laid by himself t ; but others assured
me, it happened in course, though it produced great effects : for there never was a strength
in the court to raise this debate of the test in any subsequent session. And as this made
the court apprehend they might by the prosecution of the same appeal lose the next session,
since the prorogation did only discontinue parliamentary proceedings, but not judiciary ones ;
so they feared this might go so far as to force a dissolution of the present parliament ; to
which the court would be very hardly brought, after they had practised so long upon the
members, and knew them all so well.
In this session, on a day that grievances were to be gone upon, Grimstone said, that con-
sidering the extent of privilege, he looked on a standing parliament as the greatest grievance
of the nation ; so many men being exempted from justice, and from the demands of their
creditors, for so long, and so indefinite a time. This motion was let fall at that time ; but it
was not forgotten : and it was likely to be taken up when new opportunities should be
offered. The summer went over without any considerable "accidents at home.
A new session met next winter ; and at the first opening it, the king laid before the com-
mons the great difficulties he was in by the anticipations of his revenues. It was then gene-
rally thought, that the king was in such straits, that, if money could not be obtained, he
must turn to other counsels, and to other ministers. The debate went high in the committee
of the whole house. It was offered on the one side to shew, that the king had not enough
in his hands to maintain the government, and to secure the nation, though our neutrality at
that time made trade flow in upon us, so that the customs rose higher than ever. On the
other hand it was said, that if anticipations were once admitted as a reason for a supply, the
court would never want that reason. It was fitter to examine by whose means, or on
what design, those anticipations were made. At last the question was put ; and, the vote
being then stated, and the previous question being then put, whether the main question
should be then put, or not, the votes were equal. So sir Charles Harbord, who was in the
chair, gave it for putting the main question: but, some of the country side coming in
between the two questions, the main question was lost by two or three ; so near was the
court to the carrying so great a point. Harbord was much blamed for his rashness. He said,
the duty of the chair was always to set matters forward ; and so he ought to have given it
for putting the main question ; and if the same equality had continued, he said, he would
have given it for the court. He was a very rich and covetous man, who knew England well ;
and his parts were very quick about him in that great age, being past eighty. A lively
repartee was made by his own son to him in the debate. He had said, the right way of
dealing with the king, and of gaining him to them, was, to lay their hands on their purses,
* It was brought by a Dr. Thomas Shirley against Sir f- Marvcll considered " that the commons were not iu
John Fagg. See the proceedings in Grey's Debates, iii. earnest iu the affair, but that some crafty members blew
the coals to prevent the Test Act coming among them."
8
258 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
and to deal roundly with him. So his son said, he seconded his motion : but he meant that
they should lay their hands on their purses, as he himself did, and hold them well shut, that
no money should go out of them *. The earl of Danby was much disappointed at this ;
yet he took heart, since it was brought so near, that he reckoned he would make the next
session sure. The petition of appeal, that had broken the former session, was now brought
on again before the lords. The court tried their whole strength to keep it off, till they saw
what might be expected from the commons. So, upon the miscarriage of the great vote in
the house of commons, the lords went on upon the petition ; and, the commons opposing
them vigorously, as before, it was visible that the parliament must be prorogued.
Upon this it was proposed in the house of lords to address the king for dissolving the
present parliament. It was manifest the two houses could no longer maintain the corre-
spondence that was necessary. In a new parliament this must fall to the ground ; but it
could not while this lasted. It was said, a standing parliament changed the constitution of
England. The king did no more consult with his people, nor know them ; but he had now
a cabal of single persons to deal with. The people were now cut off from their liberty of
electing, and so had no more a true representative. It was said, that a parliament of a long
continuance would be either an engine to sell the liberties of their country, or would, by
rendering themselves popular, join with the people against the crown. In either case it was
likely to be destructive to the constitution. So it was moved, that an address should be
made to the king for dissolving the parliament ; and, to the wonder of all men, the duke
joined in it. The majority of the temporal lords were for it ; but the bench of bishops was
against it : and so it was not carried. The thing became the universal subject of discourse.
It »vas infused into the members of the house of commons, that, if they would not be more
tractable, arid help the king out of his necessities, he was sure a new parliament would give
him money, and make him easy ; and that the rather for having dissolved them. This
wrought on many of them, who had been chosen while the nation was in a fit, or rather a
fury of loyalty. They knew they could never hope to be chosen again. Many of them
were ruined in their fortunes, and lived upon their privileges, and upon their pensions.
They had got it among them for a maxim, which contributed not a little to our preservation
while we were in such hands, that, as they must not give the king too much at a time, lest
there should be no more use for them, so they were to take care not to starve the court, lest
they themselves should be starved by that means. They were indeed generally both against
popery and France : and, to redeem their credit for the money that they were ready to give
somewhat too lavishly, they said, when they went into their countries, that it was on design
to fix the king to an English interest, and the protestant religion. And they had talked so
high on those heads, that the court itself could not manage them, when any thing relating
to these came before them. Some of them were high for the prerogative ; others high for
the church ; and all the mercenary men were careful of themselves. In opposition to these
a great party was formed, who declared more heartily for the protestant religion, and for the
interest of England. The duke of Buckingham, and the earl of Shaftesbury, opened many
of their eyes, and let them know the designs of the court. And indeed they were then so
visible, that there was enough seen, without such secret intelligence, to convince the most
incredulous. Sir William Coventry had the greatest credit of any man in the house. He
never meddled personally with any minister. He had a perfect understanding of affairs.
So he laid open the errors of the government with the more authority, because he mixed no
passion nor private resentments with it. His brother f usually answered him with much
life in a repartee, but not with the weight and force with which he spoke. Colonel Birch
was a man of a peculiar character ; he had been a carrier at first, and retained still, even to
an affectation, the clownishness of his education. He got up in the progress of the war to
be a colonel, and to be concerned in the excise ; and at the Restoration lie was found to be so
useful in managing the excise, that he was put in a good post. He was the roughest and
boldest speaker in the house, and talked in the language and phrases of a carrier, but with
a beauty and eloquence that was always acceptable. I heard Coventry say, he was the best
* Grey, \vho was a member, relates this repartee as being made the previous session, and that Us uttcrer was
Sir Thomas Meres. — Grey's Debates, ii. 35. f Mr. Henry Coventry, gecretary of state.
OF KING CHARLES II.
259
:
speaker to carry a popular assembly before him that he had ever known. He spoke always
with much life and heat ; but judgment was not his talent *. Waller was the delight of
the house ; and even at eighty he said the liveliest things of any among them ; he was only
concerned to say that which should make him be applauded : but he never laid the business
of the house to heart, being a vain and empty, though a witty, man. He deserves the
character of being one of the great refiners of our language and poetry. He was for near
sixty years one of the best of all our writers that way f . The two men of quality that were
the most considered were, the lord Russell and the lord Cavendish. Lord Russell was a man
>f great candour, and of a general reputation ; universally beloved, and trusted ; of a gene-
rous and obliging temper. He had given such proofs of an undaunted courage, and of an
unshaken firmness, that I never knew any man have so entire a credit in the nation as he
had. He quickly got out of some of the disorders into which the court had drawn him ;
and ever after that his life was unblemished in all respects. He had from his first education
an inclination to favour the non-conformists ; and wished the laws could have been made
easier to them, or they more pliant to the law. He was a slow man, and of little discourse ;
but he had a true judgment, when he considered things at his own leisure. His understand-
ing was not defective ; but his virtues were so eminent, that they would have more than
balanced real defects, if any had been found in the other J. Lord Cavendish, afterwards earl,
and then duke, of Devonshire, was too much a libertine both in principle and practice. He
went off from the court at first upon resentments for some disappointments there. He was
ambitious, and had the courage of a hero, with an unusual proportion both of wit and know-
ledge. He had a great softness in his exterior deportment §. Littleton and Powle were the
* Colonel Birch had a coarse but ready wit, with which
he retorted without distinction upon all assailants. Sir
Edward Seymour, or Mr. Coventry, in the course of a
debate, reflected upon his former occupation of a carrier :
Birch replied with justifiable contempt, " It is very true,
as that gentleman says, I once was a carrier ; and let me
tell that gentleman it is very fortunate for him that he
never was a carrier, for if he had he would have been a
carrier still.'1'' Charles the Second being displeased with
one of the colonel's motions in the house, told him that
he remembered forty-one ; to which the colonel replied,
that also he remembered forty-eight. — Oxford ed. of this
work.
•f* Edmund Waller was excellent as a poet, wit, and
orator ; but he was not a worthy, honourable man. He
was inconsistent in his public conduct, changing whenever
it appeared to his interest — lauding in verse the two
Charleses and Cromwell, plotting against the parliament,
and thinking no sacrifice of his friends, his dignity, or his
purse too great to save his life when the confederacy was
discovered — wealthy, yet extremely parsimonious — and
the most servile flatterer possible. His memoir by Dr.
Johnson, in his " Lives of the Poets," exhibits him in his
true character. He was born in 1605, and died in 1687.
He wrote a " Panegyric " upon Cromwell ; and a " Con-
gratulation" to Charles the Second. The first is by much
the most excellent composition , and when the king men-
tioned to him the disparity, Waller most happily replied —
" Poets, Sire, succeed better in fiction than in truth."
\ To this character of the proto-rnartyr of our liberties,
lord William Russell, nothing has to be added but that
the testimony of those to whom he stood in these several
degrees of relationship declare, that he was most exem-
plary as a son, a husband, and a master. He was the third
son of the first duke of Bedford, and born about the year
1641. Although educated in private and under puritani-
ca) tutors, he was in early manhood of dissipated habits ;
but in 1667, he married the admirable Rachael Wriothes-
ley, daughter of the earl of Southampton, and from that
hour he reformed. The principal events of his public life
will be noticed hereafter; and here it needs only to be
mentioned that more ample details of this great and
good man may be found in ".The Life of Lord W. Rus-
sell," by the present Lord John Russell — " Memoirs of
Lady Russell, with her Letters, &c."
§ It would give us just ground to esteem William Caven-
dish, first duke of Devonshire, if it was simply said that
he was the intimate friend of lord William Russell. He
was born in 1640. When only just twenty-one years old,
he was chosen one of tho representatives of the county of
Derby, and continued a member of that long parliament
until it was dissolved. It appears, as is rather too gene-
rally observed by Burnet, he was much addicted to
women and wine. His courage was beyond all doubt.
He served as a volunteer on board the fleet with distin-
guished honour in 1665 ; and in 1669, when at the opera
'in Paris, he struck one of three French officers who
insulted him upon its stage. They all attacked him with
their swords, and though he fought them most courage-
ously, they severely wounded, and probably would have
killed him, if a sturdy Swiss servant had not thrown him
over, into the pit. The officers were imprisoned, but at
his particular request they were discharged. In a letter to
him from Sir W. Temple, it is said, that his assailants
amounted to seven or eigbt, "which would never have been
done in any other place but France." — Kennet's Memoirs
of the Cavendishes ; Sir W. Temple's Works, ii. 180, fol.
He was a most accomplished, elegant, and talented man ;
uniting the rarely conjoined qualities of brilliant wit and
sound judgment. His public services will be frequently
noticed in the following pages, and support the character
he drew of himself in the inscription he ordered to be
placed upon his monument.
WILLIELMUS DUX DEVON,
BONORUM PRINCIPUM FIDELIS SUBDITUS
1NIM1CUS ET INVISUS TYIUNNIS.
« William, duke of Devonshire, the faithful subject of
good princes, the enemy to, and hated by, tyrants."
He died in 1707. It was during his life that the magni
ficent house at Chatsworth attained its splendour. Mar-
shal Tallard passed some part of his captivity here, and
upon leaving it, told the duke, that when in future days
he computed the time he was a captive in England, he
should not reckon his days of enjoyment at Chatsworth.
8 2
200 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
men that laid the matters of the house with the greatest dexterity and care. Powle was
very learned in precedents, and parliament journals, which goes a great way in their debates ;
and, when he had time to prepare himself, he was a clear and strong speaker. Littleton was
the ablest and the most vehement arguer of them all. He commonly lay quiet till the end
of a debate ; and he often ended it, speaking with a strain of conviction and authority, that
was not easily resisted. I lived the very next door to him for several years, and we spent a
great deal of our time every day together. He told me all their management ; and com-
monly, when he was to put his whole strength to argue any point, he used to talk it over
with me, and to set me to object all that I could against him. He lived wholly in London.
So matters were most in his hands during the intervals of parliament : and by his means it
was, that I arrived at such knowledge of their intrigues. He was a wise and worthy man,
had studied much modern history, and the present state and interest of Europe. Sir
Thomas Lee was a man that valued himself upon artifice and cunning, in which he was a
great master, without being out of countenance when it was discovered. Vajjglian, the chief
justice's son, was a man of great integrity, had much pride, but did great service. These
were the chief men that preserved the nation from a very deceitful and practising court, and
from a corrupt house of commons. And by their skill and firmness they, from a small
number who began the opposition, grew at last to be the majority.
All this I thought fit to lay together, and to fill as it were an empty place in my history ;
for, as our main business lay in preparing for, or managing a session of parliament, so we had
now along interval, of above a year, between this session in winter 1675, and the next
session of parliament, which was not till the spring in 1 677- The French were much set on
procuring a peace : and they, seeing how much the parliament was set on engaging the king
in the alliance, prevailed with him to discontinue the session, for which no doubt he had
round sums of money sent to him.
About this time Lockhart, the ambassador in France, died. The farther he saw into the
designs of the court, he grew the more uneasy in the post he was in, though he acted in it
with great spirit and resolution, both with relation to his own master, and to the French
king ; of which I will set down two passages, that may be very instructive to ambassadors.
In this time of neutrality, the French privateers took many English ships, pretending they
were Dutch, only with English passes. One of these was taken by a privateer, that, as was
believed, Pepys_*? then secretary to the English admiralty, and in great favour with the duke,
had built ; and, as wras said, out of the king's stores. The merchants proved in council, that
the ship was English. So Lockhart had an order to demand her ; and he pressed it so
effectually, that an order was sent from the court of France to discharge her : but before
that was executed, the king wras prevailed on by Pepys, to tell the French ambassador, that
he did not concern himself in that ship : lie believed merchants were rogues, and could bring
witnesses to prove whatsoever they had a mind to : so the court of France might do what
they pleased in that matter. This was written to Versailles a day or two after the former
order was sent ; but upon it a new one went to Dunkirk, where the ship lay, to stop her.
This came before she could get out. So Lockhart, being informed of that, went to court,
and complained heavily. He was told what the king himself had said about it : he
answered resolutely, that the king spoke to them only by him. Yet he wrote upon this to
the court of England, desiring to be recalled, since he could serve no longer with honour, after
he had been so disowned. Upon this the king wrote him a letter with his own pen, excusing
the matter the best he could, and justified him in what he had done. And upon that secret
orders were sent, and the ship was discharged. The other was a higher point, considering
the bigotry of the king of France. Lockhart had a French Popish servant, who was dyiug,
and sent for the sacrament : upon which it was brought with the procession ordinary in
such cases. Lockhart, hearing of this, ordered his gates to be shut : and upon that many
were inflamed, and were running to force his gates ; but he ordered all his family to stand
to their arms, and, if any force was offered, to fire. There was a great noise made of this ;
but no force was offered. He resolved to complain first, and so went to court, and expostu-
* This was Mr. Samuel Pepys, whose very valuable and interesting " Diary " has Ititcly been published*
OF KING CHARLES II. 261
lated upon it. He said his house was his master's house ; and here a public triumph was
attempted on his master's religion, and affronts were offered him : he said, if a priest had
brought the sacrament privately, he would have connived at it ; but he asked reparation for
so public an injury. The king of France seemed to be highly displeased at this, calling it
the greatest indignity that had ever been done to his God during his reign. Yet the point
did not bear arguing ; so Lockhart said nothing to that. When Lockhart went from him,
Pomponne followed him, sent after him by the king, and told him, he would force the king
to suffer none of his subjects to serve him. He answered, he would order his coachman to
drive the quicker to Paris, to prevent that ; and left Pomponne to guess the meaning. As
soon as he came to his house, he ordered all his French servants to be immediately paid off,
and dismissed. The court of England was forced to justify him in all this matter. A
public letter of thanks was written to him upon it ; and the court of France thought fit to
digest it ; but the French king looked on him ever after with great coldness, if not with
aversion. Soon after that he fell into a languishing, which after some months carried him
off. I have ever looked on him as the greatest man that his country produced in this age,
next to sir Robert Murray.
The earl of Danby began now to talk against the French interest with open mouth.
Rouvigny stayed but two years in England ; for, though he served his master's interests but too
well, yet the Popish party could not bear the want of a chapel in the French ambassador's
house ; so he was recalled, and Courtin was sent in his room. Before he parted, he talked
roundly with lord Danby : he said he was going into popular interests against those of his
master's honour, who having engaged the king of France in the war, and being forced to leave
him to fight it out alone, ought not to turn against him ; especially, since the king of
France referred every thing to him as the arbiter and mediator of the peace : he remembered
him of the old duke of Buckingham's fate, who thought to become popular by breaking the
Spanish match ; and it was his ruin. He said the king of France was the king's best friend,
and truest ally ; and if he made the king forsake him, and depend on his parliament, being
so tempered as they were then, both the king and he might come to repent it, when it was
too late : I had all this from himself. To this lord Danby replied, that he spoke as a faithful
servant to his own master, and that he himself would act as a faithful servant to his master.
Courtin spoke a great deal to the same purpose, in the prince of Conde's presence, when I had
the honour to wait on him. He told me there was a strange reverse in things : lord Danby
was at that time suffering for being in the French interest ; and lord Montague was popular
as being against it : whereas, to his knowledge, during his employment in England, lord
Danby was an enemy to their interest, as much as lord Montague was for it. I can say
nothing as to one point, whether any great sums came over from France all this while, or
lot. Some watched the rising and falling of the exchange, by which men skilful in those
latters can judge, when any great sum passes from one kingdom to another, either in specie,
by bill : but they could never find out anything to make them conclude it was done.
>rd Montague told me he tried often to get into that secret, but in vain : he often said to
the king, that, if he would trust him, he could make better bargains for him, than others
made ; but the king never answered him a word on that head ; and he believed, that
what sums soever came over, they were only to the duchess of Portsmouth, or to the king's
privy purse ; and that the French ambassador had the sole managing of that matter, the
king perhaps not being willing to trust any of his own subjects with so important and so
dangerous a secret. In all companies the earl of Danby was declaring openly against France,
and Popery ; and the see of London falling then void by Henchman's death, he brought
Compton, brother to the earl of Northampton, to succeed him. He was made bishop of
Oxford upon Crew's being promoted to Duresme (Durham).
Compton carried arms for some years. When he was past thirty, he took orders. He
was an humble and modest man. He applied himself more to his function than bishops had
commonly done. He went much about his diocese, and preached, and confirmed in many
places. His preaching was without much life or learning ; for he had not gone through his
studies with the exactness that was fitting. He was a great patron of the converts fross
262 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Popery, and of those protestants, whom the bad usage they were beginning to meet with in
France drove over to us ; and by these means he came to have a great reputation. He was
making many complaints to the king, and often in council, of the insolence of the papists,
and of Coleman's in particular ; so that the king ordered the duke to dismiss Coleman out of
his service : yet he continued still in his confidence. But with these good qualities Compton
was a weak man, wilful and strangely wedded to a party. He was a property to lord Danby,
and was turned by him as he pleased. The duke hated him ; but lord Danby persuaded both
the king and him, that, as his (Compton's) heat did no great hurt to any person, so the giving
way to it helped to lay the jealousies of the church party. About a year after that, Sheldon,
dying, Compton was persuaded that lord Danby had tried with all his strength to promote
him to Canterbury, though that was never once intended. There were none of the order
that were in any sort fitted to fill that see, whom the court could trust *.
Sancroft, dean of St. Paul's, was raised to it. He was a man of solemn deportment, had
a sullen gravity in his looks, and was considerably learned. He had put on a monastic strict-
ness, and lived abstracted from company. These things, together with his living unmarried,
arid his being fixed in the old maxims of high loyalty, and a superstitious valuing of little
things, made the court conclude, that he was a man who might be entirely gained to serve
all their ends ; or, at least, that he would be an unactive, speculative man, and give them
little opposition in anything that they might attempt when they had more promising oppor-
tunities. He was a dry, cold man, reserved, and peevish ; so that none loved him, and few/
esteemed him : yet the high church party were well pleased with his promotion.
As lord Danby thus raised his creatures in the church, so he got all men turned but of
their places that did not entirely depend on him ; and went on in his credit with the king, still
assuring him, that, if he would leave things to his conduct, he would certainly bring about
the whole cavalier party again to him. And such was the corruption and poverty of that
party, that, had it not been that French and popish counsels were so visible in the whole
course of our affairs, he had very probably gained them to have raised the king's power, and
to have extirpated the dissenters, and to have brought things very near to the state they
were in, in king Charles the First's time, before the war.
All this while the papists were not idle. They tried their strength with the king to get
the parliament dissolved ; in which their hopes carried them so far, that Coleman drew a
declaration for justifying it. Their design in this was, once to divide the king and his people ;
for they reckoned the new parliament would not be so easy to him as this was. For how
angry soever this was at him, and he sometimes at them, yet they saw that a severe act
against popery, or some steps made against France, would dispose them to forget all former
quarrels, and to give money : and as the king always wanted that, and loved to be easy, so
the prospect of it was ever in his view. They feared, that at some time or other, this might
make him both sacrifice Popery, and forsake France. So they took all possible methods to
engage the king to a more entire dependence on France, and to a distrust of his own people.
They were labouring for a general peace in all courts where they had any interest. The
prince of Orange's obstinacy was the common subject of their complaints. Lord Shaftesbury
tried, upon the duke's concurring in the vote for an address to have the parliament dissolved,
if he could separate him from the earl of Danby : and he sent a message to him by the lord
Stafford, that his voting as he did in that matter had gained much on many who were
* It will be necessary here to give no more of Dr. Henry In this he rapidly obtained preferment. In 1674 he was
Compton's life than that part which preceded this year, as promoted to the see of Oxford, and further to that of
his future conduct will be mentioned in subsequent pages. London, in 1676, as mentioned in the text. He \vas
He was the youngest son of the second earl of Northamp- emphatically known in that time of struggle between the
ton, and born in 1632. He was a member of both the papists and the church of England, as " the Protestant
universities. He inherited the courageous spirit of his bishop" a sobriquet that sufficiently expressed the public
father, who died in the field for Charles the First. He opinion as to the inclinations and faithfulness of some of
was only ten years old when the battle of Edge-hill was his episcopal brethren. He was the tutor of the princesses
fought, and was, foi the sake of security, in the royal camp Mary and Anne, and by him they were confirmed and
during that bloody day. After the Restoration he accepted married. For a lengthened life of this worthy man, the
a cornetcy in a regiment commanded by the earl of Oxford, reader may consult Kippis's Biograph. Britan. ; Wood's
but soon deserted the profession of arms for the church. AthenscOxon. ; and Salmon's Lives of the English Bishops.
OF KING CHARLES II. 2<W
formerly his enemies ; he wished he would use his interest with the king to get that brought
about ; and he durst undertake that a new parliament should be more inclinable to grant
the papists a toleration, than they would ever find this would prove.
But the duke and lord Danby were too firmly united to be easily divided ; for whatever
lord Danby gave out, he made the duke believe, that all that he intended would really turn
to his service. Coleman was very busy in writing many letters to all places, but chiefly to
the court of France. He was in all his despatches setting forth the good state of the duke's
affairs, and the great strength he was daily gaining. He was either very sanguine, if he
believed this himself, or very bold in offering to impose it so positively on others. He was
always full of assurances, that, if a peace could be brought about, so that the king of France
was set at liberty to assist them with his purse, and his force, they were never in such hopes
of succeeding in the great design of rooting out this pestilent heresy, that had so long overrun
these northern kingdoms, as now. He had a friend, one sir William Throgmorton, of whom
he intended to make great use. He and his wife had prevailed with him and his lady to change
their religion ; and so he sent them over to France, recommending him to the king's confessor,
F. Ferrier, as a man that might do them great service, if he could be made one of theirs. So
Ferrier, looking on him as a man of importance, applied himself to turn him, which was soon
done : and the confessor, to raise the value of his convert, spoke of him to the king in such a
strain, that he was much considered. When his lady abjured, the duke of Orleans led her
up to the altar. He took great state on him, and soon spent all he had. He was a busy
man between the two courts ; but, before he got into any considerable post, Ferrier died, and
the new confessor did not take such care of him as his predecessor had done : so he was forced
to quit his high living, and retire to a private house. And he sent his lady into a monas-
tery ; yet he continued still to be Coleman's agent, and correspondent. He went often to
see an English lady, that was of their religion, lady Brown ; and being one day with her, he
received a deep wound by a knife struck into his thigh, that pierced the great artery.
Whether the lady did it to defend herself, or he to show the violence of his passion, was not
known ; it was not possible to stop the bleeding : yet the lady would have him carried out
of her house. He died in the house of one Hollman, an eminent man of their religion, then at
Paris. The whole matter was carried off in such secrecy, that Lockhart, then at Paris, could
never penetrate farther into it. I had this from his lady after his death.
Coleman quickly found out another correspondent that was more useful to him than he
whom he lost could ever have been, F. St. German, a Jesuit, who was sent over with the
duchess, and passed for her confessor, though I have been assured that was a mistake. He
had all tlie heat of his order in him, and was apt to talk very boldly. I was sometimes in
company with him. He was complained of in council by the bishop of London, for some
practice on one that was come over a convert, whom he was between threatening and per-
suasion working on, in order to the sending him back. This came to be discovered. Upon
which he fled ; and on him Coleman fixed for his chief correspondent. Howard was about
this time by cardinal Altieri's means promoted to be a cardinal ; and upon that the king and
duke sent compliments to Rome. This opened a negotiation writh that court, that was put
in the hands of the internuncio at Brussels. So it was proposed that a sum of money
should be given the king, if in return of that some suitable favours for those of their reli-
gion could be obtained. Coleman was sent over by the duke to Brussels, to treat about it,
none being in the secret but the lord Arundel. Yet, as he understood it, the king himself
knew of it. When he went thither, he found the sum offered was so small, and the con-
ditions demanded were so high, that he made no progress in the negotiation. Whatsoever
Coleman did in the main business, he took good care of himself. All his letters were full of
their being able to do nothing for want of money ; and he made the French ambassador
believe, he could do his master great service if he was well supplied. He got once 2,500
guineas from him, to gain his master some friends ; but he applied it all to furnish out his
own expense. He was at that time so lifted up, that he had a mind to pass for the head of
the party : and of this I will give one instance in which I myself had a share.
Sir Philip Terwhit, a papist, had married a zealous protestant, who suspecting his religion,
charged him with it : but he denied it before marriage, and carried that so far, that he received
264 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the sacrament with her in her own church. After they were married, she found that he had
deceived her ; and they lived untowardly together. At this time some scruples were put in
her head, with wilich she acquainted me, and seemed fully satisfied with the answers that I
gave her. She came afterwards to me, and desired I would come to her house, and talk of
all those matters with some that her husband would bring to meet us. I told her 1 would
not decline the thing, if desired, though I seldom knew good come of such conferences. She
made the same proposition to Dr. Stillingfleet, and he gave the same answer. So a day was
set, and we went thither, and found ten or twelve persons, that were not known to us. "We
were scarcely set down, when Coleman came in, who took the whole debate upon him. I
wrote down a very exact account of all that passed, and sent it to them, and had their addi-
tions to it ; and I printed it. The thing made a great noise, and was a new indication of
Coleman's arrogance. Soon after that the lady, who continued firm upon this conference,
was possessed with new scruples about the validity of our ordinations. I got from her the
paper that was put in her hand, and answered it ; and she seemed satisfied with that like-
wise : but afterwards the uneasiness of her life prevailed more on her than her scruples did,
and she changed her religion.
Some time after I had printed the "Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton," which were favour-
ably received, the reading of these got me the acquaintance and friendship of sir William
Jones, then attorney-general. He was raised to that high post merely by merit, and by his
being thought the greatest man of the law ; for, as he was no flatterer, but a man of a morose
temper, so he was against all the measures that they took at court. They were weary of
him, and were raising sir John King to vie with him ; but he" died in his rise, which indeed
went on very quickly. Jones was an honest and wise man. He had a roughness in his de-
portment that was very disagreeable, but he was a good-natured man at bottom, and a faithful
friend. He grew weary of his employment, and laid it down ; and though the great seal
was offered him, he would not accept of it, nor return to business. The quickness of his
thoughts carried his views far. And the sourness of his temper made him too apt both to
suspect and to despise most of those that came to him. My way of writing history pleased
him, and so he pressed me to undertake the history of England. But Sanders's book, that
was then translated into French and cried up much in France, made all my friends press me
to answer it, by writing the history of the Reformation. So now all my thoughts were
turned that way. I laid out for MSS. and searched into all offices. I got for some days
into the Cotton library. But duke Lauderdale hearing of my design, and apprehending it
might succeed in my hands, got Dolben, bishop of Rochester, to divert sir John Cotton from
suffering me to search into his library. He told him I was a great enemy to the preroga-
tive : to which Cotton was devoted, even to slavery. So he said I would certainly make an
ill use of all I had found. This wrought so much on him, that I was no more admitted, till
my first volume was published. And then, when he saw how I had composed it, he gave
me free access to it *.
At this time the earl of Essex was brought over from being lord-lieutenant of Ireland,
whose friendship to me was afterwards such, that I think myself obliged to stop, and to give
some account of him. He was the lord Capel's son. His education was neglected by
* Of these two works of our author, his son observes, of the Popish Plot was in agitation. This book procured
" As the apprehensions of popery grew daily stronger, the our author an honour, never before or since paid to any
most eminent divines of the church of England signalised writer ; he had the thanks of both houses of parliament,
themselves in the Romish controversy ; nothing of that with a desire that he would prosecute his undertaking
kind was more taken notice of, than the account our and complete that valuable work. Accordingly, in less
author printed in the year 1676, of a conference, which than two years after, he printed the second volume,
himself and Dr. Stillingfleet were engaged in with Cole- which met with the same general approbation as the first ;
man and the principal of the Romish priests. This made and such was his readiness in composing, that he wrote the
him considered as one who stood in the very front of the historical part, in the compass of six weeks, after all his
opposition to popery. His reputation upon that account materials were laid in order."
was soon after raised to the highest pitch, by that great The History of the Reformation is one of our national
performance, The History of the Reformation ; in which, works that have been most generally read, and translated
as he took a method wholly new, so was it universally into other languages. It is nervously and accurately
applauded. The first volume lay nearly a year, after it was written, and, as all historical collectors ought, he par-
finished, for the perusal and correction of friends ; so that ticularly details his authorities and references,
it was not published till the year 1679, when the affair
OF KING CHARLES II. 265
ason of the war. But, when he was at man's age, he made himself master of the Latin
tongue, and made a great progress in mathematics, and in all the other parts of learning.
He knew our law and constitution well, and was a very thoughtful man. He began soon to
appear against the court. The king imputed it to his resentments : so he resolved to make
use of him. He sent him ambassador to Denmark, where his behaviour in the affair of the
flag gained him much reputation ; though he said to me there was nothing in it. That
King had ordered the governor of Croonenburgh to make all ships that passed strike to him.
So when lord Essex was sailing by, he sent to him, either to strike to him, or to sail by in
the night, or to keep out of his reach ; otherwise he must shoot, first with powder, but next
with ball. Lord Essex sent him a resolute answer, that the kings of England made others
strike to them, but their ships struck to none ; he wTould not steal through in the dark, nor
keep out of his reach ; and if he shot at him, he would defend himself. The governor did
shoot towards him, but on design shot over him. This was thought great bravery in him : yet
he reckoned it was impossible the governor would endeavour to sink a ship that brought over
an ambassador. "While he was there the king died, which made a great change in the court.
For that king had made one of his servants stadtholder ; which was indeed a strange thing,
he himself being upon the place. He was but a mean person, and was advanced by the
favour the queen bore him. Lord Essex's first business was to justify his behaviour in
refusing to strike. Now at his going from England sir John Cotton had desired him to take
some volumes of his library that related to Danish affairs, which he took, without appre-
hending that he should have great occasion to use them ; but this accident made him search
into them. And he found very good materials to justify his conduct ; since by formal
treaties it had been expressly stipulated, that the English ships of war should not strike in
the Danish seas. This raised his character so high at court, that it was written over to him,
that he might expect everything he should pretend to at hi** return. The change of govern-
ment that he saw in Denmark, and the bringing it about with so little difficulty, made a
great impression on him : since one of the freest nations in the world was on a sudden
brought under a most arbitrary form of government. Many of the ancient nobility seemed
uneasy under the change. And even the chancellor himself, though raised by favour from
very mean beginnings, could not forbear to lament even to him the change of their con-
stitution.
Upon his return from Denmark he was made lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He could never
understand how he came to be raised to that post, for he had not pretended to it ; and he
was a violent enemy to popery : not so much from any fixed principle in religion, in which
he was too loose, as because he looked on it as an invasion made on the freedom of human
nature. In his government of Ireland he exceeded all that had gone before him ; and is
still considered as a pattern to all that come after him. He studied to understand exactly
well the constitution and interest of the nation. He read over all their council books, and
made large abstracts out of them to guide him, so as to advance every thing that had been
at any time set on foot for the good of the kingdom. He made several volumes of tables of
the state, and persons that were in every county and town ; and got true characters of all
that were capable to serve the public. And he preferred men always upon merit, without
any application from themselves ; and watched over all about him, that there should be no
bribes going among his servants. The revenue of Ireland was then in the earl or Ranelagh's
management, who was one of the ablest men that island had bred, capable of all affairs, even in
the midst of a loose run of pleasure and much riot. He had the art of pleasing masters of very
different tempers and interests so much, that he continued above thirty years in great posts.
He had undertaken to furnish the king with money for the building of Windsor out of the
revenue of Ireland. And it was believed the duchess of Portsmouth had a great yearly pen-
s-ion out of his office. By this means payments in Ireland were not regularly made. So the
I ( arl of Essex complained of this. The king would not own how much he had from lord
I Ilanelagh, but pressed lord Essex to pass his accounts. He answered, he could not pass
them as accounts ; but, if the king would forgive lord Ranelagh, he would pass a discharge,
l>ut not an ill account. The king was not pleased with this, nor with his exactness in that
government : it reproached his own too much. So he took a resolution about this time to
266 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
put the duke of Ormond in it again. Upon this occasion the earl of Essex told me, that ho
knew the king did often take money into his privy purse, to defraud his exchequer ; for he .
reckoned that what was carried thither was not so much his own as his privy purse was.
And Coventry told lord Essex, that there was once a plantation-cause at the council board,
and he was troubled to see the king espouse the worst side ; and upon that he went fco him,
and told him secretly that it was a vile cause which he was supporting ; the king answered
him, he had got good money for doing it.
About this time there was a proposition made for farming the revenue of Ireland. And
lord Danby seemed for some time to favour one set of men, who offered to farm it. But on
a sudden he turned to another. The secret of this broke out, that he wTas to have great
advantages by the second proposition. The matter was brought to the council table, and
some were examined to it upon oath. Lord Widdrington did confess that he made an offer
of a round sum to lord Danby, but said that he did not accept of it. Lord Halifax was
yet of the council. So ho observed that the lord- treasurer had rejected that offer very
mildly, but not so as to discourage a second attempt : it would be somewhat strange, if a
man should ask the use of another man's wife, and if the other should indeed refuse it, but
with great civility. This nettled lord Danby, who upon that got him to be dismissed from
that board; at which the duke was much pleased, who hated lord Halifax at that time
more even than the earl of Shaftesbury himself: for he had fallen severely on the declaration
for toleration in the house of Lords. He said, if we could make good the eastern compli-
ment, " 0 king, live for ever," he could trust the king with everything ; but since that
was so much a compliment that it could never become real, he could not be implicit in his
confidence. Thus matters went on all 1676, and to the beginning of 1677> when another
session of parliament was held. I have brought within this year several things that may
be of use to enlighten the reader as to the state of things, though perhaps of their own nature
they were not important enough to deserve to be told. But in so bare a year as this proved
to be, it seemed 110 impertinent digression to bring all such matters into the reader's way.
I shall next give some account of Scotch affairs. The duke of Lauderdale had mastered
the opposition made to him so entirely, that men were now silent, though not quiet. The
field conventicles increased mightily. Men came to them armed. And upon that great
numbers were outlawed ; and a writ wras issued out, that was indeed legal, but very seldom
used, called Intercommoning ; because it made all that harboured such persons, or did not
seize them when they had it in their power, to be involved in the same guilt. By this
means many, apprehending a severe prosecution, left their houses, and went about like a
sort of banditti, and fell into a fierce and savage temper. The privy council upon this pre-
tended they were in a state of war. And upon an old statute, that was almost quite for-
gotten, it was set on foot, that the king had a power to take any castle that lay convenient
for his forces, and put a garrison in it. So twelve houses were marked out, of which two
were the chief dwelling houses of two peers. The rest were the houses of gentlemen that
had gone into the party against duke Lauderdale. And though these were houses of no
strength, and not at all properly situated for the suppressing of conventicles, yet they were
taken. Soldiers were put in them. And the countries about were required to furnish those
small garrisons with all things necessary. This was against the express words of the law
that had lately settled the militia. Great opposition was made to it. Yet it was kept up
above a year, till the houses were quite ruined by the rude soldiers, who understood that
the more waste they made, it would be the more acceptable. At last it was let fall.
Another thing happened, scarcely worth mentioning, if it was not for the effects that fol-
lowed on it. One Carstairs, a loose and vicious gentleman, who had ruined his estate,
undertook to Sharp to go about in disguise to see those conventicles, and to carry some with
him to witness against such as they saw at them : in which he himself was not to appear ;
but he was to have a proportion of all the fines that should be set upon this evidence : and j
he was to have so much for every one of their teachers that he could catch. He had many j
dinvreiit disguises, and passed by different names in every one of them. He found Kirk ton,
an ( nnncnt preacher among themv who was as cautious as the rest were bold, ar.d had
avoided all suspicious and dangerous meetings. Carstairs, seeing him walking in the streets
OF KING CHARLES II. 267
of Edinburgh, told him there was a person that was sick and sent him to beg a visit from
.him. He, suspecting nothing, went with him. Carstairs brought him to his own lodgings,
and there he told him he had a warrant against him, which he would execute, if he would
not give him money to let him alone. Kirkton said he had not offended, and was willing
to go to prison till his innocence should appear. Carstairs really had no warrant ; but, as
was afterwards discovered, he had often taken this method, and had got money by it. So he
went out to procure a warrant, and left Kirkton locked up in his chamber. Kirkton called
to the people of the house, and told them how he was trepanned. And he got one of them
to seek Baillie of Jerviswood, his brother in-law, who was a gentleman of great parts, but of
much greater virtue. Carstairs could not find nine privy counsellors to sign a warrant,
which were the number required by law. Yet, when he came back, he pretended he had a
warrant, and would force Kirkton to go to prison upon it. Kirkton refused to obey any
such warrant till he saw it. And upon that Carstairs struggled and pulled him to the
ground, and sat on him, the other crying out murder. At that time Baillie came to the
door, and hearing him cry out, he called to Carstairs to open the door ; and that not being
done, he forced it, and found Carstairs sitting upon Kirkton. He drew his sword, and
made him come off him. He then asked him what warrant he had to use him as he did ?
He said he had a warrant to carry him to prison ; but he refused to show it. Baillie offered
to assist in executing it, if he had any ; but he persisted in this, that he was not bound to
show it. Baillie made Kirkton to go out, and followed him, no violence being used ; for
which he had many witnesses, whom the noise had brought together. And he said he was
resolved to sue Carstairs for this riot. But before the next council day a warrant was signed
by nine privy counsellors, but antedated, for the committing of Kirkton, and of six or seven
more of their preachers. Lord Athol told me he was one of those who signed it, with that
false date to it. So Baillie was cited before the council ; Carstairs produced his warrant,
which he pretended he had at the time that Kirkton was in his hands, but did not think fit
to show, since that would discover the names of others, against whom he was also to make
se of it. Baillie brought his witnesses to prove his behaviour ; but they would not so
much as examine them. It was said, that upon Carstairs saying he had a warrant, Kirkton
was bound to go to jail ; and that, if it had been found that he was carried thither without
warrant, the jailor would not have received him. Duke Hamilton and lord Kincardine
were yet of the council. And they argued long against this way of proceeding, as liker a
ourt of inquisition than a legal goverment. Yet Baillie was fined 500^. and condemned to
a year's imprisonment. And upon this an occasion was taken to turn duke Hamilton and
ord Kincardine out of the council, as enemies to the church, and as favourers of conventicles.
The parliament of England had been prorogued for about a year and some months, by two
lifferent prorogations. One of these was for more than a year. So upon that it was made
i question, whether by that the parliament was not dissolved. The argument for it was
aid thus. By the ancient laws a parliament was to be held " once a-year, and oftener if
need be." It was said, the words " if need be," in one act, which were not in another that
enacted an annual parliament without that addition, did not belong to the whole period, by
which a session was only to be held once a year if it was needful ; but belonged only to the
rd " oftener ;" so that the law was positive for a parliament once a year : and if so, then
my act contrary to that law was an unlawful act ; by consequence, it could have no ope-
•ation : from whence it was inferred, that the prorogation which did run beyond a year, and
>y consequence made that the parliament could not sit that year, was illegal ; and that
herefore the parliament could not sit by virtue of such an illegal act. Lord Shaftesbury
aid hold on this with great joy, and he thought to work his point by it. The duke of
liuckingham was for everything that would embroil matters. The earl of Salisbury was
•rought into it, who was a high-spirited man, and had a very ill opinion of the court. Lord
Wharton went also into it. And lord Hollis wrote a book for it ; but a fit of the gout kept
im out of the way. All the rest of the party were against it. They said it was a subtilty,
and it was very dangerous to hang so much weight upon such weak grounds. The words,
u if need be," had been understood to belong to the whole act ; and the long parliament did
not pretend to make annual parliaments necessary, but insisted only on a triennial parlia-
268 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
inent ; if there had been need of a parliament during that long prorogation, the king by
proclamation might have dissolved it and called a new one. All that knew the temper of
the house of commons were much troubled at this dispute, that was likely to rise on such a
point. It was very certain the majority of both houses, who only could judge it, would be
against it. And they thought such an attempt to force a dissolution would make the com-
mons do everything that the court desired. Lord Hallifax set himself much against this,
and did it not without expressing great sharpness against lord Shaftesbury, who could not
be managed in this matter. So, upon the first opening the session, the debate was brought
on, and these lords stood against the whole house. That matter was soon decided by a
question.
But then a second debate arose, which held for two days, whether these lords were not
liable to censure, for offering a debate that might create great distractions in the subjects'
minds, concerning the legality of parliament. Lord Hallifax with the rest of the party
argued against it strongly. They said, if an idle motion was made and checked at first, he
that made it might be censured for it, though it was seldom, if ever, to be practised in a free
council, where every man was not bound to be wise, nor to make no impertinent motion ;
but when the motion was entertained, and a debate followed, and a question was put upon
it, it was destructive to the freedom of public councils to call any one to an account for it,
they might with the same justice call them to an account for their debates and votes ; so that
no man was safe unless he could know where the majority would be : here would be a pre-
cedent to tip down so many lords at a time, and to garboil the house, as often as any party
should have a great majority. It was said on the other hand, here was a design to put the
nation into great disorder, and to bring the legality of a parliament into dispute. So it was
carried to oblige them to ask pardon as delinquents ; otherwise it was resolved to send them
to the Tower. They refused to ask pardon, and so were sent thither. The earl of Salisbury
was the first that was called on, for the duke of Buckingham went out of the house. He
desired he might have his servants to wait on him, and the first he named was his cook ;
which the king resented highly, as carrying in it an insinuation of the worst sort. The
ea,rl_-0-f Shaftesbury made the same demand. But the lord Wharton did not ask for his cook.
The duk£_of Buckingham came in next day, and was sent after them to the Tower. And
they were ordered to continue prisoners during the pleasure of the house, or during the king's
pleasure. They were much visited. So to check that, though no complaint was made of
their behaviour, they were made close prisoners, not to be visited without leave from the
king, or the house ; and particular observations were made of all those that asked leave.
This was much cried out on ; and the earl of Danby's long imprisonment afterwards was
thought a just retaliation for the violence with which he drove this on. Three of the lords
lay in the Tower for some months ; but they were set at liberty upon their petitioning the
king. Lord Shaftesbury would not petition ; but he moved in the King's Bench that he
might be discharged. The king's justice, he said, was to be dispensed in that court. The
court said he was committed by an order from the house of lords, which was a court supe-
rior to them ; so they could take no cognizance of the matter. Lord Danby censured this
motion highly, as done in contempt of the house of lords, and said he would make use of it
against him next session of parliament. Yet he was often forced to make the same motion
at that bar ; and he complained of the injustice of the court for refusing to bail or discharge
him, though in that they followed the precedent which at this time was directed by
himself *.
* The duke of Buckingham opened the debate in the house prisonment ; but he came into his place the next day, and ,
of lords in a very able speech, and concluded by moving an extricated himself very adroitly, by an excuse that as he
address to the king to call speedily a new parliament. It is saw their lordships intended he should lodge some time 1
certain that his arguments were not justly founded, and his in another place, and as he kept his family with very
observations, upon the king neglecting the dictates of an exact economy, he had been home to set his house in j
act of parliament, were bold ; but there were no passages order, and was now ready to submit to their pleasure, i
in his speech, or in those of the earl of Shaftesbury, the He was then committed as the three other noblemen had
earl of Salisbury, and lord Wharton, that deserved a com- been. Shaftesbury was jealous of Buckingham for setting
mittal to the Tower. The duke of Buckingham left the up as the head of his party, and spoke of him as an incon- \
bouse while lord Anglesea was arguing against their im- sistcnt, giddy man. It happened that the latter, with
OF KING CHARLES II. 209
The debate about the dissolution of the parliament had the effect in the house of com-
mons that was foreseen ; for the commons were much inflamed against lord Shaftesbury arid
his party. They at first voted 600,000/. for the building thirty ships : for they resolved to
begin with a popular bill. A clause was put in the bill by the country party, that the
money should be accounted for to the commons, in hope .that the lords would alter that
clause, and make it accountable to both houses ; which was done by the lords, and con-
ferences were held upon it. The lords thought that, since they paid their share of the tax,
it was not reasonable to exclude them from the accounts. The commons adhered to their
clause, and the bill was in great danger of being lost. But the king prevailed with the lords
to recede. An additional excise, that had been formerly given, was now falling, so they
continued that for three years longer. And they were in all things so compliant, that the
court had not for many years had so hopeful a session as this was. But all was changed of
a sudden.
The king of France was then making one of his early campaigns in Flanders : in which he
at first took Valenciennes, and then divided his army in two. He with one besieged Cam-
bray ; and the other, commanded by his brother, besieged St. Oiner. But, though I intend
to say little of foreign affairs, yet where I come to the knowledge of particulars that I have
not seen in any printed relations, I will venture to set them down. Turenne's death was a
i great blow to the king of France * ; but not to his ministers, whom he despised, and who
! hated him. But the king had such a personal regard to him, that they were afraid of
! opposing him too much. He was both the most cautious and the most obliging general that
I ever commanded an army. He had the art of making every man love him, except those
i that thought they came in some competition with him ; for he was apt to treat them with
I too much contempt. It was an extraordinary thing that a random cannon shot should have
• killed him. He sat by the balance of his body a while on the saddle, but fell down dead
i in the place : and a great design he had, which probably would have been fatal to the
I German army, died with him. The prince of Conde was sent to command the army to his
• ^reat affliction : for this was a declaration that he was esteemed inferior to Turenne, which
|)ie could not well bear, though he was inferior to him in all that related to the command;
unless it was in a day of battle, in which the presence of mind and vivacity of thought,
which were wonderful in him, gave him some advantage. But he had too much pride to be
so obliging as a general ought to be. And he was too much a slave to pleasure, and gamed
too much, to have that constant application to his business that the other had. He was
entirely lost in the king's good opinion : not only by reason of his behaviour during his
minority ; but, after that was forgiven, once when the king was ill, not without apprehen-
sions, he sent for him, and recommended his son to his care, in case he should die at that
line. But he, instead of receiving this as a great mark of confidence, with due acknow-
;dgments, expostulated upon the ill usage he had met with. The king recovered ; but
lever forgot that treatment, and took all occasions to mortify him, which the ministers knew
ell, and seconded him in it ; so that, bating the outward respect due to his birth, they
reated him very hardly in all his pretensions.
The French king came down to Flanders in '76, and first took Conde, and then besieged
>ouchain. The siege went on in form, and the king lay with an army covering it, when on
sudden the prince of Orange drew his army together, and went up almost to the king's
amp, offering him battle. All the marshals and generals concluded that battle was to be
iven, and that the war would be that day ended. The king heard all this coldly. Schom-
[••ulisbury and Wharton, were discharged upon their peti- in confinement, he sent two petitions to the house, and was
i< as and submissions, whilst Shaftesbury remained, pend- consequently discharged. — (Chandler's Hist, of Debates iu
)ir his application to the court of King's Bench. He House of Lords, i. 187. 19t> ; Clarendon Correspondence,
<mked from his window in the Tower, as the duke was i. 6 ; Rawleigh Redivivus.) The house of commons alsot
i pping into his coach, and said, " What ! my lord, are determined by their proceedings that they did not consider
>u going to leave us?" " Ay, my lord," replied Buck- an illegal prorogation, admitting it to be one, was tanta-
ntrham, " such giddy fellows as I can never stay long in a mount to a dissolution.
luce." Burnet is wrong in saying that Shaftesbury refused * Marshal Turenne was killed in July, 1675. — Life
'" petition ; he did refuse at first, but eventually in Febru- by Ramsay.
y, 1678, when he had been a few days more than a year
270 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
berg was newly made a marshal, and had got great honour the year before against the
prince of Orange, in raising the siege of Maestricht. He commanded in a quarter at some
distance. The king said he would come to no resolation till he heard his opinion. Louvoy
sent for him by a confident person, whom he ordered to tell him what had happened ; and
that, in any opinion he was to give, he must consider the king's person. So when he came
to the king's tent a council of war was called, and Schomberg was ordered to deliver his
opinion first. He said, the king was there on design to cover the siege of Bouchain ; a
young general was come up on a desperate humour to offer him battle ; he did not doubt but
it would be a glorious decision of the war ; but the king ought to consider his own designs,
and riot to be led out of these by any bravado, or even by the great hope of success ; the
king ought to remain in his post till the place was taken ; otherwise he suffered another man
to be the master of his counsels and actions. When the place was taken, then he was to
come to new counsels ; but till then he thought he was to pursue his first design. The king
said Schomberg was in the right ; and he was applauded that day, as a better courtier than
a general. I had all this from his own mouth.
To this I will add a pleasant passage, that the prince of Conde told young Rouvigny,
now earl of Galloway. The king of France has never yet fought a battle, and lias a mighty
notion of that matter ; and, it seems, he apprehends the danger of it too much. Once he
was chiding the prince of Conti for his being about to fight a combat with a man of quality.
The king told him he ought to consider the dignity of his blood, and not put himself on the
level with other subjects ; and that his uncle had declined fighting on that very account.
The prince of Conti answered, " my uncle might well have done so after he had won two
battles ; but I, who have yet done nothing, must pretend to no such distinction." The king
told this answer to the prince of Conde, who saw he was nettled with it. So he said to him
that his nephew had in that spoken like a young man ; for winning of a battle was no great
matter, since though he who commanded had the glory of it, yet it was the subalterns that
did the business. In which he thought he pleased the king ; and for which he laughed
heartily at him when he told the story. The late king told me, that in these campaigns the
Spaniards were both so ignorant and so backward, so proud and yet so weak, that they
would never own their feebleness, or their wants, to him. They pretended they had stores,
when they had none : and thousands, when they scarcely had hundreds. He had in their
counsels often desired that they would give him only a true state of their garrisons and
magazines. But they always gave it false. So that for some campaigns all was lost, merely
because they deceived him in the strength they pretended they had. At last he believed
nothing they said, but sent his own officers to examine everything. Monterey was a wise
man and a good governor, but was a coward. Villa Hermosa was a brave man, but ignorant
and weak. Thus the prince had a sad time of it every campaign. But none was so un-
happy as this, in which, upon the loss of Valenciennes, he looking on St. Omer as more im-
portant than Cambray, went thither, and ventured a battle too rashly. Luxembourg, with
a great body of horse, came into the duke of Orleans' army just as they were engaging.
Some regiments of marines, on whom the prince depended much, did basely run away. Yet
the other bodies fought so well, that he lost not much besides the honour of the day. But
upon that St. Omer did immediately capitulate, as Cambray did some days after. It was
thought, that the king was; jealous of the honour his brother had got in that action ; for he
never had the command of an army after that time ; and, courage being the chief good qua-
lity that he had, it was thought his having no occasion given him to show it flowed from
some particular reason.
These things happening during this session of parliament made great impression on all
people's minds. Sir W. Coventry opened the business in the house of commons, and shewed
the danger of all these provinces falling under the power of France, which must end in the
ruin of the United Provinces, if a timely stop was not put to the progress the French were j
making. He demonstrated that the interest of England made it necessary for the king to i
withdraw his mediation, and enter into the alliance against France : and the whole house
went into this. There were great complaints made of the regiments that the king kept in j
the French army, and of the great service that was done by them. It is true, the king
OF KING CHARLES II. 271
suffered the Dutch to make levies. But there was another sort of encouragement given
to the levies for France, particularly in Scotland, where it looked more like a press than a
levy. They had not only the public jails given them to keep their men in, but, when these
were full, they had the castle of Edinburgh assigned them, till ships were ready for their
transport. Some that were put in prison for conventicles were, by order of council, delivered
to their officers. The Spanish ambassador heard of this, and made great complaints upon it.
So a proclamation was ordered, prohibiting any more levies. But duke Lauderdale kept it
up some days, and wrote down to hasten the levies away, for a proclamation was coining
down against them. They weie all shipped off, but had not sailed, when the proclamation
came down ; yet it was kept up till they sailed away. One of the ships was driven back
by stress of weather ; but no care was taken to execute the proclamation. So apparently
was that kingdom in a French management.
The house of commons pressed the king, by repeated addresses, to fall into the interest of
Europe, as well as into his own. The king was uneasy at this, and sent them several angry
messages. Peace and war, he said, were undoubtedly matters within his prerogative, in
which they ought not to meddle. And the king in common discourse remembered often the
parliament's engaging his father and grandfather in the affairs of Germany, and to break the
match with Spain, which proved fatal to them ; and he resolved not to be served in such
a manner. Upon this occasion lord Danby saw his error, of neglecting the leading men, and
reckoning upon a majority, such as could be made : for these leading men did so entangle
the debates, and overreached those on whom he had practised, that they, working on the
aversion that the English nation naturally has to a French interest, spoiled the most hopeful
session the court had had of a great while, before the court was well aware of it. The king,
who was- yet firmly united with France, dismissed them with a very angry speech, checking
them for going so far in matters that were above them, and that belonged only to him ;
though they brought to him many precedents in the reigns of the highest spirited of all our
kings, in which parliaments had not only offered general advices, about the entering into
wars, but even special ones, as to the conduct that was to be held in them. The whole
nation thought it a great happiness to see a session that lord Shaftesbury's wilfulness had,
as it were, driven in to the court, end with doing so little mischief, far contrary to all men's
expectations.
When the session was over, lord Danby saw his ruin was inevitable, if he could not bring
the king off from a French interest ; upon which he set himself much to it : and, as he talked
with an extraordinary zeal against France on^ill occasions, so he pressed the king much to
follow the advices of his parliament. The king seemed to insist upon this, that he would
once have a peace made upon the grounds that he had concerted with France ; and, when
that was done, he would enter next day into the alliance. But he stood much upon this ;
that having once engaged with France in the war, he could not with honour turn against
France, till it was at an end. This was such a refining in a point of honour, which that king
had not on all other occasions considered so much, that all men believed there was somewhat
olse at the bottom. The earl of Danby continued to give, by sir William Temple, all possible
assurances to the prince of Orange, pressing him likewise to make some compliances on his
tside. And he gave him great hopes of bringing about a marriage with the duke's daughter,
which was universally desired by all the protestant party, both at home and abroad. Great
offers were made to the duke to draw him into the alliance. He was offered the command
of the whole force of the allies : and he seemed to be wrought on by the prospect of so great
an authority. There was a party that was still very jealous of lord Danby in all this
matter : some thought all this was artifice ; that a war would be offered to the next session,
< nly to draw money from the parliament, and thereby to raise an army, and that, when the
army was raised, and much money given to support it, all would be sold to France for
mother great sum ; and that the parliament would be brought to give the money to pay an
trmy for some years, till the nation should be subdued to an entire compliance with the
court. It was given out that this must be the scheme by which he maintained himself in
tlie king and the duke's confidence, even when he declared himself an open enemy to that
vliich they were still supporting. This he did with so little decency, that at Sancroft's con-
272 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
secration dinner, he began a health, to the confusion of all that were not for a war with
France. He got the prince of Orange to ask the king's leave to come over at the end of the
campaign : with which the court of France was not pleased ; for they suspected a design for
the marriage. But the king assured Barillon *, who was lately sent over ambassador in
Courtin's place, that there was not a thought of that ; and that the prince of Orange had
only a mind to talk with him ; and he hoped he should bring him into such measures as
should produce a speedy peace.
The campaign ended unsuccessfully to the prince ; for he sat down before Charleroi, but
was forced to raise the siege t. When that was over, he came to England, and stayed some
time in it, talking with his two uncles about a peace. But they could not bring him up to
their terms. After a fruitless stay for some weeks, he intended to go back without proposing
marriage. He had no mind to be denied ; and he saw no hope of succeeding, unless he
would enter more entirely into his uncle's measures. Lord Danby pressed his staying a few
days longer, and that the management of that matter might be left to him. So next Monday
morning, after he had taken care, by all his creatures about the king, to put him in a very
good humour, he came to the king, and told him he had received letters from all the best
friends his majesty had in England, and shewed a bundle of them ; (which he was pretty
sure the king would not trouble himself to read : probably they were written as he had
directed.) They all agreed, he said, in the same advice, that the king should make a
marriage between the prince of Orange and the duke's daughter ; for they all believed he came
over on that account : and, if he went away without it, no body would doubt, but that he had
proposed it, and had been denied. Upon which the parliament would certainly make addresses
to the king for it. And if the marriage was made upon that, the king would lose the grace and
thanks of it : but if it was still denied, even after the addresses of both houses, it would raise
jealousies that might have very ill consequences. "Whereas, if the king did it of his own motion,
he would have the honour of it ; and, by so doing, he would bring the prince into a greater
dependence on himself, and beget in the nation such a good opinion of him, as would lay a
foundation for a mutual confidence. This he enforced with all the topics he could think on.
The king said the prince had not so much as proposed it. Lord Danby owned he had spoken of
it to himself, and said that his not moving it to the king was only because he apprehended he
was not likely to succeed in it. The king said next, " My brother will never consent to it/'
Lord Danby answered, perhaps not, unless the king took it upon him to command it. And
he thought it was the duke's interest to have it done, even more than the king's. All people
were now possessed of his being a papist, and,, were very apprehensive of it; but if they
saw his daughter given to one that was at the head of the protestant interest, 'it would very
much soften those apprehensions, when it did appear that his religion was only a personal thing,
not to be derived to his children after him. With all this the king was convinced. So he
sent for the duke, lord Danby staying still with him. When the duke came, the king told
him he had sent for him, to desire he would consent to a thing that he was sure was as much
for his interest, as it was for his own quiet and satisfaction. The duke, without asking
what it was, said he would be ready always to comply with the king's pleasure in every
thing. So the king left it to the lord Danby to say over all he had said on that head to
himself. The duke seemed much concerned. But the king said to him, " Brother, I desire
it of you for my sake, as well as your own." And upon that the duke consented to it. So
lord Danby sent immediately for the prince, and in the king's name ordered a council to be
presently summoned. Upon the prince's coming, the king, in a very obliging way, said to
him, " Nephew, it is not good for man to be alone, I will give you a help meet for you."
And so he told him he would bestow his niece on him. And the duke, with a seeming
heartiness, gave his consent in very obliging terms : the king adding, " Nephew, remember
that love and war do not agree well together." In the meanwhile the news of the intended
* The letters of M. Barillon, throwing great light upon Tincourteously gave him an audience without moving, upon
tLc proceedings of our court at this time, are given in Fox's which the earl observed, that it appeared he could not rise
Hist, of James the Second. before any thing less than a town. — E. of Dartmouth — •
f This enabled the earl of Mulgrave to discharge upon Oxford ed. of this work,
the prince a very severe witticism. The prince, rather
OF KING CHARLES II. 273
marriage went over the court and town. All, except the French and the popish party, were
much pleased with it. Barillon was amazed. He went to the duchess of Portsmouth, and
got her to send all her creatures to desire to speak to the king : she wrote him likewise
several billets to the same purpose. But lord Danby had ordered the council to be called ;
and he took care that neither the king nor the duke should be spoken to, till the matter was
declared in council. And when that was done, the king presented the prince to the young
lady, as the person he designed should be her husband. When Barillon saw it was gone so
far, he sent a courier to the court of France with the news ; upon wrhose arrival Montague,
that was then our ambassador there, was sent for. When he came to Versailles, he saw the
king the most moved that he had ever observed him to be. He asked him when was the
marriage to be made ? Montague understood not what he meant. So he explained all to
him. Montague protested to him that he knew nothing of the whole matter. That king
said, he always believed the journey would end in this ; and he seemed to think that our
court had now forsaken him. He spoke of the king's part in it more decently ; but expos-
tulated severely on the duke's part, who had now given his daughter to the greatest enemy
he had in the world. To all this Montague had no answer to make. But next night he
had a courier with letters from the king, the duke, and the prince, to the king of France.
The prince had no mind to this piece of courtship, but his uncle obliged him to it, as a
civility due to kindred and blood. The king assured the king of France that he had made
the match on design to engage the prince to be more tractable in the treaty that was now
going on at Nimeguen. The king of France received these letters civilly ; but did not seem
much satisfied with them. Montague was called over soon after this to get new instructions.
And lord Danby asked him how the king of France received the news of the marriage. He
answered, as he would have done the loss of an army ; and that he had spoken very hardly
of the duke, for consenting to it, and not at least acquainting him with it. Lord Danby
answered, he wronged him ; for he did not know of it an hour before it was published, and
the king himself not above two hours. All this relation I had from Montague himself. It
was a masterpiece indeed, and the chief thing in the earl of Danby's ministry, for which the
duke never forgave him*.
Upon the general satisfaction that this marriage gave the whole nation, a new session of
parliament was_cajled in the beginning of the year 78 : to which the king declared the sense
he had of the dangerous state their neighbours were in, and that it was necessary he should
be put in a posture to bring things to a balance. So the house was pressed to supply the
king in so plentiful a manner as the occasion did require. The court asked money both for
an army and a fleet. Sir William Coventry showed the great inconvenience of raising a
land army, the danger that might follow on it, the little use could be made of it, and
the great charge it must put the nation to ; he was for hiring bodies from the German
princes, and for assisting the Dutch with money ; and he moved to recall our troops from
France, and to employ them in the Dutch service ; bethought that which did more properly
* Burnet is very erroneous in his statements respecting to dispose of his, the duke's, daughter without his consent,
the marriage of the prince of Orange with the princess and that consent should never be given to the proposed
Mary. It had long been designed between lord Danby match. Lord Danby communicated this to Charles, but
and sir W. Temple, then ambassador at the Hague. The the king, after acknowledging the promise, added with his
prince often talked with the latter upon the subject; and usual oath, " God's fish ! he must consent." The duke
having his proposed wife described in favourable colours, eventually yielded, and then they wanted to treat of the
and seeing the advantage that would accrue to him and the terms of peace with France first, but the prince would
protestant cause from the alliance, he positively sent pro- have his marriage previously settled. A rupture nearly
jtosals over to the king and duke of York, by the hand of occurred upon this, but by the instrumentality of sir W.
!ady Temple, and lord Danby said the king directed him Temple, the king was persuaded to yield, saying, "If!
o invite over the prince. Some time after, namely, in am not deceived in the prince's face, he is the honestest
September, 1677, he came to England. Charles was man in the world, and 1 will trust him, and he shall have
''inch amused at the prince's nicety in refusing to enter his wife, and you shall go immediately and tell my
i pon any treaty of marriage until he had seen his intended brother so." It was declared the same evening to the
v>ife. The prince, being satisfied with her appearance, then privy council, and within three days the marriage was
<utered upon the treaty. There is no doubt but. that the consummated.— (Temple's Memoirs, &c., i. 454, &c. ;
"'ike of York was opposed to the match, and when the Oxford ed. of this work, &c.) The prince arrived ic
!>rince arrived, he told Dunby, in a great passion, that he England on the 9th of October, and was married on the
Discerned the intrigue, and that he was its manager, but 4th of November. — Ralph's Hist, of England.
iiat the design should fail ; the king had promised never
274 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
belong to England was to set out a great fleet, and to cut off the French trade everywhere ;
for they were then very high in their manufactures and trade : their people were ingenious as
well as industrious : they wrought hard and lived low, so they sold cheaper than others
could do ; and it was found that we sent very nearly a million of our money in specie every
year for the balance of our trade with them. But the king had promised so many commis-
sions to men of quality in both houses, that this carried it for a land army. It was said,
what hazard could there be from an army commanded by men of estates, as this was to be ?
A severe act passed, prohibiting all importation of the French manufactures or growth for
three years, and to the next session of parliament after that. This was made as strict as
was possible ; and for a year after it was well looked to. But the merchants found ways
to evade it, and the court was too much French not to connive at the breach of it. In the
preamble of this act it was set forth, that we were in an actual war with France. This was
excepted to, as not true in fact. But the ministry affirmed we were already engaged so far
with the allies, that it was really a war, and that our troops were already called from
France. Coventry in some heat said the king was engaged, and he would rather be guilty
of the murder of forty men, than to do anything to retard the progress of the war. The
oddness of the expression made it to be often objected afterwards to him. A poll bill was
granted, together with the continuance of the additional customs that were near falling off.
Six hundred thousand pounds were also given for a land army and for a fleet. All the court
party magnified the design of raising an army. They said the employing hired troops was
neither honourable nor safe. The Spaniards were willing to put Ostend and Nieuport in our
hands ; and we could not be answerable for these places if they were not kept by our own
people.
At this time the king of France made a step that struck terror into the Dutch, and
inflamed the English out of measure. Louvoy till then was rather his father's assistant
than a minister upon his own foot. He at this time gained the credit with the king, which
he maintained so long afterwards. He proposed to him the taking of Ghent ; and thought
that the king's getting into such a place, so near the Dutch, would immediately dispose
them to a peace. But it was not easy to bring their army so soon about it, without being
observed, so the execution seemed impossible. He therefore laid such a scheme of marches
and countermarches as did amuse all the allies. Sometimes the design seemed to be on the
Rhine, sometimes on Luxemburgh. And while their forces were sent to defend those places
where they apprehended the design was laid, and that none of the French generals them-
selves did apprehend what the true design was, all on the sudden Ghent was invested ;
and both town and citadel were quickly taken. This was Louvoy's masterpiece. And it
had the intended effect. It brought the Dutch to resolve on a peace. The French king
might have taken Bruges, Ostend, and Nieuport. But he only took Ypres ; for he had no
mind to provoke the English. He was sure of his point by the fright this put the Dutch in.
We were much alarmed at it. And the duke of Monmouth was immediately sent over
with some of the Guards.
But the parliament grew jealous, as they had great cause given them, both by what was
then doing in Scotland, and by the management they observed at court. And now I must
look northward to a very extraordinary scene that opened there. Duke Lauderdale and his
duchess went to Scotland the former year. Her design was to marry her daughters into two
of the great families of Scotland, Argyle and Murray, which she did. But things being then
in great disorder, by reason of the numbers and desperate tempers of those who were inter-
commoned, Sharp pretended he was in great danger of his life ; and that the rather because
the person that had made the attempt on him was let live still. Upon this, I must tell
what had passed three years before this. Sharp had observed a man that kept a shop at his
door, who looked very narrowly at him always as he passed by, and he fancied he was the
man that shot at him six years before. So he ordered him to be taken up and examined.
It was found he had two pistols by him that were deeply charged, which increased the
suspicion. Yet the man denied all. But Sharp got a friend of his to go to him, and deal
with him to make a full confession ; and he made solemn promises that he would procure
his pardon. His friend answered, he hoped he did not intend to make use of him to trepan
OF KING CHARLES II. 275
a man to his ruin. Upon that, with lifted up hands. Sharp promised by the living God,
that no hurt should come to him, if Tie made a full discovery. The person came again to
him and said, if a promise was made in the king's name, the prisoner would tell all. So it
was brought before the council. Lord Rothes, Halton, and Primrose were ordered to
examine him. Primrose said it would be a strange force of eloquence to persuade a man to
confess and be hanged. So duke Lauderdale, being the king's commissioner, gave them
power to promise him his life. And as soon as these lords told him this, he immediately
kneeled down and confessed the fact, and told the whole manner of it. There was but one
person privy to it, who was then dead. Sharp was troubled to see so small a discovery
made ; yet they could not draw more from him. So then it was considered what should be
done to him. Some moved the cutting off his right hand. Others said he might learn to
practise with his left hand, and to take his revenge ; therefore they thought both hands
should be cut off. Lord Rothes, who was a pleasant man, said, how shall he wipe his breech
then ? This is not very decent to be mentioned in such a work, if it were not necessary ;
for when the truth of the promise now given was afterwards called in question, this jest was
called to mind, and made the whole matter to be remembered. But Primrose moved that
since life was promised, which the cutting off a limb might endanger, it was better to keep
him prisoner during life in a castle they had in the Bass, a rock in the mouth of the Frith.
And thither he was sent. But it was thought necessary to make him repeat his confession
in a court of judicature : so he was brought into the justiciary court upon an indictment for
the crime, to which it was expected he should plead guilty. But the judge, who hated
Sharp, as he went up to the bench, passing by the prisoner, said to him, " Confess nothing,
unless you are sure of your limbs as well as of your life." Upon this hint he, apprehending
the danger, refused to confess : which being reported to the council, an act was passed, men-
tioning the promise and his confession, and adding, that since he had retracted his confession,
they likewise recalled the promise of pardon : the meaning of which was this, that, if any
other evidence was brought against him, the promise should not cover him ; but it still was
understood, that this promise secured him from any ill effect by his own confession. The
thing was almost forgotten after four years, the man being in all respects very inconsiderable.
But now Sharp would have his life. So duke Lauderdale gave way to it : and he was
brought to Edinburgh in order to his trial. Nisbit, who had been the king's advocate, and
was one of the worthiest and most learned men of the age, was turned out. And Mackenzie
was put in his place, who was a man of much life and wit, but he was neither equal nor
correct in it. He has published many books, some of law, but all full of faults ; for he was
a slight and superficial man *. Lockhart was assigned counsel for the prisoner. And now
that the matter came again into people's memory all were amazed at the proceeding. Prim-
rose was turned out of the place of lord-register, and was made justice-general. He fancied
orders had been given to raze the act that the council had made ; so he turned the books,
and he found the act still on record. He took a copy of it, and sent it to Mitchell's counsel :
that was the prisoner's name. And a day or two before the trial he went to duke Lauder-
dale, who, together with Sharp, lord Rothes, and lord Halton, were summoned as the pri-
soner's witnesses. He told him, many thought there had been a promise of life given. Duke
Lauderdale denied it stiffly. Primrose said, he heard there was an act of council made about
it, and he wished that might be looked into. Duke Lauderdale said he was sure it was not
possible, and he would not give himself the trouble to turn over the books of council. Prim-
* Sir George Mackenzie was born in 1636, and after came upon him in 1691. As a politician, lie certainly
: n education conducted at the universities of Aberdeen, too much favoured the prerogative; as a lawyer, he was
Nt. Andrew's, and Boitrges, he assumed the barrister's more splendid than solid ; as a scholar and wit, we have
| jrown before he was twenty. He was gifted with a fond- the testimony of Dryden that he excelled. He would
1 ness for general literature, yet he devoted himself to his merit the respect of every friend of literature if he had no
profession, and, being a copious and eloquent speaker, he, other merit than being the founder of the Advocates'
ma few years, acquired the greatest eminence at the Library at Edinburgh (Biog. Britan. ; Memoirs of Lord
Scottish bar. As above stated, he became, in 1678, the Kames, i. app. 10.) Whoever desires to see his defence
lying's advocate, or attorney-general, for Scotland. At as a politician, should read his " Vindication of tho
M no revolution, he retired from all public employment, Government of Charles the Second."
intending to devote himself to literary pursuits, but death
T 2
276 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
rose, who told me this, said his conscience led him to give duke Lauderdale this warning of
the matter, but that he was not sorry to see him thus reject it. The trial was very solemn.
The confession was brought against him as full evidence ; to which Lockhart did plead, to
the admiration of all, to show that no extrajudicial confession could be allowed in a court.
The hardships 'of a prison, the hopes of life, with other practices, might draw confessions1
from men, when they were perhaps drunk, or out of their senses. He brought upon this a
measure of learning, that amazed the audience, out of the lawyers of all civilized nations.
And when it was opposed to this, that the council was a court of judicature, he showed that
it was not the proper court for crimes of this nature, and that it had not proceeded in this as
a court of judicature. And he brought out likewise a great deal of learning upon those
heads. But this was overruled by the court, and the confession was found to be judicial.
The next thing pleaded for him was, that it was drawn from him upon hope and promise of
life : and to this Sharp was examined. The person he had sent to Mitchell gave a full evi-
dence of the promises he had made him ; but Sharp denied them all. He also denied he
heard any promise of life made him by the council : so did the lords Lauderdale, Rothes,
and Halton, to the astonishment of all that were present. Lockhart upon that produced a
copy of the act of council, that made express mention of the promise given, and of his having
confessed upon that. And the prisoner prayed that the books of council, which lay in a
room over that in which the court sat, might be sent for. Lockhart pleaded, that since the
court had judged that the council was a judicature, all people had a right to search into their
registers ; and the prisoner, who was likely to suffer by a confession made there, ought to have
the benefit of those books. Duke Lauderdale, who was in the court only as a witness, and
so had no right to speak, stood up and said, he and those other noble persons were not
brought thither to be accused of perjury; and added, that the books of council were the,
king's secrets, and that no court should have the perusing of them. The court was terrified
with this, and the judges were divided in opinion. Primrose and one other were for calling
for the books. But three were of opinion that they were not to furnish the prisoner with
evidence, but to judge of that which he brought. And here was only a bare copy, not
attested upon oath, which ought not to have been read. So, this defence being rejected, he
was cast and condemned.
As soon as the court broke up the lords went up stairs, and to their shame found the act
recorded, and signed by lord Rothes, as president of the council. He pretended he signed
everything that the clerk of council put in the book without reading it. And it was in-
tended to throw it on him. But he, to clear himself, searched among his papers, and found
a draught of the act in Nisbit's hand. So he being rich, and one they had turned out, they
resolved to put it upon him, and to fine him deeply. But he examined the Scdenmt in the
book, and spoke to all who were there at the board, of whom nine happened to be in town,
who were ready to depose upon oath, that when the council had ordered this act to be
drawn, the clerk of the council desired the help of the king's advocate in penning it, which
he gave him ; and his draught was approved by the council. And now lord Rothes' jest
was remembered. Yet duke Lauderdale still stood to it, that the promise could only be for
interceding with the king for his pardon, since the council had not the power of pardoning
in them. Lord Kincardine acted in this the part of a Christian to an enemy. Duke Lau-
derdale had written to him, he being then serving for him at court, that he referred the
account of Mitchell's business to his brother's letters : in which the matter was truly related,
that upon promise of life he had confessed the fact ; and he concluded, desiring him to ask
the king that he would be pleased to make good the promise. These letters I saw in lord
Kincardine's hand. Before the trial he sent a bishop to duke Lauderdale, desiring him to
consider better of that matter, before he would upon oath deny it ; for he was sure he had
it under his, and his brother's, hand, though he could not yet fall upon their letters. But
duke Lauderdele despised this. Yet, before the execution, he went to his house in the
country and there found the letters, and brought them in with him, and showed them to
that bishop. All this made some impression on duke Lauderdale ; and he was willing to
grant a reprieve, and to refer the matter to the king. So a petition was offered to the
council, and he spoke for it. But Sharp said, that was upon the matter the exposing his
>.
OF KING CHARLES II. 277
.ison to any man that would attempt to murder him, since favour was to be showed to
such an assassin. Then said duke Lauderdale, in an impious jest, " Let Mitchell glorify
God in the Grass-market," which was the place where he was to be hanged. This action,
and all concerned in it, were looked at by all people with horror. And it was such a com-
plication of treachery, perjury, and cruelty, as the like had not perhaps been known. Yet
duke Lauderdale had a chaplain, Hickes, afterwards dean of Worcester, who published a
false and partial relation of this matter, in order to the justifying of it. Primrose not only
gave rne an account of this matter, but sent me an authentic record of the trial, every page
signed by the clerk of the court : of which I have here given an abstract. This I set down
the more fully, to let my readers see to what a height in wickedness men may be carried,
after they have once thrown off good principles. What Sharp did now to preserve himself
from such practices was probably that which, both in the just judgment of God and the
inflamed fury of wicked men, brought him two years after to such a dismal end.
This made way to more desperate undertakings. Conventicles grew in the west to a very
unsufferable pitch ; they had generally with them a troop of armed and desperate men, that
drew up and sent parties out to secure them. Duke Lauderdale upon this threatened he
would extirpate them, arid ruin the whole country, if a stop was not put to those meetings.
The chief men of those parts upon that went into Edinburgh : they offered to guard and
assist any that should be sent to execute the laws against all offenders ; and offered to leave
some as hostages, who should be bound body for body for their security. They confessed
there were many conventicles held among them in a most scandalous manner ; but though
they met in the fields, and many of them were armed, yet, when their sermons were done,
they dispersed themselves ; and there was no violent opposition made at any time to the
execution of the law ; so they said there was no danger of the public peace of the country.
Those conventicling people were become very giddy and furious ; and some hot and hair-
brained young preachers were chiefly followed among them, who infused wild principles into
their hearers, which were disowned by the chief men of the party. The truth was, the
country was in a great distraction ; and that was chiefly occasioned by the strange admi-
nistration they were then under. Many grew weary of their country, and even of their
lives. If duke Lauderdale, or any of his party, brought a complaint against any of the
other side, how false or frivolous soever, they were summoned upon it to appear before the
council, as sowers of sedition, and as men that spread lies of the government ; and upon the
slightest pretences they were fined and imprisoned. When very illegal things were to be
done, the common method was this : a letter was drawn for it to be signed by the king,
directing it upon some colour of law or ancient practice : the king signed whatsoever was
thus sent to him ; and when his letter was read in council, if any of the lawyers or others
of the board offered to object to it, he was browbeaten, as a man that opposed the king's
service, and refused to obey his orders. And by these means things were driven to great
extremities.
Upon one of those letters, a new motion was set on foot, that went beyond all that had
been yet made. All the landlords in the western counties were required to enter into bonds
for themselves, their wives, children, servants, tenants, and all that lived upon their estates,
that they should not go to conventicles, nor harbour any vagrant teachers, or any intercom-
mimed persons; and that they should live in all points according to law under the
penalties of the laws. This was generally refused by them : they said the law did not
impose at on them : they could not be answerable for their servants, much less for their
tenants ; this put it in the power of every servant or tenant to ruin them. Upon their
refusing this, duke Lauderdale wrote to the king, that the country was in a state of rebel-
lion, and that it was necessary to proceed to hostilities for reducing them. So by a letter,
such as he sent up, the king left it to him and the council to take care of the public peace
in the best way they could.
Upon this all the force the king had was sent into the west country with some cannon, as
if it had been for some dangerous expedition ; and letters were written to the lords in the
Highlands, to send all the strength they could to assist the king's army. The marquis of
Athol, to show his greatness, sent 2,400 men. The earl of Bredalbane sent 1,700 men ; and
278 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
m all 8,000 men were brought into the country, and let loose upon free quarter. A com-
mittee of council was sent to give necessary orders. Here was an army : but no enemy
appeared. The Highlanders were very unruly, and stole and robbed everywhere. The
gentlemen of the country were required to deliver up their arms upon oath, and to keep no
horse above four pound price. The gentlemen looked on, and would do nothing. This put
duke Lauderdale in such a phrensy, that at council table he made bare his arms above his
elbow, and swore by Jehovah he would make them enter into those bonds. Duke Hamilton,
and others, who were vexed to see such waste made on their estates, in ploughing-time espe-
cially, came to Edinburgh to try if it was possible to mollify him. But a proclamation was
issued out, requiring all the inhabitants of those counties to go to their houses, to be assistant
to the king's host, and to obey such orders as should be sent them. And by another procla-
mation all men were forbidden to go out of the kingdom without leave from the council, on
pretence that their stay was necessary for the king's service. These things seemed done on
design to force a rebellion ; which they thought would be soon quashed, and would give a
good colour for keeping up an army. And duke Lauderdale's party depended so much on
this, that they began to divide in their hopes the confiscated estates among them : so that on
Valentine's day, instead of drawing mistresses, they drew estates. And great joy appeared
in their looks upon a false alarm that was brought them of an insurrection ; and they were
as much dejected when they knew it was false. It was happy for the public peace, that the
people were universally possessed with this opinion ; for when they saw a rebellion was
desired, they bore the present oppression more quietly than perhaps they would have done,
if it had not been for that. All the chief men of the country were summoned before the
committee of council, and charged with a great many crimes, of which they were required to
purge themselves by oath : otherwise they would hold them guilty, and proceed against them
as such. It was in vain to pretend that this was against all law, and was the practice only
of the courts of inquisition. Yet the gentlemen, being thus forced to it, did purge themselves
by oath : and, after all the inquiries that were made, there did not appear one single circum-
stance to prove that any rebellion was intended. And when all other things failed so evi-
dently, fecourse was had to a writ, which a man who suspects another of ill designs towards
him may serve him with : and it was called law-boroughs, as most used in boroughs. This
lay against a whole family : the master was answerable, if any one of his household broke it.
So, by a new practice, this writ was served upon the whole country at the king's suit : and,
upon serving the writ, security was to be given, much like the binding men to their good
behaviour. Many were put in prison for refusing to give this security.
Duke Hamilton had intimation sent him, that it was designed to serve this on him. So
he, and ten or twelve of the nobility, with about fifty gentlemen of quality, came up to com-
plain of all this ; which looked like French, or rather like Turkish government. The lords
of Athol and Perth, who had been two of the committee of council, and had now fallen off
from duke Lauderdale, came up with them to give the king an account of the whole progress
of this matter. The clamour this made was so high, that duke Lauderdale saw he could not
stand under it. So the Highlanders were sent home, after they had wasted the country nearly
two months. And he magnified this as an act of his compassion, that they were so soon
dismissed. Indeed all his own party were against him in it. Lord Argyle sent none of his
men down with the other Highlanders. And lord Stair pretended that by a fall his hand
was out of joint : so he signed none of these wild orders.
When the Scotch nobility came to London, the king would not see them, because they
were come out of the kingdom in contempt of a proclamation ; though, they said, that pro-
clamation being intended to hinder them from bringing their complaints to the king, was
one of their greatest grievances. But it was answered, they ought to have asked leave ; and
if it had been denied them, they were next to have asked the king's leave : and the king
insisted still on this ; only he saw the lords of Athol and Perth. The madness of this pro-
ceeding made him conclude, that duke Lauderdale's head was turned ; yet he would not dis-
own, much less punish him for what he had done : but he intended to put Scotland in
another management, and to set the duke of Monmouth at the head of it. So he suffered
him to go to the Scotch lords, and be their intercessor with him. They were all much
OF KING CHARLES II. 279
charmed with the softness of his temper and behaviour : but, though he assured them the king
would put their affairs in other hands, they looked on that as one of the king's artifices to get
rid of them. The matter made great noise ; and it was in the time of the session of parliament
here : and all people said, that by the management in Scotland it appeared what was the spirit
of the government, and what would be done here, as soon as the designs of the court were
brought to a greater perfection. The earl of Danby, by supporting duke Lauderdale, height-
ened the prejudices that himself lay under. The duke did also justify his conduct, which
raised higher jealousies of him, as being pleased with that method of government. The chief
of the Scotch nobility were heard before the cabinet council : and the earl of Nottingham
held them chiefly to the point of coming out of the kingdom in the face of a proclamation.
They said, such proclamations were anciently legal, when we had a king of our own among
ourselves ; but now it was manifestly against law, since it barred them from access to the
king, which was a right that was never to be denied them. Lord Nottingham objected
next to them a practice of making the heads of the families, or clans, in the Highlands to bind
for their whole name ; and why by a parity of reason might they not be required to bind
for their tenants ? It was answered, that anciently estates were let so low, that service and
the following the landlords was instead of a rent ; and then, in the inroads that were made
into England, landlords were required to bring their tenants along with them ; but now lands
were let at rack : and so an end was put to that service. In the Highlands the feuds among
the families were still so high, that every name came under such a dependence on the head
or chief of it for their own security, that he was really the master of them all, and so might
be bound for them : but even this was only to restrain depredations and murders : and it was
an unheard-of stretch to oblige men to be bound for others in matters of religion and con-
science, whether real or pretended.
The whole matter was at that time let fall : and duke Lauderdale took advantage from
their absence to desire leave from the king to summon a convention of estates, from whom
he might more certainly understand the sense of the whole kingdom : and, what by corrupt-
ing the nobility, what by carrying elections, or at least disputes about them, which would be
judged as the majority should happen to be at first, he hoped to carry his point. So he issued
out the writs, while they were at London, knowing nothing of the design. And these being
returnable in three weeks, he laid the matter so, that before they could get home, all the
elections were over ; and he was master of above four parts in five of that assembly. So they
granted an assessment for three years, in order to the maintaining a greater force. And they
wrote a letter to the king, not only justifying, but highly magnifying duke Lauderdale's
government. This was so base and so abject a thing, that it brought the whole nation under
great contempt.
And thus I leave the affairs of Scotland, which had a very ill influence on the minds of
the English ; chiefly on the house of commons then sitting, who upon it made a new address
against duke Lauderdale. And that was followed by another of a higher strain, representing
to the king the ill effects of his not hearkening to their address the former year with relation
to foreign affairs, and desiring him to change his ministry, and to dismiss all those that had
advised the prorogation at that time, and his delaying so long to assist the allies. This was
carried only by a small majority of two or three. So lord Danby brought up all his creatures,
the aged and infirm not excepted, and then the majority lay the other way ; and by short
adjournments the parliament was kept sitting till Midsummer. Once lord Danby, thinking
he had a clear majority, got the king to send a message to the house, desiring an additional
revenue of 300,OOOZ. during life. This set the house all in a flame. It was said, here was
no demand for a war, but for a revenue, which would furnish the court so well, that there
would be no more need of parliaments. The court party thought such a gift as this would
make them useless ; so the thing was upon one debate rejected without a division. Lord
Danby was much censured for his rash attempt, which discovered the designs of the court
too barefacedly. At the same time he ordered Montague to treat with the court of France
for a peace, in case they would engage to pay the king 300,000^. a-year for three years. So,
when that came afterwards to be known, it was then generally believed, that the design was
to keep up and model the army now raised, reckoning there would be money enough to pay
!
280 THE HISTORY OF THE REJGN
them till the nation should be brought under a military government. And the opinion of
this prevailed so, that lord Danby became the most hated minister that had ever been about
the kino1. All people said now, they saw the secret of that high favour he had been so long
in, and the black designs that he was contriving. At this time expresses went very quickly
between England and France, and the state of foreign affairs varied every post ; so that it
was visible we were in a secret negotiation : of which Temple has given so particular an
account, that I refer my reader wholly to him. But I shall add one particular, that he has
not mentioned : Montague, who was a man of pleasure, was in an intrigue with the duchess
of Cleveland, who was quite cast off by the king, and was then at Paris. The king had
ordered him to find out an astrologer, of whom it was no wonder he had a good opinion ; for
he had, long before his restoration, foretold he should enter London on the 29th of May 60.
He was yet alive, and Montague found him, and saw he wras capable of being corrupted ; so
he resolved to prompt him to send the king such hints as should serve his own ends. And
he was so bewitched with the duchess of Cleveland, that he trusted her with this secret.
But she, growing jealous of a new amour, took all the ways she could think on to ruin him,
reserving this of the astrologer for her last shift : and by it she compassed her ends ; for
Montague was entirely lost upon it with the king, and came over without being recalled.
The earl of Sunderland was sent ambassador in his room *.
The treaty went on at Nirneguen, where Temple and Jenkins were our plenipotentiaries.
The States were resolved to have a peace. The prince of Orange did all he could to hinder
it : but De Wit's party began to gather strength again. And they infused a jealousy in all
people, that the prince intended to keep up the war for his own ends. A peace might be
now had by restoring all that belonged to the States, and by a tolerable barrier in Flanders.
It is true, the great difficulty was concerning their allies, the king of Denmark, and the
elector of Brandenburgh, wyho had fallen on the Swede, upon the king's declaring for France,
and had beaten him out of Germany. No peace could be had, unless the Swede was restored.
Those princes who had been quite exhausted by that war, would not consent to this. So
they, who had adhered so faithfully to the States in their extremity, pressed them to stick
by them. And this was the prince of Orange's constant topic : how could they expect any
of their allies should stick to them, if they now forsook such faithful friends ? But nothing
could prevail. It was given out in Holland, that they could not depend on England, that
court being so entirely in a French interest, that they suspected they would, as they had
once done, sell them again to the French. And this was believed to be let out by the French
ministers themselves, who, to come at their ends, were apt enough to give up even those
who sacrificed every thing to them. It was said, the court of France would consider both
Denmark and Brandenburgh, and repay the charge of the war against Sweden. This, it was
said, was to force those princes into a dependence on France, who would not continue those
payments so much for past as for future services. In the mean while the French had blocked
up Mons. So the prince of Orange went to force them from their posts. Luxemburgh com-
manded there, and seemed to be in full hope of a peace, when the prince came and attacked
him : and, notwithstanding the advantage of his situation, it appeared how much the Dutch
army was now superior to the French, far they beat them out of several posts. The prince
had no order to stop : he indeed knew that the peace was upon the matter concluded, but
no intimation was yet made to him. So it was lawful for him to take all advantages : and
he was not apprehensive of a new embroilment, but rather wished it. The French treasure
was so exhausted, and their king was so weary of the war, that no notice was taken of the
business of Mons. The treaty at Nimeguen was finished, and ratified : yet new difficulties
arose upon the French king's refusing to evacuate the places that were to be restored till the
Swede was restored to all his dominions. Upon this the English struck in again : and the
king talked so high, as if he would engage in a new war. But the French prevented that,
and did evacuate the places ; and then they got Denmark and Brandenburgh into their
dependence, under the pretence of repaying the charge of the war ; but it was more truly
* The Duchess of Cleveland's letter, imparting the intelligence of Montague's treachery, is given by Harris at the
end of his " Life of Charles the Second."
OF KING CHARLES II. 281
the engaging them into the interests of France by great pensions : so a general peace quickly-
followed, and there was no more occasion for our troops beyond sea. The French were so
apprehensive of them, that Rouvigny, now earl of Galway, was sent over to negotiate matters.
That which France insisted most on, was the disbanding the army. And the force of money
was so strong, that he had orders to offer six millions of their money, in case the army
should be disbanded in August. Rouvigny had such an ill opinion of the designs of our
court, if the army was kept up, that he insisted on fixing the day for disbanding it ; at
which the duke was very uneasy. And matters were so managed, that the army was not
disbanded by the day prefixed for it. So the king of France saved his money. And for
this piece of good management Rouvigny was much commended. The troops were brought
into England, and kept up, under the pretence that there was not money to pay them off.
So all people looked on the next session as very critical. The party against the court gave
all for lost : they believed the lord Danby, who had so often brought his party to be very
near the majority, would now lay matters so well as to be sure to carry the session. And
many did so despair of being able to balance his numbers, that they resolved to come up
no more, and reckoned that all opposition would be fruitless, and serve only to expose them-
selves to the fury of the court : but of a sudden an unlooked-for accident changed all their
measures, and put the kingdom into so great a fermentation, that it well deserves to be
opened very particularly. I am so well instructed in all the steps of it, that I am more
capable to give a full account of it than any man I know. And I will do it so impartially,
that no party shall have cause to censure me for concealing, or altering the truth in any one
instance. It is the history of that called the Popish Plot.
Three days before Michaelmas Dr. Tonge came to me : I had known him at sir Robert
Murray's. He was a gardener and a chemist, and was full of projects and notions : he had got
some credit in Cromwell's time, and that kept him poor. He was a very mean divine, and
seemed credulous and simple ; but I had always looked on him as a sincere man *. At this
time he told me of strange designs against the king's person ; and that Coniers, a Benedictine,
had provided himself with a poniard, with which he undertook to kill him. I was amazed
at all this, and did not know whether he was crazed, or had come to me on design to involve
me in a concealing of treason. So I went to Dr. Lloyd, and sent him to the secretary's office
with an account of that discourse of Tonge's, since I would not be guilty of misprision of
treason. He found at the office that Tonge was making discoveries there, of which they
made no other account, but that he intended to get himself to be made a dean. I told this
next morning to Littleton and Powel : and they looked on it as a design of lord Danby's, to
be laid before the next session, thereby to dispose them to keep up a greater force, since the
papists were plotting against the king's life : this would put an end to all jealousies of the
king, now the papists were conspiring against his life : but lord Halifax, when I told him
of it, had another apprehension of it. Ho said, considering the suspicions all people had of
* Israel, or Ezrael Tongue, or Tonge, was born at Tickhill, Wood Street, and this church rebuilt, he was sent for
in Yorkshire, during the year 1621. His father was minis- home to be rector of the two. Wood, who was not
terofHoltley,in that county. In 1639 he was of University much disposed to speak well of Roundheads and Puritans,
College, Oxford, arfd took his bachelor's degree before the says, he was well versed in Latin, Greek, poetry, and
breaking out of the civil war, at which time he retired chronology; spent much time and money in the pursuit
from that city, not choosing to support the king. In 1648, of alchemy; was fond of instructing children; not very
he was made a fellow of his college by the parliament's well qualified to advance his own interests ; rough and
visitors. He married a daughter of a Dr. Simpson, who cynical in his manner and nature, " yet absolutely free
resigned to him the living of Pluckley, in Kent, but, from covetousness, and I dare say from pride." He died
quarrelling with the parishioners, he quitted it in 1657 in the house of that factious dissenter, called the Pro-
for a fellowship in the newly-erected college at Durham, testant Joiner, alias Stephen Colledge (who kept him in
This being dissolved in 1660, he settled at Islington, and his house, had much ado with him, and had been at great
opening a school, pursued a very successful mode of charge to keep him in order, for carrying on the cause
teaching. He then, following the restless suggestions of his then in hand), on the 18th of December, 1680." Hia
nature, went with Colonel Edward Harley to Dunkirk, funeralsermon was preached by the reverend Thomas Jones,
and resided there as chaplain. When this town was sold, In it he was highly eulogised. Dr. Tongue wrote three
he became vicar of Leutwarden, in Hertfordshire, but left papers on the motion of the sap in trees, that were printed
't for the scarcely more beneficial living of St. Mary Stay- in the Philosophical Transactions, and several works rela-
ting, in London. The conflagration in 1666 destroyed tive to the Popish Plot, and the murder of sir Edmund-
;iis church, and he then went as chaplain to the garrison at bury Godfrey. — Wood's Athena? Oxon, ii. 671, tbl.
Tangier ; but when his parish was united with St. Michael.
282 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the duke's religion, he believed every discovery of that sort would raise a flame, which the
court would not be able to manage.
The day after that Titus Oates was brought before the council. He was the son of an
anabaptist teacher, who afterwards conformed, and got into orders, and took a benefice, as this
his son did. He was proud and ill-natured, haughty, but ignorant. He had been com-
plained of for some very indecent expressions concerning the mysteries of the Christian reli-
gion. He was once presented for perjury ; but he got to be a chaplain in one of the king's
ships, from which he was dismissed upon complaint of some unnatural practices, not to be
named. He got a qualification from the duke of Norfolk as one of his chaplains ; and there
he fell into much discourse with the priests that were about that family. He seemed inclined
to be instructed in the popish religion. One Hutchinson, a Jesuit, had that work put on
him. He was a weak and light-headed man, and afterwards came over to the church of
England. Hutchinson was a curate about the city near a year, and came often to me, and
preached once for me. He seemed to be a sincere, devout man, who did not at all love the
order, for he found they were a deceitful and meddling sort of people. They never trusted
him with any secrets, but employed him wholly in making converts : he went afterwards
back to that church. So all this was thought a juggle only to cast an odium upon Oates.
He told me that Oates and they were always on ill terms : they did not allow Oates above
ninepence a day, of which he complained much ; and Hutchinson relieved him often. They
wished they could be well rid of him, and sent him beyond sea, being on very ill terms
with him. This made Hutchinson conclude, that they had not at that time trusted Oates
with their secrets. Oates was kept for some time at St. Omers; and from thence sent
through France into Spain, and was now returned into England *. He had been long
acquainted with Tonge, and made his first discovery to him ; and he, by the means of one
Kirby, a chemist, that was sometimes in the king's laboratory, signified the thing to the king.
So Tonge had an audience, and told the king a long thread of many passages, all tending to
the taking away his life ; which the king, as he afterwards told me, knew not what to make
of : yet among so many particulars, he did not know but there might be some truth. So he
sent him to lord Danby, who intended to make some use of it, but could not give much credit
to it, and handled the matter too remissly ; for, if at first the thing had been traced quickly,
either the truth or the imposture of the whole affair might have been made appear. The
king ordered lord Danby to say nothing of it to the duke. In the mean while some letters
of an odd strain, relating to plots and discoveries, were sent by the post to Windsor, directed
to Bedding-field, the duke's confessor : who, when he had read them, carried them to the
duke, and protested he did not know what they meant, nor from whom they came. The
duke carried them to the king, and he fancied they were written either by Tonge or Oates,
and sent on design to have them intercepted, to give the more credit to the discovery. The
duke's enemies on the other hand gave out, that he had got some hints of the discovery, and
brought these as a blind to impose on the king. The matter lay in a secret and remiss
management for six weeks.
At last, on Michaelmas Eve, Oates was brought before the council, and entertained them
with a long relation of many discourses he had heard among the Jesuits, of their design to
kill the king. He named persons, places, and times, almost without number. He said,
many Jesuits had disguised themselves, and were gone to Scotland, and held field conven-
ticles, on design to distract the government there. He said, he was sent first to St. Omer's,
thence to Paris, and from thence to Spain, to negotiate this design ; and that upon his return,
when he brought many letters and directions from beyond sea, there was a great meeting of
* Titus Oates was born about the year 1619. His James succeeded to the crown, Oates was justly con-
father was a baptist minister. He was educated at Mer- demned as a perjurer, fined 2,000 maiks, pillored, twice
chant Tailor's school, and Cambridge, where he entered whipped, stripped of his canonicals, and committed to
into holy orders. In 1677 he professed the Roman Catho- imprisonment for life. Tn the reign of William the Third
lie religion, and was admitted into the Jesuit society. On he was released, and given a yearly pension of 400/. He
his return to England he again joined the protestant declared himself an anabaptist at the time of his death in
church. For his informations and proceedings concern- 1705 North's Examen ; Grey's Examination of Neale's
ing the popish plot, he obtained from the ministers of Hist, of Puritans.
Charles the Second, a pension of 1,200/. a year ; but when
OF KING CHARLES II. 283
the Jesuits held in London, in April last, in different rooms in a tavern near St. Clement's ;
and that he was employed to convey the resolutions of those in one room to those in another,
and so to hand them round. The issue of the consultation was, that they came to a resolu-
tion to kill the king, by shooting, stabbing, or poisoning him ; that several attempts were
made, all which failed in the execution, as shall be told when the trials are related. While
he was going on, waiting for some certain evidence to accompany his discovery, he perceived
they were jealous of him ; and so he durst not trust himself among them any more. In all
this there was not a word of Coniers, of whom Tonge had spoken to me. So that was
dropped. This was the substance of what Gates told the first day. Many Jesuits were upon
this seized on that night, and the next day ; and their papers were sealed up next day. Pie
accused Coleman of a strict correspondence with P. de la Chaise ; (whose name he had
not right, for he called him Father Le Shee :) and he said in general, that Coleman was
acquainted with all their designs.
Coleman had a whole day free to make his escape, if he thought he was in any danger ;
and he had conveyed all his papers out of the way ; only he forgot a drawer under the table,
in which the papers relating to 74, 75, and a part of 76 were left And from these I drew
the negotiations, that I have formerly mentioned as directed by him. If he had either left
all his papers, or withdrawn all, it had been happy for his party. Nothing had appeared, if
all his papers had been put out of the way : but, if all had been left, it might have been con-
cluded, that the whole secret lay in them. But he left enough to give great jealousy ; and,
no more appearing, all was believed that the witnesses had deposed. Coleman went out of
the way for a day, hearing that there was a warrant out against him ; but he delivered him-
self the next day to the secretary of state. When Gates and he were confronted, Gates did
not know him at first ; but he named him when he heard him speak ; yet he only charged
him upon hearsay ; so he was put in a messengers hands. Gates named Wakeman, the
queen's physician, but did not know him at all. And being asked if he knew anything
against him, he answered he did not ; adding, God forbid he should say anything more
than he knew ; he would not do that for all the world : nor did he name Langhorn, the
famous lawyer, that indeed managed all their concerns. The king found him out in one
thing. He said, when he was in Spain, he was carried to Don John, who promised great
assistance in the execution of their designs. The king, who knew Don John well, asked him
what sort of a man he was : he answered, he was a tall lean man. Now Don John was a
little fat man. At first he seemed to design to recommend himself to the duke and the
ministers : for he said, he heard the Jesuits oft say, that the duke was not sure enough to
them ; and they were in doubt, whether he would approve of their killing the king ; but
they were resolved, if they found him stiff in that matter, to despatch him likewise. He
said, they had oft made use of his name, and counterfeited his hand and seal without his
knowledge. He said, the Jesuits cherished the faction in Scotland against duke Lauderdale ;
and intended to murder the duke of Grmond, as a great enemy to all their designs : and he
affirmed, he had seen many letters, in which these things were mentioned, and had heard
them oft spoken of. He gave a long account of the burning of London, at which they
intended to have killed the king ; but they relented, when they saw him so active in quench-
ing the fire, which, as he said, they had kindled.
The whole town was all over inflamed with this discovery. It consisted of so many par-
ticulars, that it was thought to be above invention : but when Coleman's letters came to be
read and examined, it got a great confirmation ; since by these it appeared, that so many
years before they thought the design for the converting the nation, and rooting out the pesti-
lent heresy that had reigned so long in these northern kingdoms, was very near its being
executed ; mention was oft made of the duke's great zeal for it ; and many indecent reflec-
tions were made on the king, for his inconstancy, and his disposition to be brought to any-
1 thing for money : they depended on the French king's assistance : and therefore were earnest
' in their endeavours to bring about a general peace, as that which must finish their design.
Gn the second day after this discovery, the king went to Newmarket. This was censured
as a very indecent levity in him, to go and see horse-races, when all people were so much
possessed with this extraordinary discovery, to which Coleman's letters had gained an
284 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
universal credit. While the king was gone, Tonge desired to speak with me : so I went to
him to Whitehall, where both he and Oates were lodged under a guard. I found him so
lifted up, that he seemed to have lost the little sense he had. Oates came in, and made me
a compliment, that I was one that was marked out to be killed. He had before said the
same to Stillingfleet of him : but he made that honour which he did us too cheap, when he
said Tonge was to be be served in the same manner, because he had translated the Jesuits'
morals into English. He broke out into great fury against the Jesuits, and said, he would
have their blood. But I, to divert him from that strain, asked him, what were the argu-
ments that prevailed on him to change his religion, and to go over to the church of Rome ?
He upon that stood up, and laid his hands on his breast, and said, God and his holy angels
knew, that he had never changed, but that he had gone among them on purpose to betray
them. This gave me such a character of him, that I could have no regard to anything he
either said or swore after that.
A few days after this, a very extraordinary thing happened, that contributed more than
any other thing to the establishing the belief of all this evidence. Sir Edmondbury Godfrey
was an eminent justice of peace, that lived near Whitehall. He had the courage to stay in
London, and keep things in order during the plague ; which gained him much reputation,
and upon which he was knighted. He was esteemed the best justice of peace in England,
and kept the quarter where he lived in very good order. He was then entering upon a great
design of taking up all beggars and putting them to work. He was thought vain, and apt
to take too much upon him. But there are so few men of a public spirit, that small faults,
though they lessen them, yet ought to be gently censured. I knew him well, and never had
reason to think him faulty that way *. He was a zealous protestant, and loved the church
of England ; but had kind thoughts of the non-conformists, and was not forward to execute
the laws against them. And he, to avoid being put on doing that, was not apt to search for
priests or mass-houses. So that few men of his zeal lived in better terms with the papists
than he did. Oates went to him the day before he appeared at the council-board, and made
oath of the narrative he intended to make, which he afterwards published. This seemed to
be done in distrust of the privy council, as if they might stifle his evidence ; which to pre-
vent he put it in safe hands. Upon that Godfrey was chid for his presuming to meddle in
so tender a matter. And it was generally believed, that Coleman and he were long in a
private conversation, between the time of his (Coleman's) being put in the messenger's hands,
and his being made a close prisoner : which was done as soon as report was made to the
council of the contents of his letters. It is certain, Godfrey grew apprehensive and reserved ;
for, meeting me in the street, after some discourse of the present state of affairs, he said, he
believed he himself should be knocked on the head : yet he took no care of himself, and went
about according to his own maxim, still without a servant : for he used to say, that the ser-
vants in London were corrupted by the idleness and ill company they fell into, while they
attended on their masters. On the day fortnight from that in which Oates had made his dis-
covery, being Saturday, he went abroad in the morning, and was seen about one o'clock near
St. Clement's church ; but was never seen any more. He was a punctual man to good
hours : so his servants were amazed when he did not come home. Yet, he having an ancient
mother that lived at Hammersmith, they fancied, he had heard she was dying, and so was
gone to see her. Next morning they sent thither, but heard no news of him ; zo his two
brothers, who lived in the city, were sent to. They were not acquainted with his affairs,
so they did not know whether he might not have stepped aside for debt ; since at that time
all people were calling in their money, which broke a great many. But, no creditors
coming about the house, they on Tuesday published his being thus lost. The council sat
upon it, and were going to order a search of all the houses about the town ; but were
diverted from it by many stories that were brought them by the duke of Norfolk. Some-
times it was said, he was indecently married : and the scene was often shifted of the places
where it was said he was. The duke of Norfolk's officiousness in this matter, and the last
place he was seen at being near Arundel house, brought him under great suspicion. On
.
* That is, in taking too inucli vpon him. — Note by author's son.
OF KING CHARLES II. 285
Thursday, one came into a bookseller's shop, after dinner, and said, he was found thrust
through with a sword. That was presently brought as news to me ; but the reporter of it
was not known. That night late his body was found in a ditch, about a mile out of the
town, near St. Pancras church. His sword was thrust through him ; but no blood was on
his clothes, or about him. His shoes were clean ; his money was in his pocket, but nothing
was about his neck ; and a mark was all round it, an inch broad, which showed he was
strangled. His breast was likewise all over marked with bruises, and his neck was broken.
All this I saw ; for Dr. Lloyd and I went to view his body. There were many drops of
white wax-lights on his breeches, which he never used himself. And since only persons of
quality, or priests, use those lights, this made all people conclude in whose hands he must
have been. And it was visible he was first strangled, and then carried to that place, where
his sword was run through his dead body. For a while it was given out, that he was a
hypochondriacal man, and had killed himself. Of this the king was possessed, till Dr. Lloyd
went and told him what he had seen. The body lay two days exposed, many going to see
it, who went away much moved with the sight. And indeed men's spirits were so sharpened
upon it, that we all looked on it as a very great happiness, that the people did not vent
their fury upon the papists about the town *.
The session of parliament was to be opened within three days ; and it may be easily
imagined in what a temper they met. The court party were out of countenance : so the
country party were masters this session. All Oates's evidence was now so well believed,
that it was not safe for any man to seem to doubt of any part of it. He thought he had the
nation in his hands, and was swelled up to a high pitch of vanity and insolence. And now
he made a new edition of his discovery at the bar of the house of commons. He said, the
Pope had declared that England was his kingdom, and that he had sent over commissions to
several persons ; and had by these made lord Arundel of Wardour, chancellor ; lord Powis,
treasurer ; sir William Godolphin, then in Spain, privy seal ; Coleman, secretary of state ;
lord Bellasis, general ; lord Petre, lieutenant-general ; Ratcliffe, major-general ; Stafford,
paymaster-general ; and Langhorn advocate-general ; besides many other commissions for
subaltern officers t. These, he said, he saw in Langhorn's chamber ; and that he had deli-
vered out many of them himself, and saw many more delivered by others. And he now
swore, upon his own knowledge, that both Coleman and Wakeman were in the plot ; that
Coleman had given eighty guineas to four ruffians, that went to Windsor last summer to stab
the king ; that Wakeman had undertaken to poison him, for which 10,000/. were offered
him, but that he got the price raised to 15,000/. He excused his not knowing them, when
confronted with them ; and said, that he was then so spent by a long examination, and by
not sleeping for two nights, that he was not then master of himself ; though it seemed very
strange, that he should then have forgotten that which he made now the main part of his
evidence, and should have then objected to them only reports upon hearsay, when he had
such matter against them, as he now said, upon his own knowledge. And it seemed not
very congruous, that those who went to stab the king had but twenty guineas apiece, when
Wakeman was to have 15,000/. for a safer way of killing him. Many other things in the
discovery made it seem ill digested, and not credible. Bellasis was almost perpetually ill of
the gout. Petre was a weak man, and had never any military command. Ratcliffe was a
man that lived in great state in the north, and had not stirred from home all the last sum-
mer. Oates also swore, he delivered a commission to be a colonel, in May last, to Howard,
the earl of Carlisle's brother, that had married the duchess of Richmond. But a friend of
mine told me, he was all that month at Bath, lodged in the same house with Howard, with
* Very trivial circumstances are allowed by the ignorant Commons, Oct. 28, 1678, " that there being a discourse
to assume an importance to which they are not entitled, of blowing up the two houses of parliament, and this the
especially if they are sustained by superstition. Thus the day for executing the same," a committee was appointed
imperfect anagram of sir Edmundbury Godfrey's name to search the rooms beneath.
(I find murdered by rogues) helped to convince the mul-^ -|- Thus Mr. John Lambert was to be adjutant-general.;
titiule that the papists were the instruments of his murder. Mr. Arundel, of Wardour, commissary-general ; and sir
— Grainger 's Biog. Hist. So general was the alarm, that George Wakeman, physician to the forces. — Oates's ISar-
the papists were in league against all that supported the rative of the Popish Plot, published in 1679.
protcutaiits, that we find from the Journal of the House of
$86 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
whom he was every day engaged at play. He was then miserably ill of the gout, of which
he died soon after. Oates did also charge general Lambert, as one engaged in the design,
who was to have a great post, when set at liberty : but he had been kept in prison ever
since the Restoration ; and by that time had lost his memory and sense. But it was thought
strange, that since Oates had so often said, what I once heard him say, that he had gone in
among them on design to betray them, that he had not kept any one of all these commis-
sions to be real proof in support of his evidence. He had also said to the king, that whereas
others ventured their lives to serve him, he had ventured his soul to serve him : and yet he
did suffer the four ruffians to go to Windsor to kill him, without giving him any notice of his
danger. These were characters strong enough to give suspicion, if Coleman's letters, and
Godfrey's murder, had not seemed such authentic confirmations as left no room to doubt of
any thing. Tillotson indeed told me, that Langhorn's wife, who was still as zealous a pro-
testant as he was a papist, came oft to him, and gave him notice of every thing she could
discover among them ; though she continued a faithful and dutiful wife to the last minute
of her husband's life. Upon the first breaking out of the plot, before Oates had spoken a
word of commissions, or had accused Langhorn, she engaged her son into some discourse
upon those matters, who was a hot, indiscreet papist. He said, their designs were so well
laid, it was impossible they could miscarry ; and that his father would be one of the greatest
men of England : for he had seen a commission from the Pope, constituting him advocate-
general. This he told me in Stillingfleet's hearing.
The earl of Shaftesbury had got out of the Tower in the former session, upon his submis-
sion, to which it was not easy to bring him ; but when he saw an army raised, he had no
mind to lie longer in prison. The matter bore a long debate ; the motion he had made in
the king's bench being urged much against him : but a submission always takes off a con-
tempt, so he got out. And now the duke of Buckingham and he, with the lords Essex and
Halifax, were the governing men among the lords. Many hard things were said against the
duke : yet when they tried to carry an address to be made to the king to send him away
from court, the majority was against them.
While things were thus in a ferment at London, Bedlow delivered himself to the magis-
trates of Bristol, pretending he knew the secret of Godfrey's murder. So he was sent up to
London. The king told me that when the secretary examined him in his presence, at his
first coming he said he knew nothing of the plot, but that he had heard that forty thousand
men were to come over from Spain, who were to meet as pilgrims at St. Jago's, and were to
be shipped for England ; but he knew nothing of any fleet that was to bring them over. So
this was looked on as very extravagant. But he said he had seen Godfrey's body at
Somerset House, and that he was offered 4000/., by a servant of the lord Bellasis, to assist
in carrying it away ; but upon that he had gone out of town to Bristol, where he was so
pursued with horror, that it forced him to discover it. Bedlow had led a very vicious life.
He had gone by many false names, by which he had cheated many persons. He had gone
over many parts of France and Spain as a man of quality. And he had made a shift to live
on his wits, or rather by his cheats. So a tenderness of conscience did not seem to be that
to which he was much subject *. But the very next day after this, when he was brought to
the bar of the house of lords, he made a full discovery of his knowledge of the plot, and of
the lords in the Tower : for all those against whom Oates had informed were now prisoners.
The king was upon this convinced that some had been with Bedlow after he had been before
him, who had instructed him in this narration, of which he had said the night before that he
knew nothing ; and yet he not only confirmed the main parts of Oates's discoveries, but
added a great deal to them. And he now pretended that his rambling over so many places
of Europe was all in order to the carrying on this design ; that he was trusted with the secret,
and had opened many of the letters which he was employed to carry.
* William Bedlow had formerly been a servant to lord tially, and travelled over the Continent in various dis-
Bellasis, but afterwards, obtaining an ensigncy, served guises as their agent (Hist, of the Plot, p. 127.) When
with the army in Flanders. About Michaelmas, 1674, he came to London from Bristol, he was lodged at White- ,
he came over with a recommendation from the English hall, and a guard assigned him. The house of commous '
abbess at Dunkirk, and by degrees becoming acquainted voted him 500/. for his services. — (Rapin's History.)
with the Jesuits, was finally employed by them confideu-
OF KING CHARLES II. 28?
Here were now two witnesses to prove the plot, as far as swearing could prove it. And
among the papers of the Jesuits, that were seized on when they were clapped up, two letters
were found that seemed to confirm all. One from Rome mentioned the sending over the
patents : of which it was said in the letter, that they guessed the contents, though their
patrons there carried their matters so secretly, that nothing was known but as they thought
fit. The Jesuits, when examined upon this, said these were only patents with relation to the
offices in their order. Another letter was written to a Jesuit in the country, citing him to
come to London by the 24th of April ; which was the day in which Oates swore they held
their consult, and that fifty of them had signed the resolution of killing the king, which was
to be executed by Grove and Pickering. In the end of that letter it was added " I need not
enjoin secrecy, for the nature of the thing requires it." When the Jesuit was examined to
this, he said it was a summons for a meeting according to the rule of their order ; and they
being to meet during the sitting of the parliament, that was the particular reason for enjoin-
ing secrecy. Yet, while men's minds were strongly possessed, these answers did not satisfy,
but were thought only shifts.
At this time Carstairs, of whose behaviour in Scotland mention has been made, not having
met with those rewards that he expected, came up to London, to accuse duke Lauderdale
as designing to keep up the opposition that was made to the laws in Scotland, even at the
time that he seemed to prosecute conventicles with the greatest fury ; for that he had often
drawn the chief of their teachers into such snares, that upon the advertisements that he gave
they might have been taken, but that duke Lauderdale had neglected it ; so he saw he had
a mind that conventicles should go on, at the same time that he was putting the country in
such a flame to punish them. This he undertook to prove by those witnesses of whom on
other occasions he had made use. He also confessed the false date of that warrant upon
which Baillie had been censured. He put all this in writing and gave it to the marquis of
Athol ; and pressed him to carry him to duke Hamilton and the earl of Kincardine, that he
might beg their pardon and be assured of their favour. I was against the making use of so
vile a man, and would have nothing to do with him. He made application to lord Caven-
dish, and to some of the house of commons, to whom I gave such a character of him, that
they would see him no more.
While he was thus looking about where he could find a lucky piece of villany, he hap-
pened to go into an eating-house in Covent Garden, that was over against the shop of one
Staley, the popish banker, who had been in great credit, but was then under some difficul-
ties : for all his creditors came to call for their money. Staley happening to be in the next
room to Carstairs, Carstairs pretended he heard him say in French, that the king was a
rogue, and persecuted the people of God ; and that he himself would stab him if nobody else
would. The words were written down, which he resolved to swear against him. So next
morning he and one of his witnesses went to him, and told him what they would swear
against him, and asked a sum of money of him. He was in much anxiety and saw great
danger on both hands. Yet he chose rather to leave himself to their malice than be preyed
on by them. So he was seized on, and they swore the words against him ; and he was
appointed to be tried within five days. When I heard who the witnesses were, I thought I
was bound to do what I could to stop it. So I sent both to the lord-chancellor*, and to the
attorney-general, to let them know what profligate wretches these witnesses were. Jones,
the attorney-general, took it ill of me, that I should disparage the king's evidence. The
thing grew public, and raised great clamour against me. It was said, I was taking this
niethod to get into favour at court. I had likewise observed to several persons of weight
how many incredible things there were in the evidence that was given ; I wished they
would make use of the heat the nation was in to secure us effectually from popery ; we saw
certain evidence to carry us so far as to graft that upon it ; but I wished they would not
run too hastily to the taking men's lives away upon such testimonies. Lord Hollis had
more temper than I expected from a man of his heat. Lord Halifax was of the same mind.
But the earl of Shaftesbury could not bear the discourse. He said, we must support the
* Sir Heneage Finch, Baron Finch, afterwards Earl of Nottingham.
288 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
evidence, and that all those who undermined the credit of the witnesses were to be looked
on as public enemies. And so inconstant a thing is popularity, that I was most bitterly
railed at by those who seemed formerly to put some confidence in me. It went so far that
I was advised not to stir abroad for fear of public affronts. But these things did not daunt
me. Staley was brought to his trial, which did not hold long. The witnesses gave a full
evidence against him, and he had nothing to offer to take away their credit. He only showed
how improbable it was that, in a public house, he should talk such things with so loud a
voice as to be heard in the next room, in a quarter of the town where almost everybody
understood French. He was cast * ; and he prepared himself very seriously for death. Dr.
Lloyd went to see him in prison. He was offered his life if he would discover their plots.
He protested he knew of none ; and that he had not said the words sworn against him, nor
anything to that purpose. And he died the first of those who suffered on the account of
the plot. Duke Lauderdale, having heard how I had moved in this matter, railed at me
with open mouth. He said I had studied to save Staley for the liking I had to any one
that would murder the king. And he infused this into the king, so that he repeated it in
the house of lords to a company that were standing about him.
Yet so soon could the king turn to make use of a man whom he had censured so unmerci-
fully, that two days after this he sent the earl of Dunbarton, that was a papist and had been
bred in France, and was duke Hamilton's brother, to me, to desire me to come to him
secretly, for he had a mind to talk with me. He said he believed I could do him service if
I had a mind to it. And the see of Chichester being then void, he said, he would not dis-
pose of it till he saw whether I would deserve it or not. I asked if he fancied I would be a
spy, or betray anybody to him. But he undertook to me that the king should ask me no
question, but should in all points leave me to my liberty.
An accident fell in before I went to him, which took off much from Oates's credit. When
he was examined by the house of lords, and had made the same narrative to them that he
had offered to the commons, they asked him if he had now named all the persons whom he
knew to be involved in the plot ? He said there might be some inferior persons whom he
had perhaps forgotten, but he had named all the persons of note. Yet, it seems, afterwards
he bethought himself ; and Mrs. Elliot, wife to Elliot of the bedchamber, came to the king
and told him Oates had somewhat to swear against the queen, if he would give way to it.
The king was willing to give Oates line -enough, as he expressed it to me, and seemed to
give way to it. So he came out with a new story, that the queen had sent for some Jesuits
to Somerset House ; and that he went along with them, but stayed at the door when they
went in : where he heard one, in a woman's voice, expressing her resentments of the usage
she had met with, and assuring them she would assist them in taking off the king. Upon
that he was brought in, and presented to her ; and there was then no other woman in the
room but her. When he was bid describe the room, it proved to be one of the public rooms
of that court, which are so great that the queen, who was a woman of a low voice, could not
be heard over it, unless she had strained for it. Oates, to excuse his saying that he could
not lay anything to the charge of any besides those he had already named, pretended that he
thought then it was not lawful to accuse the queen. But this did not satisfy people. Bed-
low, to support this, swore that, being once at chapel at Somerset House, he saw the queen,
the duke, and some others, very earnest in discourse in the closet above ; and that one came
down with much joy and said the queen had yielded at last ; and that one explained this to
him beyond sea, and said it was to kill the king. And, besides Bedlow's oath that he saw
Godfrey's body in Somerset House, it was remembered that at that time the queen was for
some days in close retirement, that no person was admitted. Prince Rupert came then to
wait on her, but was denied access. This raised a strange suspicion of her. But the king
would not suffer that matter to go any farther f .
* See " State Trials." gone too far: he was closely imprisoned and his papers
t The testimony of Bedlow and Oates is given in the seized. — (Ralph's Hist, of England ; Grey's Debates, vi.
" Clarendon Correspondence," i. 52. Charles the Second, 291.) In this last authority it will be seen that the
upon this occasion, acted with honourable firmness, house of commons passed a resolution, to request the peers
w They think," he observed, after hearing the evidence, to join them in an address to the king, for the removal of
" I have a mind to a new wife ; but for all that I will the queen and all papists from about his person,
uot see an innocent woman abused." Oates had now
OF KING CHARLES II. 280
While examinations were going on, and preparation was making for the trial of the pri-
soners, a bill was brought into the house of commons, requiring all members of either
house, and all such as might come into the king's court, or presence, to take a test against
popery ; in which not only transubstantiation was renounced, but the worship of the Virgin
Maryland the Saints, as it was practised in the church of Rome, was declared to be idola-
trous. This passed in the house.of commons without any difficulty. But in the house of
lords, Gunning, bishop of Ely, maintained that the church of Rome was not idolatrous.
He was answered by Barlow, bishop of Lincoln *. The lords did not much mind Gunning's
arguments, but passed the bill. And though Gunning had said that he could not take that
test with a good conscience, yet, as soon as the bill was passed, he took it in the crowd with
the rest. The duke got a proviso to be put in it for excepting himself. He spoke upon that
occasion with great earnestness and with tears in his eyes. He said he was now to cast
himself upon their favour in the greatest concern he could have in this world. He
spoke much of his duty to the king, and of his zeal for the nation ; and solemnly protested
that, whatever his religion might be, it should only be a private thing between God and his
own soul, and that no effect of it should ever appear in the government. The proviso was
carried for him by a few voices f . And, contrary to all men's expectations, it passed in the
house of commons. There was also a proviso put in, excepting nine ladies about the queen.
And she said she would have all the ladies of that religion cast lots who should be compre-
hended. Gnly she named the duchess of Portsmouth as one whom she would not expose to
the uncertainty of a lot, which was not thought very decent in her, though her circumstances
at that time required an extraordinary submission to the king in everything.
Coleman was brought to his trial. Gates and Bedlow swore flatly against him, as was
mentioned before. He denied that he had ever seen either the one or the other of them in
his whole life : and defended himself by Gates not knowing him, when they were first con-
fronted, nor objecting those matters to him for a great while after. He also pressed Gates
to name the day in August in which he had sent the fourscore guineas to the four ruffians.
j But Gates would fix on no day, though he was very punctual in matters of less moment.
; Coleman had been out of town almost that whole month. But no day being named, that
1 served him in no stead. He urged the improbability of his talking to two such men, whom
! lie had, by their own confession, never seen before. But they said, he was told that they
were trusted with the whole secret. His letters to P. de la Chaise were the heaviest part of
the evidence. He did not deny that there were many impertinent things in his letters ;
but he said he intended nothing in them, but the king's service and the duke's ; he never
i intended to bring in the catholic religion by rebellion or by blood, but only by a toleration ;
i-ind the aid that was prayed from France was only meant the assistance of money and the
interposition of that court. After a long trial he was convicted, and sentence passed upon
Iliim to die as a traitor. He continued to his last breath denying every tittle of that which
the witnesses had sworn against him. Many were sent to him from both houses, offering to
nterpose for his pardon if he would confess. He still protested his innocence, and took
(reat care to vindicate the duke. He said, his own heat might make him too forward ; for,
icing persuaded of the truth of his religion, he could not but wish that all others were not
>nly almost, but altogether, such as he was, except in that chain : for he was then in irons.
I fe confessed he had mixed too much interest for raising himself in all he did ; and that he
uid received 2500 guineas from the French ambassador, to gaiu some friends to his master,
Dr. Thomas Barlow was a native of Westmorland, perate Calvinist ; but a friend of general toleration. Asa
i';d born in 1607. He was educated at Appleby Free- bishop, he neglected his duty, for he never was in his
ichool, and Queen's College, Oxford. His political prin- cathedral, or visited his diocese ; so that living constantly
|>les seem to have been always to submit to the prevailing at Bugden, he acquired the description of " the Bishop of
'wer. He was promoted, or at least favoured, by Charles Bugden that never saw Lincoln." He is most to be esti-
ie First, the Parliament, Charles the Second, James the mated as a scholar, a metaphysician, and the friend of
icond, and William the Third. As a philosopher, he is literary men. He was made bishop of Lincoln in 1675.
i instance how prejudices cling to an old man, for he He died in 1691. — Wood's Athense Oxon. ; Biog.
'probated and opposed the Royal Society and Experi- Britaii.
icntal Philosophy that was superseding the dogmatism of f The majority exceeded the minority by only two.—
listotle. In his religious ouinions, he was an intern- Chandler's Debates.
U
290 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
but that he had kept them to himself: he had acted by order in all that he had done ; and
he believed the king knew of his employment, particularly that at Brussels. But though
he seemed willing to be questioned concerning the king, the committee did not think fit to
do it, nor to report what he said concerning it ; only in general they reported that he spoke
of another matter, about which they did not think fit to interrogate him, nor to mention it.
Littleton was one of the committee, and gave me an account of all that passed that very
night. And I found his behaviour made great impression on them all. He suffered with
much composedness and devotion ; and died much better than he had lived. It was given
out at that time, to make the duke more odious, that Coleman was kept up from making
confessions, by the hopes the duke sent him of a pardon at Tyburn. But he could not be so
ignorant as not to know that, at that time, it was not in the king's power to pardon him
while the tide wrent so high *.
The nation was now so much alarmed that all people were furnishing themselves with
arms, which heightened the jealousy of the court. A bill passed in both houses for raising
all the militia, and for keeping it together for six weeks ; a third part, if I remember right,
being to serve a fortnight, and so round. I found some of them hoped when that bill passed
into a law they would be more masters, and that the militia would not separate till all the
demands of the two houses should be granted. The king rejected the bill when offered to
him for his assent f .
I waited often on him all the month of December. He came to me to Chimnch's, a page
of the back stairs, and kept the time he assigned me to a minute. He was alone, and talked
much and very freely with me. We agreed in one thing, that the greatest part of the
evidence was a contrivance. But he suspected some had set on Oates, and instructed him :
and he named the earl of Shaftesbury. I was of another mind. I thought the many gross
things in his narrative showed there was no abler head than Oates, or Tonge, in the framing
it ; and Oates in his first story had covered the duke and the ministers so much, that from
thence it seemed clear that lord Shaftesbury had no hand in it, who hated them much more
than he did popery. He fancied there was a design of a rebellion on foot. I assured him
I saw no appearances of it. I told him there was a report breaking out, that he intended to
legitimate the duke of Monmouth. He answered quickly, that, as well as he loved him, he
had rather see him hanged. Yet he apprehended a rebellion so much that he seemed not
ill-pleased that the party should flatter themselves with that imagination, hoping that would
keep them quiet in a dependence upon himself : and he suffered the duke of Monmouth to
use all methods to make himself popular, reckoning that he could keep him in his own
management. He was surprised when I told him that Coleman had insinuated that he
knew of all their foreign negotiations, or at least he seemed so to me. I pressed him much
to oblige the duke to enter into conferences with some of our divines, and to be present at
\them himself. This would very much clear him of jealousy, and might have a good effect
on his brother ; at least it would give the world some hopes : like what Henry the Fourth of
France, his grandfather, did, which kept a party firm to him for some time before he changed.
He answered that his brother had neither Henry the Fourth's understanding nor his con-
science : for he believed that king was always indifferent as to those matters. lie would
not hearken to this, which made me incline to believe a report I had heard that the duke
had got a solemn promise of the king that he would never speak to him of religion. The
king spoke much to me concerning Oates's accusing the queen, and acquainted me with the
whole progress of it. lie said she was a weak woman and had some disagreeable humours,
but was not capable of a wicked tiling ; and, considering his faiiltiness towards her in other
I O 7 O
things, he thought it a horrid thing to abandon her. He said he looked on falsehood and
cruelty as the greatest crimes in the sight of God ; he knew he had led a bad life, (of which j
he spoke with some sense,) but he was breaking himself of all his faults ; and he would never
do a base and wicked thing. I spoke on all these subjects what I thought became me, !
* See tlic " State Tiials," wlicroColcmna's letters and ninny clays out of liis power, and that was what lie would
tlie evidence arc given veibaiiin. not comply with, even for half an hour. — Chandler •
. .- .
f The king said that the bill put the militia for so Debates, House of Lords, i. 223. I
OF KING CHARLES II 12<)1
which he took well. And I encouraged him much in his resolution of not exposing the
queen to perish by false swearing. I told him there was no possibility of laying the heat
that was now raised but by changing his ministry. And I told him how odious the earl of
Danby was, and that there was a design against him ; but I knew not the particulars. He
jaid he knew that lay at bottom. The army was not yet disbanded, and the king was
in great straits for money. The house of commons gave a money bill for this. Yet they
would not trust the court with the disbanding the army, but ordered the money to be brought
into the chamber of London, and named a committee for paying off and breaking the army.
I perceived the king thought I was reserved to him, because I would tell him no particular
stories nor name persons. Upon which I told him, since he had that opinion of me, I saw I
could do him no service, and would trouble him no more ; but he should certainly hear from
me, if I came to know anything that might be of any consequence to his person or govern-
ment.
This favour of mine lasted all the month of December '78. I acquainted him with Car-
stairs's practice against duke Lauderdale, and all that I knew of that matter ; which was
the ground on which I had gone with relation to Staley. The king told duke Lauderdale
of it, without naming me. And he sent for Carstairs and charged him with it. Carstairs
denied it all ; but said that duke Hamilton and lord Kincardine had pressed him to do it ;
and he went to the king and affirmed it confidently to him. He did not name lord Athol,
hoping that he would be gentle to him for that reason. The king spoke of this to duke
Hamilton, who told him the whole story as I had done. Lord Athol upon that sent for
Carstairs and charged him with all this foul dealing, and drew him near a closet where he
had put two witnesses. Carstairs said that somebody had discovered the matter to duke
Lauderdale, that he was now upon the point of making his fortune, and that if duke Lauder-
dale grew to be his enemy he was undone. He confessed he had charged duke Hamilton
and lord Kincardine falsely ; but he had no other way to save himself. After the marquis
of Athol had thus drawn everything from him, he went to the king with his two witnesses,
and the paper that Carstairs had formerly put in his hand. Carstairs was then with the
king, and was with many imprecations justifying his charge against the two lords ; but he
was confounded when he saw lord Athol. And upon that his villany appeared so evidently,
that the part I had acted in that matter was now well understood and approved of.
Carstairs died not long after under great horror, and ordered himself to be cast into some
ditch as a dog, for he said he was no better. But I could never hear what he said of Staley 's
business.
While all matters were in this confusion, a new incident happened that embroiled them
yet more. The carl of Danby had broken with Montague ; but he knew what letters he
had written to him and with what secrets he had trusted him. He apprehended Montague
might accuse him, so he resolved to prevent him. Jenkins, who was then at Nimeguen,
wrote over, according to a direction sent him, as was believed, that he understood that Mon-
tague had been in a secret correspondence, and in dangerous practices with the Pope's nuncio
at Paris. This was meant of one Con, whom I knew well, who had been Jong in Rome • and
most of the letters between England and Rome passed through his hands. He was a crafty man,
and knew news well, and loved money: so Montague made use of him, and gave him money for
such secrets as he could draw from him. Upon Jenkins's letter the king sent a message to the
house of commons, letting them know that he was resolved to bring Montague to a trial, for being
a confederate with Rome, and in the plot to bring in popery ; and at the same time he sent to
secure his cabinets and papers. This was a device of lord Danby's to find his own letters and
destroy them ; and then to let the prosecution fall, for they knew they had nothing against
Montague. But Montague understood the arts of a court too well to be easily caught, and had
put a box, in which those letters were, in sure hands out of the way. A great debate rose
upon this matter in the house of commons. It was thought a high breach of privilege to
seize on the papers of a member of their house, when there was nothing of treason sworn
against him. After some hours spent in the debate, during which Montague sat silent very
long ; at last, when the box was brought to him from the person to whom he had trusted it,
lie opened it, and took out two of lord Danby's letters, that contained instructions to him to
u 2
-292, THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
treat with the king of France for 300,000/. a year, for three years, if a peace succeeded, since
it would not be convenient for the king to meet a parliament in all that time, and he was
charged to mention no part of this to the secretary of state. Winnington, who from smal
beginnings, and from as small a proportion of learning in his profession, in which he wa>
rather bold, and ready, than able, was now come to be solicitor-general, fell severely upon
those letters. He said, here was a minister who, going out of the affairs of his own pro-
vince, was directing the king's ambassadors, and excluding the secretary of state, whose office
it was, from the knowledge of it ; here was the faith of England to our allies, and our inte-
rest likewise, set to sale for French money, and that to keep off a session of parliament :
this was a design to sell the nation, and to subvert the government ; and he concluded that
was high treason. Upon which he moved that lord Danby should be impeached of high
treason. The earl of Danby's party was much confounded. They could neither deny nor
justify his letters. But they argued that they could not be high treason, since no such fact
was comprehended in any of the statutes of treason. The letters seemed to be written by
the king's order, who certainly might appoint any person he pleased to send his orders to his
ministers abroad : they reflected on the business of the earl of Strafford, and on constructive
treason, which wras a device to condemn a man for a fact against which no law did lie.
Maynard, an ancient and eminent lawyer, explained the words of the statute of 25 Edward
the Third, that the courts of law could not proceed but upon one of the crimes there enume-
rated ; but the parliament had still a power, by the clause in that act, to declare what they
thought was treason. So an act passed, declaring poisoning treason, in king Henry the
Eighth's time ; and, though by the statute it was only treason to conspire against the prince
of Wales, yet if one should conspire against the whole royal family, when there was no
prince of Wales, they would without doubt declare that to be high treason.
After a long debate it was voted by a majority of above seventy voices, that lord Danby
should be impeached of high treason. And the impeachment was next day carried up to the
lords. The earl of Danby justified himself, that he had served the king faithfully and
according to his own orders. And he produced some of Montague's letters, to show that at
the court of France he was looked on as an enemy to their interest *. He said, they knew him
well that judged so of him, for he was indeed an enemy to it ; and, among other reasons, he
gave this for one : that he knew the French king held both the king's person and govern-
ment under the last degree of contempt. These words were thought very strange with rela-
tion to both kings. A great debate arose in the house of lords concerning the impeachment :
whether it ought to be received as an impeachment of high treason, only because the com-
mons added the word high treason in it. It was said, the utmost that could be made of it
was to suppose it true ; but even in that case they must needs say plainly that it was not
within the statute. To this it was answered, that the house of commons that brought up
the impeachment were to be heard to two points : the one was to the nature of the crime,
the other was to the trial of it ; but the lords could not take upon them to judge of either of
these till they heard what the commons could offer to support the charge ; they were bound
therefore to receive the charge, and to proceed according to the rules of parliament, which
were to commit the person so impeached, and then give a short day for his trial : so it would
be soon over, if the commons could not prove the matter charged to be high treason. The
debate went on with great heat on both sides ; but the majority was against the commit-
ment. Upon this, it was visible the commons would have complained that the lords denied
them justice. So there was no hope of making up the matter. And upon that the parlia-
ment was prorogued f.
* Two of these letters, with the speech made by lord Mr. Montague's election. The latter left Paris without
Danhy, were published in a small pamphlet. Penes mini, the king's knowledge, and took his seat. Immediately
•f* Mr. Ralph Montague, whilst ambassador in France, after, sir John Ernly, chancellor of the exchequer, in-
and without consulting our government, had obtained a formed the house that the king, having received inforina-
seat in the house of commons for the town of Northamp- tion that Mr. Montague had held private conferences with
ton, evidently with the intention of btaining its especial the pope's nuncio, had caused his papers to be seized. This
protection from the storm that would soon burst upon was whilst he was attending the house, for he there ie-
him ; for Mr. Harbord boasted, in the course of a debate, ceived a letter from his wife, to inform him of the seizure.
that for this purpose he had exerted himself in securing Mr. Montague told the house that he believed this w;»*
OF KING CHARLES II.
293
This was variously censured. Tlie court condemned Montague for revealing the king's
secrets. Others said, that since lord Dauby had begun to fall on him, it was reasonable and
natural for him to defend himself. The letters did cast a very great blemish, not only on
lord Danby, but on the king, who, after he had entered into alliances, and had received great
supplies from his people to carry on a war, was thus treating with France for money,
which could not be asked or obtained from France on any other account but that of making
the confederates accept of lower terms than otherwise they would have stood on : which
was indeed the selling of the allies and of the public faith. All that the court said in excuse
for this was, that since the king saw a peace was resolved on, after he had put himself to so
great a charge to prepare for war, it was reasonable for him to be reimbursed as much as lie
could from France. This was ordinary in all treaties, where the prince that desired a peace
was made to buy it. This indeed would have justified the king, if it had been demanded
above board, but such underhand dealing was mean and dishonourable ; and it was said that
the States went into the peace with such unreasonable earnestness upon the knowledge, or
at least the suspicion, that they had of such practices. This gave a new wound to the king's
credit abroad, or rather it opened the old one ; for indeed, after our breaking both the treaty
of Breda and the Triple Alliance, we had not much credit to lose abroad. None gained so
much by this discovery as secretary Coventry, since now it appeared that he was not trusted
with those ill practices. He had been severely fallen on for the famed saying of the murder
of forty men. Birch aggravated the matter heavily, and said, it seemed he thought the
murder of forty men a very small matter, since he would rather be guilty of it than oppose
an alliance made upon such treacherous views. Coventry answered, that he always spoke
to them sincerely, and as he thought ; and that if an angel from Heaven should come and
say otherwise, (at this they were very attentive, to see how he could close a period so
strangely begun,) he was sure he should never get back to Heaven again, but would be a
fallen and a lying angel. Now the matter was well understood, and his credit was set on a
sure foot.
After the prorogation, the earl of Danby saw the king's affairs and the state of the nation
required a speedy session. He saw little hope of recovering himself with that parliament,
done to obtain some letters of great consequence, which
he had to produce, showing the designs of a great minister
of state. But he had secured these documents elsewhere,
and, heing produced, exposed the base bribe stipulated and
accepted by the king, when concluding the peace with
France. The most notable paragraphs were these : " In
case the conditions of peace shall be accepted, the king
expects to have 6,000,000 of livres (300, OOOJ.), yearly,
for three years, from the time that this agreement shall be
signed between his majesty and the king of France ; be-
cause it will be two or three years before he can hope to
find his parliament in humour to give him supplies, after
your having made peace with France." Subscribed
"Danby." — " To the secretary of state, Coventry, you
nui&t not mention one syllable of the money." At the
bottom of the letter were these words, " This letter is
writ by my order. C. R." After a stormy debate, the
commons resolved to impeach the lord- treasurer, earl
Danby, of high treason ; and the articles of impeachment
were earned up to the house of lords by sir Henry Capcl.
—Grey's Debates, vi. 337, &c.
Mr. Montague succeeded to his father's title, lord Mon-
tague, of Bough ton, in KJ83. He was master of the
horse to the queen of Charles the Second ; and purchased
<K the earl of Sandwich the mastership of the great ward-
robe. His opposition to the ministry, and his prominent
conduct in supporting the exclusion of the duke of York
from the throne, made it advisable for him to retire into
exile. James the Second deprived him of his patent prefer-
ment, but William the Third restored it to him, and created
him marquis of Mont Hornier. Queen Anne advanced
him to the dukedom of Montague. His characteristics
wore generosity and a love of magnificence. He rebuilt
the family seat of Boughton, and erected Bloomsbury, o;
Montague House, now the British Museum. The duke
of Marl borough once complimented him upon the excel-
lency of the water-works at Boughton, which enabled
Montague to return the compliment, by replying that his
grace's fire-works deseived more commendation. His
second wife was the widow of the second duke of Albe-
marle ; her wealth and pride made her insane, and she
was positive in resolving to marry no one below an emperor
in dignity. Montague courted her and married her as
Emperor of China. Lord Ross, who was his rival, ad-
dressed to him these verses upon the occasion : —
Insulting rival, never boast
Thy conquest lately won ;
No wonder if her heart was lost
Her senses first were gone.
From one that's under Bedlam's laws
What glory can be had ?
For love of thee was not the cause ;
It proves that she was mad.
Montague only desired wealth for the pleasure of spending
it ; covetousness was not one of his weaknesses. He
refused all the lucrative offices proffered to him ; and
would never take more than 2,'200/. annually, from his
place, though it was worth much more. Lord Preston dis-
puted his title to it, having himself received it as a gift from
James the Second ; but the judges having decided in favour
of Montague, he generously remitted his opponent all tho
arrearages, and paid his costs attending the suit. He died
in 1709. — Grainger's Biog. Hist., and Noble's Continv.s-
234 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
in which so great a majority were already so deeply engaged. So he entered nto a treaty
with some of the country party for a new parliament. He undertook to get the duke to be
sent out of the way against the time of its meeting. Lord Hollis, Littleton, Boscawen, and
Hambden, were spoken to. They were all so apprehensive of the continuance of that par-
liament, and that another set of ministers would be able to manage them as the court pleased,
that they did undertake to save him if he could bring these things about. But it was
understood, that he must quit his post and withdraw from affairs. Upon which they pro-
mised their assistance to carry off his impeachment with a mild censure. The duke went
into the advice of a dissolution upon other grounds. He thought the house of commons had
engaged with so much heat in the matter of the plot, that they could never be brought off,
or be made more gentle in the matter of religion. He thought a new parliament would act
in a milder strain, and not fly so high ; or that they would give no money, and so the king
and they would break ; for he dreaded nothing so much as the bargains that were made
with the present parliament, in which popery was always to be the sacrifice. Thus both
the duke and lord Danby joined in advancing a dissolution, which was not resolved on till
the January following.
In December, Ireland, Whitebread, and Fenwick, three Jesuits, and Grove and Pickering,
two of the servants in the queen's chapel, were brought to their trial. Oates and Bedlow
swore home against Ireland, that in August last he had given particular orders about killing
the king. Oates swore the same against the other two Jesuits. But Bedlow swore only
upon hearsay against them. So, though they had pleaded to their indictment, and the jury
was sworn and the witnesses examined, yet, when the evidence was not found full, their
trial was put off to another time, and the jury was not charged with them. This looked as
if it was resolved that they must not be acquitted. I complained of this to Jones, but he
said they had precedents for it. I always thought that a precedent against reason signified
no more but that the like injustice had been done before. And the truth is the crown has,
or at least had, such advantages in trials of treason, that it seems strange how any person
was ever acquitted. Ireland, in his own defence, proved by many witnesses, that he went
from London on the second of August to Staffordshire, and did not come back till the twelfth
of September. Yet, in opposition to that, a woman swore that she saw him in London
about the middle of August. So, since he might have come up post in one day and gone
down in another, this did not satisfy. Oates and Bedlow swore against Grove and Picker-
ing, that they undertook to shoot the king at Windsor ; that Grove was to have 1500/. for
it ; and that Pickering chose thirty thousand masses, which, at a shilling a mass, amounted
to the same sum ; they attempted it three several times with a pistol : once the flint wTas
loose, at another time there was no powder in the pan, and the third time the pistol was
charged only with bullets. This was strange stuff. But all was imputed to a special pro-
vidence of God ; and the whole evidence was believed. So they were convicted, condemned,
and executed. But they denied to the last every particular that was sworn against them *.
This began to shake the credit of the evidence, when a more composed and credible person
came in to support it. One Dugdale, that had been the lord Aston's bailiff, and lived in a
fair reputation in the country, was put in prison for refusing the oaths of allegiance and
supremacy. He did then, with many imprecations on himself, deny that he knew of any
plot. But afterwards he made a great discovery of a correspondence that Evcrs, the lord
Aston's Jesuit, held with the Jesuits in London, who had written to Evers of the design of
killing the king, and desired him to find out men proper for executing it, whether they were
gentlemen or not. This, he swore, was written plain, in a letter from Whitebread, the pro-
vincial, directed to himself ; but he knew it was meant for Evers. Eversly and Govan,
another Jesuit, pressed this Dugdale to undertake it ; they promised he should be canonized
for it ; and the lord Stafford offered him 500Z. if he would set about it. He was a man of
sense and temper, and behaved himself decently ; and had somewhat in his air and deport-
ment that disposed people to believe him : so that the king himself began to think there i
was somewhat in the plot, though he had very little regard either to Oates or Bedlow.
i
* See the " State Trials."
OF KING CHARLES II. 295
Pugdale's evidence was much confirmed by one circumstance. He had talked of a justice
of peace in Westminster that was killed on the Tuesday after Godfrey was missed : so that
the news of this must have been written from London on the Saturday night's post. He
did not think it was a secret, and so he talked of it as news in an alehouse. The two per-
sons he said he spoke it to remembered nothing of it, the one being the minister of the
parish ; but several others swore they had heard it. He saw this, as he swore, in a letter
written by Harcourt, the Jesuit, to Evers, in which Godfrey was named. But he added a
strange story to this, which he said Evers told him afterwards : that the duke had sent to
Coieman, when he was in Newgate, to persuade him to discover nothing, and that he
desired to know of him whether he had ever discovered their designs to any other person ;
and that Coieman sent back answer, that he had spoken of them to Godfrey, but to no other
man. Upon which the duke gave order to kill him. This was never made public till the
lord Stafford's trial. And I was amazed to see such a thing break out after so long a silence.
It looked like an addition to Dugdale's first evidence ; though he had been noted for having
brought out all his discoveries at once. The earl of Essex told me he swore it in his first
examination ; but, since it was only upon hearsay from Evers, and so was nothing in law,
and yet would heighten the fury against the duke, the king charged Dugdale to say nothing
of it.
At the same time a particular discovery was made of Godfrey's murder. Prance, a gold-
smith, that wrought for the queen's chapel, had gone from his house for two or three days,
the week before the murder. And one that lodged in his house calling that to mind, upon
Bedlow's swearing he saw the body in Somerset House, fancied that this was the time in
which he was from home, and that he might be concerned in that matter, though it appeared
afterwards that his absence was the week before. He said he went from his own house, fearing
to be put in prison, as many were, upon suspicion, or on the account of his religion. Yet
upon this information he was seized on, and carried to Westminster. Bedlow accidentally
passed by, not knowing anything concerning him, and at first sight he charged somebody to
seize on him ; for he was one of those whom he saw about Godfrey's body. Yet he denied
everything for some days. Afterwards he confessed he was concerned in it, and he gave this
account of it : Girald and Kelly, two priests, engaged him and three others into it, who
were Green, that belonged to the queen's chapel, Hill, that had served Godden, the most
celebrated writer among them, and Berry, the porter of Somerset House. He said these all,
except Berry, had several meetings, in which the priests persuaded them it was no sin, but
a meritorious action, to despatch Godfrey, who had been a busy man in taking depositions
against them, and Uiat the taking him off" would terrify others. Prance named an alehouse
where they used to meet ; and the people of that house did confirm this of their meeting
there. After they had resolved on it, they followed him for several days. The morning
before they killed him, Hill went to his house to see if he was yet gone out, and spoke to
his maid. And, finding he was yet at home, they stayed for his coming out. This was
confirmed by the maid, who, upon Hill's being taken, went to Newgate, and in a crowd of
prisoners distinguished him, and said he was the person that asked for her master the morn-
ing before he was lost. Prance said they dogged him into a place near St. Clement's
church, where he was kept till night. Prance was appointed to be at Somerset House at
night. And, as Godfrey went by the water-gate, two of them pretended to be hot in a
quarrel. And one run out to call a justice of peace, and so pressed Godfrey to go in and
part them. He was not easily prevailed on to do it ; yet he did at last. Green then got
behind him, and pulled a cravat about his neck, and drew him down to the ground and
strangled him. Upon that Girald would have run him through ; but the rest diverted him
from that, by representing the danger of a discovery by the blood being seen there. Upon
that they carried his body up to Godden's room, of which Hill had the key, Godden being
then in France. Two days after that they removed it to a room across the upper court,
which Prance could never describe particularly. And that not being found a convenient
place, they carried it back to Godden's lodgings. At last it was resolved to carry it out in the
night in a sedan to the remote parts of the town, and from thence to cast it into some ditch.
On Wednesday a sedan was provided. And one of the sentinels swore he saw a sedan carried
290 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
in ; but none saw it brought out. Prance said they carried him out, and that Green had
provided a horse, on whose back he laid him, when they were got clear of the town ; and
then he carried him, as he believed, to the place where his body was found. This was a
consistent story, which was supported in some circumstances by collateral proofs. He added
another particular, that some days after the fact, those who had been concerned in it, and
two others, who were in the secret, appointed to meet at Bow, where they talked much of
that matter. This was confirmed by a servant of that house, who was coming in and out
to them, and heard them often mention Godfrey's name. Upon which he stood at the door
out of curiosity to hearken ; but one of them came out and threatened him for it. The
priests were not found, but Green, Hill, and Berry, were apprehended upon it. Yet some
days after this Prance desired to be carried to the king, who would not see him but in
council ; and he denied all that he had formerly sworn, and said it was all a fiction. But
as soon as he was carried back to prison he sent the keeper of Newgate to the king to tell
him that all he had sworn was true, but that the horror and confusion he was in put him on
denying it. Yet he went off from this again, and denied everything. Dr. Lloyd was upon
this sent to him to talk with him. At first he denied everything to him. But Dr. Lloyd
said to me, that he was almost dead through the disorder of his mind and with cold in his
body. But after that Dr. Lloyd had made a fire, and caused him to be put in a bed, and
began to discourse the matter with him, he returned to his confession : which he did in such
a manner, that Lloyd said to me, it was not possible for him to doubt of his sincerity in it.
So, he persisting in his first confession, Green, Hill, and Berry, were brought to their trial.
Bedlow and Prance, with all the circumstances formerly mentioned, were the evidence
against them. On the other hand, they brought witnesses to prove that they came home in
a good hour on the nights, in which the fact was said to be done. Those that lived in God-
den's lodgings deposed, that no dead body could be brought thither, for they were every day
in the room that Prance had named. And the sentinels of that night of the carrying him
out said they saw no sedan brought out. They were, upon a full hearing, convicted and
condemned. Green and Hill died, as they had lived, papists, and with solemn protestations
denied the whole thing. Berry declared himself a protestant, and that though he had
changed his religion for fear of losing his place, yet he had still continued to be one in his
heart. He said he looked on what had now befallen him as a just judgment of God upon
him for that dissimulation. He denied the whole matter charged on him. He seemed to
prepare himself seriously for death, and to the last minute he affirmed he was altogether
innocent. Dr. Lloyd attended on him, and was much persuaded of his sincerity. Prance
swore nothing against him, but that he assisted in the fact, and in carrying about the dead
body. So Lloyd reckoned that those things being done in the night, Prance might have
mistaken him for some other person, who might be like him, considering the confusion that
so much guilt might have put him in. He therefore believed Prance had sworn rashly with
relation to him, but truly as to the main of the fact. The papists took great advantage from
Berry's dying protestant, and yet denying all that was sworn against him, though he might
have had his life if he would have confessed it. They said this showed it was not from the
doctrine of equivocation, or from the power of absolution, or any other of their tenets, that so
many died denying all that was sworn against them, but from their own conviction. And
indeed this matter came to be charged on Dr. Lloyd, as if he had been made a tool for bring-
ing Berry to this seeming conversion, and that all was done on design to cover the queen.
But I saw him then every day, and was well assured that he acted nothing in it but what
became his profession with all possible sincerity. Prance began after this to enlarge his
discoveries. He said he had often heard them talk of killing the king, and of setting on a
general massacre, after they had raised an army. Dugdale also said he had heard them dis-
course of a massacre. The memory of the Irish massacre was yet so fresh as to raise a par-
ticular horror at the very mention of this ; though where the numbers were so great as in
Ireland, that might have been executed, yet there seemed to be no occasion to apprehend the
like, where the numbers were in so great an inequality as they were here. Prance did also
swear that a servant of the lord Powis had told him that there was one in their family who
had undertaken to kill the king : but that some days after he told him they were now
OF KING CHARLES II. 207
off from that design. It looked very strange, and added no credit to his other evidence, that
the papists should be thus talking of killing the king, as if it had been a common piece of
news. Bat there are seasons of believing, as well as of disbelieving ; and believing was then
so much in season, that improbabilities, or inconsistencies, were little considered. Nor was
it safe so much as to make reflections on them. That was called the blasting of the plot,
and disparaging the king's evidence ; though indeed Gates and Bedlow did, by their
behaviour, detract more from their own credit than all their enemies could have done. The
former talked of all persons with insufferable insolence ; and the other was a scandalous
libertine in his whole deportment.
The lord chief justice, at that time, was sir William Scroggs, a man more valued for a
good readiness in speaking well, than either for learning in his profession, or for any moral
virtue. His life had been indecently scandalous, and his fortunes were very low. He was
raised, by the earl of Danby's favour, first to be a judge, and then to be the chief justice.
And it was a melancholy thing to see so bad, so ignorant, and so poor a man raised up to
that great post. Yet he, now seeing how the stream run, went into it with so much zeal
and heartiness, that he was become the favourite of the people. But, when he saw the king
had an ill opinion of it, he grew colder in the pursuit of it. He began to neglect and check
the witnesses, upon which they, who behaved themselves as if they had been the tribunes of
the people, began to rail at him. Yet in all the trials he set himself, even with indecent
earnestness, to get the prisoners to be always cast *.
Another witness came in soon after these things, Jennison, the younger brother of a Jesuit,
and a gentleman of family and estate. He, observing that Ireland had defended himself
•against Gates chiefly by this, that he was in Staffordshire from the beginning of August till
the 12th of September, and that he had died affirming that to be true, seemed much surprised
at it ; and upon that turned protestant. For he said he saw him in London on the 19th of
August, on which day he fixed upon this account, that he saw him the day before he went
down in the stage-coach to York, which was proved by the books of that office to be the
20th of August. He said, he was come to town from Windsor ; and hearing that Ireland
was in town, he went to see him, and found him drawing off his boots. Ireland asked him
news, and, in particular, how the king was attended at Windsor ? And when he answered,
that he walked about very carelessly with very few about him, Ireland seemed to wonder
at it, and said, it would be easy then to take him off. To which Jennison answered
quickly, God forbid : but Ireland said, he did not mean that it could be lawfully done. Jen-
nison, in the letter in which he wrote this up to a friend in London, added, that he remem-
bered an inconsiderable passage or two more, and that perhaps Smith (a priest that had lived
with his father) could help him to one or two more circumstances relating to those matters :
but he protested, as he desired the forgiveness of his sins, and the salvation of his soul, that
he knew no more ; and wished he might never see the face of God, if he knew any more.
This letter was printed ; and great use was made of it, to show how little regard was to be
had to those denials, with which so many had ended their lives. But this man in the sum-
mer thereafter published a long narrative of his knowledge of the plot. He said, himself had
been invited to assist in killing the king. He named the four ruffians that went to Windsor
* Sir William Scroggs was born at Deddington, in Ox- not convicted, was removed in the following year from the
fordsh'.re, during the year 1623; but, according to sir bench. He died in 1683. Wood, who endeavours to
William Dugdale and North, his father was subsequently conceal his brutal injustice as a judge, can find no cause
a butcher near Smithfield. In 1643 he took his master's for praise but his being an eloquent speaker. Swift is more
ileirree at Oxford, and would have taken orders, if the just, when he alludes to the story of the eastern monarch,
rivil war had not frustrated his intention. He then de- who had the seat of justice covered with the skin of a
voted himself to the law. In 1669 he was made a ser- judge, executed for his crimes, and adds, " I fancy such a
.leant and knighted, and in seven years after he was raised memorial might not have been nnnseful to a son of sir
to the bench. Upon this occasion his speech was so ex- William Scroggs ; and that both he and his successors
'•el lent that the earl of Northampton, who heard it, told would often wriggle in their seats, as long as the cushion
the king that it contained twice as much loyalty as all lasted." — ( Drapier's Letters, No. 5 ; Wood's Athcnse
'he sermons he had directed to be printed since his rcsto- Oxon.) North describes him as a great voluptuary, and
ation.— (Clarendon Correspondence, i. 2. N In 1678 he companion of the high court rakes. His debaucheries
'vas promoted to be lord chief justice of the king's bench, were egregious and his life loose, which made lord chief
"pon the resignation of sir Richard Rainsford. In 1680 justice Hale detest him. — North's Life of Lord Guildford,
'I* was impeached by the house of commons, and though ii. 123 ; North's Examen, 568.
298 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
to do it : and he thought to have reconciled this to his letter, by pretending these were the
circumstances that he had not mentioned in it. Smith did also change his religion ; and
deposed, that, when he was at Rome, he was told in general of the design of killing the
king. He was afterwards discovered to be a vicious man : yet he went no farther than to
swear, that he was acquainted with the design in general, but not with the persons that
were employed in it. By these witnesses the credit of the plot was universally established.
Yet, no real proofs appearing, besides Coleman's letters and Godfrey's murder, the king, by
a proclamation, did offer both a pardon and 2001. to any one that would come in, and make
further discoveries. This was thought too great a hire to purchase witnesses. Money had
been offered to those who should bring in criminals. But it was said to be a new and inde-
cent practice to offer so much money to men, that should merit it by swearing ; and it might
be too great an encouragement to perjury.
While the witnesses were weakening their own credit, some practices were discovered that
did very much support it. Reading, a lawyer of some subtilty, but of no virtue, was employed
by the lords in the Tower to solicit their affairs. He insinuated himself much into Bedlow's
confidence, and was much in his company ; and, in the hearing of others, he was always
pressing him to tell all he knew. He lent him money very freely, which the other wanted
often. And he seemed at first to design only to find out somewhat that should destroy the
credit of his testimony. But he ventured on other practices, and offered him much money,
if he would turn his evidence against the popish lords only into a hearsay, so that it should
not come home against them. Reading said, Bedlow began the proposition to him, and
employed him to see how much money these lords could give him, if he should bring them off:
upon which, Reading, as he pretended afterwards, seeing that innocent blood was likely to be
shed, was willing, even by indecent means, to endeavour to prevent it. Yet he freed the
lords in the Tower. He said, they would not promise a farthing : only the lord Stafford
said, he would give Reading two or three hundred pounds, which he might dispose of as he
pleased. While Reading was driving the bargain, Bedlow was too hard for him at his own
trade of craft ; for, as he acquainted both prince Rupert, and the earl of Essex, with the
whole negotiation, from the first step of it, so he placed two witnesses secretly in his
chamber, when Reading was to come to him ; and drew him into those discourses, which
discovered the whole practice of that corruption. Reading had likewise drawn a paper, by
which he showed him with how few and small alterations he could soften his deposition, so
as not to affect the lords. With these witnesses, and this paper, Bedlow charged Reading.
The whole matter was proved beyond contradiction. And, as this raised his credit, so it
laid a heavy load on the popish lords ; though the proofs came home only to Reading, and
he was set in the pillory for it. Bedlow made a very ill use of this discovery, which hap-
pened in March, to cover his having sworn against Whitebread and Fenwick only upon
hearsay in December : for, being resolved to swear plain matter upon his own knowledge
against them, when they should be brought again on their trial, he said, Reading had pre-
vailed on him to be easy to them, as he called it ; and that he had said to him that the lords
would take the saving of these Jesuits, as an earnest of what he would do for themselves ;
though it was not very probable that these lords would have abandoned Ireland, when they
took such care of the other Jesuits. The truth was, he ought to have been set aside from
being a witness any more, since now by his own confession he had sworn falsely in that trial :
he had first sworn, he knew nothing of his own knowledge against the two Jesuits, and
afterwards he swore copiously against them, and upon his own knowledge. Wyld, a worthy
and ancient judge, said upon that to him, that he was a perjured man, and ought to come
no more into courts, but to go home, and repent. Yet all this was passed over, as if it had
been of no weight : and the judge was turned out for his plain freedom. There was soon
after this another practice discovered concerning Oates. Some that belonged to the earl of'
Danby conversed much with Oates's servants. They told them many odious things that he ;
was daily speaking of the king, which looked more like one that intended to ruin than to]
save him. One of these did also affirm, that Oates had made an abominable attempt upon him
not fit to be named. Oates smelled this out, and got his servants to deny all that they had
said, and to fasten it upon those who had been with them, as a practice of theirs : and they
OF KING CHARLES II. 209
were upon that likewise set in the pillory. And, to put things of a sort together, though
they happened not all at once ; one Tasborough, that belonged to the dukes court, entered
into some correspondence with Dugdale, who was courting a kinswoman of his. It was pro-
posed, that Dugdale should sign a paper, retracting all that he had formerly sworn, and
should upon that go beyond sea, for which he was promised, in the duke's name, a consider-
able reward. He had written the paper, as was desired ; but he was too cunning for Tas-
borough, and he proved his practices upon him. He pretended he drew the paper only to
draw the other further on, that he might be able to penetrate the deeper into their designs.
Tasborough was fined, and set in the pillory for tampering thus with the king's evidence.
This was the true state of the plot, and of the witnesses that proved it ; which I have
opened as fully as was possible for me : and I had particular occasions to be well instructed
in it. Here was matter enough to work on the fears and apprehensions of the nation ; so it
was not to be wondered at, if parliaments were hot, and juries were easy in this prosecution.
The visible evidences that appeared, made all people conclude there was great plotting
among them. And it was generally believed, that the bulk of what was sworn by the wit-
nesses was true, though they had by all appearance dressed it up with incredible circum-
stances. What the men of learning knew concerning their principles, both of deposing of
kings, and of the lawfulness of murdering them when so deposed, made them easily conclude,
that since they saw the duke was so entirely theirs, and that the king was so little to be
depended on, they might think the present conjuncture was not to be lost. And since the
duke's eldest daughter was already out of their hands, they might make the more haste to
set the duke on the throne. The tempers, as well as the morals, of the Jesuits, made it
reasonable to believe, that they were not apt to neglect such advantages, nor to stick at any
sort of falsehood in order to their own defence. The doctrine of probability, besides many
other maxims that are current among them, made many give little credit to their witnesses,
or to their most solemn denials, even at their execution. Many things were brought to show,
that by the casuistical divinity taught among them, and published by them to the world,
there was no practice so bad, but that the doctrines of probability, and of ordering the inten-
tion, might justify it. Yet many thought, that, what doctrines soever men might by a
subtilty of speculation be carried into, the approaches of death, with the seriousness that
appeared in their deportment, must needs work so much on the probity and candour which
seemed rooted in human nature, that even immoral opinions, maintained in the way of argu-
ment, could not then, resist it. Several of our divines went far in this charge against all
regard to their dying speeches ; of which some of our own church complained, as inhuman
and indecent *.
* After reading Oates's " True Narrative" — Jennison's the judge who presided at the trials. It was his duty to
" Narrative" — Prance's u Narrative" — Dugdale's " Infor- temper the asperity, to discern the deficiencies of both
tuation" — the various examinations and speeches in the parties with an unbiassed judgment, and to calm and direct
'louse of commons, and the evidence given at the trials of the the minds of the jury with whom lay the decision that
several persons charged with being participators in the popish involved the life of each prisoner; but Scroggs deserted
plot, the editor is perfectly convinced that it. never existed his sacred duty, and vehemently strove to make every
except in the minds of Gates, and other equally infamous verdict i vote of death. He endeavoured to exculpate
and perjured witnesses. That the duke of York, Cole- himself by saying, "it was better to be warm upon the
man, the Roman Catholic peers, and even the queen of bench than in Smithfield ;" But the excuse amounts to
Charles the Second, may have thought, conversed, and even no more than that he cared not for the innocent suffering
corresponded with Jesuits upon the subject of establishing so tiiat he himself escaped, or that he thought certain
their religion in this country, may be considered as certain ; cruelty and injustice was proper, if done to prevent an
'»ut that they all plotted together, resolved, and even uncertain future evil. There is not room in the compass
Attempted to murder the king, for the purpose of attaining of a note to compare and examine the conflicting evidence
their object, is supported by no evidence that will justify relative to this melancholy passage in our national history;
iven suspicion. The witnesses that assert these charges those who wish for such an examination will find it in Fox's
were such as would have been heard and then scouted in a u James the Second." This powerful-minded man evidently
modern coun ot justice. They were men convicted ot the concluded that Dryden was right when he wrote
foulest crimes and sins that disgrace our nature; their ,,, , , ,, -.1
evidence was prevaricating, contradictory, uncertain in Some f,ruth there ™s, but dash d and brew'd with
dates, often manifestly false, frequently refuted, and always '
pven with a marked eagerness to convict. The law officers Sir W. Temple says, " I never saw greater disturbance
r the crown may be justly excused for the heat they dis- in men's minds than had been raised by the plot, and the
1'layed in urging the conviction of the prisoners ; but there pursuit of it in parliament ; it was generally believed by
i> no extenuating plea for the intemperate partisanshi* of both houses, by city and cduntry, by clergy and laity ; yet
300 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
In January a new parliament was summoned. The elections were carried with great heat,
and went almost everywhere against the court. Lord Danby resolved to leave the treasury
at Lady-day ; and in that time he made great advantage by several payments which he got
the king to order, that were due upon such slight pretences, that it was believed he had a
large share of them to himself: so that he left the treasury quite empty. He persuaded the
king to send the duke beyond sea, that so there might be no colour for suspecting that the
counsels were influenced by him. He endeavoured to persuade the duke, that it was fit for
him to go out of the way. If the king and the parliament came to an agreement, he might
depend on the promise that the king would make him, of recalling him immediately : and if
they did not agree, no part of the blame could be cast on him ; which must happen other-
wise, if he stayed still at court. Yet no rhetoric would have prevailed on him to go, if the
king had not told him positively, it was for both their service, and so it must be done.
Before he went away, the king gave him all possible satisfaction with relation to the
duke of Monmouth, who was become very popular, and his creatures were giving it out, that
he was the king's lawful son. So the king made a solemn declaration in council, and both
signed it, and took his oath on it, that he was never married nor contracted to that duke's
mother; nor to any other woman, except to his present queen. The duke was sent away
upon very short warning, not without many tears shed by him at parting, though the king
shed none. He went first to Holland, and then to Brussels, wThere he was but coldly received*.
At the opening the parliament in March, the parting with an only brother, to remove all
jealousy, was magnified with all the pomp of the earl of Nottingham's eloquence. Lord
Danby's friends were in some hopes, that the great services which he had done would make
matters brought against him to be handled gently. But in the management he committed
some errors, that proved very unhappy to him.
Seymour and he had fallen into some quarrellings, both being very proud and violent ip
their tempers. Seymour had in the last session struck in with the heat against popery,
that he was become popular upon it. So he managed the matter in this new parliament,
that though the court named Meres, yet he was chosen speaker. The nomination of the
speaker was understood to come from the king, though he was not named as recommending
the person : yet a privy counsellor named one; and it was understood to be done by order.
And the person thus named was put in the chair, and was n xt day presented to the king,
who approved the choice. When Seymour was next day presented as the speaker, the king
refused to confirm the election. He said, he had other occasions for him, which could not
when I talked with some of my friends in private, who Roman Catholics were attributed to the duke, that the
ought best to know the bottom of it, they only concluded latter was desired to retire into exile. To prevent this
it was yet mysterious ; that they could not say the king necessity, he had been urged by many of his best friends I
believed It; but that the parliament and nation were so to leave the papal communion and conform to the esta- j
generally and strongly possessed with it, that it must be Wished church, but, to his credit be it spoken, he consci- j
pursued as if it were true, whether it were so or not." entiously refused ; and it was the dictate of his heart and ;
* On the 28th of February, 1679, the king directed to mind when he wrote thus to Mr. Lawrence Hyde: — " I !
the duke the following letter : — " I have already given assure you I will never try that way, though I were sure >.
you my resolve at large, why I think it fit that you should it would restore me into the good opinion and esteem of |
absent yourself for some time beyond the seas : as I am the nation, which T once had ; and, therefore, I desire that '
truly sorry for the occasion, so may you be sure I shall neither you nor none of my friends will ever mention it to
never desire it longer than it will be absolutely necessary me, or flatter themselves that I can ever be brought to it :
for your good, and my service. In the mean time, I think what I did was never done hastily, and I have expected
it proper to give it you under my hand, that I expect this many years, and been prepared for what has happened to
compliance from you, and desire it may be as soon as con- roe, and for the worst that can yet befal me." — (Clarendon
veniently you can. You may easily believe with what Correspondence, i. 45.) The conduct of the duke at the
trouble I write, there being nothing I am more sensible of time of his exile was in other respects false, and therefore
than the constant kindness you have ever had for me. I contemptible. He wished to pass his period of expatria-
hope you are as just to me, to be assured that no absence, tion in France, but the French king would not permit
nor any thing else, can ever change me from being truly him. The duke endeavoured to soften him by suppli- |
and kindly yours, C. R." The duke sailed on the follow- eating his protection, by meanly apologizing for conduct ;
ing 3rd of March. The popish plot, the bribes received that seemed to be in opposition to that monarch's wishes, j
from France, the impeachment of the earl of Danby, and and by falsely throwing the blame upon his brother, j
the debates on the exclusion bill, had so agitated the peo- Louis was softened by this slavish submission, paid him '
pie of all classes, that there were some well-grounded fears much attention whilst he was at Brussels, and was instru-
of a fresh civil war breaking out. It was to allay the mental in his recal to England. — Dalrymple's Memoirs ; i
popular ferment, for all proceedings in favour of the Chandler's Debates, &c.
OF KING CHARLES II.
001
be dispensed with. Upon this great heats arose, with a long and violent debate. It was
said, the house had the choice of their speaker in them, and that their presenting the speaker
was only a solemn shewing him to the king, such as was the presenting the lord mayor and
sheriffs of London in the exchequer ; but that the king was bound to confirm their choice.
This debate held a week, and created much anger.
A temper was found at last. Seymour's election was let fall ; but the point was settled,
that the right of electing was in the house, and that the confirmation was a thing of course.
So another was chosen speaker *. And the house immediately fell on lord Danby. Those
who intended to serve him said, the heat this dispute had raised, which was imputed wholly
to him, had put it out of their power to do it : but he committed other errors. He took
out a pardon under the great seal. The earl of Nottingham durst not venture to pass it ; so
the king ordered the seal to be put to the pardon in his own presence. And thus, according
to lord Nottingham's figure, when he was afterwards questioned about it, it did not pass
through the ordinary methods of production, but was an immediate effect of his majesty's
power of creating t. He also took out a warrant to be marquis of Caermarthen. And the
king, in a speech to the parliament, said, he had done nothing but by his order ; and there-
fore he had pardoned him ; and, if there was any defect in his pardon, he would pass it over
and over again, till it should be quite legal.
Upon this a great debate was raised. Some questioned whether the king's pardon, espe-
cially when passed in bar to an impeachment, was good in law : this would encourage ill
ministers, who would be always sure of a pardon, and so would act more boldly, if they saw
so easy a way to be secured against the danger of impeachments : the king's pardon did
indeed secure one against all prosecution at his suit : but, as in the case of murder, an appeal
lay, from which the king's pardon did not cover the person, since the king could no more
pardon the injuries done his people, than he could forgive the debts that were owing to them ;
so from a parity of reason it was inferred, that since the offences of ministers of state were
injuries done the public, the king's pardon could not hinder a prosecution in parliament,
which seemed to be one of the chief securities, and most essential parts of our constitution.
Yet on the other hand it was said, that the power of pardoning was a main article of the
king's prerogative ; none had ever yet been annulled : the law had made this one of the
* This transaction is told somewhat confusedly. The
due course of events appears to have been as follows : —
After the king and the lord chancellor (Finch) had seve-
rally addressed the assembled parliament in very concilia-
tory speeches, the commons were directed to return to
their house and choose their speaker. Colonel Birch pro-
posed " the right honourable Edward Seymour, knight of
the shire for the county of Devon, treasurer of the navy,
one of the privy council, and speaker of the last parlia-
ment." Mr. Seymour was unanimously elected, and it
being known to the house that he was to be rejected, he
\vas instructed not to make the usual application to be
excused, which it was known would be accepted, but
merely to announce his unanimous election, which he did,
;md concluded by adding, " And now I am come hither
for your majesty's approbation, which, if your majesty will
] 'lease to grant, I shah do them and you the best service
I can." This abrupt announcement rendered useless the
(H-epared speech of the chancellor ; but after a slight pause
Hid consultntion, his lordship with a good deal of tact told
t'ie speakc\, that the king reserved him for other services,
:md desired the commons '* to make another choice.''
I 'pon their return to their house, the chancellor of the
exchequer, sir John Early, proposed sir Thomas Meres, as
» proper person foi speaker • but after a very warm debate,
the original choice was adhered to, and finally the parlia-
ment was prorogued for a few days. When it met again,
the commons and the king both yielded by adopting Mr.
S( rjeant Gregory, as speaker — Grey's Debates ; Chandler's
I'ebiites; Ferguson's Growth of Popery, &c. It certainly
'' H n. most iinpropitieus mode of beginning; what the king
said, he wished to be " a healing parliament." Such a
piece of ill policy would be without any assignable reason,
if sir W. Temple had not recorded that Seymour's rejec-
tion arose from a pique that existed between him and the
wife of the lord treasurer !
•f* The house of commons appointed a committee to
enquire into the passing this pardon, and the committee
reported that the lord chanc'ellor said, " he neither advised
it, drew it, or altered one word of it." As to the manner,
&c. the treasurer (Danby, in whose favour it was) delivered
it to him, and asked him " whether omnia et omnimoda
indictamenta, fyc. impetitus vel non impetitus did
extend to the impeachment?" The treasurer further
desired " it might pass with all the privacy in the world,
because he intended not to make use of it, except false
' witnesses should be produced against him at his trial."
Thereupon the chancellor wrote to the treasurer a letter,
" that it was for the service of the king that the pardon
should be considered, and if he would take his advice he
should let the pardon pass in the regular course, to prevent
resuming the impeachment against him." The treasurer
told him the king was resolved to have it done in all pri-
vacy ; and the next day the king commanded the seal to
be brought to him, when his majesty wrote his name on
the top of the parchment, and the person who usually
carries the purse se^t the seal to it. The chancellor con-
sidered that he had not then the custody of the seal, and
he did not make any memorial of it in his office, and that
it was a stamped pardon by creation. — Grey's Debates,
vii. 55.
!
302 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
trusts of the government, without any limitation upon it : all arguments against it might be
good reasons for the limiting it for the future : but what was already past was good in law,
and could not be broken through. The temper proposed was, that, upon lord Danby's going
out of the way, an act of banishment should pass against him, like that which had passed
against the earl of Clarendon. Upon that, when the lords voted that he should be committed,
he withdrew. So a bill of banishment passed in the house of lords, and was sent down to
the commons. Winning-ton fell on it there in a most furious manner. He said, it was an
act to let all ministers see what was the worst thing that could happen to them, after they
had been engaged in the blackest designs, and had got great rewards of wealth and honour :
all they could suffer was, to be obliged to live beyond sea. This enflamed the house so, that
those wTho intended to have moderated that heat, found they could not stop it. Littleton
sent for me that night, to try if it was possible to mollify Winning-ton. We laid before
him, that the king seemed brought near a disposition to grant every thing that could be
desired of him ; and why must an attainder be brought on, which would create a breach
that could not be healed ? The earl of Danby was resolved to bear a banishment ; but would
come in, rather than be attainted, and plead his pardon : and then the king was upon the
matter made the party in the prosecution, which might ruin all : we knew how bad a minis-
ter he had been, and had felt the ill effects of his power ; but the public was to be preferred
to all other considerations. But Winnington was then so entirely in Montague's manage-
ment, and was so blown up with popularity, and so much provoked by being turned out of
the place of solicitor-general, that he could not be prevailed on. It was offered afterwards
from the court, as Littleton told me, both that lord Danby should by act of parliament be
degraded from his peerage, as well as banished ; and that an act should pass, declaring for
the future no pardon should be pleaded in bar to an impeachment : but the fury of the time
was such, that all offers were rejected. And so a very probable appearance of settling the
nation was lost : for the bill for banishing lord Danby was thrown out by the commons ; and
instead of it a bill of attainder was brought in. The treasury was put in commission. The
earl of Essex was put at the head of it ; and Hyde and Godolphin were two of the commis-
sion. The earl of Sunderland was brought over from France, and made secretary of state ;
and lord Essex and lord Sunderland joined with the duke of Monmouth, to press the king to
change his counsels, and to turn to another method of government, and to take the men of
the greatest credit into his confidence. Lord Essex was much blamed for going in so early
into the court, before the rest were brought in. He said to me, he did it in the prospect of
working the change that was afterwards effected. Lord Sunderland also told me, that the
king was easy in the bringing in lord Shaftesbury ; for he thought he was only angry in
revenge, because he was not employed ; but that he had so ill an opinion of lord Halifax,
that it was not easy to get over that. The duke of Monrnouth told me, that he had as great
difficulty in overcoming that as ever in any thing that he studied to bring the king to.
At last the king was prevailed on to dismiss the whole council, which was all made up of
lord Danby's creatures : and the chief men of both houses were brought into it. This was
carried with so much secrecy, that it was not so much as suspected, till the day before it was
done *. The king was weary of the vexation he had been long in, and desired to be set at
ease. And at that time he would have done any thing to get an end put to the plot, and to
the fermentation that was now over the whole nation : so that, if the house of commons
would have let the matter of lord Danby's pardon fall, and have accepted of limitations on
his brother, instead of excluding him, he was willing to have yielded in every thing else.
He put likewise the admiralty and ordnance into commissions ; out of all which the duke's
creatures were so excluded, that they gave both him and themselves for lost. But the hatred
that Montague bore lord Danby, and lord Shaftesbury's hatred to the duke, spoiled all this.
There were also many in the house of commons, who finding themselves forgotten, while
others were preferred to them, resolved to make themselves considerable. And they infused
into a great many a mistrust of all that was doing. It was said the king was still what he
was before ; no change appeared in him : and all this was only an artifice to lay the heat that
* See Sir W Temple's u Memoirs" for very full particulars of these changes, i. 333, fol.
OF KING CHARLES II. . 303
was in the nation., to gain so many over to him, and so to draw money from the commons.
So they resolved to give no money till all other things should be first settled. No part of
the change that was then made was more acceptable than that of the judges : for lord Danby
had brought in some sad creatures to those important posts. And Jones had the new
modelling of the bench ; and he put in very worthy men, in the room of those ignorant
judges that were now dismissed.
The main point in debate was, what security the king should offer to quiet the fears of
the nation upon the account of the duke's succession. The earl of Shaftesbury proposed the
excluding him simply, and making the succession to go on, as if he was dead, as the only
mean that was easy and safe both for the crown and the people : this was nothing but the
disinheriting the next heir, which certainly the king and parliament might do, as well as any
private man might disinherit his next heir, if he had a mind to it. The king would not con-
sent to this. He had faithfully promised the duke that he never would ; and he thought, if
acts of exclusion were once begun, it would not be easy to stop them ; but that upon any
discontent at the next heir, they would be set on. Religion was now the pretence ; but
other pretences would be found out, when there was need of them : this insensibly would
change the nature of the English monarchy ; so that from being hereditary it would become
elective. The lords of Essex and Hallifax upon this proposed such limitations of the duke's
authority, when the crown should devolve on him, as would disable him from doing any
harm, either in church or state : such as the taking out of his hand all power in ecclesiastical
matters, the disposal of the public money, with the power of peace and war, and the lodging
these in both houses of parliament ; and that whatever parliament was in being, or the last
that had been in being at the king's death, should meet, without a new summons, upon it,
and assume the administration of affairs. Lord Shaftesbury argued against this as much
more prejudicial to the crown than the exclusion of one heir : for this changed the whole
government, and set up a democracy instead of a monarchy. Lord Hallifax's arguing now
so much against the danger of turning the monarchy to be elective, was the more extraordi-
nary in him, because he had made an hereditary monarchy the subject of his mirth ; and
had often said, " who takes a coachman to drive him, because his father was a good coach-
man ?" Yet he was now jealous of a small slip in the succession : but at the same time he
studied to infuse into some a zeal for a commonwealth. And to these he pretended, that he
preferred limitations to an exclusion ; because the one kept up the monarchy still, only
passing over one person ; whereas the other brought us really into a commonwealth, as soon
as we had a popish king over us. And it was said by some of his friends, that the limita-
tions proposed were so advantageous to public liberty, that a man might be tempted to wish
for a popish king, to come at them *.
Upon this great difference of opinion, a faction was quickly formed in the new council.
The lords Essex, Sunderland, and Hallifax declaring for limitations, and against the exclusion ;
while lord Shaftesbury, now made president of the council, declared highly for it. They
took much pains on him to moderate his heat ; but he was become so intolerably vain, that
he would not mix with them, unless he might govern. So they broke with him ; and the
other three were called the triumvirate. Lord Essex applied himself to the business of the
treasury, to the regulating the king's expense, and the improvement of the revenue. His
clear, though slow, sense made him very acceptable to the king. Lord Hallifax studied to
manage the king's spirit, and to gain an ascendant there by a lively and libertine conversa-
tion. Lord Sunderland managed foreign affairs, and had the greatest credit with the duchess
of Portsmouth. After it was agreed on to offer the limitations, the lord chancellor by order
*rom the king made the proposition to both houses. The duke was struck with the news of
this, when it came to him to Brussels. I saw a letter written by his duchess the next post ;
in which she wrote, that as for all the high things that were said by their enemies, they looked
tor them ; but that speech of the lord chancellor's was a surprise, and a great mortification to
them. Their apprehensions of that did not hang long upon them. The exclusion was
* Sir John Reresby says, that the lord treasurer, Danby, nails of a popish successor," but that he would never
Md him, and others of the house of commons, that the suffer the right line of succession to the crown to be inter-
king was willing something should be done " To pare the rupted. — Reresby's Memoirs, 70.
804 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
become the popular expedient. So after much debating, a bill was ordered for excluding the
duke of York. I will give you here a short abstract of all that was said, both within and
without doors, for and against the exclusion.
Those who argued for it laid it down for a foundation, that every person, who had the
whole right of any thing in him, had likewise the power of transferring it to whom he pleased ;
so the king and parliament, being entirely possessed of the whole authority of the nation,
had a power to limit the succession, and every thing else relating to the nation, as they
pleased : and by consequence there was no such thing as a fundamental law, by which the
power of parliament was bound up : for no king and parliament in any former age had a
power over the present king and parliament ; otherwise the government was not entire, nor
absolute. A father, how much soever determined by nature to provide for his children, yet
had certainly a power of disinheriting them, without which, in some cases, the respect due
to him could not be preserved. The life of the king on the throne was not secure, unless
this was acknowledged : for if the next heir was a traitor, and could not be seized on, the
king would be ill served in opposition to him, if he could not bar his succession by an
exclusion. Government was appointed for those that were to be governed, and not for the
sake of governors themselves : therefore all things relating to it were to be measured by the
public interest, and the safety of the people. In none of God's appointments in the Old
Testament regard was had to the eldest. Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Ephraim, and more parti-
cularly Solomon, were preferred without any regard to the next in line. In the several
kingdoms of Europe the succession went according to particular laws, and not by any general
law. In England, Spain, and Sweden, the heir general did succeed : whereas it was only the
heir male in France and Germany. And whereas the oath of allegiance tied us to the king
and his heirs ; the word heir was a term that imported that person who by law ought to
succeed : and so it fell by law to any person who was declared next in the succession. In
England the heir of the king that reigned had been sometimes set aside, and the right of suc-
cession transferred to another person. Henry VII. set up his title on his possessing the
crown. Henry VIII. got his two daughters, while they were by acts of parliament ille-
gitimated, put in the succession : and he had a power given him to devise it after them, and
their issue, at his pleasure. Queen Elizabeth, when she was in danger from the practices of
the queen of Scots, got an act to pass asserting the power of the parliament to limit the suc-
cession of the crown. It was high treason to deny this during her life, and was still highly
penal to this day. All this was laid down in general, to assert a power in the parliament
to exclude the next heir, if there was a just cause for it. Now, as to the present case, the
popish religion was so contrary to the whole frame and constitution of our government, as
well as to that dignity inherent in the crown, of being the head of the church, that a papist
seemed to be brought under a disability to hold the crown. A great part of the property
of the nation, the Abbey lands, was shaken by the prospect of such a succession. The perfidy
and the cruelty of that religion made the danger more sensible. Fires, and courts of inqui-
sition, were that which all must reckon for, who would not redeem themselves by an early
and zealous conversion. The duke's own temper was much insisted on. It appeared by all
their letters, how much the papists depended on him ; and his own deportment shewed, there
\vas good reason for it. He would break through all limitations, and call in a foreign power,
rather than submit to them. Some mercenary lawyers would give it for law, that the pre-
rogative could not be limited, and that a law limiting it was void of itself. Revenges for
past injuries, when joined to a bigotry in religion, would be probably very violent.
On the other hand, some argued against the exclusion, that it was unlawful in itself,
and against the unalterable law of succession ; (which came to be the common phrase).
Monarchy was said to be by divine right ; so the law could not alter what God had settled ;
yet few went at first so high. Much weight was laid on the oath of allegiance, that tied us
to the king's heirs ; and whoso was the heir when any man took that oath, was still the
heir to him. All lawyers had great regard to fundamental laws. And it was a maxim
among our lawyers, that even an act of parliament against Magna Charta was null of itself.
There was no arguing from the changes in the course of the succession. These had been the j
effects of prosperous rebellions : nor from Henry the Seventh's reigning in the right of his
OF KING CHARLES II. 005
queen, ana yet not owning it to be so. Nor was it strange, if in so violent a reign as Henry
the EightlTs acts were made in prejudice of the right of blood. But though his daughters
were made bastards by two several acts, yet it was notorious they were both born in a state
of marriage. And when unlawful marriages were annulled, yet such issue as descended from
them bond fide, used not to be illegitimated. But, though that king made a will pursuant
to an act of parliament, excluding the Scottish line, yet such regard the nation had to the
next in blood, that, without examining the will, the Scottish line was received, it is true,
queen Elizabeth, out of her hatred to the queen of Scots, got the famed act to pass, that
declares the parliament's power of limiting the succession : but since that whole matter ended
so fatally, and was the great blemish of her reign, it was not reasonable to build much on it.
These were the arguments of those, who thought the parliament had not the power to enact
an exclusion of the next heir ; of which opinion the earl of Essex was at this time. Others
did not go on these grounds ; but they said, that though a father has indeed a power of dis-
inheriting his son, yet he ought never to exert it but upon a just and necessary occasion. It
was not yet legally certain, that the duke was a papist. This was condemning him unheard.
A man's conscience was not even in his own power. It seemed therefore to be an unjusti-
fiable severity, to cut off so great a right only for a point of opinion. It is true, it might be
reasonable to secure the nation from the ill effects that opinion might have upon them, which
was fully done by the limitations ; but it was unjust to carry it further. The protestants
had charged the church of Rome heavily for the league of France, in order to the excluding
the house of Bourbon from the succession to the crown of France, because of heresy : and
this would make the charge return back upon us, to our shame. In the case of infancy, or
lunacy, guardians were assigned ; but the right was still in the true heir. A popish prince
was considered as in that state ; and these limitations were like the assigning him guardians.
The crown had been for several ages limited in the power of raising money : to which it may be
supposed a high-spirited king did not easily submit, and yet we had long maintained this : and
might it not be hoped, the limitations proposed might be maintained in one reign, chiefly con-
sidering the zeal and the number of those who were concerned to support them ? Other princes
might think themselves obliged in honour and religion to assist him, if he was quite excluded :
and it might be the occasion of a new popish league, that might be fatal to the whole pro-
testant interest : whereas, if the limitations passed, other princes would not so probably enter
into the laws and establishment settled among us. It was said, many in the nation thought
the exclusion unlawful ; but all would jointly concur in the limitations : so this was the
securest way, that comprehended the greatest part of the nation ; and probably Scotland
would not go into the exclusion, but merit at the duke's hands by asserting his title. So
here was a foundation of war round about us, as well as of great distractions among our-
solves : some regard was to be had to the king's honour, who had so often declared, he would
not consent to an exclusion ; but would to any limitations, how hard soever.
These were the chief arguments upon which this debate was managed. For my own part,
I did always look on it as a wild and extravagant conceit, to deny the lawfulness of an exclu-
sion in any case whatsoever. But for a great while I thought the accepting the limitations
was the wisest and best method. I saw the driving on the exclusion would probably throw
us into great confusions ; and therefore I made use of all the credit I had with many in both
houses, to divert them from pursuing it, as they did, with such eagerness, that they would
hearken to nothing else. Yet, when I saw the party so deeply engaged, and so violently
set upon it, both Tillotson and I, who thought we had some interest in lord Halifax, took
great pains on him, to divert him from opposing it so furiously as he did : for he became
as it were the champion against the exclusion. I foresaw a great breach was like to follow ;
and that was plainly the game of popery, to keep us in such an unsettled state. This was
like either to end in a rebellion, or in an abject submission of the nation to the humours of
the court. I confess, that which I apprehended most was rebellion, though it turned after-
wards quite the other way. But men of more experience, and who had better advantages to
make a true judgment of the temper of the nation, were mistaken as well as myself. All
the progress that was made in this matter in the present parliament was, that the bill of
306 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
exclusion was read twice in the house of commons ; but the parliament was dissolved before
it came to a third reading *.
The earl of Danby's prosecution was the point on which the parliament was broken. The
bill of attainder for his wilful absence was passed by the commons, and sent up to the lords.
But, when it was brought to the third reading, he delivered himself, and was upon that sent
to the Tower : upon which he moved for his trial. The man of the law he depended most
upon was Pollexfen, an honest, and learned, but perplexed lawyer t. He advised him posi-
tively to stand upon his pardon. It was a point of prerogative never yet judged against
the crown : so he might in that case depend upon the house of lords, and on the king's inte-
rest there. It might perhaps produce some act against all pardons for the future : but he
thought ho was secure in his pardon. It was both wiser, and more honourable, for the king,
as well as for himself, to stand on this, than to enter into the matter of the letters, which
would occasion many indecent reflections on both. So he settled on this, and pleaded
his pardon at the lords' bar : to which the commons put in a reply, questioning the validity
of the pardon, on the grounds formerly mentioned. And they demanded a trial and
judgment.
Upon this a famous debate arose concerning the bishops' right of voting in any part of a
trial for treason. It was said, that, though the bishops did not vote in the final judgment,
yet they had a right to vote in all preliminaries. Now the allowing, or not allowing the
pardon to be good, was but a preliminary ; and yet the whole matter was concluded by it.
The lords Nottingham and Roberts argued for the bishops voting ; but the lords Essex,
Shaftesbury, and Hollis were against it. Many books were written on both sides, of which
an account shall be given afterwards. But upon this debate it was carried by the majority,
that the bishops had a right to vote. Upon which the commons said, they would not pro-
ceed, unless the bishops were obliged to withdraw during the whole trial, And upon that
breach between the two houses the parliament was prorogued ; and soon after it was dis-
solved. And the blame of this was cast chiefly on the bishops. The truth was, they desired
to have withdrawn, but the king would not suffer it. He was so set on maintaining the
pardon, that he would not venture such a point on the votes of the temporal lords. And he
told the bishops they must stick to him, and to his prerogative, as they would expect that he
should stick to them, if they came to be pushed at. By this means they were exposed to
the popular fury.
Hot people began every where to censure them, as a set of men that for their own ends,
and for every punctilio that they pretended to, would expose the nation and the protestant
religion to ruin. And in revenge for this many began to declare openly in favour of the non-
conformists : and upon this the non-conformists behaved themselves very indecently. For,
* The duke of York seriously apprehended the passing struggle, yet the act did not provide that the son should
of this bill. Writing to the prince of Orange, he said, not be a Roman Catholic. Happy then was it for this
" the bill for depriving me of the succession has had one country, that neither the exclusion or limitation was
reading, and was to be read again on Monday last ; so that enacted ; for the apparent evil of James the Second becorn-
cxcept his majesty begins to behave himself as a king ing king, gave occasion to the real good of calling in and
ought to do, not only I, but himself and our whole family, securing more effectually a protestant succession,
are gone." — (Clarendon Correspondence, i. 44.) The ex- f Henry Pollexfen was descended from a good Devon-
elusion bill consisted only of five clauses, but they were shire family, settled at Kitley near Plympton ; but of his
very severe : the first rendered him incapable of inheriting early years we know nothing. In the reign of Charles the
the crown ; the second gave the sovereignty to the next Second his practice was very great. He was employed in
in succession, as if the duke was dead ; the third made it all the great causes of the period in which he lived, whilst
high treason in him to attempt any acts of sovereignty ; a barrister. He was counsel for the corporation of Lon-
the fourth made it treason to endeavour to make him king ; don in defence of their charter ; and for the seven bishops,
and the fifth made it a similar offence for him to return In 1688, he was a representative of Exeter, in parliament,
into Great Britain. Fortunate was it for England that In 1 689, after the revolution, he was promoted to be attor-
the bill did not pass, for it was involved in almost insur- ney-general, and afterwards was knighted, and made chief
mountable difficulties. Upon the death of Charles the justice of the common pleas. He died in 1692. — Bridg-
Second, in 1685, the crown would have descended upon man's Legal Bibliography ; Noble's Contin. of Grainger,
the duke's eldest daughter, the princess of Orange; but Roger North styles him " the veriest butcher of a judge."
tlien, when the duke had a son, which he had three years Judges in those days seemed to think it their duty to be
subsequently, the crown must have reverted to this son. harsh.
If the house of Orange gave up the throne without a civil
OF KING CHARLES II. 307
though many of the more moderate of the clergy were trying if an advantage might be
taken from the ill state we were in to heal those breaches that were among us, they on their
part fell very severely upon the body of the clergy. The act that restrained the press was
to last only to the end of the first session of the next parliament that should meet after that
was dissolved. So now, upon the end of the session, the act not being revived, the press
was open ; and it became very licentious, both against the court and the clergy. And in
this the non-conformists had so great a hand, that the bishops and clergy, apprehending that
a rebellion, and with it the pulling the church to pieces, was designed, set themselves on the
other hand to write against the late times, and to draw a parallel between the present times
and them ; which was not decently enough managed by those who undertook the argument,
and who were believed to be set on, and paid by the court for it. The chief manager of all
those angry writings was one sir Roger L'Estrange, a man who had lived in all the late
times, and was furnished with many passages, and an unexhausted copiousness in writing ;
so that for four years he published three or four sheets a week under the title of the Observa-
tor, all tending to defame the contrary party, and to make the clergy apprehend that their
ruin was designed. This had all the success he could have wished, as it drew considerable
sums that were raised to acknowledge the service he did*. Upon this the greater part of
the clergy, who were already much prejudiced against that party, being now both sharpened
and furnished by these papers, delivered themselves up to much heat and indiscretion, which
was vented both in their pulpits and common conversation, and most particularly at the elec-
tions of parliament men : and this drew much hatred and censure upon them. They seemed
now to lay down all fears and apprehensions of popery ; and nothing was so common in their
mouths as the year forty-one, in which the late wars began, and which seemed now to be
near the being acted over again. Both city and country were full of many indecencies that
broke out on this occasion. But, as there were too many of the clergy whom the heat of
their tempers, and the hope of preferment drove to such extravagancies, so there were still
many worthy and eminent men among them, whose lives and labours did in a great measure
rescue the church from those reproaches that the follies of others drew upon it. Such were,
besides those whom I have often named, Tennison, Sharp, Patrick, Sherlock, Fowler, Scot,
Oalamy, Claget, Cudworth, two Mores, Williams, and many others, whom though I knew
not so particularly as to give all their characters, yet they deserved a high one ; and were
indeed an honour, both to the church, and to the age in which they lived.
I return from this digression to give an account of the arguments by which that debate
concerning the bishops voting in preliminaries was maintained. It was said, the bishops
were one of three estates of which the parliament was composed, and that therefore they
ought to have a share in all parliamentary matters ; that as the temporal lords transmitted
their honours and fees to their heirs, so the bishops did transmit theirs to their successors :
and they sat in parliament, both as they were the prelates of the church and barons of the
realm : but in the time of popery, when they had a mind to withdraw themselves wholly
from the king's courts, and resolved to form themselves into a state apart, upon this attempt
of theirs, our kings would not dispense with their attendance : and then several regulations
were made, chiefly the famed ones at Clarendon ; not so much intended as restraints on them
in the use of their rights as they were barons, as obligations on them to perform all but
those that in compliance with their desires were then excepted : the clergy, who had a mind
to be excused from all parliamentary attendance, obtained leave to withdraw in judgments
of life and death, as unbecoming their profession and contrary to their canons. Princes were
the more inclinable to this, because bishops might be more apt to lean to the merciful side :
* This chief of the hireling writers of the period was in the reign of James the Second, because it did not iime-
*he son of sir Hamond L'Estrange, author cf " A History servedly support that king's measures. Besides political
of Chailes the First," &c. He was born in 1616. works he was the author of a great many translations.
Joining the royalists during the civil commotions, he He died in 1704. He has been charged with corrupting
narrowly escaped hanging as a spy by the parliament. At our language, by excluding vowels and other letters, and
the restoration he was made licenser of the press, and introducing pert, affected phrases. The editor can hardly
retained his office until the revolution. In 1663 he esta- think this accusation valid, for he never could have been
1'lished a newspaper, entitled " The Public Intelligencer," taken . is a model by any one. — Biog. Brit.; Grainger's
I ut this was given up when the " London Gazette " was Biog. Hist.
published in 1665. His * Obscrvator" was suppressed
x 2
308 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
and the judgments of parliament in that time were commonly in favour of the crown against
the barons : so the bishops had leave given them to withdraw from these ; but they had a
right to name a proxy for the clergy, or to protest for saving their rights in all other points
as peers : so that this was rather a concession in their favour than a restraint imposed on
them ; and they did it on design to get out of these courts as much as they could. At the
Reformation all such practices as were contrary to the king's prerogative were condemned ;
so it was said, that the king having a right by his prerogative to demand j ustice in parlia-
ment against such as he should accuse there, none of the peers could be excused from that by
any of the constitutions made in the time of popery, which were all condemned at the Refor-
mation : the protestation they made in their asking leave to withdraw shewed it was a volun-
tary act of theirs, and not imposed on them by the law of parliament : the words of the
article of Clarendon seemed to import, that they might sit during the trial, till it came to the
final judgment and sentence of life or limb ; and by consequence that they might vote in the
preliminaries.
On the other hand it was argued, that bishops could not judge the temporal lords as their peers ;
for if they (the bishops) were to be tried for high treason, they were to be judged only by a jury of
commoners ; and since their honour was not hereditary, they could not be the peers of those
whose blood was dignified : and therefore, though they were a part of that house with rela-
tion to the legislature and judicature, yet the difference between a personal and hereditary
peerage made that they could not be the judges of the temporal lords, as not being to be tried
by them : the custom of parliament was the law of parliament ; and since they had never
judged in these cases, they could not pretend to it : their protestation was only in bar to the
lords doing any thing besides the trial during the time that they were withdrawn. The
woids of the article of Clarendon must relate to the whole trial as one complicated thing,
though it might run out into many branches : and since the final sentence did often turn
upon the preliminaries, the voting in these was upon the matter the voting in the final sen-
tence : whatever might be the first inducements to frame those articles of the clergy, which
at this distance must be dark and uncertain, yet the laws and practice pursuant to them were
still in force : by the act of Henry the Eighth it was provided, that, till a new body of canon
law should be formed, that which was then received should be still in force, unless it was
contrary to the king's prerogative or the law of the land : and it was a remote and forced
inference to pretend that the prerogative was concerned in this matter.
Thus the point was argued on both sides. Dr. Stillingfleet gave upon this occasion a great
proof of his being able to make himself the master of any argument which he undertook ;
for after the lawyers and others conversant in parliament records, in particular the lord Hollis,
who undertook the argument with great vehemence, had written many books about it, he
published a treatise that discovered more skill and exactness in judging those matters than
all that had gone before him. And indeed he put an end to the controversy in the opinion
of all impartial men. He proved the right that the bishops had to vote in those prelimina-
ries, beyond contradiction in my opinion, both from our records, and from our constitution ;
but now in the interval of parliament other matters come to he related *.
The king upon the prorogation of the parliament became sullen and thoughtful ; he saw
he had to do with a strange. sort of people, that could neither be managed nor frightened :
and from that time his temper was observed to change very visibly. He saw the necessity
of calling another parliament, and of preparing matters in order to it : therefore the prosecu-
tion of the plot was still carried on. So five of the Jesuits that had been accused of it were
brought to their trial : they were Whitebread, their provincial, Fenwick, Harcourt, Govaii,
and Turner. Oates repeated against them his former evidence ; and they prepared a great
* It seems hardly credible that any one could misun- Danby's case, the house of lords determined " that the '
dcrstand the words of the statute called " the Constitu- lords spiritual have a right to stay and sit in court in capi- j
tions of Clarendon,1' 2 Henry 11., c. 11. They are these, tal cases, till the court proceeds to the vote of guilty, or j
" Episcopi, sicut caeteri barones, debent intcresse judiciis not guilty." This determination applies only to trials \
cum baronibus, quousque perveniatur ad diminutionem in full parliament ; for to the court of the lord high !
meuibrorum, vel ad mortem." — Bishops, like other barons, steward, bishops are never summoned. The above deter- j
ought to he present at trials with the barons, until the loss mination of the peers, Blackstone says, has ever since i
of limbs, or death has to be determined. In the earl of been adhered to. — Blackstone's Comment, iv. 264.
OF KINC, CHARLES II. 309
defence against it : for sixteen persons came over from their house at St. Omer'g, who testified
that Gates had staid among them all the while from December seventy-seven, till June
seventy- eight ; so that he could not possibly be at London, in the April between, at those con-
sultations, as he had sworn. They remembered this the more particularly, because he sat at
the table by himself in the refectory, which made his being there to be the more observed ;
for as he was not mixed with the scholars, so neither was he admitted to the Jesuits' table.
They said, he was among them every day, except one or two, in which he was in the infir-
mary : they also testified, that some of those who he swore came over with him into England
in April, had stayed all that summer in Flanders. In opposition to this, Gates had found
out seven or eight persons who deposed that they saw him in England about the beginning
of May ; and that he being known formerly to them in a clergyman's habit, they had
observed him so much the more by reason of that change of habit. With one of these he
dined, and he had much discourse with him about his travels. An old Dominican friar, who
was still of that church and order, swore also that he saw him, and spoke frequently witl.
him at that time : by this the credit of the St. Omer's scholars was quite blasted. There
was no reason to mistrust those who had no interest in the matter, and swore that they saw
Gates about that time ; whereas the evidence given by scholars bred in the Jesuits' college,
when it was to save some of their order, was liable to a very just suspicion. Bedlow now
swore against them all, not upon hearsay as before, but on his own knowledge ; and no regard
was had to his former oath mentioned in Ireland's trial. Dugdale did likewise swear against
some of them : one part of his evidence seemed scarcely credible. He swore, that Whitebread
did, in a letter that was directed to himself, though intended for F. E vers, and that came to him
by the common post, and was signed by Whitcbread, desire him to find out men proper to
be made use of in killing the king, of what quality soever they might be. This did not look
like the cunning of Jesuits in an age, in which all people made use either of cyphers, or of
some disguised cant. But the overthrowing the St. Gmer's evidence was now such an addi-
tional load on the Jesuits, that the jury came quickly to a verdict ; and they were con-
demned. At their execution they did with the greatest solemnity, and the deepest impreca-
tions possible, deny the whole evidence upon which they were condemned ; and protested,
that they held no opinions either of the lawfulness of assassinating princes, or of the pope's
power of deposing them, and that they counted all equivocation odious and sinful. All their
speeches were very full of these heads. Govan's was much laboured, and too rhetorical.
A very zealous protestant, that went oft to see them in prison, told me, that they behaved
themselves with great decency, and with all the appearances both of innocence and
devotion.
Langhorn, the lawyer, was tried next : he made use of the St. Omer's scholars ; but their
evidence seemed to be so baffled, that it served him in no stead. He insisted next on some
contradictions in the several depositions that Gates had given at several trials ; but he had
no other evidence of that besides the printed trials, which was no proof in law. The judges
said upon this, (that which is perhaps good in law, but yet does not satisfy a man's mind,)
that great difference was to be made between a narrative upon oath, and an evidence given
in court. If a man was false in any one oath, there seemed to be just reason to set him
aside, as no good witness. Langhorn likewise urged this, that it was six weeks after Oates'9
iist discovery before he named him : whereas, if the commissions had been lodged with him, he
ought to have been seized on and searched first of all. Bedlow swore, he saw him enter some
<>f Coleman's treasonable letters in a register, in which express mention was made of killing
the king. He shewed the improbability of this, that a man of his business could be set to
^Ulster letters. Yet all was of no use to him, for he was cast. Great pains were taken to
persuade him to discover all he knew; and his execution was delayed for some weeks, in
hopes that somewhat might be drawn from him. He offered a discovery of the estates and
stock that the Jesuits had in England, the secret of which was lodged with him ; but he pro-
tested that he could make no other discovery, and persisted in this to his death. He spent
ie time, in which his execution was respited, in writing some very devout and well com-
meditations. He was in all respects a very extraordinary man; he was learned, and
310 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
honest in his profession, but was out of measure bigoted in his religion. He died with great
constancy *.
These executions, with the denials of all that suffered, made great impressions on many.
Several books were written, to shew that lying for a good end was not only thought lawful
among them, but had been often practised, particularly by some of those who died for the
gunpowder treason, denying those very things which were afterwards not only fully proved,
but confessed by the persons concerned in them ; yet the behaviour, and last words, of those
who suffered made impressions which no books could carry off.
Some months after this, one Serjeant, a secular priest, who had been always in ill terms
with the Jesuits, and was a zealous papist in his own way, appeared before the council upon
security given him ; and he averred, that Govan, the Jesuit, who died protesting he had
never thought it lawful to murder kings, but had always detested it, had at his last being in
Flanders, said to a very devout person, from whom Serjeant had it, that he thought the
queen might lawfully take away the king's life for the injuries he had done her, but much
more because he was a heretic. • Upon that Serjeant ran out into many particulars, to shew
how little credit was due to the protestations made by Jesuits even at their death. This
gave some credit to the tenderest part of Oates's evidence with relation to the queen. It
shewed, that the trying to do it by her means had been thought of by them. All this was
only evidence from second hand ; so it signified little. Serjeant was much blamed for it by
all his own side. He had the reputation of a sincere and good, but of an indiscreet, man.
The executions were generally imputed to lord Shaftesbury, who drove them on in hopes
that some one or other to have saved himself would have accused the duke : but by these
the credit of the witnesses, and of the whole plot, was sinking apace. The building so much,
and shedding so much blood, upon the weakest part of it, which was the credit of the wit-
nesses, raised a general prejudice against it all ; and took away the force of that, which was
certainly true, that the whole party had been contriving a change of religion by a foreign
assistance, so that it made not impression enough, but went off too fast. It was like the
letting blood (as one observed), which abates a fever. Every execution, like a new bleeding,
abated the heat that the nation was in ; and threw us into a cold deadness, which was likely
to prove fatal to us.
Wakeman's trial came on next. Oates swore he saw him write a bill to Ashby, the Jesuit,
by which he knew his hand ; and he saw another letter of his written in the same hand, in
which he directed Ashby, who was then going to the Bath, to use a milk diet, and to be
pumped at the Bath ; and that in that letter he mentioned his zeal in the design of killing
the king. He next repeated all the story he had sworn against the queen ; which he brought
only to make it probable that Wakeman, who was her physician, was in it. To all this
Wakeman objected, that at first Oates accused him only upon hearsay, and did solemnly pro-
test he knew nothing against him ; which was fully made out. So he said, all that Oates
now swore against him must be a forgery not thought of at that time. He also proved by
his own servant, and by the apothecary at the Bath, that Ashby's paper was not written,
but only dictated by him : for he happened to be very weary when he came for it, and his
man wrote it out : and that of the rnilk diet was a plain indication of an ill laid forgery,
since it was known that nothing was held more inconsistent with the Bath water than milk.
Bedlow swore against him, that he saw him receive a bill of 2,000/. from Harcourt in part
of a greater sum ; and that Wakeman told him afterwards that he had received the money ;
and that Harcourt told him for what end it was given, for they intended the king should be
killed, either by those they sent to "Windsor, or by Wakeman's means : and, if all other ways
failed, they would take him off at Newmarket. Bedlow in the first giving his evidence
deposed, that this was said by Harcourt when Wakeman was gone out of the room. But
observing by the questions that were put him, that this would not affect Wakeman, he swore
afterwards, that he said it likewise in his hearing. Wakeman had nothing to set against
this, but that it seemed impossible that he could trust himself in such matters to such
* The trials of these unfortunate men are given at great length in the State Trials.
OF KING CHARLES II 3J1
person : and if Gates was sot aside, he was but one witness. Three other Benedictine priests
were tried with Wakeman. Gates swore, that they were in the plot of killing the king ;
that one of them, being their superior, had engaged to give 6,000/. towards the carrying it
on. Bedlow swore somewhat circumstantial to the same purpose against two of them ; but
that did not rise up to be treason : and he had nothing to charge the third with. They
proved, that another person had been their superior for several years ; and that Gates was
never once suffered to come within their house, which all their servants deposed. And they
also proved, that when Gates came into their house the night after he made his discovery,
and took Pickering out of his bed, and saw them, he said, he had nothing to lay to their
charge. They urged many other things to destroy the credit of the witnesses : and one of
them made a long declamation, in a high bombast strain, to shew what credit was due to the
speeches of dying men. The eloquence was so forced and childish, that this did them more
hurt than good. Scroggs summed up the evidence very favourably for the prisoners, far con-
trary to his former practice. The truth is, that this was looked on, as the queen's trial, as
well as Wakeman's. The prisoners were acquitted : and now the witnesses saw they were
^blasted : and they were enraged upon it, which they vented with much spite upon Scroggs.
And there was in him matter enough to work on for such foul-mouthed people as they were.
The queen got a man of great quality to be sent over ambassador from Portugal, not know-
ing how much she might stand in need of such a protection. He went next day with great
state to thank Scroggs for his behaviour in this trial. If he meant well in this compliment,
it was very unadvisedly done : for the chief justice was exposed to much censure by it ; and
therefore some thought it was a shew of civility done on design to ruin him. For, how well
pleased soever the papists were with the success of this trial, and with Scroggs's management,
yet they could not be supposed to be so satisfied with him, as to forgive his behaviour in the
former trials, which had been very indecently partial and violent.
It was now debated in council whether the parliament, now prorogued, should be dis-
solved, or not. The king prevailed on the lords of Essex and Halifax to be for a dissolu-
tion, promising to call another parliament next winter. Almost all the new councillors were
against the dissolution. They said, the crown had never gained anything by dissolving a
parliament in anger ; the same men would probably be chosen again, while all that were
thought favourable to the court would be blasted, and for the most part set aside. The new
men thus chosen, being fretted by a dissolution, and put to the charge and trouble of a new
election, they thought the next parliament would be more uneasy to the king than this if
continued. Lord Essex and Halifax, on the other hand, argued, that since the king was fixed
in his resolutions, both with relation to the exclusion and to the lord Danby's pardon, his
parliament had engaged so far in both these, that they could not think that these would be
let fall : whereas a new parliament, though composed of the same members, not being yet
engaged, might be persuaded to take other methods. The king followed this advice, which
he had directed himself : two or three days after, lord Halifax was made an earl, which was
called the reward of his good counsel : and now the hatred between the earl of Shaftesbury
and him broke out into many violent and indecent instances. On lord Shaftesbury 's side
more anger appeared, and more contempt on lord Halifax's. Lord Essex was a softer man,
and bore the censure of the party more mildly : he saw how he was cried out on for his last
advice ; but as he was not apt to be much heated, so all he said to me upon it was, that he
knew he was on a good bottom, and that good intentions would discover themselves, and be
justified by all in conclusion *.
* Sir W. Temple in his " Memoirs " gives a detail of council ; Anglesea, privy seal ; Monmouth, master of the
the piwecdings, in the change of the ministry at this time, horse; Lauderdale, secretary for Scotland; Ormond,
Sir William was the chief adviser at this exigency, but he steward of the household ; Arlington, lord chamberlain ;
very passionately objected to the inclusion of the earl of Sunderland, a secretary of state ; Essex, first lord of the
•Shafu-sbury in the new council. He and the earl of Hali- treasury ; Bath, groom of the stole ; Henry Coventry, a
fax both aiming at the chief influence, and differing as secretaryof state; sir HenryCapcl, first commissioner of the
I hoy did in political opinions, was an endless source of dis- admiralty ; sir John Ernly, chancellor of the exchequer ;
traction. The details in tbe " Memoirs" are extremely sir Thomas Chicheley, master of the ordnance ; Halifax,
interesting, but do not admit of compression. The chief Temple, Povvle, &c. were privy councillors without hold-
ministers of state were now as follows : Heneage, lord ing any office.
Finch, lord chancellor ; Shaflesb'iry, president of tho
312 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
I now put a stop in the further relation of affairs in England, to give an account of what
passed in Scotland. The party against duke Lauderdale had lost all hopes, seeing how affairs
were carried in the last convention of estates ; but they began to take heart upon this great
turn in England. The duke (of York) was sent away, and the lord Danby was in the Tower,
who were that duke's (Lauderdale's) chief supports: and when the new council was settled, duke
Hamilton and many others were encouraged to come up and accuse him. The truth was, the king
found his memory was failing him; and so he resolved to let him fall gently, and bring all Scotch
affairs into the duke of Monmouth's hands. The Scotch lords were desired, not only by the
king, but by the new ministers, to put the heads of their charge against duke Lauderdale
in writing ; and the king promised to hear lawyers on both sides, and that the earls of Essex
and Halifax should be present at the hearing. Mackenzie was sent for, being the king's
advocate, to defend the administration ; and Lockhart and Cunningham were to argue
against it. The last of these had not indeed Lockhart's quickness, nor his talent in speak-
ing ; but he was a learned and judicious man, and had the most universal, and indeed the
most deserved reputation for integrity and virtue of any man, not only of his own profession,
but of the whole nation. The hearing came on as was promised; and it was made out
beyond the possibility of an answer, that the giving commissions to an army to live on free
quarters in a quiet time, was against the whole constitution, as well as the express laws of
that kingdom ; and that it Avas never done but in an enemy's country, or to suppress a rebel-
lion : they shewed likewise, how unjust and illegal all the other parts of his administration
were. The earls of Essex and Halifax told me every thing was made out fully ; Mackenzie
having nothing to shelter himself in, but that flourish in the act against field conventicles, in
which they were called the rendezvous of rebellion ; from which he inferred, that the country
where these had been frequent was in a state of rebellion. Kings naturally love to hear pre-
rogative magnified ; yet on this occasion the king had nothing to say in defence of the admi-
nistration. But when May, the master of the privy purse, asked him, in his familiar way;
what he thought now of his Lauderdale, he answered, as May himself told me, that they haa
objected many damned things that he had done against them, but there was nothing objected
that was against his service. Such are the notions that many kings drink in, by which they
set up an interest for themselves in opposition to the interest of the people : and as soon as
the people observe that, which they will do sooner or later, then they will naturally mind
their own interest, and set it up as much in opposition to the prince : and in this contest the
people will grow always too hard for the prince, unless he is able to subdue and govern them
by an army. The duke of Monmouth was beginning to form a scheme of a ministry ; but
now the government in Scotland was so remiss, that the people apprehended they might run
into all sorts of confusion. They heard that England was in such distractions that they
needed fear no force from thence. Duke Lauderdale's party was losing heart, and were
fearing such a new model there as was set up here in England. All this set those mad
people that had run about with the field conventicles into a frenzy : they drew together in
great bodies : some parties of the troops came to disperse them, but found them both so reso-
lute and so strong, that they did not think fit to engage them : sometimes they fired on one
another, and some were killed on both sides.
When a party of furious men were riding through a moor near St. Andrews, they saw the
archbishop's coach appear ; he was coming from a council-day, and was driving home : he
had sent some of his servants home before him, to let them know he was coming, and others
he had sent off on compliments ; so that there were no horsemen about the coach. They,
seeing this, concluded, according to their frantic enthusiastic notions, that God had now
delivered up their greatest enemy into their hands ; seven of them made up to the coach,
while the rest were as scouts riding all about the moor. One of them fired a pistol at him,
which burnt his coat and gown, but did not go into his body : upon this they fancied he
had a magical secret to secure him against a shot ; and they drew him out of his coach, and
murdered him barbarously, repeating their strokes till they were sure he was quite dead :
and so they got clear off, nobody happening to go cross the moor all the while. Tin's w.is
the dismal end of that unhappy man : it struck all people with horror, and softened his
• ~ • A
OF KING CHARLES II. 313
enemies into some tenderness : so that liis memory was treated with decency by those who
had very little respect for him during his life *.
A week after that, there was a great field conventicle held within ten miles of Glasgow :
a body of the guards engaged with them, and they made such vigorous resistance, that the
guards having lost thirty of their number were forced to run for it : so the conventicle formed
itself into a body and marched to Glasgow : the person that led them had been bred by me,
while I lived at Glasgow, being the younger son of sir Thomas Hamilton that had married
my sister, but by a former wife : he was then a lively, hopeful young man ; but getting
into that company, and into their notions, he became a crack-brained enthusiast. Duke
Lauderdale and his party published everywhere that this rebellion was headed by a nephew
of mine, whom I had prepared for such a work while he was in my hands : their numbers
were so magnified, that a company, or two, which lay at Glasgow, retired in all haste, and
left the town to them, though they were then not above four or five hundred ; and these were
so ill armed, and so ill commanded, that a troop of horse could have easily dispersed them.
The council at Edinburgh sent the earl of Linlithgow against them with a thousand foot,
two hundred horse, and two hundred dragoons : a force much greater than was necessary for
making head against such a rabble. He marched till he came within ten miles of them, and
then he pretended he had intelligence that they were above eight thousand strong ; so he
marched back ; for he said, it was the venturing the whole force the king had upon too great
an inequality : he could never prove that he had any such intelligence : some imputed this
to his fear ; others thought, that being much engaged with duke Lauderdale, he did this on
purpose to give them time to increase their numbers ; and thought their madness would be
the best justification of all the violences that had been committed in duke Lauderdale' s admi-
nistration. Thus the country was left in their hands ; and if there had been any designs or
preparations made formerly for a rebellion, now they had time enough to run together and
to form themselves : but it appeared that there had been no such designs, by this, that none
came into it but those desperate intercommoiied men, who were as it were hunted from their
houses into all those extravagances that men may fall in, wh'o wander about inflaming one
another, and are heated in it with false notions of religion. The rebels having the country
left to their discretion fancied that their numbers would quickly increase : and they set out
a sort of manifesto, complaining of the oppressions they lay under, asserting the obligation
of the covenant : and they concluded it with the demand of a free parliament. When the
news of this came to court, duke Lauderdale said, it was the effect of the encouragement that
they had from the king's hearkening to their complaints : whereas all indifferent men thought
it was rather to be imputed to his insolence and tyranny.
The king resolved to lose no time ; so he sent the duke of 'Monmouth down post, with
full powers to command in chief: and directions were sent to some troops that lay in the
north of England to be ready to march upon his orders. Duke Lauderdale apprehended that
those in arms would presently submit to the duke of Monmouth, if there was but time given
for proper instruments to go among them, and that then they would pretend they had been
forced into that rising by the violence of the government : so he got the king to send posi-
tive orders after him, that he should not treat with them, but fall on them immediately : yet
he marched so slowly that they had time enough given them to dispose them to a submis-
* Dr. James Sharp was a native of Banffshire, and born Our horror at this murder is augmented by a knowledge
in 16 18. He left the Aberdeen university and his country that it \vas perpetrated in the presence of the sufferer's
on account of his objection to the covenant, but returned daughter. He was dragged from his coach as he was
to Scotland upon the occurrence of the civil war, and crossing Magus moor, near St. Andrew's, and murdered in
obtained a professorship at St. Andrew's. He was deputed the manner described in the text. This was in 1679. —
to plead to Cromwell the cause of the moderate presby- Encyclop. Britannica.
terians in opposition to the rigid covenanters, and sue- An apologetical account of one of his assassins is given
ceeded in obtaining his favour. His betrayal of the pres- in a work entitled " The Memoirs of the Church of Scot-
byterian rcsolutioners, and his subsequent public life, have land," published in 1717. See also Coger's Collection of
been noticed in the course of these pages. That he was Tracts, and Algernon Sydney's Letters to H. Savile. The
an intemperate, arbitrary, unprincipled man, admits of no first states, and Burnet intimates the same, that the arch-
doubt; and he would have deserved of posterity no miti- bishop was not way-laid premeditatedly ; and the two last
gated feeling, if his enemies had not enlisted our sympa- state that he was killed in revenge for private injuries,
thies in his favour by inflicting upon him a violent death. Both statements appear to be false.
3U THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
sion. They fixed at Hamilton, near which there is a bridge over the Clyde, which it was
believed they intended to defend ; but they took no care of it. They sent some to treat
with the duke of Monmouth ; he answered, that if they would submit to the king's mercy,
and lay down their arms, he would interpose for their pardon, but that he would not treat
with them as long as they were in arms : and some were beginning to press their rendering
themselves at discretion. They had neither the grace to submit, nor the sense to march
away, nor the courage to fight it out ; but suffered the duke of Monmouth to make himself
master of the bridge. They wero then four thousand men ; but few of them were well
armed ; if they had charged those that came first over the bridge, they might have had some
advantage ; but they looked on like men that had lost both sense and courage : and upon the
first charge they threw down their arms and ran away : there were between two or three
hundred killed, and twelve hundred taken prisoners ; the duke of Monmouth stopped the
execution that his men were making as soon as he could, and saved the prisoners ; for some
moved, that they should be all killed upon the spot. Yet this was afterwards objected to
him as a neglect of the king's service, and as a courting the people. The duke of York
talked of it in that strain ; and the king himself said to him, that if he had been there they
should not have had the trouble of prisoners. He answered, he could not kill men in cold
blood ; that was work only for butchers. Duke Lauderdale's creatures pressed the keeping
the army some time in that country, on design to have eaten it up ; but the duke of Mon-
mouth sent home the militia, and put the troops under discipline ; so that all that country
was sensible that he had preserved them from ruin : the very fanatical party confessed that
he treated them as gently as possible, considering their madness : he came back to court as
soon as he had settled matters, and moved the king to grant an indemnity for what was
passed, and a liberty to hold meetings under the king's license, or connivance : he shewed
the king that all this madness of field conventicles flowed only from the severity against those
that were held within doors. Duke Lauderdale drew the indemnity in such a manner that
it carried in some clauses of it a full pardon to himself and all his party ; but he clogged it
much with relation to those for whom it was granted. All gentlemen, preachers and officers
were excepted out of it ; so that the favour of it was much limited. Two of their preachers
were hanged, but the other prisoners were let go upon their signing a bond for keeping the
peace : two hundred of them were sent to Virginia, but they were all cast away at sea.
Thus ended this tumultuary rebellion, which went by the name of Both well-bridge, where
the action was. The king soon after sent down orders for allowing meeting-houses ; but the
duke of Monmouth's interest sunk so soon after this, that these were scarcely opened when
they were shut up again. Their enemies said, this looked like a rewarding them for their
rebellion.
An accident happened soon after this that put the whole nation in a fright, and produced
very great effects. The king was taken ill, at Windsor, of an intermitting fever : the fits \
were so long and so severe, that the physicians apprehended he was in danger. Upon which
he ordered the duke to be sent for, but very secretly : for it was communicated to none hut
to the earls of Sunderland, Essex, and Halifax. The duke made all possible haste, and '
came in disguise through Calais, as the quicker passage ; but the danger was over before he
came. The fits did not return after the king took quinquina, called in England the Jesuit's
powder. As he recovered it was moved, that the duke should be again sent beyond sea ; he j
had no mind to it, but when the king was positive in it, he moved that the duke of Mon-
mouth should be put out of all command, and likewise sent beyond sea. The duke of
Monmouth's friends advised him to agree to this ; for he might depend on it that, as soon as !
the parliament met, an address would be made to the king for bringing him back, since his !
leing thus divested of his commissions, and sent away at the duke's desire, would raise his i
interest in the nation *.
* Sir John Reresby intimates that the king's illness thought the king was in no danger, and confirms the state-
was feigned, was suggested by lord Faversham as an ment of the general ignorance there was of the duke's i
excuse for sending for the duke of York, whom the king return. There were evidently intnyties of which sir
was very unwilling to retain in exile, and that during this William could only observe the effects, and which he j
visit the plan was determined for his permanent return. — heartily disapproved. He, upon this occasion, withdrew I
(Reresby's Memoirs, 98.) Sir William Temple evidently from the privy council. — Memoirs, i. 342, &c. fol.
OF KING CHARLES II. 315
At this time the party that began to be made for the duke of York were endeavouring to
blow matters up into a flame every where, of which the earl of Essex gave me the following
instance, by whic'h it was easy to judge what sort of intelligence they were apt to give, and
how they were possessing the king and his ministers with ill-grounded fears : he came once
to London on some treasury business, the day before the common hall was to meet in the
City ; so the spies that were employed to bring news from all corners came to him, and
assured him that it was resolved next day to make use of the noise of that meeting, and to
seize on the Tower, and do all such things as could be managed by a popular fury. The
advertisements came to him from so many hands, that he was inclined to believe there was
somewhat in it. Some pressed him to send soldiers into the Tower and to the other parts
of the City. He would not take the alarm so hot, but he sent to the lieutenant of the
Tower to be on his guard ; and he ordered some companies to be drawn up in Covent Garden
and in Lincoln's-inn Fields : and he had two hundred men ready, and barges prepared to
carry them to the Tower, if there should have been the least shadow of tumult. But he
would not seem to fear a disorder too much, lest perhaps that might have produced one.
Yet after all the affrightening stories that had been brought him, the next day passed over
very calmly, it not appearing by the least circumstance that anything was designed besides
the business for which the common hall was summoned. He often reflected on this matter :
those mercenary spies are very officious, that they may deserve their pay, and they shape their
story to the tempers of those whom they serve ; and to such creatures, and to th«ir false
intelligence, I imputed a great deal of the jealousy that I found the king possessed with.
Both the dukes went now beyond sea, and that enmity which was more secret before, and
was covered with a court civility, did now break out open and barefaced. But it seemed
that the duke of York had prevailed with the king not to call the parliament that winter, in
hope that the heat the nation was in would with the help of some time grow cooler, and
that the party that began now to declare more openly for the right of succession would gain
ground. There was also a pretended discovery now ready to break out, which the duke
might be made believe would carry off the plot from the papists, and cast it on the contrary
party.
Dangerfield, a subtle and dexterous man, who had gone through all the shapes and prac-
tices of roguery, and in particular was a false coiner, undertook now to coin a plot for the
ends of the papists. He was in jail for debt, and was in an ill intrigue with one Cellier a
popish midwife, who had a great share of wit, and was abandoned to lewdness. She get
him to be brought out of prison, and carried him to the countess of Powis, a zealous, manag-
ing papist. He, after he had laid matters with her, as will afterwards appear, got into all
companies, and mixed with the hottest men of the town, and studied to engage others with
himself to swear, that they had been invited to accept of commissions, and that a new form
of government was to be set up, and that the king and the royal family were to be sent away.
He was carried with this story first to the duke and then to the king, and had a weekly
allowance of money, and was very kindly used by many of that side ; so that a whisper ran
about town, that some extraordinary thing would quickly break out ; and he, having some
correspondence with one colonel Mansel, made up a bundle of seditious, but ill-contrived
letters, and laid them in a dark corner of his room ; and then some searchers were sent from
the Custom House to look for some forbidden goods, which they heard were in Hansel's
chamber. There were no goods found, but as it was laid they found that bundle of letters ;
and upon that a great noise was made of a discovery. But, upon enquiry, it appeared the
letters were counterfeited, and the forger of them was suspected ; so they searched into all Dan-
haunts, and in one of them they found a paper that contained the scheme of this
whole fiction, which because it was found in a meal-tub, came to be called the Meal-tub Plot.
Dangerfield was upon that clapped up, and he soon after confessed how the whole matter
was laid and managed : in which it is very probable he mixed much of his own invention
truth, for he was a profligate liar. This was a great disgrace to the popish party, and
the king suffered much by the countenance he had given him. The earls of Essex and
Halifax were set down in the scheme to be sworn against with the rest.
U] on this they pressed the king vehemently to call a parliament immediately. But the
HO THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
king thought that if a parliament should meet while all men's spirits were sharpened by this
new discovery, he would find them in worse temper than ever. When the king could not
be prevailed on to do that, lord Essex left the treasury. The king was very uneasy at this.
But lord Essex was firm in his resolution not to meddle in that post more, since a parlia-
ment was not called ; yet, at the king's earnest desire, he continued for some time to go to
council. Lord Halifax fell ill, much from a vexation of mind : his spirits were oppressed, a •
deep melancholy seizing him ; for a fortnight together I was once a day with him, and found
then that he had deep impressions of religion on him. Some foolish people gave it out that
he was mad ; but I never knew him so near a state of true wisdom as he was at that time.
He was much troubled at the king's forgetting his promise to hold a parliament that winter,
and expostulated severely upon it with some that were sent to him from the king. He was
offered to be made secretary of state, but he refused it. Some gave it out that he pretended
to be lord lieutenant of Ireland, and was uneasy when that was denied him ; but he said to
me that it was offered to him, and he had refused it. He did not love, he said, a new scene,
nor to dine with sound of trumpet and thirty-six dishes of meat on his table. He likewise
saw that lord Essex had a mind to be again there, and he was confident he was better fitted
for it than he himself was. My being much with him at that time was reflected on : it was
said I had heightened his disaffection to the court. I was with him only as a divine.
The court went on in their own pace. Lord Tweedale being then at London moved the earl
of Peterborough, that it would be more honourable, and more for the duke's (of York's) interest,
instead of living beyond sea, to go and live in Scotland. Lord Peterborough went imme-
diately with it to the king, who approved of it. So notice was given the duke, and he was
appointed to meet the king at Newmarket in October. Lord Tweedale saw that, since the
duke of Monmouth had lost his credit with the king, duke Lauderdale would again be con-
tinued in his posts, and that he would act over his former extravagances ; whereas he
reckoned that this would be checked by the duke's going to Scotland, and that he would
study to make himself acceptable to that nation, and bring things among them into order
and temper. The duke met the king at Newmarket as it was ordered ; but upon that the
earl of Shaftesbury, who was yet president of the council, though he had quite lost all his
interest in the king, called a council at Whitehall, and represented to them the danger the
king was in by the duke's being so near him, and pressed the council to represent this to the
king. But they did not agree to it. And upon the king's coming to London he was turned
out, and lord Roberts, made then earl of Radnor, was made lord president.
The duke went to Scotland soon after : and upon that the duke of Monmouth grew im-
patient, when he found he was still to be kept beyond sea. He begged the king's leave to
return ; but when he saw no hope of obtaining it, he came over without leave. The king
upon that would not see him, and required him to go back ; on which his friends were
divided. Some advised him to comply with the king's pleasure ; but he gave himself fatally
up to the lord Shaftesbury's conduct, who put him on all the methods imaginable to make
himself popular. He went round many parts of England, pretending it was for hunting and
horse matches, many thousands coming together in most places to see him ; so that this
looked like the mustering up the force of the party, but it really weakened it. Many grew
jealous of the design, and fancied here was a new civil war to be raised. Upon this they
joined in with the duke's party. Lord Shaftesbury set also on foot petitions for a parliament,
in order to the securing the king's person and the protestant religion. These were carried
about and signed in many places, notwithstanding the king set out a proclamation against
them. Upon that a set of counter petitions was promoted by the court, expressing an
abhorrence of all seditious practices, and referring the time of calling a parliament wholly to
the king. There were not such numbers that joined in the petitions for the parliament as i
had been expected, so this showed rather the weakness than the strength of the party ; and
many well meaning men began to dislike those practices, and to apprehend that a change of |
government was designed.
Some made a reflection on that whole method of proceeding, which may deserve well to ,
be remembered. In the intervals of parliament, men that complain of the government by
keeping themselves in a sullen and quiet state, and avoiding cabals and public assemblies,
OF KING CHARLES II. 3l7
grow thereby the stronger and more capable to make a stand when a parliament comes ;
whereas by their forming of parties out of parliament, unless in order to the managing of
elections, they do both expose themselves to much danger, and bring an ill character on their
designs over the nation, which naturally loves parliamentary cures, but is jealous of all other
methods.
The king was now wholly in the duke's interest, and resolved to pass that winter without
a parliament. Upon which the lords Russel and Cavendish, sir Henry Capel, and Mr.
Powel, four of the new councillors, desired to be excused from their attendance in council.
Several of those who were put in the Admiralty and in other commissions desired likewise
to be dismissed. With this the king was so highly offended, that he became more sullen
and intractable than he had ever been before.
The men that governed now were the earl of Simderland, lord Hyde, and Godolphin.
The last of these was a younger brother of an ancient family in Cornwall, that had been bred
about the king from a page, and was now considered as one of the ablest men that belonged
to the court. He was the most silent and modest man that was perhaps ever bred in a
court. He had a clear apprehension, and dispatched business with great method, and with
so much temper that he had no personal enemies ; but his silence begot a jealousy, which
has hung long upon him. His notions were for the court ; but his incorrupt and sincere
way of managing the concerns of the treasury created in all people a very high esteem for
him. He loved gaming the most of any man of business I ever knew, and gave one reason
for it : because it delivered him from the obligation to talk much. He had true principles
of religion and virtue, and was free from all vanity, and never heaped up wealth ; so that
all things being laid together, he was one of the worthiest and wisest men that has been
employed in our time. And he has had much of the confidence of four of our succeeding
princes*.
In the spring of the year eighty the duke had leave to come to England ; and continued
about the king till the next winter that the parliament was to sit. Foreign affairs seemed to
be forgotten by our court. The prince of Orange had projected an alliance against France,
and most of the German princes were much disposed to come into it ; for the French had set
up a new court at Metz, in which many princes were, under the pretence of dependencies
and some old forgotten or forged titles, judged to belong to the new French conquests. This
•was a mean as well as a perfidious practice, in which the court of France raised much more
jealousy and hatred against themselves than could ever be balanced by such small accessions
as were adjudged by that mock court. The earl of Simderland entered into a particular
confidence with the prince of Orange, which he managed by his uncle, Mr. Sidney, who was
sent envoy to Holland. The prince seemed confident that if England would come heartily
* Sidney Godolphin was a native of Cora wall , and he his support, which he thought would be acquired if he
had his education concluded at Oxford. In 1661 he was could be converted to the Roman Catholic faith. This
a representative of Helston ; and the loyalty of his family conversion was even at one time hoped; for the earl of
pi obably obtained him the offices of a page and afterwards Dartmouth relates, that Ellis, one of the four popish
groom of the royal bedchamber. The earl of Dartmouth bishops in James the Second's reign, told sir Thomas
says, that when Godolphin was Charles's page, the latter Dyke there was some doubt of Godolphin's being a pro-
sketched his character very pithily ; a character he main- testant, and that masses were said daily in the king's
tained through life. " He is," said the king, " never in chapel for his conversion. To which sir Thomas replied,
the May, nor out of the way." He very perspicaciously " If he is in doubt with you, he is out of doubt with me."
intic ipated the king's wishes, with which he readily com- His continuing to be in favour with the exiled queen
plied ; but most other persons thought he was morose — arose probably from his voting fora regency, in opposition
an opinion which they probably formed from his remark- to those who voted for William the Third assuming the
: ublc taciturnity. Although he voted for the exclusion of crown, in 1689. Yet William employed him, as did his
I '.he duke of York, yet. upon the lattcr's accession to the successor Anne. The latter, it is well known, had loved
I ibrone, he was made lord chamberlain to the queen; and him during their youthful years, but the policy of our
'he earl of Dartmouth says, she esteemed and trusted government would not permit their marriage. His in-
I this nobleman more than any of her court, and that he tegrity is proved by the fact, that though connected with
I < on tinned to correspond with her after the Revolution by the treasury for thirty years, nine of which he was its pre-
the agency of the countess of Lichfield, although Mr. mier, he died comparatively poor. The evidence of his
('ffisar, of Hertfordshire, was imprisoned for saying so in unambitious nature is, that it required much persuasion
the house of commons. — (Oxfoul ed. of this work.) It to obtain his consent to be raised to the peerage, and to
is true that James had desired Godolphin's removal from the order of the garter. He died in 1712, and was interred
the councils of his brother, (Clarendon Correspondence, i. in Westminster Abbey. — Wood's Fasti Oxon. ; Noble's
48); yet he admired his integrity, and earnestly desired Cont. of Grainger.
318 THE HISTORY OF THE REK.N
into it, a strong confederacy might then have been formed against France. Van Beunlng
was then in England, and he wrote to the town of Amsterdam, that they could not depend
on the faith or assistance of England. He assured them the court was still in the French
interest. He also looked on the jealousy between the court and the country party as then
so high, that he did not believe it possible to heal matters so as to encourage the king to
enter into any alliance that might draw on a war : for the king seemed to set that up for a
maxim, that his going into a war was the putting himself into the hands of his parliament,
and was firmly resolved against it. Yet the project of a league was formed : and the king
seemed inclined to go into it as soon as matters could be well adjusted at home.
There was this year at midsummer a new practice begun in the city of London that pro-
duced very ill consequences. The city of London has by charter the shrivalty of Middlesex,
as well as of the city ; and the two sheriffs were to be chosen on midsummer day. But the
common method had been for the lord mayor to name one of the sheriffs by drinking to him
on a public occasion ; and that nomination was commonly confirmed by the Common Hall,
arid then they named the other sheriff. The truth was, the way in which the sheriffs lived
made it a charge of about 5000/. a-year ; so they took little care about it, but only to find
men that would bear the charge : which recommended them to be chosen aldermen upon
the next vacancy, and to rise up according to their standing to the mayoralty, which gene-
rally went in course to the senior alderman. When a person was set up to be sheriff that
would not serve, he compounded the matter for 400/. fine. All juries were returned by the
sheriffs ; but they commonly left that wholly in the hands of their under-sheriffs : so it was
now pretended that it was necessary to look a little more carefully after this matter.
The under- sheriffs were generally attorneys, and might be easily brought under the manage-
ment of the court j so it was proposed that the sheriffs should be chosen with more care, not
so much that they might keep good tables, as that they should return good juries. The
person to whom the present mayor had drunk was set aside, and Bethel and Cornish were
chosen sheriffs for the ensuing year. Bethel was a man of knowledge, and had written a
very judicious book of the interests of princes; but as he was a known republican in prin-.
ciple, so he was a sullen and wilful man, and turned from the ordinary way of a sheriff's
living into the extreme of sordidness, which was very unacceptable to the body of the citi-
zens, and proved a great prejudice to the party. Cornish, the other sheriff, was a plain,
warm, honest man, and lived very nobly all his year. The court was very jealous of this,
and understood it to be done on design to pack juries ; so that the party should be always
safe, whatever they might engage in. It was said that the king would not have common
justice done him hereafter against any of them, how guilty soever. The setting up Bethel
gave a great colour to this jealousy ; for it was said he had expressed his approving the late
king's death in very indecent terms. These two persons had never before received the sacra-
ment in the church, being independents ; but they did it now to qualify themselves for this
office, which gave great advantages against the whole party. It was said that the serving
an end was a good resolver of all cases of conscience, and purged all scruples*.
Thus matters went on till the winter of eighty, in which the king resolved to hold a
session of parliament. He sent the duke to Scotland a few days before their meeting ; and
upon that the duchess of Portsmouth declared openly for the exclusion, and so did lord Sun-
derland and Godolphin. Lord Sunderland assured all people that the king was resolved to
settle matters with his parliament on any terms, since the interest of England and the affairs
* The charter of the city of London gives the right of His cooks, with long disuse, their trade forgot :
electing the sheriffs to the citizens at large. It was their Cool was his kitchen, though his brains were hot."
courtesy permitted the lord mayor to elect one by pledging He wrote i}te following works:—!. "The Interest or
his health ; but such courtesy would not render his choice tbe prinee8 and States of Europe/' At the end is a nar-
legal. A sheriff so elected would be puzzled to Justify his j^^ of tne cnjef occurrences in the parliament which sat
title in answer to a quo warranto. during the proteetorate of Richard Cromwell. 2. » Ob-
The meanness of Slingsby Bethel, one of the sheriffs sedations on a Letter written by the D. of B." And 3
mentioned in the text, is thus satirized by Dryden, in his u The Worlds Mistake in Oliver Cromwell."
"Absalom and Architophel ;" — Hemy Cornish, the co-sheriff with Bethel, was mur-
dered under a legal form in the reign of James the
Chaste were his cellars, and his shrieval board Second, for his activity in unravelling tbe popish plot.— j
The grossness of a city feast abhorr'd , State Trials . Biographia Britannic*.
OF KING CHARLES II. 319
of Europe made a league against France indispensably necessary at that time, which could
not be done without a good understanding at home. Lord Sunderland sent lord Arran for
me. I declined this new acquaintance as much as I could, but it could not be avoided. He
seemed then very zealous for a happy settlement. And this I owe him in justice, that
though he went off from the measures he was in at that time, yet he still continued person-
ally kind to myself. Now the great point was, whether the limitations should be accepted
and treated about, or the exclusion be pursued. Lord Halifax assured me, that any limita-
tions whatsoever that should leave the title of king to the duke, though it should be little
more than a mere title, might be obtained of the king ; but that he was positive and fixed
against the exclusion. It is true, this was in a great measure imputed to his managements
and that he had wrought the king up to it*.
The most specious handle for recommending the limitations was this : the duke declared
openly against them ; so if the king should have agreed to them, it must have occasioned a
breach between him and the duke. And it seemed to be very desirable to have them once
fall out ; since, as soon as that was brought about, the king of his own accord and for his
own security might be moved to promote the exclusion. The truth is, lord Halifax's hatred
of the earl of Shaftesbury, and his vanity in desiring to have his own notion preferred,
sharpened him at that time to much indecency in his whole deportment. But the party
depended on the hopes that lady Portsmouth and lord Sunderland gave them. Many meet-
ings were appointed between lord Halifax and some leading men : in which as he tried to
divert them from the exclusion, so they studied to persuade him to it, both without effect.
The majority had engaged themselves to promote the exclusion; lord Russel moved it first
in the house of commons, and was seconded by Capel, Montague, and Winnington. Jones
came into the house a few days after this, arid went with great zeal into itt. Jenkins, now
made secretary of state in Coventry's place, was the chief manager for the court. He was
a man of an exemplary life, and considerably learned ; but he was dull and slow. He was
suspected of leaning to popery, though very unjustly ; but he was set on every punctilio of
the church of England to superstition, and was a great assertor of the divine right of
monarchy, and was for carrying the prerogative high. He neither spoke nor wrote well ;
hut being so eminent for the most courtly qualifications, other matters were the more easily
dispensed with. All his speeches and arguments against the exclusion were heard with
indignation, so the bill was brought into the house. It was moved by those who opposed
it, that the duke's daughters might be named in it, as the next in the succession ; but it was
said that was not necessary, for since the duke was only personally disabled, as if he had
been actually dead, that carried the succession over to his daughters. Yet this gave a
jealousy, as if it was intended to keep that matter still undetermined ; and that upon another
occasion it might be pretended, that the disabling the duke to succeed did likewise disable
him to derive that right to others which was thus cut off in himself. But though they
would not name the duke's daughters, yet they sent such assurances to the prince of Orange,
that nothing thus proposed could be to his prejudice, that he believed them, and declared his
desire that the king would fully satisfy his parliament. The States sent over memorials to
the king, pressing him to consent to the exclusion. The prince did not openly appear in
this ; but, it being managed by Fagel, it was understood that he approved of it ; and this
* Sir J. Reresby and other authorities fully support the parliament, and a desire that the king would change such
Mrralive in the text, as to the promoters and opponents councillors as the house of commons should request.
: < ' the bill of exclusion. It will ever remain a redeeming -f* This strenuous advocate of the exclusion did not long
| feature in the character of Charles, that no influence of survive this period. He died at Hampden, in Bucking-
ji'iterest or love could shake him from supporting his bro- hamshire, owing to sleeping in damp sheets. A near rela-
jther. The commons offered to pay his debts and promote tive of sir William, lord Trevor, told Mr. speaker Onslow
I i » favourite politics, the duchess of Portsmouth tried all that it was considered fortunate he died at this period, for
IIKT seductive arts ; but in vain. " There were many he was privy to the designs of lord William Russel and
(who believed the king would be tempted to comply ;" but his partisans ; and being dangerous to the court on account
jtiieearl of Halifax assured sir John Reresby, there was of his superior abilities, would probably have been treated
n<,t the least probability that he would, for that it was like with particular severity, and being of a timid nature he
peering a man money to cut off his nose. — (Memoirs, might have made confessions injurious to his friends
I "9.) It is to be observed that, coupled with the duke's and his own character. — Onslow's Note ia Oxford ed. of
Delusion were an act for the more frequent meetings of this work.
320 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
created a hatred in the duke to him, which was never to be removed. Lord Sunderland
by Sidney's means engaged the States into it, and he fancied it might have some effect.
The bill of exclusion was quickly brought up to the lords. The earls of Essex and Shaftes-
bury argued most for it ; and the earl of Halifax was the champion on the other side. He
gained great honour in the debate, and had a visible superiority to lord Shaftesbury in the
opinion of the whole house : arid that was to him triumph enough. In conclusion, the bill
was thrown out upon the first reading. The country party brought it nearer an equality
than was imagined they could do, considering the king's earnestness in it, and that tke whole
bench of the bishops was against it. The commons were inflamed when they saw the fate
of their bill. They voted an address to the king to remove lord Halifax from his counsels
and presence for ever ; which was an unparliamentary thing, since it was visible that it was
for his arguing as he did in the house of lords, though they pretended it was for his advising
the dissolution of the last parliament. But that was a thin disguise of their anger. Yet
without destroying the freedom of debate they could not found their address on that which
was the true cause of it. JELussel^and Jones, though formerly lord Halifax's friends, thought
it was enough not to speak against him in the house of commons, but they sat silent. Some
called him a papist, others said he was an atheist. Chichely, that had married his mother,
moved that I might be sent for to satisfy the house as to the truth of his religion. I wish I
could have said as much to have persuaded them that he was a good Christian as that he
was no papist. I was at that time in a very good character in that house. The first volume
of the History of the Reformation was then out, and was so well received, that I had. the
thanks of both houses for it, and was desired by both to prosecute, that work. The parlia-
ment had made an address to the king for a fast day. Dr. Sprat and I were ordered to
preach- before the house of commons. My turn was in the morning. I mentioned nothing
relating to the plot but what appeared in Coleman's letters ; yet I laid open the cruelties of
the church of Rome in many instances that happened in queen Mary's reign, which were
not then known ; and I aggravated, though very truly, the danger of falling under the
power of that religion. I pressed also a mutual forbearance among ourselves in lesser
matters. But I insisted most on the impiety and vices that had worn out all sense of reli-
gion, and all regard to it among us. Sprat in the afternoon went further into the belief of
the plot than I had done. But he insinuated his fears of their undutifulness to the king in
such a manner, that they were highly offended at him. So the commons did not send him
thanks, as they did to me ; which raised his merit at court as it increased the displeasure
against me. Sprat had studied a polite style much, but there was little strength in it. He
had the beginnings of learning laid well in him ; but he has allowed himself in a course of
some years in much sloth and too many liberties.
The king sent many messages to the house of commons, pressing for a supply : first for
preserving Tangier, he being then in a war with the king of Fez, which by reason of the dis-
tance put him to much charge ; but chiefly, for enabling him to go into alliances necessary
for the common preservation.
The house upon that made a long representation to the king of the dangers that both he
and they were in, and assured him they would do everything that he could expect of them,
as soon as they were well secured : by which they meant, as soon as the exclusion should
pass, and that bad ministers and ill judges should be removed. They renewed their address
against lord Halifax, and made addresses bothj-gainst the marquis of Worcester, soon after
made duke, of Beaufort, and against lord Clarendon and Hyde, as men inclined to popery.
Hyde spoke so vehemently to vindicate himself from the suspicions of popery, that he cried
in his speech ; and Jones, upon the score of old friendship, got the words relating to popery
to be struck out of the address against him. The commons also impeached several of the
judges, and Mr. Seymour. The judges were accused for some illegal charges and judgments; i
and Seymour, for corruption and mal-administration in the office of treasurer of the navy.
They impeached Scroggs for high treason ; but it was visible that the matters objected to '
him were only misdemeanors. So the lords rejected the impeachment, which was carried j
chiefly by the earl of Danby's party, and in favour to him. The commons did also assert
the right of the people to petition for a parliament ; and because some in their counter- !
OF KING CHARLES II. 321
petitions had expressed their abhorrence of this practice, they voted these abhorrers to be
betrayers of the liberties of the nation. They expelled one Withins out of their house for
signing one of these, though he with great humility confessed his fault, and begged pardon
for it. The merit of this raised him soon to be a judge, for indeed he had no other merit*.
They fell also on sir George Jeffreys, a furious declaimer at the bar ; but/Tie was raised by
that, as well as by this prosecution. The house did likewise send their Serjeant to many
parts of England to bring up abhorrers as delinquents ; upon which the right that they had
to imprison any besides their own members came to be much questioned, since they could
not receive an information upon oath, nor proceed against such as refused to appear before
them. In many places those for whom they sent their Serjeant refused to come up. It was
found that such practices were grounded on no law, and were no older than queen Elizabeth's
time. While the house of commons used that power gently, it was submitted to in respect
to it ; but now it grew to be so much extended, that many resolved not to submit to it.
The former parliament had passed a very strict act for the due execution of the Habeas
Corpus, which was indeed all they did. It was carried by an odd artifice in the house of
lords. Lord Grey and lord Norris were named to be the tellers. Lord Norris, being a man
subject to vapours, was not at all times attentive to what he was doing ; so a very fat lord
coming in, lord Grey counted him for ten, as a jest at first ; but, seeing lord Norris had not
observed it, he w^ent on with his misreckoning of ten. So it was reported to the house, and
declared that they who were for the bill were the majority, though it indeed went on the
other side. And by this means the bill passed. There was a bold, forward man, Sheridan,
a native of Ireland, whom the commons committed, and he moved for his habeas corpus.
Some of the judges were afraid of the house, and kept out of the way ; but baron Weston
had the courage to grant it. The session went yet into a higher strain, for they voted that
all anticipations on any branches of the revenue were against law, and that whosoever lent
any money upon the credit of those anticipations were public enemies to the kingdom.
Upon this it was said that the parliament would neither supply the king themselves, nor
suffer him to make use of his credit, which every private man might do. They said, on the
other hand, that they looked on the revenue as a public treasure, that was to be kept clear
of all anticipations, and not as a private estate that might be mortgaged. And they thought,
when all other means of supply except by parliament were stopped, that must certainly
bring the king to their terms. Yet the clamour raised on this, as if they had intended to
starve the king and blast his credit, was a great load on them ; and their vote had no effect,
for the king continued to have the same credit that he had before. Another vote went much
higher : it was for an association, copied from that in queen Elizabeth's time, for the reveng-
ing the king's death upon all papists, if he should happen to be killed. The precedent of
that time was a specious colour. But this difference was assigned between the two cases :
queen Elizabeth was in no danger but from papists ; so that association struck a terror into
that whole party, which did prove a real security to her, and therefore her ministers set it
I «;n. But now it was said there were many republicans still in the nation, and many of
i Cromwell's officers were yet alive, who seemed not to repent of what they had done ; so
some of these might by this means be encouraged to attempt on the king's life, presuming
j that both the suspicions and revenges of it would be cast upon the duke and the papists.
; Great use was made of this to possess all people, that this association was intended to destroy
itlie king instead of preserving him.
There was not much done in the house of lords after they threw out the bill of exclusion.
,Lorcl Halifax indeed pressed them to go on to limitations; and he began with one, that the
duke should be obliged to live five hundred miles out of England during the king's life. But
the house was cold and backward in all that matter. Those that were really the duke's
friends abhorred all those motions, and lord Shaftesbury and his party laughed at them :
* Sir Francis Within- was a contemptible wretch, he was unanimously expelled the house. When on tho
p hen called upon by the house of commons to explain bench, his treatment of the prisoners tried before him
vliy he had sided with the court party in reprobating peti- are ample illustrations that cruelty is the associate of
oriing, he showed himself such a sneaking poltroon, that, cowardice State Trials : Woolrych's Memoirs of Judge
North says, even his own friends voted against him, and Jeffreys, &c.
Y
322 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
they were resolved to let all lie in confusion, rather than hearken to anything besides the
exclusion. The house of commons seemed also to be so set against that project that very
little progress was made in it. Lord Essex made a motion, which was agreed to in a thin
house ; but it put an end to all discourses of that nature. He moved, that an association
should be entered into to maintain those expedients, and that some cautionary towns should
be put into the hands of the associators during the king's life to make them good after his
death. The king looked on this as a deposing of himself. He had read more in Davila
than in any other book of history ; and he had a clear view into the consequences of such
things, and looked on this as worse than the exclusion. So that, as lord Halifax often
observed to me, this whole management looked like a design to unite the king more entirely
to the duke, instead of separating him from him. The king came to think that he himself
was levelled at chiefly, though for decency's sake his brother only was named. The truth
was, the leading men thought they were sure of the nation, and of all future elections, as
long as popery was in view. They fancied the king must have a parliament, and money
from it very soon, and that in conclusion he would come in to them. He was much beset
by all the hungry courtiers, who longed for a bill of money. They studied to persuade him,
from his father's misfortunes, that the longer he was in yielding, the terms would grow the
higher.
They relied much on the lady Portsmouth's interest, who did openly declare herself for
the house of commons ; and they were so careful of her, that when one moved that an address
should be made to the king for sending her away, he could not be heard, though at another
time such a motion would have been better entertained. Her behaviour in this matter was
unaccountable. And the duke's behaviour to her afterwards looked more like an acknow-
ledgment than a resentment. Many refined upon it, and thought she was set on as a decoy
to keep the party up to the exclusion, that they might not hearken to the limitations. The
duke was assured that the king -would not grant the one, and so she was artificially managed
to keep them from the other, to which the king would have consented, and of which the
duke was most afraid. But this was too fine : she was hearty for the exclusion ; of which
I had this particular account from Montague, who I believe might be the person that laid
the bait before her. It was proposed to her, that if she could bring the king to the exclusion,
and to some other popular things, the parliament would go next to prepare a bill for securing
the king's person : in which a clause might be carried, that the king might declare the
successor to the crown, as had been done in Henry the Eighth's time. This would very
much raise the king's authority, and would be no breach with the .prince of Orange, but
would rather oblige him to a greater dependence on the king. The duke of Monmouth and
his party would certainly be for this clause, since he could have no .prospect any other way;
and he would please himself with the hopes of being preferred by the king to any other
person. But since the lady Portsmouth found she was so absolutely the mistress of the
king's spirit, she might reckon that, if such an act could be carried, the king would be pre-
vailed on to declare her son his successor. And it was suggested to her, that in order to the
strengthening her son's interest she ought to treat for a match with the king of Franco's
natural daughter, now the duchess of Bourbon. And thus the duke of Monmouth and she ,
were brought to an agreement to carry on the exclusion, and that other act pursuant to it ; I
and they thought they were making tools of one another to carry on their own ends. The
nation was possessed with such a distrust of the king, that there was no reason to think they
could ever be brought to so entire a confidence in him, as to deliver up themselves and their
posterity so blindfold into his hands. Montague assured me that she not only acted heartily in
this matter, but she once drew the king to consent to it, if she might have had 800,000/. forj
it ; and that was afterwards brought down to 600,000/. But the jealousies upon the king him-
self were such, that the managers in the house of commons durst not move for giving money
till the bill of exclusion should pass, lest they should have lost their credit by such a motion. j
And the king would not trust them. So near was this point brought to an agreement, ii\
Montague told me true.
That which reconciled the duke to the duchess of Portsmouth was, that the king
him she did all by his order, that so she might have credit with the party and see into
OF KING CHARLES II. 323
designs. Upon which the duke saw it was necessary to believe this, or at least to seem to
believe it.
The other gr?at business of this parliament was the trial of the viscount of Stafford, who
was the younger son of the old earl of Arundel, and so was uncle to the duke of Norfolk.
He was a weak, but a fair conditioned man. He was on ill terms with his nephew's family :
and had been guilty of great vices in his youth, which had almost proved fatal to him. He
married the heiress of the great family of the Staffords. He thought the king had not
rewarded him for his former services as he had deserved ; so he often voted against the court,
and made great applications always to the earl of Shaftesbury. He was on no good terms
with the duke ; for the great consideration the court had of his nephew's family made him
to be the most neglected. When Gates deposed first against him, he happened to be out of
the way ; and he kept out a day longer. But the day after he came in, and delivered him-
eelf ; which, considering the feebleness of his temper, and the heat of that time, was thought
a sign of innocence. Gates and Bedlow swore he had a patent to be paymaster-general to
the army. Dugdale swore that he offered him 500L to kill the king. Bedlow had died the
summer before at Bristol. It was in the time of the assizes. North, lord chief justice of the
common pleas, being there, he sent for him, and by oath confirmed all that he had sworn
formerly, except that which related to the queen and to the duke. He also denied upon
oath that any person had ever practised upon him, or corrupted him. His disowning some
of the particulars which he had sworn, had an appearance of sincerity, and gave much credit
to his former depositions. I could never hear what sense he expressed of the other ill parts
of his life, for he vanished soon out of all men's thoughts.
Another witness appeared against lord Stafford, one Turbervill : who swore, that in the
year seventy-five the lord Stafford had taken much pains to persuade him to kill the king.
He began the proposition to him at Paris, and sent him by the way of Dieppe over to Eng-
land, telling him that he intended to follow by the same road ; but he wrote afterwards to
him that he was to go by Calais. But he said he never went to see him upon his coming
to England. Turbervill swore the year wrong at first, but upon recollection he went and
corrected that error. This at such a distance of time seemed to be no great matter. It
r-eemed much stranger, that after such discourses once begun he should never go near the
lord Stafford, and that lord Stafford should never enquire after him. But there was a much
more material objection to him. Turbervill, upon discourse with some in St. Martin's parish,
seemed inclined to change his religion. They brought him to Dr. Lloyd, then their minister,
and he convinced him so fully that he changed upon it. And after that he came .often to
liim, and was chiefly supported by him. For some months he was constantly at his table.
] Joyd had pressed him to recollect all that he had heard among the papists, relating to plots
find designs against the king or the nation. He said that which all the converts at that
time said often, that they had it among them that within a very little while their religion
,M*ould be set up in England ; and that some of them said a great deal of blood would be
fched before it could be brought about ; but he protested that he knew no particulars. After
some months' dependence on Lloyd he withdrew entirely from him, and he saw" him no more
'ill he appeared now an evidence against lord Stafford. Lloyd was in great difficulties upon
that occasion. It had been often declared that the most solemn denials of witnesses before
tliey make discoveries did not at all invalidate their evidence ; and that it imported no more,
tut that they had been so long firm to their promise of revealing nothing : so that this
liative evidence against Turbervill could have done lord Stafford no service. Gn the other
I'Sviid, considering the load that already lay on Lloyd on the account of Berry's business, and
f fat his being a little before this time promoted to be bishop of St. Asaph was imputed to
hat, it was visible that his discovering this against Turbervill would have aggravated those
us;* res and very much blasted him. In opposition to all this, here was a justice to be done,
nd a service to truth, towards the saving a man's life. And the question was very hard to
determined*. He advised with all his friends, and with myself in particular. The much
oater number were of opinion that he ought to be silent. I said my own behaviour in
* Where was the difficulty? None but a heartless man and a poltroon would hesitate to strive to save the life of
•t How-creature, though it might injure their own advancement.
Y2
3-4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Staley's affair showed what I would do if I was in that case ; but his circumstances were
very different ; so I concurred with the rest as to him. He had another load on him : he had
written a book with very sincere intentions, but upon a very tender point ; he proposed, that
a discrimination should be made between the regular priests that were in a dependence and
under directions from Rome, and the secular priests that would renounce the pope's deposing
power and his infallibility. He thought this would raise heats among themselves, and draw
censures from Rome on the seculars, which in conclusion might have very good effects. This
was very plausibly written, and designed with great sincerity ; but angry men said, all this
was intended only to take off so much from the apprehensions that the nation had of popery,
and to give a milder idea of a great body among them ; and as soon as it had that effect, it
was probable that all the missionaries would have leave given them to put on that disguise,
and to take those discriminating tests till they had once prevailed, and then they would
throw them off. Thus the most zealous man against popery that I ever yet knew, and the
man of the most entire sincerity, was so heavily censured at this time, that it was not thought
fit, nor indeed safe, for him to declare what lie knew concerning Turbervill.
The trial was very august : the earl of Nottingham was the lord high steward ; it con-
tinued five days. On the first day the commons brought only general evidence to prove the
plot. Smith swore some things that had been said to him at Rome of killing the king ; an
Irish priest that had been long in Spain confirmed many particulars in Oates's narrative ; then
the witnesses deposed all that related to the plot in general. To all this lord Stafford said little,
as not being much concerned in it ; only he declared that he was always against the pope's
power of deposing princes. He also observed a great difference between the Gunpowder
Plot and that which was now on foot : that in the former all the chief conspirators died con-
fessing the fact, but that now all died with the most solemn protestations of their innocence.
On the second day the evidence against himself was brought : he urged against Oates that he
swore he had gone in among them on design to betray them ; so that he had been for some
years taking oaths and receiving sacraments in so treacherous a manner, that no credit could
be given to a man that was so black by his own confession. On the third day he brought
his evidence to discredit the witnesses : his servant swore that while he was at the lord
Aston's, Dugdale never was in his chamber but once, and that was on the account of a foot
race. Some deposed against Dugdale's reputation ; and one said that he had been practising
on himself to swear as he should direct him. The minister of the parish and another gen-
tleman deposed, that they heard nothing from Dugdale concerning the killing a justice of
peace in Westminster, which, as he had sworn, he had said to them. As to Turbervill, who
had said that the lord Stafford was at that time in a fit of the gout, his servants said they ,
never knew him in a fit of the gout ; and he himself affirmed, he never had one in his whole |
life. He also proved that he did not intend to come to England by Dieppe, for he had j
written for a yacht, which met him at Calais. He also proved by several witnesses that both j
Dugdale and Turbervill had often said that they knew nothing of any plot ; and that Tur- j
bervill had lately said he would set up for a witness, for none lived so well as witnesses did.
He insisted likewise on the mistake of the year, and on Turbervilfs never coming near him j
after he came over to England. The strongest part of his defence was, that he made it out
unanswerably, that he was not at the lord Aston's on one of the times that Dugdale had
fixed on ; for at that time he was either at Bath, or at Badminton. For Dugdale had once ;
fixed on a day, though afterwards he said it was about that time. Now that day happened
to be the marquis of Worcester's wedding- day ; and on that day it was fully proved that he
was at Badminton, that lord's house, not far from Bath. On the fourth day proofs were
brought to support the credit of the witnesses. It was made out, that Dugdale had served \
the lord Aston long and with great reputation. It was now two full years since he began j
to make discoveries ; and in all that time they had not found any one particular to blemish
him with, though no doubt they had taken pains to examine into his life. His publishing
the news of Godfrey's death was well made out, though two persons in the company had
not minded it. Many proofs were brought that he was often in lord Stafford's company, of
which many more affidavits were made after that lord's death. Two women that were still!
papists swore, that upon the breaking out of the plot he searched into many papers, and'
OF KING CHARLES IT. 325
burnt them. He gave many of these to one of the women to fling into the fire ; but finding a
book of accounts he laid that aside, saying, there is no treason here, which imported that he
thought the others were treasonable. He proved that one of the witnesses brought against
him was so infamous in all respects, that lord Stafford himself was convinced of it. He said
he had only pressed a man, who now appeared against him, to discover all he knew. He
said at such a distance of time he might mistake as to time, or a day, but could not be mis-
taken as to the things themselves. Turbervill described both the street and the room in
Paris in which he saw lord Stafford. He found a witness that saw him at Dieppe, to whom
he complained that a lord for whom he looked had failed him ; and upon that he said he
was no good staff to lean on : by which, though he did not name the lord, he believed he
meant lord Stafford. Dugdale and he both confessed they had denied long that they knew
anything of the plot, which was the effect of the resolution they had taken, to which they
adhered long, of discovering nothing. It was also proved that lord Stafford was often lame,
which Turbervill took for the gout. On the fifth day lord Stafford resumed all his evidence,
and urged every particular very strongly. Jones, in the name of the commons, did on the
other hand resume the evidence against him with great force ; he said indeed nothing for
supporting Oates, for the objection against him was not to be answered. He made it very
clear that Dugdale and Turbervill were two good witnesses, arid were not at all discredited
by anything that was brought against them. When it came to the giving of judgment,
above fifty of the peers gave it against lord Stafford, and above thirty acquitted him. Four
of the Howards, his kinsmen, condemned him. Lord Arundel, afterwards duke of Norfolk,
though in enmity with him, did acquit him. Duke Lauderdale condemned him ; and so did
both the earls of Nottingham and Anglesey. Lord Halifax acquitted him. Lord Notting-
ham, when he gave judgment, delivered it with one of the best speeches he had ever made.
But he committed one great indecency in it ; for he said, who can doubt any longer that
London was burnt by papists ; though there was not one word in the whole trial relating to
that matter. Lord Stafford behaved himself during the whole time, and at the receiving his
sentence, with much more constancy than was expected from him.
Within two days after, he sent a message to the lords, desiring that the bishop of London
and I might be appointed to come to him. We waited on him. His design seemed to be
only to possess us with an opinion of his innocence, of which he made very solemn protestations.
He heard us speak of the points in difference between us and the church of Rome with great
temper and attention. At parting, he desired me to come back to him next day, for he had
a mind to be more particular with me. When I came to him he repeated the protestations
)f his innocence, and said he was confident the villany of the witnesses would soon appear ;
ie did not doubt I should see it in less than a year. I pressed him in several points of reli-
gion, and urged several things, which he said he had never heard before. He said these
things on another occasion would have made some impression upon him ; but he had now
little time, therefore he would lose none in controversy; so I let that discourse fall. I talked
• o him of those preparations for death in which all Christians agree. He entertained these
\"ery seriously. He had a mind to live, if it was possible. He said he could discover
nothing with relation to the king's life, protesting that there was not so much as an intima-
tion about it that had ever passed among them. But he added, that he could discover many
other things that were more material than anything that was yet known, and for which the
ink(! would never forgive him; and of these, if that might save his life, he would make a
'ill discovery. I stopped him when he was going on to particulars ; for I would not be a
mfidant in anything in which the public safety was concerned. He knew best the impor-
ance of those secrets, and so he only could judge whether it would be of that value as to
prevail with the two houses to interpose with the king for his pardon. He seemed to think
jit would be of great use, chiefly to support what they were then driving on with relation to
(ie duke. He desired me to speak to lord Essex, lord Russel, and sir William Jones. I
'ought him their answer the next day ; which was, that if he did discover all he knew con-
rning the papists' designs, and more particularly concerning the duke, they would endoa-
'iir that it should not be insisted on, that he must confess those particulars for which he
'as judged. He asked me what if he should name some who had now great credit, but had
320 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
once engaged to serve their designs. I said nothing could be more acceptable than the dis-
covering such disguised papists, or false protestants. Yet upon this I charged him solemnly
not to think of redeeming his own life by accusing any other falsely, but to tell the truth,
and all the truth, as far as the common safety was concerned in it. As we were discoursing
of these matters the earl of Carlisle came in. In his hearing, by lord Stafford's leave, I went
over all that had passed between us, and did again solemnly adjure him to say nothing but
the truth. Upon this he desired the earl of Carlisle to carry a message from him to the
house of lords, that whensoever they would send for him he would discover all that he knew.
Upon that he was immediately sent for. And he began with a long relation of their first
consultations after the Restoration, about the methods of bringing in their religion, which
they all agreed could only be brought about by a toleration. He told them of the earl of
Bristol's project; and went on to tell who had undertaken to procure the toleration for
them ; and then he named the earl of Shaftesbury. When he named him he was ordered to
withdraw, and the lords would hear no more from him. It was also given out, that in this
I was a tool of lord Halifax's to bring him thither to blast lord Shaftesbury. He was sent
back to the Tower, and then he composed himself in the best way he could to suffer, which
he did with a constant and undisturbed mind. He supped and slept well the night before
his execution, and died without any show of fear or disorder. He denied all that the wit-
nesses had sworn against him. And this was the end of the plot. I was very unjustly
censured on both hands. The earl of Shaftesbury railed so at me that I went no more near
him. And the duke was made believe that I had persuaded lord Stafford to charge him,
and to discover all he knew against him ; which was the beginning of the implacable hatred
he showed on many occasions against me. Thus the most innocent and best meant parts of
a man's life may be misunderstood and highly censured*.
The house of commons had another business before them in this session. There was a
oevere act passed in the end of queen Elizabeth's reign, when she was highly provoked with
the seditious behaviour of the Puritans, by which those who did not conform to the church
were required to abjure the kingdom under the pain of death. And for some degrees of non-
conformity they were adjudged to die, without the favour of banishment. Both houses
passed a bill for repealing this act. It went indeed heavily in the house of lords ; for many
of the bishops, though they were not for putting that law in execution, which had never
been done but in one single instance, yet they thought th^ terror of it was of some use, and
that the repealing it might make the party more insolent. On the day of the prorogation
the bill ought to have been offered to the king; but the clerk of the crown, by the king's par-
ticular order, withdrew the bill. The king had no mind openly to deny it, but he had less
mind to pass it. So this indiscreet method was taken, which was a high offence in the clerk
of the crown. There was a bill of comprehension offered by the episcopal party in the house
of commons, by which the presbyterians would have been taken into the church ; but, to the
amazement of all people, their party in the house did not seem concerned to promote it : on
the contrary they neglected it. This increased the jealousy, as if they had hoped they were
to near the carrying all before them, that they despised a comprehension. There was no
great progress made in this bill. But in the morning before they were prorogued two votes
were carried in the house of a very extraordinary nature. The one was, that the laws made
against recusants ought not to be executed against any but those of the church of Rome.
That was indeed the primary intention of the law ; yet all persons who came not to church,
and did not receive the sacrament once a year, were within the letter of the law. The other
vote was, that it was the opinion of that house that the laws against dissenters ought not
• William Howard, viscount Stafford, was the victim was lost in the house of commons, entitled, "An Act for j
selected by those who maintained the existence of the reversing the attainder of William, late viscount Stafford ;"
popish plot, upon whom to exhibit, that a majority of the its preamble stating, " that it is now manifest that he j
house of lords supported that opinion. Reresby says that tdied innocent ; that the testimony on which he was con- j
this nobleman was selected because he was esteemed of victed was false ; and that it appears, by record of the
weak capacity, and therefore " less able to labour his king's bench, that one of the witnesses was convicted of
defence ; but he deceived them so far as to plead his perjury." The whole evidence and proceedings are given
cause to a miracle." Five years after his execution, in the State Trials.
namely, in 1685, a bill passed the house of peers, but
OF KING CHARLES II. 827
to be executed. This was thought a great invasion of the legislature, when one house pre-
tended to suspend the execution of laws, which was to act like dictators in the state ; for
they meant that courts and juries should govern themselves by the opinion that they now
gave ; which, instead of being a kindness to the nonconformists, raised a new storm against
them over all the nation. When the king saw no hope of prevailing with the commons on
any other terms but his granting the exclusion, he resolved to prorogue the parliament. And
it was dissolved in a few days after, in January, eighty-one.
The king resolved to try a parliament once more ; but apprehending that they were
encouraged, if not inflamed, by the city of London, he summoned the next parliament to
meet at Oxford. It was said, men were now very bold about London by their confidence
in the juries, that the sheriffs took care to return. Several printers were indicted for scan-
dalous libels that they had printed ; but the grand juries returned an ignoramus upon the
bills against them, on this pretence, that the law only condemned the printing such libels
maliciously and seditiously, and that it did not appear that the printers had any ill intentions
in what they did ; whereas, if it was found that they printed such libels, the construction of
law made that to be malicious and seditious. The elections over England for the new par-
liament went generally for the same persons that had served in the former parliament.
And in many places it was given as an instruction to the members to stick to the bill of
exclusion.
The king was now very uneasy ; he saw he was despised all Europe over, as a prince that
had neither treasure nor power ; so one attempt more was to be made, which was to be
managed chiefly by Littleton, who was now brought into the commission of the admiralty.
I had once, in a long discourse with him, argued against the expedients, because they did
really reduce us to the state of a commonwealth. I thought a much better way was, that
there should be a protector declared, with whom the regal power should be lodged, and that
the prince of Orange should be the person. He approved the notion ; but thought that the
title protector was odious, since Cromwell had assumed it, and that, therefore, regent would
be better. We dressed up a scheme of this for nearly two hours ; and I dreamed no more of
it. But some days after he told me the notion took with some, and that both lord Halifax
and Seymour liked it ; but he wondered to find lord Sunderland did not go into it. He told
me after the parliament was dissolved, but in great secrecy, that the king himself liked it.
Lord Nottingham talked in a general and odd strain about it. He gave it out, that the king
was resolved to offer one expedient, which was beyond anything that the parliament could
have the confidence to ask. Littleton pressed me to do what I could to promote it, and said
that as I was the first that had suggested it, so I should have the honour of it, if it proved
so successful as to procure the quieting of the nation. I argued upon it with Jones ; but I
found they had laid it down for a maxim, to hearken to nothing but the exclusion. All the
duke of Monmouth's party looked on this as that which must put an end to all his hopes.
Others thought, in point of honour they must go on as they had done hitherto. Jones stood
upon a point of law, of the inseparableness of the prerogative from the person of the king,
lie said, an infant or a lunatic was in a real incapacity of struggling with his guardians ;
but that if it was not so, the law that constituted their guardians would be of no force. He
said, if the duke came to be king, the prerogative would by that vest in him ; and the prince
regent and he must either strike up a bargain, or it must end in a civil war, in which he
believed the force of law would give the king the better of it. It was not to be denied but
that there was some danger in this ; but in the ill circumstances in which we were, no reme-
dies could be proposed that were without great inconveniences, and that were not liable to
much danger. In the meanwhile, both sides were taking all the pains they could to fortify
their party ; and it was very visible, that the side which was for the exclusion was likely to
be the strongest.
A few days before the king went to Oxford, Fitzharris, an Irish papist, was taken up for
framing a malicious and treasonable libel against the king and his whole family. He had
met with one Everard, who pretended to make discoveries, and as was thought, had mixed a
great deal of falsehood with some truth ; but he held himself in general terms, and did not
descend to so many particulars as the witnesses had done. Fitzharris and he had been
3:8 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
acquainted in France, so on that confidence he showed him his libel ; and he made an
appointment to come to Everard's chamber, who thought he intended to trepan him, and so
had placed witnesses to overhear all that passed. Fitzharris left the libel with him, all
written in his own hand. Everard went with the paper, and with his witnesses, and
informed against Fitzharris, who upon that was committed. But seeing the proof against
him was likely to be full, he said the libel was drawn by Everard, and only copied by him-
self: but he had no sort of proof to support this. Cornish, the sheriff, going to see him, he
desired he would bring him a justice of peace, for he could make a great discovery of the
plot, far beyond all that was yet known. Cornish, in the simplicity of his heart, went and
acquainted the king with this ; for which he was much blamed, for it was said, by this
means that discovery might have been stopped. But his going first with it to the court
proved afterwards a great happiness both to himself and to many others. The secretaries,
and some privy councillors, were upon that sent to examine Fitzharris ; to whom he gave a
long relation of a practice to kill the king, in which the duke was concerned, with many
other particulars which need not be mentioned, for it was all a fiction. The secretaries came
to him a second time to examine him farther. He boldly stood to all he had said, and he
desired that some justices of the city might be brought to him. So Clayton and Treby went
to him, and he made the same pretended discovery to them over again ; and insinuated, that
he was glad it was now in safe hands that would not stifle it. The king was highly offended
with this, since it plainly showed a distrust of his ministers. And so Fitzharris was re-
moved to the Towrer, which the court resolved to make the prison for all offenders, till there
should be sheriffs chosen more at the king's devotion. Yet the deposition made to Clayton
and Treby was in all points the same that he had made to the secretaries ; so that there was
no colour for the pretence afterward put on this, as if they had practised on him.
The parliament met at Oxford in March ; the king opened it with severe reflections on the
proceedings of the former parliament. He said he was resolved to maintain the succession
of the crown in the right line : but for quieting his people's fears he was willing to put the
administration of the government into protestants' hands. This was explained by Ernley
and Littleton to be meant of a prince regent, with whom the regal prerogative should be
lodged during the duke's life. Jones and Littleton managed the debate on the grounds
formerly mentioned ; but in the end the proposition was rejected, and they resolved to go
again to the bill of exclusion, to the great joy of the duke's party, who declared themselves
more against this than against the exclusion itself. The commons resolved likewise to take
the management of Fitzharris's affair out of the hands of the court : so they carried to the
lords' bar an impeachment against him, which was rejected by the lords upon a pretence with
which lord Nottingham furnished them. It was this : Edward the Third had got some
commoners to be condemned by the lords, of which when the house of commons complained,
an order was made, that no such thing should be done for the future. Now that related
only to proceedings at the king's suit : but it could not be meant that an impeachment from
the commons did not lie against a commoner. Judges, secretaries of state, and the lord
keeper were often commoners : so if this was good law, here was a certain method offered to
the court, to be troubled no more with impeachments, by employing only commoners. In
short, the peers saw the design of this impeachment, and were resolved not to receive it ; and
so made use of this colour to reject it. Upon that the commons passed a vote, that justice
was denied them by the lords ; and they also voted, that all those who concurred in any sort,
in trying Fitzharris in any other court, were betrayers of the liberties of their country. By
these steps, which they had already made, the king saw what might be expected from them :
so very suddenly, and not very decently, he came to the house of lords, the crown being
carried between his feet in a sedan. And he put on his robes in haste, without any previous
notice, and called up the commons, and dissolved the parliament ; and went with such haste
to Windsor, that it looked as if he was afraid of the crowds that this meeting had brought
to Oxford *.
Immediately upon this the court took a new ply ; and things went in another channel : of
* North in his " Kxamen," and Ralph in his '* History," give still fuller details of this short, yet violent session,
both agreeing closely \vith Burnet's statement.
OF KING CHARLES II. 329
which I go next to give as impartial an account, as I have hitherto given of the plot, and of
all that related to it. At this time the distinguishing names of Whig and Tory came to be
the denominations of the parties. I have given a full account of all errors during this time
with the more exactness, to warn posterity from falling into the like excesses, and to make it
appear how mad and fatal a thing it is to run violently into a torrent, and in a heat to do
those things which may give a general disgust, and to set precedents to others, when times
turn, to justify their excesses, by saying they do only follow the steps of those who went
before them. The shedding so much blood upon such doubtful evidence was likely to have
proved fatal to him who drove all these things on with the greatest fury : I mean the earl of
Shaftesbury himself. And the strange change that appeared over the nation with relation to
the duke, from such an eager prosecution of the exclusion, to an indecent courting and mag-
nifying him, not without a visible coldness towards the king in comparison of him, shewed j
how little men could build on popular heats, which have their ebbings and flo wings, and]
their hot and cold fits, almost as certain as seas, or fevers have. When such changes happen,
those who have been as to the main with the side that is run down, will be charged with all
the errors of their side, how much soever they may have opposed them. I, who had been
always in distrust of the witnesses, and dissatisfied with the whole method of proceedings,
yet came to be fallen on not only in pamphlets and poems, but even in sermons, as if I had
been an incendiary, and a main stickler against the court, and in particular against the duke.
So upon this I went into a closer retirement ; and to keep my mind from running after news
and affairs, I set myself to the study of philosophy and algebra. I diverted myself with
many processes in chemistry ; and I hope I went into the best exercises, from which 1 had
been much diverted by the bustling of a great town in so hot a time. I had been much
trusted by both sides ; and that is a very dangerous state ; for a man may come upon that
to be hated and suspected by both. I withdrew much from all conversation ; only I lived
still in a particular confidence with the lords Essex and Russel.
The king set out a declaration for satisfying his people : he reckoned up in it all the
hard things that had been done by the three last parliaments ; and set out their undutiful
behaviour to himself in many instances ; yet in conclusion he assured his good subjects, that
nothing should ever alter his affection to the protestant religion as established by law, nor his
love to parliaments ; for he would have still frequent parliaments. When this passed in
council, the archbishop of Canterbury moved, that an order should be added to it, requiring
the clergy to publish it in all the churches of England : this was looked on as a most per-
nicious precedent, by which the clergy were made the heralds to publish the king's declara-
tions, which in some instances might come to be not only indecent but mischievous. An
answer was written to the king's declaration with great spirit and true judgment. It was
at first penned by Sidney ; but a new draught was made by Somers, and corrected by Jones.
The spirit of that side was now spent ; so that this, though the best written paper in all
that time, yet had 110 great effect. The declaration raised over England a humour of making
addresses to the king, as it were in answer to it. The grand juries, and the bench of jus-
tices, in the counties, the cities and boroughs, the franchises and corporations, many manors,
the companies in towns, and at last the very apprentices sent up addresses. Of these some
were more modestly penned, and only expressed their joy at the assurances they saw in the
king's declaration ; and concluded, that they upon that dedicated their lives and fortunes to
his service. But the greater number, and the most acceptable, were those who declared they
would adhere to the unalterable succession of the crown in the lineal and legal descent, and
condemned the bill of exclusion. Others went higher, and arraigned the late parliaments as
guilty of sedition and treason. Some reflected severely on the non-conformists, and thanked
the king for his not repealing that act of the thirty-sixth of queen Elizabeth, which they
prayed might be put in execution. Some of the addresses were very high panegyrics, in
which the king's person and government were much magnified. Many of those who brought
these up were knighted upon it : and all were well treated at court. Many zealous healths
were drank among them ; and in their cups the old valour and the swaggerings of the cava-
15, .rs s-emed to be revived. The ministers saw through this, and that it was an empty noise,
and a false shew ; but it was thought necessary then to encourage it. Though lord Halifax
330 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
could not restrain himself from shewing liis contempt of it, in a saying that was much
repeated ; he said, the petitioners for a parliament spit in the king's face, but the addressers
spit in his mouth. As the country sent up addresses, so the town sent down pamphlets of
all sorts to possess the nation much against the late parliament ; and the clergy struck up to
a higher note, with such zeal for the duke's succession, as if a popish king had been a special
blessing from heaven, to be much longed for by a protestant church. They likewise gave
themselves such a loose against non-conformists, as if nothing were so formidable as that
party ; so that in all their sermons popery was quite forgotten, and the force of their zeal
was turned almost wholly against the dissenters ; who were now by order from the court to
be proceeded against according to law. There was also a great change made in the commis-
sions all England over : none were left either on the bench, or in the militia, that did not with
zeal go into the humour of the court. And such of the clergy as would not engage in that
fury, were cried out upon as the betrayers of the church, and as secret favourers of the dis-
senters. The truth is, the numbers of these were not great : one observed rightly, that,
according to the proverb in the gospel, " where the carcase is, the eagles will be gathered
together." The scent of preferment will draw aspiring men after it.
Fitzharris's trial came on in Easter term : Scroggs was turned out, and Pemberton was
made chief justice. His rise was so particular, that it is worth the being remembered : in
his youth he mixed with such lewd company, that he quickly spent all he had, and ran so
deeply in debt that he was cast into a jail, where he lay many years : but he followed his
studies so closely in the jail, that he became one of the ablest men of his profession. He was
not wholly for the court : he had been a judge before, and was turned out by Scroggs's
means ; and now he was raised again, and was afterwards made chief justice of the other
bench ;.but not being compliant enough, he was turned out a second time, when the court
would be served by none but by men of a thorough-paced obsequiousness *. Fitzharris
pleaded the impeachment in parliament ; but since the lords had thrown that out it was over-
ruled. He pretended he could discover the secret of Godfrey's murder ; he said, he heard
the earl of Danby say at Windsor, that it must be done : but when the judge told the grand
jury, that what was said at Windsor did not lie before them, Fitzharris immediately said,
he had heard him say the same thing at Whitehall. This was very gross : yet upon so slight
an evidence they found the bill against the lord Danby. And when they were reproached
with it, they said a dubious evidence was a sufficient ground for a grand jury : yet another
doctrine was set up by the same sort of men within a few months.
Plunket, the popish primate of Armagh, was at this time brought to his trial. Some lewd
Irish priests, and others of that nation, hearing that England was at that time disposed to
hearken to good swearers, thought themselves well qualified for the employment : so they
came over to swear, that there was a great plot in Ireland, to bring over a French army, and
* Sir Francis Pemberton was one of many examples that quo warranto against the city of London was to be brought
a superior advocate is not necessarily an able judge. His to judgment in that court ; and then he was removed,
judicial deficiency was not perceived by himself ; and when The truth is, it was not thought reasonable to trust that
he boasted that he made rather than declared the laws, cause, on which the peace of the government so much
he unwittingly confessed that he outstepped the duties of depended, in a court where the chief never shewed so much
his office. So notoriously did he follow the dictates of his regard to the law as to his own will ; and notorious as he
own mind, rather than the clauses of the statute-book, was for little honesty, boldness, cunning, and incontroul-
that lord keeper Guildford remarked that " in making able opinion of himself. After this removal he returned
law, he had outdone king, lords, and commons." — (Life of to his practice, and by that (as it seems the rule is) he lost
L.K. Guildford, 222.) North, in the same work, observes, his style of ' lordship,' and became bare ' Mr. Sergeant'
" this man's morals were very indifferent ; for his begin- again. His business lay chiefly in the common pleas."
nings were debauched, and his study and first practice in This too severe character of Pemberton arose from the
the gaol ; for having been one of the fiercest town rakes, high prerogative prejudices of the writer ; for Pemberton,
and spent more than he had of his own, his case forced him as Burnet observes, " was not wholly for the court." It
upon that expedient for a lodging ; and there he made so is perhaps certain that he was not a deep lawyer, but he
good use of his leisure, and busied himself with the cases was a conscientious man ; and instead of his being removed j
of his fellow-collegiates, informing and advising them so because he was unlikely to do justice in the case of the j
skilfully, that he was reputed the most notable fellow quo warranto, or, as others hint, because he was guilty I
within those walls, and, at length, he came out a sharper of taking bribes, it seems more than probable that the
at the law ; after that he proceeded to study and practice, cause of his disgrace was his lenient treatment of the unfor- j
till he was eminent, and made a sergeant. He sat in the tunate lord William Russel.
King's Bench till neai the time that the great cause of the
OF KING CHARLES II. 83 j
to massacre all the English. The witnesses were brutal and profligate men : yet the earl of
Shaftesbury cherished them much : they were examined by the parliament at Westminster ;
and what they said was believed. Upon that encouragement it was reckoned that we should
have witnesses come over in whole companies. Lord Essex told me, that this Plunket was
a wise and sober man, who was always in a different interest from the two Talbots ; the one of
these being the titular archbishop of Dublin, and the other afterwards came to be duke of Tir-
connell. These were meddling and factious men ; whereas Plunket was for their living quietly,
and in due submission to the government, without engaging into intrigues of state. Some
of these priests had been censured by him for their lewdness ; and they drew others to swear
as they directed them. They had appeared the winter before upon a bill offered to the grand
jury ; but as the foreman of the jury, who was a zealous protestant, told me, they contra-
dicted one another so evidently, that they would not find the bill. But now they laid their
story better together ; and swore against Plunket, that he had got a great bank of money to
be prepared, and that he had an army listed, and was in a correspondence with France to
bring over a fleet from thence. He had nothing to say in his own defence, but to deny all :
so he was condemned, and suffered very decently, expressing himself in many particulars as
became a bishop. He died denying every thing that had been sworn against him *.
Fitzharris was tried next : and the proof was so full that he was cast. He moved in court
that I might be ordered to come to him, upon what reason I could never imagine. A rule
was made that I might speak to him in the presence of the lieutenant of the Tower. I went
to him, and pressed him vehemently to tell the truth, and not to deceive himself with false
hopes. I charged him with the improbabilities of his discovery ; and laid home to him the
sin of perjury, chiefly in matters of blood, so fully, that the lieutenant of the Tower made
a very just report of it to the king, as the king himself told me afterwards. "When he saw
there was no hope, he said the lord Howard was the author of the libel. Howard was so
ill thought of, that, it being known that there was a familiarity between Fiztharris and him,
it was apprehended from the beginning that he was concerned in it- I had seen him in lord
Howard's company, and had told him how indecent it was to have such a man about him :
he said he was in want, and was as honest as his religion would suffer him to be. I found
out afterwards, that he was a spy of the lady Portsmouth's ; and that he had carried lord
Howard to her : and, as lord Howard himself told me, she brought the king to talk with him
twice or thrice. The king, as he said, entered into a particular scheme with him of the new
frame of his ministry in case of an agreement, which seemed to him to be very near. As
soon as I saw the libel, 1 was satisfied that lord Howard was not concerned in it : it was so
ill drawn, and so little disguised in the treasonable part, that none but a man of the lowest
form could be capable of making it. The report of lord Howard's being charged with this
was over the whole town a day before any warrant was sent out against him ; which made
it appear, that the court had a mind to give him time to go out of the way. He came to me,
and solemnly vowed he was not at all concerned in that matter : so I advised him not to stir
from home. He was committed that night : I had no liking to the man's temper; yet he
insinuated himself so into me, that without being rude to him it was not possible to avoid
him. He was a man of a pleasant conversation ; but he railed so indecently both at the
king and the clergy, that I was very uneasy in his company : yet now, during his imprison-
ment, I did him all the service I could. But Algernon Sidney took his concerns and his
family so to heart, and managed every thing relating to him with that zeal, and that care,
that none but a monster of ingratitude could have made him the return that he did after-
wards. When the bill against lord Howard was brought to the grand jury, Fitzharris's wife
and maid were the two witnesses against him ; but they did so evidently forswear themselves,
that the attorney-general withdrew it. Lord Howard lay HI the Tower till the Michaelmas
term, and came out by the Habeas Corpus. I went no more to Fitzharris; but Hawkins,
the minister of the Tower, took him into his management, and prevailed with him not only
* Dr. Oliver Plunket is styled even by Anthony Wood the crimes with which the witnesses, his personal enemies,
"a most venerable and religious" man. Whoever rends charged him. He was executed on the 1st of July, 1681
his trial will thence conclude that he was not guilty of State Trials, iii. ; Wood's Athense, i. 220.
332 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
to deny all his former discovery, but to lay it on Clayton, Treby, and the sheriff's, as a subor-
nation of theirs, though it was evident that was impossible to be true. Yet at the same time
he wrote letters to his wife, who was not then admitted to him, which I saw arid read, in
which he told her, how he was practised upon with the hopes of life. He charged her to
swear falsely against none : one of these was written that very morning in which he suf-
fered * ; and yet before he was led out he signed a new paper containing the former charge
of subornation, and put it in Hawkins's hands. And at Tyburn he referred all he had to
say to that paper, which was immediately published ; but the falsehood of it was so very
notorious, that it shewed what a sort of man Hawkins was : yet he was soon after rewarded
for this with the deanery of Chichester. Bat when the court heard what letters Fitzharris
had written to his wife they were confounded ; and all further discourse about him was
stifled. But the court practised on her by the promise of a pension so far, that she delivered
up her husband's letters to them. But so many had seen them before that, that this base
practice turned much to the reproach of all their proceedings.
Soon after this Dugdale, Turbervill, Smith, and the Irish witnesses came under another
management ; and they discovered a plot laid against the king to be executed at Oxford.
The king was to be killed, and the government was to be changed. One Colledge, a joiner
by trade, was an active and hot man, and came to be known by the name of the Protestant
Joiner. He was first seized on ; and the witnesses swore many treasonable speeches against
him : he was believed to have spoken oft with great indecency of the king, and with a sort
of threatening, that they would make him pass the bill of exclusion. But a design to seize
on the king was so notorious a falsehood, that notwithstanding all that the witnesses swore,
the grand jury returned ignoramus upon the bill. Upon this the court cried out against the
juries now returned, that they would not do the king justice, though the matter of the bill
was sworn by witnesses whose testimony wras well believed a few months before : it was
commonly said, these juries would believe every thing one way, and nothing the other. If
they had found the bill, so that Colledge had been tried upon it, he would have been cer-
tainly saved ; but since the witnesses swore that he went to Oxford on that design, he was
triable there. North went to Oxford, Colledge being carried thither ; and he tried him there.
North's behaviour in that whole matter w^as such, that probably, if he had lived to see an
impeaching parliament, he might have felt the ill effects of it. The witnesses swore several
treasonable words against Colledge, and that his coming to Oxford was in order to the exe-
cuting these : so here was an overt-act. Colledge was upon a negative : so he had nothing
to say for himself, but to shew how little credit was due to the witnesses. He was con-
demned, and suffered with great constancy, and with appearances of devotion. He denied
all the treasonable matter that had been sworn against him, or that he knew of any plot
against the king. He confessed, that a great heat of temper had carried him to many undu-
tiful expressions of the king, but he protested he was in no design against him t. And now
the court intended to set the witnesses to swear against all the hot party ; which was plainly
murder in them, who believed them false witnesses, and yet made use of them to destroy
others. One passage happened at Colledge's trial, which quite sunk Dugdale's credit : it
was objected to him by Colledge, to take away his credit, that, when by his lewdness he had
got the French pox, he to cover that gave it out that he was poisoned by papists : upon
which he, being then in court, protested solemnly that he never had that disease \ and said,
that if it could be proved by any physician that he ever had it, he was content that all the
evidence he had ever given should be discredited for ever. And he was taken at his word ;
• All the proceedings against Fitzharris may be seen speaks of him as " a noble person," to whom he was
in the third volume of the State Trials. introduced by Lady Berkley (Swift's Letters, iv. 336.)
•f* The firm, judicious, and able mannerin which Stephen His trial is well worthy of a perusal. It exhibits the
Colledge defended himself is sufficient proof, in the absence degrading banter that was exchanged between witnesses
of any other, that he was a man of a very superior under- and counsel, and the brutal conduct of the latter and of the
standing. His superiority as a workman obtained him judges towards the accused. — (State Trials, iii.) Ad.iugh-
ernployment among the higher class of society, and his ter of Colledge was sempstress to king William, an office
cultivated mind, united to becoming manners, obtained worth about 300/. a year. Her father was executed on
him even admission to their families as a friend. Dr, Swift the last day of August, 1681. — Grainger' sBiog. Hist.
B
OF KING CHARLES II. 333
I
Lower, who was then the most celebrated physician in London, proved at the council-
ard that he had been under cure in his hands for that disease ; which was made out both
by his bills, and by the apothecary that served them. So he was never more heard of.
The earl of Shaftesbury was committed next, and sent to the Tower upon the evidence of
the Irish witnesses. His papers were at the same time seized on and searched : nothing
material was found among them, but a draught of an association, by which the king, if it
had taken place, would have reigned only at the discretion of the party. This was neither
written, nor marked in any place with his hand : but, when there was a talk of an associa-
tion, some had formed this paper, and brought it to him ; of which he always professe.d, after
the matter was over, that he remembered nothing at all. So, it is probable, that, as is ordi-
nary when any great business is before the parliament, that zealous men are at the doors with
their several draughts ; this was one of these cast carelessly by, and not thought on by him
when he had sent his more valuable papers out of the way. There was likewise but one wit-
ness that could swear to its being found there ; and that was the clerk of the council, who
had perused those papers without marking them in the presence of any witness, as taken
among lord Shaftesbury's papers.
There was all this summer strange practising with witnesses to find more matter against
him : Wilkinson, a prisoner for debt that had been often with him, was dealt with to accuse
him. The court had found out two solicitors to manage such matters, Burton and Graham,
who were indeed fitter men to have served in a court of inquisition than in a legal govern-
ment. It was known, that lord Shaftesbury was apt to talk very freely, and without dis-
cretion : so the two solicitors sought out all that had frequented his company ; and tried
what they could draw from them, not by a barefaced subornation, but by telling them, they
knew well that lord Shaftesbury had talked such and such things, which they named, that
were plainly treasonable ; and they required them to attest it if they did ever hear such
things from him : and they made them great promises upon their telling the truth : so that
they gave hints and made promises to such as by swearing boldly would deserve them, and
yet kept themselves out of danger of subornation, having witnesses in some corner of their
chambers that overheard all their discourse. This was their common practice, of which I had
a particular account from some whom they examined with relation to myself. In all this
foul dealing the king himself was believed to be the chief director : and lord Halifax was
thought deep in it, though he always expressed an abhorrence of such practices to me *.
His resentments wrought so violently on him, that he seemed to be gone off from all his
former notions. He pressed me vehemently to accept of preferment at court ; and said, if I
would give him leave to make promises in my name, he could obtain for me any preferment
I pleased. But I would enter into no engagements. I was contented with the condition I
was in, which was above necessity, though below envy : the mastership of the Temple was
likely to fall, and I liked that better than any thing else. So both lord Halifax and lord
Clarendon moved the king in it. He promised I should have it. Upon which lord Halifax
carried me to the king. I had reason to believe, that he was highly displeased with me for
what I had done a year before. Mrs. Roberts, whom he had kept for some time, sent for
me when she was dying : I saw her often for some weeks, and among other things I
desired her to write a letter to the king, expressing the sense she had of her past life : and at
her desire I drew such a letter, as might be fit for her to write : but she never had strength
enough to write it. So upon that I resolved to write a very plain letter to the king : I set
before him his past life, and the effects it had on the nation, with the judgments of God that
lay on him, which was but a small part of the punishment that he might look for ; I pressed
* These attempts to suborn evidence against the earl rard, sir Scroop Howe, Thomas Thynne, Thomas Forester,
of Shaftesbury were detestable and disgraceful; the cause John Trenchard, and Thomas Wharton, esquires, he went
of the hatred and indignation of the court party that into Westminster Hall, and to the Middlesex grand jury
gave birth to them, is easily traceable. So violent was publicly presented the duke of York as worthy of indict-
he in opposing the succession of the duke of York to the ment as a recusant. The immediate effect of this daring
throne, that with the lords Huntingdon Grey of Werk, act was not so great as was anticipated ; for while the jury
Russel, Cavendish, and Brandon, sir Edward Hungerford, were deliberating on the presentment, the court very judi-
sir Henry Calverly, sir William Cowpcr, sir Gilbert Ger- ciously summoned and dismissed them — Ralph's History.
534
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
him upon that earnestly to change the whole course of his life : I carried this letter to Chif-
finch's on the twenty-ninth of January ; and told the king in the letter, that I hoped the
eflections on what had befallen his father on the thirtieth of January, might move him to
consider these things more carefully. Lord Arran happened to be then in waiting : and he
came to me next day, and told me, he was sure the king had a long letter from me ; for he
held the candle to him while he read it : he knew at all that distance that it was my hand.
The king read it twice over, and then threw it into the fire : and not long after lord Arran
took occasion to name me : and the king spoke of me with great sharpness : so he perceived
that he was not pleased with my letter * : nor was the king pleased with my being sent for
* This letter was as follows :
" 29th January, 1679-80.
" May it please your Majesty,
" I have not presumed to trouble your majesty for some
months, not having any thing worthy your time to offer ;
and now I choose rather this way, since the infinite duty I
owe you puts me under restraints in discourse, which I
cannot so easily overcome. What I shall now suggest to
your majesty, I do it as in the presence of Almighty God,
to whom I know I must give an account of all my actions ;
I therefore beg you will be graciously pleased to accept
this most faithful zeal of your poor subject, who has no
other design in it, than your good, and the discharge of his
own conscience.
" I must then first assure your majesty, I never disco-
vered any thing like a design of raising rebellion, among
all those with whom I converse : but I shall add, on the
other hand, that most people grow sullen, and are highly
dissatisfied with you, and distrustful of you. Formerly
your ministers, or his royal highness, bore the blame of
things that were ungrateful ; but now it falls upon your-
self; and time, which cures most other distempers, increases
this. Your last speech makes many think, it will be easy
to fetch up petitions from all parts of England : this is
now under consultation, and is not yet determined ; but I
find so many inclined to promote them, that as far as I
can judge, it will go that way. If your majesty calls a
new parliament, it is believed, that those who have pro-
moted the petitions will be generally elected ; for the infe-
rior sort of people are much set upon them, and make their
judgment of men, from their behaviour in that matter.
The soberer sort of those, who are ill pleased at your con-
duct, reckon that either the state of your affaire beyond
sea, or of your exchequer at home, will ere long necessitate
your meeting your parliament ; and that then things must
be rectified : and therefore they use their utmost endea-
vours to keep all quiet. If your majesty has a session in
April, for supporting your allies, I find it is resolved by
many, that the money necessary to maintain your alli-
ances, shall be put into the hands of the commissioners, to
issue it as they shall answer to the two houses : and these
will be so chosen, that as it is likely that the persons will
be very unacceptable to you, so they, being trusted with
the money, Mill be as a council of state, to controul all
your councils. And as to your exchequer, I do not find
any inclination to consider your necessity, unless many
things be done to put them into another disposition, than
I can observe in them. The things that will be demanded,
will not be of so easy a digestion, as that I can imagine
you will ever be brought to them, or indeed that it will
be reasonable or honourable for you to grant them. So
that, in this disorder of affairs, it is easy to propose diffi-
culties, but not so easy to find out that which may remove
them.
" There is one thing, arid indeed the only thing, in
which all honest men agree, as that which can easily extri-
cate you out of all your troubles ; it is nofc the change of
a minister, or of a council, a new alliance, or a session of
parliament, but it is (and suffer me, Sir, to speak it with
a more than ordinary earnestness) a change in your own
heart, and in your course of life. And now, Sir, if you
do not with indignation throw this paper from you, permit
me (with all the humility of a subject prostrate at your
feet) to tell you, that all the distrust your people have of
you, all the necessities you now are under, all the indig-
nation of Heaven, that is upon you, and appears in the
defeating all your councils, flow from this, that you have
not feared nor served God, but have given yourself up to
so many sinful pleasures. Your majesty may perhaps
justly think, that many of those that oppose you have no
regard for religion, but the body of your people consider it
more than you can imagine. 1 do not desire your majesty
to put on a hypocritical shew of religion, as Henry the
Third of France did, hoping thereby to have weathered
the storms of those times. No ! that would be soon seen
through, and as it would provoke God more, so it would
increase jealousies. No ! Sir, it must be real, and the
evidences of it signal : all those about you who are the
occasions of sin, chiefly the women, must be removed, and
your court be reformed. Sir, if you Mill turn you to reli-
gion sincerely and seriously, you shall quickly find a serene
joy of another nature possess your mind, than M'hat arises
from gross pleasures ; God M'ould be at peace with you,
and direct and bless all your counsels ; all good men would
presently turn to you, and ill men M'ould be ashamed, and
have a thin party. For I speak it knoM'ingly, there is
nothing has so alienated the body of your people from
you, as what they have heard of your life, which disposes
them to give an easy belief to all other scandalous reports.
" Sir, this counsel is now almost as necessary for your
affairs as it is for your soul ; and though you have highly
offended that God, who has been infinitely merciful to you,
in preserving you at Worcester fight, and during your long
exile, and who brought you back so miraculously, yet he
is still good and gracious ; and will, upon your sincere
repentance, and change of life, pardon all your sins and
receive you into his favour : oh, Sir, what if you should
die in the midst of all your sins? at the great tribunal,
where you must appear, there M'ill be no regard to the
cro\vn you now M'ear ; but it M'ill aggravate your punish-
ment, that being in so eminent a station, you have so
much dishonoured God. Sir, I hope you believe there is
a God, and a life to come, and that sin shall not pass
unpunished. If your majesty M'ill reflect upon your hav-
ing now been twenty years upon the throne, and in all
that time how little you have glorified God, how much
you have provoked him, and that your ill example has
drawn so many after you to sin, that men are not now
ashamed of their vkes. you cannot but think, that God is
offended Mith you : and if you consider how ill your coun-
cils at home, and your wars abroad have succeeded, and
how much you have lost the hearts of your people, you
may reasonably conclude, this is of God, who M'ill not turn
away his anger from you, till you turn to him Mith youi
whole heart.
" I am no enthusiast, either in opinion or temper ; yet I
acknoM'ledge I have been so pressed in my mind to mak«
this address to you, that I could have no ease till I did it :
>
OF KING CHARLES II. 305
y Wilmot, earl of Rochester, when he died. He fancied that he had told me many things,
of which I might make an ill use : yet he had read the hook that I wrote concerning him,
and spoke well -of it. In this state I was in the king's thoughts, when lord Halifax carried
me to him, and introduced me with a very extraordinary compliment, that he did not bring
me to the king to put me in his good opinion, so much as to put the king in my good opi-
nion : and added, he hoped that the king would not only take me into his favour, but into
his heart. The king had a peculiar faculty of saying obliging things with a very good grace :
among other tilings he said, he knew that, if I pleased, I could serve him very considerably ;
and that he desired no service from me longer than he continued true to the church, and to
the law. Lord Halifax upon that added, that the king knew he served him on the same
terms, and was to make his stops. The king and he fell into some discourse about religion.
Lord Halifax said to the king, that he was the head of the church : to which the king
answered, that he did not desire to be the head of nothing ; for indeed he was of no church.
From that the king run out into much discourse about lord Shaftesbury, who was shortly to
be tried : he complained with great scorn of the imputation of subornation that was cast on
himself. He said, he did not wonder that the earl of Shaftesbury, who was so guilty of those
practices, should fasten them on others. The discourse lasted half an hour very hearty and
free : so I was in favour again ; but I could not hold it. I was told I kept ill company:
the persons lord Halifax named to me were the earl of Essex, lord Russel, and Jones. But
I said, I would upon no consideration give over conversing with my friends : so I was where
I was before.
A bill of indictment was presented to the grand jury against lord Shaftesbury. The jury
was composed of many of the chief citizens of London. The witnesses were examined in
open court,- contrary to the usual custom : the witnesses swore many incredible things against
him, mixed with other things that looked very like his extravagant way of talking. The
draught of the association was also brought as a proof of his treason, though it was not laid
in the indictment, and was proved only by one witness. The jury returned ignoramus upon
the bill. Upon this the court did declaim with open mouth against these juries ; in which
they said the spirit of the party did appear, since men, even upon oath, shewed they were
resolved to find bills true or ignoramus, as they pleased, without regarding the evidence
And upon this a new set of addresses went round the kingdom, in which they expressed their
abhorrence of that association found in lord Shaftcsbury's cabinet ; and complained, that
justice was denied the king ; which were set off with all the fulsome rhetoric that the penners
could varnish them with. It was upon this occasion said, that the grand jury ought to find
bills even upon dubious evidence, much more when plain treason was sworn , since all they
did in finding a bill was only to bring the person to his trial, and then the falsehood of the
witnesses was to be detected. But in defence of these ignoramus juries it was said, that by
the express words of their oath they were bound to make true presentments of what should
appear true to them : and therefore, if they did not believe the evidence, they could
not find a bill, though sworn to. A book was written to support that, in which both law
and reason were brought to confirm it : it passed as written by lord Essex, though I under-
stood afterwards it was written by Somers, who was much esteemed and often visited by
j lord Essex, and who trusted himself to him, and wrote the best papers that came out in that
; and since you were pleased to direct me to send you, the judgments of God will probably pursue you in this life,
through Mr. Cliiffincli's hands, such informations as I so that you may be a proverb to after-ages ; and after this
thought fit to convey to you, I hope your majesty will not life, you will be for ever miserable ; and I, your poor
be offended, if I have made this use of that liberty. I am subject tbat now am, shall be a witness against you in the
Hire I can have no other design in it, but your good ; for great day, that I gave you this free and faithful warning.
1 know very well, this is not the method to serve any " Sir, no person alive knows, that I have written to you
tnds of my own. I therefore throw myself at your feet, to this purpose ; and I chose this evening, hoping that your
and once more, in the name of God, whose servant I am, exercise to-morrow may put you into a disposition to weigh
<<o most humbly beseech your majesty, to consider of what it more carefully. I hope your majesty will not be
I have written, and not to despise it for the meanness of offended with this sincere expression of my duty to you ;
t:ie person who has sent it, but to apply yourself to reli- for 1 durst not have ventured on it, if I had not thought
p;on in earnest; and I dare assure you of many blessings myself bound to it, both by the duty I owe to God, and
l"ith temporal and spiritual in this life, and of eternal glory that which will ever oblige me to be,
in the life to come : but if you will go on in your sins, " May it please your majesty, &c."
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
time. It is true, by the practice that had generally prevailed, grand juries were easy in
finding bills upon a slight and probable evidence. But it was made out, that the words of
their oath, and the reason of the law seemed to oblige them to make no presentments but
such as they believed to be true. On the other hand a private ill opinion of a witness, or
the looking on a matter as incredible, did not seem to warrant the return of an ignoramus :
that seemed to belong to the jury on life and death *. The chief complaint that was made
in the addresses was grounded on their not finding the bill on the account of the draught of
the association ; and this was in many respects very unreasonable. For as that was not laid
in the bill, so there was but one witness to prove it ; nor did the matter of the paper rise up
to the charge of high treason. And now Dugdale and Turbervill, who had been the wit-
nesses upon whose evidence lord Stafford was condemned, being within a year detected, or at
least suspected of this villany, I could not but reflect on what he said to me, that he was
confident I should see within a year that the witnesses would be found to be rogues.
the realm, or commoner ; and twelve peers, or above, if a
lord ; if not, twelve commoners, tc give the judgment
upon the general issue joined."
It then proceeds to remark upon the importance that
has always been afforded to the institution of the grand
inquest or jury, and the care that has been taken to insure
them being as free as possible from any unworthy influ-
ence— " I know too well," it continues, " that the wis-
dom and care of our ancestors in this institution of grand
juries, hath not been of late considered as it ought; nor
the laws concerning them duly observed ; nor have tho
gentlemen and other men of estates, in the several coun-
ties, discerned how insensibly their legal power and juris-
diction in their grand and petit juries is decayed, and much
of the means to preserve their own lives and interests,
taken out of their hands. It is a wonder that they were
not more awakened with the attempt of the late lord chief
justice Keyling, who would have usurped a lordly, dicta-
torial power over the grand jury of Somersetshire, and
commanded them to find a bill of indictment for murder,
for which they saw no evidence ; and upon their refusal, he
not only threatened the jury, but assumed to himself an
arbitrary power to fine them." " But upon the complaint
of one sir Hugh Windham, foreman of the said jury, and a
member of the long parliament, the commons brought
the then chief justice to their bar, to acknowledge his
fault."
It had been maintained in several party works a that
the grand jury have only to determine Avhether there is a
probability of guilt in the prisoner, and that he ought to
be tried ; and that far less evidence will warrant a grand
jury's indictment than a petit jury's verdict. Against this
doctrine Somers strenuously and convincingly argues, and
from the whole concludes that " if there ought to be any
difference in the proceedings of the grand and petit juries,
the greater exactness and diligence seems to be required
in the former: for as the same work of finding out the
truth, in order to the doing of justice, is allotted unto both,
the greatest part of the burthen ought to lie upon them
that have the best opportunities of performing it. The
invalidity, weakness, or defects of the proofs may be equally
evident to either of them ; but if there be deceit in stifling
true testimonies, or malice in suborning wicked persons to
bring in such as are false, the grand jury may most easily,
nay probably only can discover it : they are not straight-
ened in time ; they may freely examine in private, with-
out interruption from the counsel or court, such witnesses
as are presented unto them, or they shall think fit to call :
they may jointly or severally inquire of their friends or
acquaintance after the lives and reputations of the wit-
nesses, or the accused persons, and all circumstances
relating unto the matter in question, and consult together
under the seal of secrecv."
* Mr. Wai pole says, that the work alluded to by Bur-
net, probably was a pamphlet attributed to Somers,
entitled " The Security of Englishmen's Lives : or the
trust, power, and duty of the grand juries of England,
explained according to the fundamentals of the English
government, &c. " — (Walpole's Catalogue of Royal and
Noble Authors.) This pamphlet was first printed in the
year 1681 ; and a second edition, with Somers'' name pre-
fixed, was published in 1766. Its spirit will appear from
a very few extracts. —
" Our ancestors have been famous in their generations
for wisdom, piety, and courage, in forming and preserving
a body of laws to secure themselves and their posterities
from slavery and oppression, and to maintain their native
freedoms : to be subject only to the laws made by their
own consent in their general assemblies, and to be put in
execution chiefly by themselves, their officers, and assist-
ants ; to be guarded and defended from all violence and
force by their own arms, kept in their own hands, and
used at their own charge under their prince's conduct ;
intrusting nevertheless an ample power to their kings and
other magistrates, that they may do all the good, and enjoy
all the happiness, that the largest soul of man can honestly
wish ; and carefully providing such means of correcting
and punishing their ministers and counsellors, if they
transgress the laws, that they might not dare to abuse or
oppress the people, or design against their freedom or
welfare."
Imitating the example set by their ancestors, the
pamphlet warns its contemporaries that " it now falls to
our lot to preserve their liberties against the dark con-
trivances of a popish faction, who would by frauds, sham-
plots, and infamous perjuries, deprive us of our birth-
rights, and turn the points of our swords (the laws; into
our own bowels, with designs to overturn the monarchy,
because they would have excluded a popish successor, and
provided for the security of the religion and lives of all
protestants,"
" Our law-makers foresaw both their dangers from malice
and passion, that might cause some of private condition to
accuse others falsely in the courts of justice, and the great
hazards of worthy and eminent men's lives, from the ma-
lice, emulation, and ill designs of corrupt ministers of state,
or otherwise potent persons, who might commit the most
odious of murders in the form and course of justice, either
by corrupting of judges, as dependent upon them for their
honour and great revenue, or by bribing and hiring men
of depraved principles, and desperate fortunes, to swear
falsely against them. Therefore for securing equal and
impartial justice, it is made a fundamental in our govern-
ment, that, unless it be by parliament, no man's life shall
be touched for any crime whatsoever, save by the judg-
ment of at least twenty-four men ? that is, twelve, or
more, to find the bill of indictment, whether he be peer of
The Grand Juryman's Oath and Office, &c.
OF KING CHARLES II. 337
As to Turbervill, what happened soon after this will perhaps mitigate the censure. He
was taken with the small-pox in a few days after lord Shaftesbury's trial. The symptoms
were so bad that the physician told him he had no hope of his recovery ; upon which he
composed himself to die as became a Christian, and sent for Mr. Hewes, the curate of St.
Martin's, who was a very worthy man, and from whom I had this account of him. Tur-
bervill looked on himself as a dead man at the first time he came to him ; but his disease did
no way affect his understanding or his memory. He seemed to have a real sense of another
state, and of the account that he was to give to God for his past life. Hewes charged him
to examine himself, and, if he had sworn falsely against any man, to confess his sin and
glorify God, though to his own shame. Turbervill, both in discourse and when he received
the sacrament, protested that he had sworn nothing but the truth, in what he deposed both
against lord Stafford and the earl of Shaftesbury ; and renounced the mercies of God, and
the benefit of the death of Christ, if he did not speak the plain and naked truth without any
reservation : and he continued in the same mind to his death. So here were the last words
of dying men, against the last words of those that suffered. To this may well be added, that
one who died of sickness, and under a great depression in his spirits, was less able to stifle
his conscience, and resist the impressions that it might then make on him, than a man who
suffers on a scaffold, where the strength of the natural spirits is entire, or rather exalted by
the sense of the cause he suffers for. And we know that confession and absolution in the
church of Rome give a quiet, to which we do not pretend, where these things are said to be
only ministerial, and not authoritative. About a year before this Tonge had died, who first
brought out Gates. They quarrelled afterwards, and Tonge came to have a very bad opinion
of Gates, upon what reason I know not. He died with expressions of a very high devotion;
and he protested to all who came to see him, that he knew of no subornation in all that
matter, and that he was guilty of none himself. These things put a man quite in the dark,
and in this mist matters must be left till the great revelation of all secrets. And there I
leave it, and from the affairs of England turn to give an account of what passed in Scotland
during this disorder among us here.
The duke behaved himself upon his first going to Scotland in so obliging a manner, that
the nobility and gentry, who had been so long trodden on by duke Lauderdale and his party,
found a very sensible change ; so that he gained much on them all. He continued still to
support that side ; yet things were so gently carried that there was no cause of complaint.
It was visibly his interest to make that nation sure to him, and to give them such an essay
of his government, as might dissipate all the hard thoughts of him with which the world
was possessed ; and he pursued this for some time with great temper, and as great success.
He advised the bishops to proceed moderately, and to take no notice of conventicles in
houses, and that would put an end to those in the fields. In matters of justice he showed
an impartial temper, and encouraged all propositions relating to trade ; and so, considering
how much that nation was set against his religion, he made a greater progress in gaining
upon them than was expected. He was advised to hold a parliament there in the summer
eighty-one, and to take the character of the king's commissioner upon himself.
A strange spirit of fury had broken loose on some of the presbyterians, called Cargillites,
from one Cargill, who had been one of the ministers of Glasgow in the former times, and was
then very little considered, but now was much followed, to the great reproach of the nation.
These held that the king had lost the right of the crown by his breaking the covenant which
he had sworn at his coronation : so they said he was their king no more ; and by a formal
declaration they renounced all allegiance to him, which a party of them affixed to the cross of
Dumfries, a town near the west border. The guards fell upon a party of them, whom they
found in arms, where Cameron, one of their furious teachers (from whom they were also
called Cameronians), was killed ; but Hackston, that was one of the archbishop's murderers,
and Cargill were taken. Hackston, when brought before the council, would not own their
authority, nor make any answer to their questions. He was so low, by reason of his wounds,
that it was thought he would die in the question if tortured ; so he was in a very summary
way condemned to have both his hands cut off, and then to be hanged. All this he suffered
with a constancy that amazed all people ; he seemed to be all the while as in an enthusias-
z
808 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
tical rapture, and insensible of what was done to him. "When his hands were cut off, he
asked, like one unconcerned, if his feet were to be cut off likewise. And he had so strong a
* ' " O
heart, that notwithstanding all the loss of blood by his wounds, and the cutting off his hands,
yet when he was hanged up, and his heart cut out, it continued to palpitate some time after
it was on the hangman's knife, as some eye-witnesses assured me. Cargill and many others
of that mad sect, both men and women, suffered with an obstinacy that was so particular,
that though the duke sent the offer of pardon to them on the scaffold, if they would only say,
" God bless the King," it was refused with great neglect. One of them, a woman, said, very
calmly, " she was sure God would not bless him, and that, therefore, she would not take God's
name in vain." Another said more sullenly, that she would not worship that idol, nor
acknowledge any other king but Christ. And so both were hanged. About fifteen or six-
teen died under this delusion, which seemed to be a sort of madness, for they never attempted
anything against any person, only they seemed glad to suffer for their opinions. The duke
stopped that prosecution, and appointed them to be put in a house of correction, and to be
kept at hard labour. Great use was made of this by profane people to disparage the suffer-
ing of the martyrs for the Christian faith, from the unshaken constancy which these frantic
people expressed. But this is undeniable, that men who die maintaining any opinion, show
that they are firmly persuaded of it ; so from this the martyrs of the first age, who died for
asserting a matter of fact, such as the resurrection of Christ, or the miracles that they
had seen, showed that they were well persuaded of the truth of those facts. And that is all
the use that is to be made of this argument.
Now the time of the sitting of the parliament drew on. The duke seeing how great a
man the earl of Argyle wTas in Scotland, concluded it was necessary for him either to gain
him, or to ruin him. Lord Argyle gave him all possible assurances that he would adhere to
his interest in every thing, except in the matters of religion ; but added, that if he went to
meddle with these, he owned to him freely that he would oppose him all he could. This
was well enough taken in show ; but lord Argyle said, he observed ever after that such a
visible coldness and distrust, that he saw what he might expect from him. Some moved the
excepting against the duke's commission to represent the king in parliament, since by law no
man could execute any office without taking the oaths ; and above forty members of parlia-
ment promised to stick to duke Hamilton, if he would insist on that. But Lockhart and
Cunningham, the two lawyers on whose opinion they depended chiefly, said that a commis-
sion to represent the king's person fell not under the notion of an office : and since it was
not expressly named in the acts of parliament, they thought it did not fall within the general
words of "all places and offices of trust." So this was laid aside; and many who were
offended at it complained of duke Hamilton's cowardice. He said for himself, he had been
in a storm for seven years' continuance by his opposing duke Lauderdale, and that he would
not .engage in a new one with a stronger party, unless he was sure of the majority; and they
were far from pretending to be able to bring matters to near an equality. The first act that
passed was one of three lines, confirming all the laws formerly made against popery ; the
duke thought it would give a good grace to all that should be done afterwards, to begin with
such a general and cold confirmation of all former laws. Some moved that a committee
might be appointed to examine all the former laws (since some of them seemed unreasonably
severe, as passed in the first heat of the Reformation), that so they might draw out of them
all such as might be fit not only to be confirmed, but to be executed by better and more
proper methods than those prescribed in the former statutes, which had been all eluded. But
it was not intended that this new confirmation should have any effect ; and therefore this
motion was not barkened to. But the act was hurried on and passed.
The next act was for the unalterableness of the succession of the crown. It was declared
high treason ever to move for any alterations in it. Lord Argyle ran into this with zeal,
so did duke Hamilton ; and all others that intended to merit by it made harangues about it.
Lord Tweedale was the only man that ventured to move, that the act might be made
as strict as was possible with relation to the duke ; but he thought it not necessary to carry
it further ; since the queen of Spain stood so near the succession, and it was no amiable thing
to be a province to Spain. Many were so ignorant as not to understand the relation of tho
OF KING CHARLES II. 339
queen of Spain to the king, though she was his niece, and thought it an extravagant
motion. He was not seconded, and the act passed without one contradictory vote. There
was an additional revenue given for some years for keeping up more troops. Some com-
plaints were also made of the lords of regalities, who have all the forfeitures and the power
of life and death within their regalities. It was upon that promised that there should be a
regulation of these courts, as there was indeed great cause for it, these lords being so many
tyrants up and down the country ; so it was intended to subject these jurisdictions to the
supreme judicatories. But the act was penned in such words as imported that the whole
course of justice all over the kingdom was made subject to the king's will and pleasure ; so
that instead of appeals to the supreme courts, all was made to end in a personal appeal to the
king ; and by this means he was made master of the whole justice and property of the king-
dom. There was not much time given to consider things, for the duke, finding that
he was master of a clear majority, drove on everything fast, and put bills on a very short
debate to the vote, which went always as he had a mind to have it. An accident happened
that begot in many a particular zeal to merit at his hands. Lord Rothes, who had much of
his confidence, and was chiefly trusted by him, and was made a duke by his means, died the
day before the opening of the parliament ; so upon the hopes of succeeding him, as there
were many pretenders, they tried who could deserve it best, by the most compliant submis-
sion and the most active zeal.
As they were going on in public business, one stood up in parliament and accused lord
Halton, duke Lauderdale's brother, of perjury, on the account of Mitchell's business. He
had in his hands the two letters that lord Halton had written to the earl of Kincardine, men-
tioning the promise of life that was made him ; and, as was told formerly, lord Halton swore
at his trial that no promise was made. The lord Kincardine was dead a year before this ;
but his lady had delivered those letters to be made use of against lord Halton. Upon reading
them the matter appeared plain. The duke was not ill pleased to have both duke Lauder-
dale and him thus at mercy ; yet he would not suffer the matter to be determined in a par-
liamentary way ; so he moved, that the whole thing might be referred to the king, which
was immediately agreed to. So that infamous business was made public, and yet stifled at
the same time ; and no censure was ever put on that base action. Another discovery was
made of as wicked a conspiracy, though it had not such bad effects, because the tools
employed in it could not be wrought up to such a determined pitch of wickedness. The lord
Bargeny, who was nephew to duke Hamilton, had been clapped up in prison, as concerned
in the rebellion of Bothwell-bridge. Several days were fixed on for his trial, but it was
always put off ; and at last he was let out without having any one thing ever objected to him.
When he was at liberty he used all possible endeavours to find out on what grounds he had
been committed. At last he discovered a conspiracy, in which Halton and some others of that
party were concerned. They had practised on some, who had been in that rebellion, to swear
that he and several others were engaged in it, and that they had sent them out to join in it. They
promised these witnesses a large share of the confiscated estates, if they went through in the
business. Depositions were prepared for them, and they promised to swear them. Upon which
a day was fixed for their trial. But the hearts of those witnesses failed them, or their consciences
rose upon them ; so that when the day came on they could not bring themselves to swear against
an innocent man, and plainly refused to do it. Yet, upon new practices and new hopes, they
again resolved to swear boldly ; upon which new days had been set twice or thrice ; and, their
hearts turning against it, they were still put off. Lord Bargeny had full proofs of all this
ready to be offered ; but the duke prevailed to have this likewise referred to the king ; and
it was never more heard of. This showed what duke Lauderdale's party were capable of.
It likewise gave an ill character of the duke's zeal for justice, and against false swearing ;
though that had been the chief topic of discourse with him for above three years. He was
angry at a supposed practice with witnesses, when it fell upon his own party ; but now that
there were evident proofs of perjury and subornation, he stopped proceedings under pretence of
referring it ibo the king : who was never made acquainted with it, or at least never enquired
after the proof of these allegations, nor ordered any proceedings upon them.
z 2
340 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The main business of this parliament was the net concerning the new test that was pro-
posed. It had been promised in the beginning of the session, that as soon as an act for mam
taining the succession should pass, they should have all the security that they could desire
for the protestant religion. So many zealous men began to call for some more effectual
security for their religion ; upon which a test was proposed, for all that should be capable
of any office in church or state, or of electing or being elected members of parliament, that
they should adhere firmly to the protestant religion ; to which the court party added, the
condemning of all resistance in any sort, or under any pretence, the renouncing the covenant,
and an obligation to defend all the king's rights and prerogatives ; and that they should
never meet to treat of any matter, civil or ecclesiastical, but by the king's permission ; and
never endeavour any alteration in the government, in church or state. And they were to
swear all this according to the literal sense of the words. The test was thus loaded at first
to make the other side grow weary of the motion and let it fall, which they would willingly
have done. But the duke was made to apprehend that he would find such a test as this
prove much for his service ; so it seems that article of the protestant religion was forgiven,
for the service that was expected from the other parts of the test. There was a hot debate
upon the imposing it on all that might elect, or be elected, members of parliament. It was
said that was the most essential of all the privileges of the subjects, therefore they ought not
to be limited in it. The bishops were earnest for this, which they thought would secure
them for ever from a presbyterian parliament. It was carried in the vote ; and that made
many of the court more zealous than ever for carrying through the act. Some proposed that
there should be two tests : one for papists, with higher incapacities, and another for presby-
terians, with milder censures. But that was rejected with much scorn, some making their
court, by saying, they were more in danger from the presbyterians than from the papists.
And it was reported that Paterson, then bishop of Edinburgh^ said to the duke, that he
thought the two religions, popish and protestant, were so equally stated in his mind, that a
few grains of loyalty, in which the protestants had the better of the papists, turned the
balance with him. Another clause in the bill was liable to great objections : all the royal
family were excepted out of it. Lord Argyle spoke zealously against this ; he -said, the only
danger we could apprehend as to popery was if any of the royal family should happen to be
perverted ; therefore he thought it was better to have no act at all than such a clause in it.
Some few seconded him ; but it was carried without any considerable opposition. The nicest
point of all was, what definition, or standard, should be made for fixing the sense of so
general a term as " the protestant religion." Dalrymple proposed the confession of faith agreed
on in the year one thousand five hundred and fifty-nine, and enacted in parliament in one
thousand five hundred and sixty-seven, which was the only confession of faith that had then
the sanction of a law. That was a book so worn out of use, that scarcely any one in the whole
parliament had ever read it ; none of the bishops had, as appeared afterwards. For these
last thirty years, the only confession of faith that was read in Scotland, was that which the
assembly of divines at Westminster, Anno 1648, had set out, which the Scotch kirk had set
up instead of the old one ; and the bishops had left it in possession, though the authority
that enacted it was annulled. So here a book was made the matter of an oath, (for they
were to swear that they would adhere to the protestant religion, as it was declared in the
confession of faith enacted in the year 1567, that contained a large system of religion that
was not so much as known to those who enacted it :) yet the bishops went all into it. Dal-
rymple, who had read it, thought there were propositions in it which, being better consi-
dered, would make the test be let fall ; for in it the repressing of tyranny is reckoned a duty
incumbent on good subjects. And the confession being made after the Scots had deposed
the queen regent, and it being ratified in parliament after they had forced their queen Mary
to resign, it was very plain what they, who made and enacted this confession, meant by the
repressing of tyranny. But the duke and his party set it on so earnestly, that upon one
day's debate the act passed, though only by a majority of seven voices. There was some
appearance of security to the protestant religion by this test ; but the prerogative of the
crown in ecclesiastical matters had been raised so high by duke Lauderdale's act. that tue
OF KING CHARLES II. 341
obliging all people to maintain that with the rest of the prerogative, might have made way
for everything. All ecclesiastical courts subsisted now by this test, only upon the king's
permission, and at his discretion.
The parliament of Scotland was dissolved soon after this act passed ; and Hyde was sent
down from the king to the duke immediately upon it. It was given out that he was sent
by the king to press the duke upon this victory to show, that what ill usage could not extort
from him he would now do of his own accord, and return to the church of England. I was
assured that lord Halifax had prevailed with the king to write to him to that purpose. Tho
letter was written, but was not sent ; but lord Hyde had it in charge to manage it as a
message. How much of this is true I cannot tell ; one thing is certain, that if it was true
it had no effect.
As soon as the test with the confession of faith was printed, there was a universal mur-
muring among the best of the clergy. Many were against the swearing to a system made
up of so many propositions, of which some were at least doubtful ; though it was found to be
much more moderate in many points than could have been well expected, considering the
heat of that time. There was a limitation put on the duty of subjects in the article, by
which they were required not to resist any whom God had placed in authority, in these
words, " While they pass not the bounds of their office." And in another they condemned
those who resist the supreme power, " Doing that thing which appertaineth to his charge/'
These were propositions now of a very ill sound. They were also highly offended at the
great extent of the prerogative in the point of supremacy, by which the king turned bishops
out at pleasure by a letter. It was hard enough to bear this ; but it seemed intolerable to
oblige men by oath to maintain it. The king might by a proclamation put down even epis-
copacy itself, as the law then stood ; and by this oath they would be bound to maintain
that. All meeting in synods, or for ordinations, were hereafter to be held only by permis-
sion ; so that all the visible ways of preserving religion depended now wholly on the king's
good pleasure ; and they saw that this wrould be a very feeble tenure under a popish king.
The being tied to all this by oath seemed very hard. And when a church was yet in so
imperfect a state, without liturgy or discipline, it was a strange imposition to make people
swear never to endeavour any alteration either in church or state. Some, or all, of these
exceptions did run so generally through the whole body of the clergy, that they were all
shaking in their resolutions. To prevent this, an explanation was drawn by bishop Paterson,
and passed in council. It was by it declared, that it was not meant that those who took the
test should be bound to every article in the confession of faith, but only in so far as it con-
tained the doctrine upon which the protestant churches had settled the reformation ; and
that the test did not cut off those rights which were acknowledged to have been in the pri-
mitive church for the first three hundred years after Christ ; and an assurance was given,
that the king intended never to change the government of the church. By this it was
pretended that the greatest difficulties were now removed. But to this it was answered
that they were to swear they took the oath in the literal sense of the words. So that if this
explanation was not conform to the literal sense, they would be perjured who took it upon
this explanation. The imposers of an oath could only declare the sense of it ; but that could
not be done by any other, much less by a lower authority, such as the privy council was
confessed to be. Yet when men are to be undone if they do not submit to a hard law, they
willingly catch at anything that seems to resolve their doubts.
About eighty of the most learned and pious of their clergy left all rather than comply with
the terms of this law ; and these were noted to be the best preachers, and the most zealous
enemies to popery, that belonged to that church. The bishops, who thought their refusing
the test was a reproach to those who took it, treated them with much contempt, and put
them to many hardships. About twenty of them came up to England. I found them men
of excellent tempers, pious and learned, and I esteemed it no small happiness that I had then
so much credit by the ill opinion they had of me at court, that by this means I got most of
them to be well settled in England ; where they have behaved themselves so worthily, that
I have great reason to rejoice in being made an instrument to get so many good men, who
suffered for their consciences, to be again well employed, and well provided for. Most ot
342 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
them were formed by Charteris, who had been always a great enemy to the imposing t F
books and systems, as tests that must be signed and sworn, by such as are admitted to serve
in the church. He had been for some years divinity professor at Edinburgh, where he had
formed the minds of many of the young clergy both to an excellent temper and to a set of
very good principles. He upon this retired, and lived private for some years. He wrote to
me, and gave me an account of this breach that was likely to be in the church ; and desired
that I would try, by all the methods I could think of, to stop the proceedings upon the test.
But the king had put the affairs of Scotland so entirely in the duke's hands, and the bishops
here were so pleased with those clauses in the test that renounced the covenant, and all
endeavours for any alteration in church and state, that I saw it was in vain to make any
attempt at court.
Upon this matter an incident of great importance happened. The earl of Argyle was a
privy councillor, and one of the commissioners of the treasury ; so when the time limited was
near lapsing he was forced to declare himself. He had once resolved to retire from all em-
ployments, but his engagements with duke Lauderdale's party, and the entanglements of
his own affairs, overcame that. His main objection lay to that part which obliged them to
endeavour no alteration in the government in church or state, which he thought was a limi-
tation of the legislature. He desired leave to explain himself on that point ; and he con-
tinued always to affirm, that the duke was satisfied with that which he proposed ; so being
called on the next day at the council table to take the test, he said he did not think that the
parliament did intend an oath that should have any contradictions in one part of it to
another ; therefore he took the test, as it was consistent with itself ; (this related to the
absolute loyalty in the test, and the limitations that were on it in the confession :) and he
added that he did not intend to bind himself up by it from doing anything in his station for
the amending of anything in church or state, so far as was consistent with the protestant
religion and the duty of a good subject ; and he took that as a part of his oath. The thing
passed, and he sat that day in council, and went next day to the treasury chamber, where
he repeated the same w^ords. Some officious people upon this came arid suggested to the
duke, that great advantage might be taken against him from these words. So at the treasury
chamber he was desired to write them down and give them to the clerk, which he did, and
was immediately made a prisoner in the castle of Edinburgh upon it. It was said this was
high treason, and the assuming to himself the legislative power, in his giving a sense of an
act of parliament, and making that a part of his oath. It was also said, that his saying that
he did not think the parliament intended an oath that did contradict itself, was a tacit way
of saying that he did think it, and was a defaming and a spreading lies of the proceedings of
parliament, which was capital. The liberty that he reserved to himself was likewise called
treasonable, in assuming a power to act against law. These were such apparent stretches,
that for some days it was believed all this was done only to affright him to a more absolute
submission, and to surrender up some of those great jurisdictions over the Highlands that
were in his family55. He desired he might be admitted to speak with the duke in private,
but that was refused. He had let his old correspondence with me fall for some years ; but
I thought it became me in this extremity to serve him all I could. And I prevailed with
lord Halifax to speak so oft to the king about it, that it came to be known ; and lord Argyle
wrote me some letters of thanks upon it. Duke Lauderdale was still in a firm friendship
with him, and tried his whole strength with the king to preserve him ; but he was sinking
both in body and mind, and was likely to be cast off in his old age. Upon which I also pre-
vailed with lord Halifax to offer him his service, for which duke Lauderdale sent me very
kind messages. I thought these were the only returns that I ought to make him for all the
injuries he had done me, thus to serve him and his friends in distress. But the duke of
York took this, as he did everything from me, by the worst handle possible. He said I
would reconcile myself to the g eatest enemies I had in opposition to him. Upon this it
was not thought fit upon many accounts that I should go and see duke Lauderdale, which I
* These were greatly reduced by his attainder. In the 20th of Geo. II. (1747), the claims for Heritable Jurisdic-
tions bj- the duke of Argyle were only 2,600/. — Roll of Claims, published in 1748.
OF KING CHARLES II. 543
had intended to do. It was well known I had done him acts of friendship ; so the scandal
of being in enmity with him was over ; for a Christian is no man^s enemy : and he will
always study to overcome evil wTith good.
Lord Argyle was brought to a trial for the words he had spoken. The fact was certain ;
so the debate lay on a point of law, what guilt could be made out of his words. Lockhart
pleaded three hours for him, and showed so manifestly that his words had nothing criminal,
much less of treason, in them, that, if his cause had not been determined before his trial, no
harm could have come to him. The court that was to judge the point of law (or the
relevancy of the libel, as it is called in Scotland,) consisted of a justice-general, the justice-
clerk, and of five judges. The justice-general does not vote, unless the court is equally
divided. One of the judges was deaf, and so old that he could not sit all the while the trial
lasted, but went home and to bed. The other four were equally divided, so the old judge
was sent for : and he turned it against lord Argyle. The jury was only to find the fact
proved ; but they were officious, and found it treason ; and to make a show of impartiality,
whereas in the libel he was charged with perjury for taking the oath falsely, they acquitted
him of the perjury. No sentence in our age was more universally cried out on than this.
All people spoke of it, and of the duke, who drove it on, with horror. All that was said to
lessen that was, that duke Lauderdale had restored the family with such an extended juris-
diction, that he was really the master of all the Highlands ; so that it was fit to attaint him,
that by a new restoring him, these grants might be better limited. This, as the duke wrote
to the king, was all he intended by it, as lord Halifax assured me. But lord Argyle was
made believe that the duke intended to proceed to execution. Some more of the guards
were ordered to come to Edinburgh. Rooms were also fitted for him in the common jail, to
which peers used to be removed a few days before their execution. And a person of quality,
whom lord Argyle never named, affirmed to him, on his honour, that he heard one, who was
in great favour, say to the duke, the thing must be done, and that it would be easier to
satisfy the king about it after it was done, than to obtain his leave for doing it. It is cer-
tain, many of the Scotch nobility did believe that it was intended he should die.
Upon these reasons lord Argyle made his escape out of the castle in a disguise. Others
suspected those stories were sent to him on purpose to frighten him to make his escape ; as
that which would justify further severities against him. He came to London, and lurked
for some months there. It was thought I was in his secret. But though I knew one that
knew it, and saw many papers that he then wrote, giving an account of all that matter, yet I
abhorred lying ; and it was not easy to have kept out of the danger of that, if I had seen
him, or known where he was ; so I avoided it by not seeing him. One that saw him knew
him, and went and told the king of it ; but he would have no search made for him, and
retained still very good thoughts of him. In one of lord Argyle's papers he wrote, that if
ever he was admitted to speak with the king, he could convince him how much he merited
at his hands, by that which had drawn the duke's indignation on him. He that showed me
this explained it, that at the duke's first being in Scotland, when he apprehended that the
king might have consented to the exclusion, he tried to engage lord Argyle to stick to him
in that case ; who told him, he would always be true to the king, and likewise to him when
it should come to his turn to be king ; but that he would go no further, nor engage himself,
in case the king and he should quarrel.
1 had lived many years in great friendship with the earl of Perth : I lived with him as a
father with a son for above twelve years, and he had really the submission of a child to me.
So, he having been on lord Argyle's jury, I wrote him a letter about it, with the freedom
that I thought became me. He, to merit at the duke's hands, showed it to him, as he him-
self confessed to me. I could very easily forgive him, but could not esteem him much after
so unworthy an action. He was then aspiring to great preferment, and so sacrificed me to
obtain favour ; but he made greater sacrifices afterwards. The duke now seemed to triumph
in Scotland. All stooped to him. The presbyterian party was much depressed. The best
of the clergy were turned out. Yet, with all this, he was now more hated there than ever.
Lord Argyle's business made him be looked on as one that would prove a terrible master
when all should come into his hands. He had promised to redress all the merchants'
344 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
grievances with relation to trade, that so he might gain their concurrence in parliament ; but
as soon as that was over, all his promises were forgotten. The accusations of perjury were
stifled by him. And all the complaints of the great abuse lord Halton was guilty of, in the
matter of the coin, ended in turning him out of all his employments, and obliging him to
compound for his pardon by paying 20,000/. to two of the duke's creatures ; so that all the
reparation the kingdom had for the oppression of so many years, and so many acts of injus-
tice, was, that two new oppressors had a share of the spoils, who went into the same tract,
or rather invented new methods of oppression. All these things, together with a load of age
and of a vast bulk, sank duke Lauderdale so that he died that summer. His heart seemed
quite spent ; there was not left above the bigness of a walnut of firm substance : the rest was
spongy, more like the lungs than the heart.
The duke had leave given him to come to the king at Newmarket ; and there he pre-
vailed for leave to come up and live again at court. As he was going back to bring the
duchess, the Gloucester frigate that carried him struck on a bank of sand. The duke got into
a boat, and took care of his dogs, and some unknown persons, who were taken, from that
earnest care of his, to be his priests. The long-boat went off with very few in her, though
she might have carried off above eighty more than she did. One hundred and fifty persons
perished : some of them men of great quality. But the duke took no notice of this cruel
neglect, which was laid chiefly to Leg's charge*.
In Scotland the duke declared the new ministers. Gordon, now earl of Aberdeen, was
made chancellor, and Queensbury was made treasurer ; and the care of all affairs was com-
mitted to them. The duke at parting recommended to the council to preserve the public
peace, to support the church, and to oblige all men to live regularly in obedience to the laws.
The bishops made their court to him with so much zeal, that they wrote a letter to the
archbishop of Canterbury, to be communicated to the rest of the English bishops, setting
forth in a very high strain his affection to the church, and his care of it ; and, lest this piece
of merit should have been stifled by Bancroft, they sent a copy of it to the press ; which was
* When the duke proceeded from Margate to Leith in May might be saved if not abandoned. My father, finding she
1682, he was nearly lost upon a sand in Yarmouth Roads, was read) to sink, told him if he stayed any longer they
The Gloucester frigate, on which he was aboard, was wrecked, should be obliged to force him out; upon which the duke
and about one hundred and ten persons perished : among ordered a strong box to be lifted into the boat, which,
them were the lords Perth, Middleton, Roxburgh, Hopton, besides being very weighty, took up much room and time.
and O'Brien, lieutenant Hyde, brother to the lord trea- My father asked, with some warmth, if there was anything
surer, and many other distinguished persons. The duke in it worth a man's life. The duke answered that there
on this occasion certainly did not conduct himself with a were things of so great consequence, both to the king and
becoming regard for human life. It does not appear to himself, that he would hazard his own rather than it should
be demonstrated that he took his dogs into the boat to the be lost. Before he went off he enquired for lords Rox-
exclusion of more valuable beings, as asserted by Bu met ; burgh and O'Brien, but the confusion and hurry was so
but it is very certain that he was much too anxious to pre- great they could not be found. When the duke and as
serve his strong-box and the papers unwetted,. when he many as she would hold with safety were in the boat, my
might have been paying greater attention to the saving of father stood with his sword drawn to hinder the crowd
the lives of his companions — companions " who, though from oversetting her ; "which is what I suppose the bishop
ready to be swallowed up, gave a great huzza as soon as (Burnet) esteemed a fault. But the king thanked nim
they saw his royal highness in safety"." In his first letter publicly for the care he had taken of the duke ; and the
to lord Hyde, after the loss of his brother, there is much duchess, who was not apt to favour him much upon other
too little notice of the catastrophe, and too much obtruding occasions, said upon this, she thought herself more obliged
of his own affairs. — (Memoirs of James the Second, by to him than to any man in the world, and should do so
himself ; Memoirs of Sam. Pepys, by lord Braybrooke, as long as she lived. I believe the bishop's reflection
ii. 57 — 59 ; Singer's Clarendon Correspond, i. 67, &c. ; upon the duke for his care of the dogs to be ill-grounded ;
Dalrymple's Memoirs, App. 68 — 71 .) In a letter of the for I remember a story, in everybody's mouth at the time,
earl of Dartmouth, written in 1724, he thus defends his of a struggle that happened for a plank between sir
father's (Mr. Legg's) conduct on this occasion. — " My Charles Scarborough and the duke's dog, Mumper, which
father was on board the Gloucester. After the ship had convinces me that the dogs were left to take care of them-
struck he several times pressed the duke to get into the selves, as he did, if there were any more on board, which
boat, who refused to do so, saying, that if he were gone, I never heard until the bishop's storybook was published."
nobody would take care of the ship, which. he had hopes — Sir John Dalrymple's Memoirs, Appendix, p. 71.
• Sir John Berry, in an official report of the narrative, observes, "The government of the ship being lost, and
every one crying for help, yet amidst all this disorder and confusion, T could not but observe the great duty the poor
seamen had for the preservation of his royal highness' s person; when the barge was hoisting out, and lowered
down into the water, not one man so much as proffered to run into her ; but in the midst of all their affliction and
dying condition did rejoice and thank God his royal highness was preserved.". — Some Hist. Memoirs of the Duke of
York in 1682 — Singer's Clai'endon Corr. i. 71.
OF KING CHARLES IT. .345
Greater reproach to them than a service to the duke, who could not but despise such abject
and indecent flattery. The proceedings against conventicles were now likely to be severer
than ever ; all the fines, that were set so high by law that they were never before levied,
but on some particular instances, were now ordered to be levied without exception. All
people upon that saw they must either conform, or be quite undone. The chancellor laid
down a method for proceeding against all offenders punctually ; and the treasurer was as
rigorous in ordering all the fines to be levied.
When the people saw this, they came all to church again : and that in some places where
all sermons had been discontinued for many years. But they came in so awkward a manner
that it was visible they did not mean to worship God, but only to stay some time within
the church walls ; and they were either talking, or sleeping, all the while. Yet most of the
clergy seemed to be transported with this change of their condition, and sent up many pane-
gyrics of the glorious services that the duke had done their church. The enemies of religion
observed the ill nature of the one side, arid the cowardliness of the other, and pleased them-
selves in censuring them both. And by this means an impious and atheistical leaven began
to corrupt most of the younger sort. This has since that time made a great progress in that
kingdom, which was before the freest from it of any nation in Christendom. The beginnings
of it were reckoned from the duke's stay among them, and from his court, which have been
cultivated since with much care and but too much success.
About the end of the year, two trials gave all people sad apprehensions of what they were
to look for. One Home was charged by a kinsman of his own, for having been at Both well
Bridge. All gentlemen of estates were excepted out of the indemnity ; so he, having an
estate, could have no benefit by that. One swore he saw him go into a village and seize on
some arms ; another swore he saw him ride towards the body of the rebels ; but none did
swear that they saw him there. He was indeed among them, but there was no proof of it.
And he proved, that he was not in the company where the single witness swore he saw him
seize on arms, and did evidently discredit him ; yet he was convicted arid condemned on
that single evidence that was so manifestly proved to be infamous. Many were sensible of
the mischievousness of such a precedent ; and great applications were made to the duke for
saving his life ; but he jvmS-Owt J^rn_jindcj: a pardoning_4ilajiet. Lord Aberdeen, the chan-
cellor, prosecuted Home with the more rigour, because his own grandfather had suffered in
the late times for bearing arms on the king's side, and Home's father was one of the jury
that cast him. The day of his execution was set to be on the same day of the year on which
lord Stafford had suffered ; which was thought done in compliment to the duke, as a retalia-
tion for his blood. Yet Home's infamous kinsman, who had so basely sworn against him,
lived not to see his execution ; for he died before it, full of horror for what he had done.
Another trial went much deeper ; and the consequences of it struck a terror into the whole
country.
One Weir of Blakewood, that managed the marquis of Douglas's concerns, was accused
of treason for having kept company with one that had been in the business of Bothwell
Bridge. Blakewood pleaded for himself, that the person, on whose account he was now pro-
secuted as an abettor of traitors, had never been marked out by the government by process,
or proclamation. It did not so much as appear that he had ever suspected him upon that
account. He had lived in his own house quietly for some years after that rebellion, before
lie employed him : and if the government seemed to forget his crime, it was no wonder if
others entered into common dealings with him. All the lawyers were oi opinion, that
nothing could be made of this prosecution : so that Blakewood made use of no secret appli-
cation, thinking he was in no danger. But the court came to a strange sentence in this
matter, by these steps : they judged, that all men who suspected any to have been in the
rebellion, were bound to discover such their suspicion, and to give no harbour to such per-
sons : that the bare suspicion made it treason to harbour the person suspected, whether he
was guilty or not : that if any person was under such a suspicion, it was to be presumed that
all the neighbourhood knew it : so that there was no need of proving that against any par-
ticular person, since the presumption of law did prove it : and it being proved that the per-
son with whom Blakewood had conversed lay under that suspicion, Blakewood was upon
346 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
that condemned as guilty of high treason. This was such a constructive treason, that went
upon so many unreasonable suppositions, that it shewed the shamelessness of a sort of men,
who had been for forty years declaiming against a parliamentary attainder for a constructive
treason in the case of the earl of Stafford, and did now in a common court of justice condemn
a man upon a train of so many inferences, that it was not possible to make it look even like
a constructive treason. The day of his execution was set ; and though the marquis of
Douglas wrote earnestly to the duke for his pardon, that was denied. He only obtained two
months' reprieve for making up his accounts. The reprieve was renewed once or twice : so
Blakewood was not executed. This put all the gentry in a great fright : many knew they
were as obnoxious as Blakewood was : and none could have the comfort to know that he was
safe. This revived among them a design, that Lockhart had set on foot ten years before, of
carrying over a plantation to Carolina. All the presbyterian party saw they were now dis-
inherited of a main part of their birthright, of choosing their representatives in parliament :
and upon that they said, they would now seek a country where they might live undisturbed,
as freemen, and as Christians. The duke encouraged the motion he was glad to have many
untoward people sent far away, who he reckoned would be ready upon the first favourable
conjuncture, to break out into a new rebellion. Some gentlemen were sent up to treat with
the patentees of Carolina : they did not like the government of those palatinates, as they
were called : yet the prospect of so great a colony obtained to them all the conditions they
proposed. I was made acquainted with all the steps they made ; for those who were sent
up were particularly recommended to me. In the negotiation this year there was no mixing
with the malcontents in England : only they who were sent up went among them, and
informed them of the oppressions they lay under ; in particular of the terror with which this
sentence against Blakewood had struck them all. The court resolved to prosecute that
farther : for a proclamation was issued out in the beginning of the year eighty-three, by
which the king ordered circuit courts to be sent round the western and southern count? es, to
enquire after all who had been guilty of harbouring, or conversing with, those who had been
in rebellion, even though there had been neither process nor proclamation issued out against
them. He also ordered, that all who were found guilty of such converse with them should
be prosecuted as traitors. This inquisition was to last three years : and at the end of that
time all was to conclude in a full indemnity to such as should not be then under prosecution.
But the indemnity was to take place immediately to all such as should take the test. This
was perhaps such a proclamation as the world had not seen since the days of the duke of
Alva. Upon it great numbers ran in to take the test, declaring at the same time that they
took it against their consciences ; but they would do any thing to be safe. Such as resolved
not to take it were trying how to settle or sell their estates, and resolved to leave the
country, which was now in a very oppressed and desperate state.
But I must next turn again to the affairs of England. The court was every where
triumphant : the duke was highly complimented by all, and seemed to have overcome all
difficulties. The court, not content with all their victories, resolved to free themselves from
the fears of troublesome parliaments for the future. The cities and boroughs of England
were invited, and prevailed on, to demonstrate their loyalty, by surrendering up their char-
ters, and taking new ones modelled as the court thought fit. It was much questioned
whether those surrenders were good in law or not : it was said, that those who were in the
government in corporations, and had their charters and seals trusted to their keeping, were
not the proprietors, nor masters of those rights : they could not extinguish those corporations,
nor part with any of their privileges. Others said, that whatever might be objected to the
reason and equity of the thing, yet, when the seal of a corporation was put to any deed,
such a deed was good in law. The matter goes beyond my skill in law to determine it :
this is certain, that whatsoever may be said in law, there is no sort of theft or perfidy more
criminal than for a body of men, whom their neighbours have trusted with their concerns, to
steal away their charters, and affix their seals to such a deed, betraying in that their trust
And their oaths. In former ages corporations were jealous of their privileges and customs to
excess and superstition : so that it looked like a strange degeneracy, when all these were now
delivered up ; and this, on design to pack a parliament, that might make way for a popish
OF KING CHARLES IT. 8*7
ing. So that, instead of securing us from popery under such a prince, these persons were
now contriving ways to make all easy to him. Popery at all times has looked odious and
cruel : yet what the emperor had lately done in Hungary, and what the king of France was
then doing against protestants in that kingdom, shewed that their religion was as perfidious
and as cruel in this age, as it had been in the last : and by the duke's government of Scotland,
all men did see what was to be expected from him. All this laid together, the whole looked
like an extravagant fit of madness : yet no part of it was so unaccountable, as the high
strains to which the universities and most of the clergy were carried. The non-conformists
were now prosecuted with much eagerness : this wras visibly set on by the papists ; and it
was wisely done of them ; for they knew how much the non-conformists were set against
them ; and therefore they made use of the indiscreet heat of some angry clergymen to ruin
them : this they knew would render the clergy odious, and give the papist? great advantages
against them, if ever they should run into an opposition to their designs.
At Midsummer a new contest discovered how little the court resolved to regard either
justice or decency. The court had carried the election of sir John Moor to be mayor of the
city of London at Michaelmas eighty-one. He was the alderman on whom the election fell
in course. Yet some who knew him well were for setting him aside, as one whom the court
would easily manage. He had been a non-conformist himself, till he grew so rich, that he
had a rnind to go through the dignities of the city : but though he conformed to the church,
yet he was still looked on, as one that in his heart favoured the sectaries : and upon this
occasion he persuaded some of their preachers to go among their congregations to get votes
for him. Others, who knew him to be a flexible and faint-hearted man, opposed his elec-
tion : yet it was carried for him. The opposition that was made to his election had sharp-
ened him so much, that he became in all things compliant to the court, in particular to secre-
tary Jenkins, who took him into his own management. When the day came, in which the
mayor used to drink to one, and to mark him out for sheriff, he drank to North, a merchant
that was brother to the chief justice. Upon that it was pretended, that this ceremony was
not a bare nomination, which the common hall might receive or refuse, as they had a mind
to it ; but that this made the sheriff, and that the common hall was bound to receive and
confirm him in course, as the king did the mayor. On the other hand it was said, that the
right was to be determined by the charter, which granted the election of the sheriffs to the
citizens of London ; and that, whatever customs had crept in among them, the right still lay
where the charter had lodged it among the citizens. But the court was resolved to carry
this point ; and they found orders that had been made in the city concerning this particular,
which gave some colour to this pretension of the mayor's. So he claimed it on Midsummer
•lay ; and said, the common hall were to go and elect one sheriff, and to confirm the other
that had been declared by him. The hall on the other hand said, that the right of choosing
both was in them. The old sheriffs put it according to custom to a poll : and it was visible,
the much greater number was against the lord mayor. The sheriffs were always understood
to be the officers of that court : so the adjourning it belonged to them : yet the mayor
adjourned the court, which they said he had no power to do, and so went on with the poll.
There was no disorder in the whole progress of the matter, if that was not to be called one,
that they proceeded after the mayor had adjourned the poll : but though the mayor's party
carried themselves with great insolence towards the other party, yet they shewed on this
occasion more temper than could have been expected from so great a body, who thought their
rights were now invaded. The mayor upon this resolved to take another poll, to which none
should be admitted, but those who were contented to vote only for one, and to approve his
nomination for the other. And it was resolved, that his poll should be that, by which the
Business should be settled : and though the sheriff's poll exceeded his by many hundreds, yet
order was given to return those on the mayor's poll, and that they should be sworn ; and so
those of the sheriff's poll should be left to seek their remedy by law, where they could find
it. Box, who was chosen by the mayor's party and joined to North, had no mind to serve
ipon so doubtful an election, where so many actions would lie, if it was judged against them
it law : and he could not be persuaded to hold it. So it was necessary to call a new com-
mon hall, and to proceed to a new election : and then, without any proclamation made, as
S48 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
was usual, one in a corner near the mayor named Rich, and about thirty more, applauded it ;
the rest of those in the hall, that was full of people and of noise, hearing nothing of it. Upon
this it was said, that Rich was chosen without any contradiction : and so North and Rich
were returned, and sworn sheriffs for the ensuing year. The violence and the injustice with
which this matter was managed, shewed, that the court was resolved to carry that point at
any rate : and this gave great occasions of jealousy, that some wicked design was on foot,
for which it was necessary, in the first place, to be sure of favourable juries.
Lord Shaftesbury upon this, knowing how obnoxious he was, went out of England. His
voyage was fatal to him : he just got to Amsterdam to die in it. Of the last parts
of his life I shall have some occasion to make mention afterwards. When Michaelmas day
came, those who found how much they had been deceived in Moor, resolved to choose a
mayor that might be depended on. The poll was closed when the court thought they had
the majority ; but upon casting it up it appeared they had lost it : so they fell to canvass it :
and they made such exceptions to those of the other side, that they discounted as many
voices as gave them the majority. This was also managed in so gross a manner, that it was
visible the court was resolved by fair or foul means to have the government of the city in
their own hands. But because they would not be at this trouble, nor run this hazard every
year, it was resolved that the charter of the city must either be given up, or be adjudged to
the kinff. The former was much the easier way ; so great pains was taken to manage the
next election of the common council, so as that they might be tractable in this point. There
was much injustice complained of in many of the wards of the city, both in the poll, and in
the returns that were made. In order to the disabling all the dissenters from having a vote
in that election, the bishop and clergy of London were pressed by the court to prosecute them
in the church courts, that so they might excommunicate them ; which some lawyers thought
would render them incapable to vote, though other lawyers were very positively of another
opinion. It is certain it gave at least a colour to deny them votes. The bishop of London
began to apprehend that things were running too fast, and was backward in the matter. The
clergy of the city refused to make presentments : the law laid that on the churchwardens :
and so they would not meddle officiously. The king was displeased with them for their
remissness : but after all the practices of the court, in the returns of the common council of
the city, they could not bring it near an equality for delivering up their charter. Jenkins
managed the whole business of the city with so many indirect practices, that the reputation
he had for probity was much blemished by it : he seemed to think it was necessary to bring
the city to a dependence on the court in the fairest methods he could fall on ; and, if these
did not succeed, that then he was to take the most effectual ones, hoping that a good inten-
tion would excuse bad practices.
The earl of Sunderland had been disgraced after the exclusion parliaments, as they were
now called, were dissolved : but the king had so entire a confidence in him, and lady Ports-
mouth was so much in his interests, that upon great submissions made to the duke, he was
again restored to be secretary this winter. Lord Hyde was the person that disposed the
duke to it. Upon that lord Halifax and he fell to be in ill terms ; for he hated lord Sunder-
land beyond expression, though he had married his sister. From lord Sunderland's returning
to his post, all men concluded, that his declaring as he did for the exclusion, was certainly
done by direction from the king, who naturally loved craft and a double game, that so he
might have proper instruments to work by, which way soever he had turned himself in that
affair. The king was the more desirous to have lord Sunderland again near him, that he
might have somebody about him who understood foreign affairs. Jenkins understood
nothing ; but he had so much credit with the high church party, that he was of great use to
the court. Lord Conway was brought in to be the other secretary, who was so very ignorant
of foreign affairs, that his province being the north, when one of the foreign ministers talked
to him of the circles of Germany, it amazed him : he could not imagine what circles had to
do with affairs of state. He was now dismissed. Lord Halifax and lord Hyde fell to be
in an open war, and were both much hated. Lord Halifax charged Hyde, who was at this
time made earl of Rochester, with bribery, for having farmed a branch of the revenue much
lower than had been proffered for it. Lord Halifax acquainted the king first with it ; and,
OF KING CHARLES II. 349
as he told me, he desired lord Rochester himself to examine into it, he being inclined to
think it was rather an abuse put on him, than corruption in himself. But he saw lord
Rochester was cold in the matter, and instead of prosecuting any for it, protected all con-
cerned in it. He laid the complaint before the king in council : and to convince the king
how ill a bargain he had made, the complainers offered, if he would break the bargain, to
give him 40,000^. more than he was to have from the farmers. He looked also into the
other branches of the revenue, and found cause to suspect much corruption in every one of
them : and he got undertakers to offer at a farm of the whole revenue. In this he had all
the court on his side : for the king being now resolved to live on his revenue, without putting
himself on a parliament, he was forced on a great reduction of expense : so that many pay-
ments ran in arrear : and the whole court was so ill paid, that the offering any thing that
would raise the revenue, and blemish the management of the treasury, was very acceptable
to all in it. Lord Rochester was also much hated : but the duke and the lady Portsmouth
both protected the earl of Rochester so powerfully, that even propositions to the king's
advantage, which blemished him, were not hearkened to. This touched in too tender a place
to admit of a reconciliation : the duke forgot all lord Halifax's service in the point of the
exclusion : and the dearnoss that was between them, was now turned upon this to a coldness,
and afterwards to a most violent enmity. Upon this occasion lord Halifax sent for me, (for
I went no more near any that belonged to the court,) and he told me the whole matter. I
asked him how he stood with the king : he answered, that neither he, nor I, had the making
of the king : God had made him of a particular composition. He said, he knew what the
king said to himself: I asked him, if he knew likewise what he said to others; for he was
apt to say to his several ministers, whatsoever he thought would please them, as long as he
intended to make use of them. By the death of the earl of Nottingham the seals were given
to North, who was made lord Guilford. He had not the virtues of his predecessor, but he
had parts far beyond him ; they were turned to craft : so that whereas the former seemed to
mean well even when he did ill, this man was believed to mean ill even when he did well.
The court finding that the city of London could not be wrought on to surrender their charter,
resolved to have it condemned by a judgment in the king's bench. Jones had died in May :
so now Pollexfen and Trety were chiefly relied on by the city in this matter. Sawyer
was the attorney-general ; a dull, hot man, and forward to serve all the designs of the court *.
He undertook by the advice of Saunders, a learned but a very immoral man, to overthrow
the charter.
The two points upon which they rested the cause were, that the common council had
* Sir George Treby was a native of Devonshire, where Letters, &c. relating to the Popish Plot ; " " Truth Vin-
he was born, at or near Plympton, about the year 1654. dicatcd ; or, a Detection of the Scandals cast upon Sir
He left college without taking his degree, and was called Robert Clayton, and Sir George Treby, justices, and
to the bai by the benchers of the Middle Temple. He Slingsby Bethel and Henry Cornish, sheriffs, &c. ;" this,
speedily became known for his legal acquirements. In and a pamphlet by Dr. Hawkins, related to the Confession
1679 he was a representative in parliament of Plympton ; of Fitzharris, the informer ; " Speech to the Prince of
and was appointed chairman of the committee of secrecy Orange in 1688 ;" " Pleadings and Arguments upon the
relating to the development of evidence concerning the Quo Warranto, touching the Charter of the City of Lon-
popish plot. In 1680 he was a manager of the prosecu- don." He is supposed to have written the marginal notes
tion against the earl of Stafford. In the same year, sir to Dyer's Reports. — Woolrych's Life of Jeffreys.
George Jeffreys being deprived of the recordership of Sir Robert Sawyer was the son of sir Edmund Sawyer,
London, for checking the petitions to the king relative to who resided near Windsor. He was a barrister of the
calling a parliament, Treby was elected to succeed him, Inner Temple, having previously completed his education
and was knighted ; but when the presbyterian plot was at Magdalen College, Cambridge. He seems to have
prosecuted, or discovered in 1683, he was deprived of his possessed inflexible integrity. In 1661 he represented in
office. In 1688 he was made solicitor-general, Pollexfen parliament Great Wycomb. He became attorney-general,
being then made attorney-general ; and the year following and was knighted in 1680, succeeding sir CressAvell Levinz
he succeeded to the latter preferment upon Pollexfen in that office. He lost his place for denying and opposing
being raised to the bench. In 1692 he was made a James the Second's dispensing power. Although he miti-
sergeant, and shortly after lord chief justice of the gated the brutal violence of Jeffreys during the trial of
Common Pleas. He died in 1701. — (Wood's Athense Plunket, yet he has been justly censured for similar dis-
Oxon. ; Noble's Cont. of Grainger.) As an advocate and a graceful conduct at the trial of Lord William Russell,
judge he was distinguished for the maintenance of the public He had a large estate at High-Clere, in Hampshire, where
liberties ; his chief foible was a fondness for wine. His hcdic4,in 1692. — Wood's Fasti Oxon. ; Grainger's Gen.
works throw considerable light upon some of the public Biog. Diet., &c.
transactions of his period. They are " A Collection of
350 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
petitioned the king, upon a prorogation of parliament, that it might meet on the day to
which it was prorogued, and had taxed the prorogation as that which occasioned a delay of
justice : this was construed to be raising sedition, and possessing the people with an ill opinion
of the king and his government. The other point was, that the city had imposed new taxes
on their wharfs and markets, which was an invasion of the liberty of the subject, and con-
trary to law. It was said, that all that the crown gave was forfeitable back to the crown
again, upon a malversation of the body ; and that as the common council was the body of
the city, chosen by all the citizens, so they were all involved in what the common council
did : and they inferred, that since they had both scandalized the king's government, and
oppressed their fellow-subjects, they had thereupon forfeited their liberties : many prece-
dents were brought of the seizing on the liberties of towns, and other corporations, and of
extinguishing them.
The arguments against this were made by Treby, then the recorder of London, and Pollex-
fen, who argued about three hours apiece. They laid it down for a foundation, that trading
corporations were immortal bodies, for the breeding a succession of trading men, and for per-
petuating a fund of public chambers, for the estates of orphans, and trusts, and for all pious
endowments : that crimes committed, by persons entrusted in the government of them, were
personal things, which were only chargeable on those who committed them, but could not
affect the whole body : the treason of a bishop, or a clerk, only forfeited his title, but did not
dissolve the bishopric, or benefice : so the magistrates only were to be punished for their own
crimes : an entailed estate, when a tenant for life was attainted, was not forfeited to the king,
but went to the next in remainder upon his death. The government of a city, which was a
temporary administration, vested no property in the magistrates : and therefore they had
nothing to forfeit, but what belonged to themselves : there were also express acts of parlia-
ment made in favour of the city, that it should not be punished for the misdemeanors ot
those who bore office in it : they answered the great objection, that was brought from the
forfeitures of some abbeys, on the attainder of their abbots in king Henry the Eighth's time,
that there were peculiar laws made at that time, upon which those forfeitures were grounded,
which had been repealed since that time : all those forfeitures were confirmed in parliament,
and that purged all defects : the common council was a selected body, chosen for particular
ends ; and if they went beyond these, they were liable to be punished for it : if the petition
they offered the king was seditious, the king might proceed against every man that was con-
cerned in it : and those upon whom those taxes had been levied^ might bring their actions
against those who had levied them. But it seemed very strange, that when none of the
petitioners were proceeded against for any thing contained in that petition, and when no
actions were brought on the account of those taxes, that the whole body should suffer in
common for that, which none of those who were immediately concerned in it, had been so
much as brought in question for, in any court of law : if the common council petitioned
more earnestly than was fitting for the sitting of the parliament, that ought to be ascribed to
their zeal for the king's safety, and for the established religion : and it ought not to be
strained to any other sense, than to that which they profess, in the body of their petition,
much less to be carried so far as to dissolve the whole body on that account : and as for the
tolls and taxes, these were things practised in all the corporations of England, and seemed to
be exactly according to law : the city, since the fire, had, at a vast charge, made their wharfs
and markets much more noble and convenient than they were before ; and therefore they
might well deny the benefit of them to those, who would not pay a new rate, that they set
on them for the payment of the debt contracted in building them : this was not the imposing
a tax, but the raising a rent out of a piece of ground, which the city might as well do, as a
man who rebuilds his house may raise the rent of it : all the precedents that were brought
were examined and answered : some corporations were deserted, and so upon the matter dis-
solved themselves : judgments in such cases did not tally with this in hand. The seizing on
the liberties of a corporation did not dissolve the body ; for when a bishop dies the king
seizes the temporalities ; but the corporation still subsists ; and they are restored to the next
incumbent. There were indeed some very strange precedents made in Richard the Second's
time ; but they were followed by as strange a reverse : the judges were hanged for the
OF KING CHARLES II.
351
judgments they gave : they also insisted on the effects that would follow on the forfeiting
the charter : the custom of London was thereby broken : all the public endowments, and
chanties lodged with the city, must revert to the heirs of the donors. This is the substance
of the argument, as I had it from Pollexfen. As for the more intricate points of law, I
meddle not with them, but leave them to the learned men of i/hat profession. When the
matter was brought near judgment, Saunders, who had planned the whole thing, was made
chief justice. Pemberton, who was not satisfied in the point, being removed to the common
pleas, upon North's advancement. Dolben, a judge of the king's bench, was found not to be
clear : so he was turned out, and Withins came in his room. When sentence was to be
given, Saunders was struck with an apoplexy ; so he could not come into court : but he sent
his judgment in WTiting, and died a few days after *. The sentence was given without the
solemnity that was usual upon great occasions : the judges were wont formerly in delivering
their opinions to make long arguments, in which they set forth the grounds of law on
which they went, which were great instructions to the students and barristers ; but that had
been laid aside ever since Hale's time.
The judgment now given was, that a city might forfeit its charter ; that the malversations
of the common council were the acts of the whole city, and that the two points set forth in
the pleadings were just grounds for the forfeiting of a charter. Upon which premises the
proper conclusion seemed to be, that therefore the city of London had forfeited its charter :
but the consequences of that were so much apprehended, that they did not think fit to ven-
ture on it ; so they judged, that the king might seize the liberties of the city. The attorney-
general moved, contrary to what is usual in such cases, that the judgment might not be
recorded. And upon that, new endeavours were used to bring the common council to deliver
up their charter : yet that could not be compassed, though it was brought much nearer in the
numbers of the voices, than was imagined could ever be done.
There were other very severe proceedings at this time with relation to particular persons.
Pilkinton was sheriff of London the former year; an honest but an indiscreet man, that gave
himself great liberties in discourse. He being desired to go along with the mayor and alder-
men, to compliment the duke upon his return from Scotland, declined going, and reflected on
him as one concerned in the burning of the city. Two aldermen said they heard that, and
swore it against him. Sir Patience Ward, the mayor of the former year, seeing him go into
that discourse, had diverted him from it, but heard not the words which the others swore
to : and he deposed, that to the best of his remembrance he said not those words. Pilkinton
was cast in 100,000/. damages, the most excessive that had ever been given. But the matter
did not stop there : Ward was indicted of perjury ; it being said, that since he swore that
the words were not spoken, and that the jury had given a verdict upon the evidence that
they were spoken, by consequence he was guilty of perjury. It was said on the other side,
that when two swear one way, and a third swears another way, a jury may believe the two
better than the one : but it is not certain from thence that he is perjured : if that were law,
no man would be a witness ; if, because they of the other side were believed, he should be
therefore convicted of perjury. A man's swearing to a negative, that such words were not
* Sir Edmund Saunders had a powerful mind, which
no difficulties could subdue ; a buoyancy that would rise
superior to all obstacles. Without known parents or
1 1 datives, he was a mere beggar boy, who frequented
Clement's Inn, and " courted the attorney's clerks for
scraps." They noticed his good-humoured gaiety, and
U ne of them attending to his desire to learn to write, soon
made him master of that acquirement. He had now the
njtrument of success in his power ; he borrowed books,
nd devoted all his leisure to their perusal. An attorney
ixed a desk for him at the top of a staircase, and employed
ion as a copier. By degrees he rose from being an attor-
">', to be as able a barrister. His practice was equal to
i'-' best in the King's Bench ; " his art and cunning were
ual to his knowledge ; and he carried ii.any a cause by
i;>ing snares." His person was so uncouth that it is
1' cribed as "a mere lump of morbid flesh;" morbid,
because his intemperance produced a state of body that
could only be kept free from fatal attacks by means of
continued discharges. He smelt so offensively that per-
sons were obliged to protect their noses when near him.
He often observed that " none could say he wanted issue,
for he had no less than nine in his back." He was much
employed by the court party, indeed he -was the govern-
ment devil, that is the counsellor who settles its plead-
ings. His promotion and death are mentioned in the text.
His " Reports" are among the best authorities the lawyer
can consult.— (North's Life of L. K. Guildford.) Sir Wil-
liam Dolben was made recorder of London when sir John
Howel retired. He was raised to a judgeship of the King's
Bench in 1G78, but removed, as stated by Burnet, because
he would not decide as the king wished. At the revoiu-
tion in 1688 he was restored. He died in 1693. — Wood's
Athense; Woolrych's Jeffreys, &c.
Oo2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
spoken, did only amount to this, that he did not hear them : and it would be hard to prove,
that he who swore so, had heard them. But Ward proved, by him that took the trial in
short hand, as he had done some others with great approbation, that he had said, " To the
best of his remembrance these words were not spoken by Pilkinton :" upon which Jef-
freys had said, that his invention was better than his memory : and the attorney-gene-
ral in summing up the evidence to the jury had said, they ought to have no regard to Ward's
evidence, since he had only deposed upon his memory. Yet that jury returned Ward guilty
of perjury : and it was intended, if he had not gone out of the way, to have set him in the
pillory. The truth is, juries became at that time the shame of the nation, as well as a
reproach to religion : for they were packed, and prepared to bring in verdicts as they were
directed, and not as matters appeared on the evidence.
Thus affairs \vore going on, all the year eighty-two, and to the beginning of eighty-three.
The earl of Shaftesbury had been for making use of the heat the city was in, during the con-
test about the sheriffs ; and thought they might have created a great disturbance, and made
themselves masters of the Tower : and he believed, the first appearance of the least disorder
would have prevailed on the king to yield every thing. The duke of Monmouth, who under-
stood what a rabble was and what troops were, looked on this as a mad exposing of them-
selves and of their friends. The lords Essex and Russel were of the same mind. So lord
Shaftesbury, seeing they could not be engaged into action, flew out against them. He said,
the duke of Monmouth was sent into the party by the king for this end, to keep all things
quiet till the court had gained its point : he said, lord Essex had also made his bargain, and
was to go to Ireland; and that among them lord Russel was deceived. With this he
endeavoured to blast them in the city : they studied to prevent the ill effects, that those
jealousies which he was infusing into the citizens, might have among them. So the duke of
Monmouth gave an appointment to lord Shaftesbury, or some of his friends, to meet him,
and some others that he should bring along with him, at Shepherd's, a wine merchant in
whom they had an entire confidence. The night before this appointment lord Russel came
to town, on the account of his uncle's illness. The duke .of Momrronth went to him, and told
him of the appointment, and desired he would go thither with him : he consented, the rather
because he intended to taste some of that merchant's wine. At night they went with lord
Grey and sir Thomas Armstrong. When they came, they found none there but Jiunosey
and Ferguson, two of lord Shaftesbury's tools that he employed : upon which, they seeing
no betler~company, resolved immediately to go back : but lord Russel called for a taste of
the wines ; and while they were bringing it up, Rumsey and Armstrong fell into a discourse
of surprising the guards. Rumsey fancied it might have been easily done : Armstrong, that
had commanded them, shewed him his mistakes. This was no consultation about what was
to be done, but only about what might have been done. Lord Russel spoke nothing upon
the subject ; but as soon as he had tasted his wines they went away. It may seem, that this
is too light a passage to be told so copiously ; but much depends on it. Lord Shaftesbury
had one meeting with the earls of Essex and Salisbury before he \vent out of England. Fear,
anger, and disappointment, had wrought so much on him, that lord Essex told me he was
much broken in his thoughts : his notions were wild and impracticable ; and he was glad
that he was gone out of England : but said, that he had done them already a great deal of
mischief, and would have done more if he had stayed. As soon as he was gone, the lords
and all the chief men of the party saw their danger from forward sheriffs, willing juries, mer-
cenary judges, and bold witnesses : so they resolved to go home, and be silent, to speak and
to meddle as little as might be in public business, and to let the present ill temper the nation
was fallen into wear out : for they did not doubt but the court, especially as it was now
managed by the duke, would soon bring the nation again into its wits by their ill conduct
and proceedings. All that was to be done was, to keep up as much as they could a good
spirit with relation to elections of parliament, if one should be called.
The duke of Monmouth resolved to be advised chiefly by lord Essex. He would not be j
alone in that, but named lord Russel, against whom no objection could lie : and next to him
he named Algernon-Sidney, brother to the earl of Leicester, a man of most extraordinary j
courage, a steady man, even to obstinacy ; sincere, but of a rough and boisterous temper j
OF KING CHARLES II. 353
that could not bear contradiction. He seemed to be a Christian, but in a particular form of
his own : he thought, it was to be like a divine philosophy in the mind : but he was against
all public worship, and every thing that looked like a church. He was stiff to all republican
principles ; and such an enemy to every thing that looked like monarchy, that he set himself
in a high opposition against Cromwell when he was made protector. He had studied the
history of government in all its branches beyond any man I ever knew. He was ambassador
in Denmark at the time of the restoration, but did riot come back till the year seventy-eight,
when the parliament was pressing the king into a war. The court of France obtained leave
for him to return. He did all he could to divert people from that war, so that some took
him for a pensioner of France ; but to those to whom he durst speak freely, he said, he knew
it was all a juggle ; that our court was in an entire confidence with France, and had no other
design in this shew of a war but to raise an army, and keep it beyond sea till it was trained
and modelled. Sidney had a particular way of insinuating himself into people that would
hearken to his notions, and not contradict him *. He tried me, but I was not so submissive
a hearer ; so we lived afterwards at a great distance. He wrought himself into lord Essex's
confidence to such a degree, that he became the master of his spirit. He had a great kind-
ness for lord Howard, as was formerly told ; for that lord hated both the king and monarchy
as much as he himself did. He prevailed on lord Essex to take lord Howard into their
secrets, though lord Essex had expressed such an ill opinion of him a little before to me, as
to say he wondered how any man would trust himself alone with him. Lord Russel, though
his cousin german, had the same ill opinion of him : yet Sidney overcame both their aver-
sions. Lord Howard had made the duke of Monmouth enter into confidence with Sidney,
who used to speak very slightly of him, and to say, it was all one to him whether James
duke of York, or James duke of Monmouth was to succeed. Yet lord Howard perhaps put
a notion into him, which he offered often to me, that a prince who knew there was a flaw in
his title would always govern well, and consider himself as at the mercy of the right heir, if
he was not in all things in the interests and hearts of his people, which was often neglected
by princes that relied on an undoubted title. Lord Howard, by a trick put both on the
duke of Monmouth and Sidney, brought them to be acquainted. He told Sidney that the
duke of Monmouth was resolved to come some day alone and dine with him : and he made
the duke of Monmouth believe that Sidney desired this, that so he might not seem to come
and court the duke of Monmouth : and said that some regard was to be had to his temper
and age. Hanipden was also taken into their secret ; he was the grandson of him that had
pleaded the cause of England, in the point of the ship-money, with king Charles the First.
His father was a very eminent man, and had been zealous in the exclusion : he was a young
man of great parts ; one of the most learned gentlemen I have ever known ; for he was a
critic both in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew : he was a man of great heat and vivacity, but too
unequal in his temper : he had once great principles of religion : but he was much corrupted
by P. Simon's conversation at Paris.
With these men the duke of Monmouth met often. His interest in Scotland, both by
* Algernon Sidney is an instance, among many others First's judges, but did not sign the death warrant. He
I "f this period, of a man being raised to celebrity by his justly thought that " Protector was only king written
'• Bufferings ; and immortalized by the firmness with which large," therefore as strenuously opposed Oliver and Richard
"lie endured them All authorities represent him as Cromwell as he had their predecessor. In 1G59 he was
; oamiable. According to sir William Temple's opinion, one of the commissioners delegated to mediate between.
i Sidney must have had an extraordinary opinion of his own Denmark and Sweden. He remained an exile until 1677,
| i liaracter. There is thi^passage in his work upon govern- and then returned upon a conditional pardon. The text
ment, " If there be any such thing as divine right, it must has told how closely knit he was to the friends of public
1>? where one man is better qualified to govern another liberty. His " Discourses upon Government" are well
'•lian he is to govern himself: such a person seems by God written. He was born about 1620, consequently was tifty-
i id Nature designed to govern the other for his benefit three when he suffered. — Biog. Britannica. When he
:! id happiness." Sir W. Temple told the earl of Dart- was at the court of Denmark, he wrote this sentence in its
•' outh, that he knew Sidney well, and was sure that he book of mottoes; it was doubtless a true utterance of his
i«>ked upon himself as the man qualified to govern others, heart —
-Oxford ed. of this work. The leading feature of his Manus hsec inimica tyrannis,
'litical life is the implacable hatred he entertained Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem.
'•wards a monarchy. He served as a colonel in the par-
l;tniciitarian army, and was nominated one of Charles the — Molcsworth's Account of Denmark.
A A
S54 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the dependence that his wife's great estate brought him, but chiefly by the knowledge he had
of their affairs while he was among them, and by the confidence he knew they had all in him,
made him turn his thoughts much towards that kingdom, as the propercst scene of action.
He had met often with lord Argyle while he was in London, and had many conferences with
him of the state of that kingdom, and of what might be done there : and he thought the
business of Carolina was a very proper blind to bring up some of the Scotch gentlemen, under
the appearance of treating about that. They upon this agreed to send one Aaron Smith to
Scotland, to desire that some men of absolute confidence might be sent up for that end. So
when the proclamation, that was formerly mentioned, was published, it spread such an
universal apprehension through all the suspected counties, that they looked on themselves as
marked out to destruction : and it is very natural for people under such impressions, to set
themselves to look out for remedies as soon as they can.
In the beginning of April some of them came up. The person that was most entirely
trusted, and to whom the journey proved fatal^^was^aillie, of whose unjust treatment upon
Carstairs's information an account was formerly giv^nT~^He was my cousin german ; so I
knew him well. He was in the presbyterian principles, but was a man of great piety and
virtue, learned in the law, in mathematics, and in languages : I went to him as soon as I
heard he was come, in great simplicity of heart, thinking of nothing but of Carolina. I was
only afraid they might go too much into the company of the English, and give true repre-
sentations of the state of affairs in Scotland : this might be reported about by men that
would name them ; and that might bring them into trouble. But a few weeks after I found
they came not to me as they were wont to do ; and I heard they were often with lord RusseL
I was apprehensive of this ; and lord Essex being in the country, I went to him to warn
him of the danger, I feared lord Russel might be brought into, by this conversation with my
countrymen. He diverted me from all my apprehensions ; and told me, I might depend on
it, lord Russel would be in nothing without acquainting him : and he seemed to agree
entirely with me, that a rising, in the state in which things were then, would be fatal. I
always said, that when the root of the constitution was struck at to be overturned, then I
thought subjects might defend themselves : but I thought jealousies and fears, and parti-
cular acts of injustice, could not -warrant this. He did agree with me in this : he thought,
the obligation between prince and subject was so equally mutual, that upon a breach on the
one side the other was free : but though he thought the late injustice in London, and the end
that was driven at by it, did set them at liberty to look to themselves, yet he confessed things
were not ripe enough yet, and that an ill laid, and an ill managed rising would be our ruin.
I was then newly come from writing my history of the reformation ; and did so evidently
see, that the struggle for lady Jane Grey, and ^\£yat's rising, was that which threw the
nation so quickly into popery after king Edward's days, (for such as had rendered themselves
obnoxious in those matters saw no other way to secure themselves, and found their turning
was a sure one,) that I was now very apprehensive of this ; besides that I thought it was
yet unlawful. What passed between the Scots and the English lords I know not ; only
that lord Argyle, who was then in Holland, asked at first 20,000£. for buying a stock of arms
and ammunition, which he afterwards brought down to 8,000/., and a thousand horse to be
sent into Scotland : upon which he undertook the conduct of that matter. I know no
further than general hints of their matters : for though Hampden offered frequently to give
me a particular account of it all, knowing that I was writing the history of that time, yet I
told him, that till by an indemnity that whole matter was buried, I would know none of
those secrets, which I might be obliged to reveal, or to lie and deny my knowledge of them :
so to avoid that I put it off at that time. And when I returned to England at the revolu-
tion, we appointed often to meet, in order to a full relation of it all. But by several acci-
dents it went off, as a thing is apt to do which one can recover at any time. And so his
unhappy end came on before I had it from him. I know this, that no money was raised :
but the thing had got some vent ; for my own brother, a zealous presbyterian, who was
come from Scotland, it not being safe for him to live any longer in that kingdom, knowing
that he had conversed with many that had been in the rebellion, told me, there was certainly
somewhat in agitation among them, about which some of their teachers had let out somewhat
OF KING CHARLES II. 855
vtry freely to himself: how far that matter went, and how the scheme was laid, I cannot
tell ; and so must leave it in the dark. Their contract for the project of Carolina seemed to
go on apace : they had sent some thither the former year, who were now come back, and
brought them a particular account of every thing : they likewise, to cover their negotiations
with lord Argyle^ sent some over to him ; but with the blind of instructions for buying ships
in Holland, and other things necessary for their transportation.
While this matter was thus in a close management among them, there was another com-
pany of lord Shaftesbury's creatures, that met in the Temple in the chambers of one Wfigt,
a witty and active man, full of talk, and believed to be a determined atheist, gumsey and
Ferguson came constantly thither. The former of these was an officer in Cromwell's army,
who went into Portugal with the forces that served there under Schomberg. He did a brave
action in that service : and Schomberg wrote a particular letter to the king setting it out :
upon which he got a place ; and he had applied himself to lord Shaftesbury as his patron.
He was much trusted by him, and sent often about on messages. Once or twice he came to
lord Russel, but it was upon indifferent things. LorjcLRussel said to me, that at that very
time he felt such a secret aversion to him, that he was in no danger of trusting him much.
He was one of the bold talkers, and kept chiefly among lord Shaftesbury's creatures. He
was upon all the secret of his going beyond sea, which seemed to shew that he was not then a
spy of the court's, which some suspected he was all along. Jlerguson was a hot and a bold
man, whose spirit was naturally turned to plotting : he was always unquiet, and setting
people on to some mischief : I knew a private thing of him, by which it appeared he was a
profligate knave, and could cheat those that trusted him entirely : so though he, being a
Scotchman, took all the ways he could to be admitted into some acquaintance with me, I
would never see him, or speak with him : and I did not know his face till the revolution :
he was cast out by the presbyterians, and then went among the independents, where his
boldness raised him to some figure, though he was at bottom a very empty man : he had the
management of a secret press, and of a purse that maintained it : and he gave about most of
the pamphlets written of that side ; and with some he passed for the author of them : and
such was his vanity, because this made him more considerable, that he was not ill pleased to
have that believed ; though it only exposed him so much the more *. With these, Good-
enough, who had been under-sheriff of London in Bethel's year, and one Halloway, of Bristol,
met often, and had a great deal of rambling discourse, to shew how easy a thing it was on
the sudden to raise four thousand men in the city. Goodenough, by reason of his office, knew
the city well, and pretended he knew many men of so much credit in every corner of it, and
on whom they might depend, as could raise that number, which he reckoned would quickly
grow much stronger : and it is probable, this was the scheme with which lord Shaftesbury
was so possessed, that he thought it might be depended on. They had many discourses of
the heads of a declaration proper for such a rising, and disputed of these with much subtilty
as they thought : and they intended to send Halloway to Bristol, to try what could be done
there at the same time. But all this was only talk, and went no further than to a few of
their own confidents. Rumsey, Ferguson, and West were often talking of the danger of
executing this, and that the shorter and surer way was to kill the two brothers t. One
Uumbold, who had served in Cromwell's army, came twice among them ; and while they
were in that wicked discourse, which they expressed by the term lopping. He upon that
told them, he had a farm near Hodsden, in the way to Newmarket ; and there was a moa'fc
cast round his house, through which the king sometimes passed in his way thither. He said,
once the coach went through quite alone, without any of the guards about it ; and that, if
lie had laid any thing across the way to have stopped the coach but a minute, he could have
shot them both, and have rode away through grounds, that he knew so well, that it would
not have been possible to have followed him. Upon which they ran into much wicked talk
about the way of executing that. But nothing was ever fixed on : all was but talk. At
°no time lord Howard was jimpng_them : and they talked over their several schemes of
lopping. One of them was to~I)eexecuted in the Play-house. Lord Howard said, he liked
More concerning these scoundrels may be seen in Wood's Athenas Oxon. Echard, Dalrymple, Calamy, &c.
t The king and the duke of York.
A A 2
350 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
tli at best, for then they would die in their calling. This was so like his way of talk, that it
was easily believed, though he always denied it. Walcot, an Irish gentleman that had been
of Cromwell's army, was now in London, and got into that company : and he was made
believe, that the thing was so well laid, that many both in city and country were engaged
in it. He liked the project of a rising, but declared he would not meddle in their lopping.
So this wicked knot of men continued their caballings, from the time that the earl of Shaftes-
bury went away : and these were the subjects of their discourses. The king went con-
stantly to Newmarket for about a month, both in April and October. In April, while he
was there, the fire broke out, and burned part of the town : upon which the king came back
a week sooner than he intended.
While all these things were thus going on, there was one Ke_eJi»g, an anabaptist in Lon-
don, who was sinking in his business, and began to think that of a witness would be the
better trade. Goodenough had employed him often to try their strength in the city, and to
count on whom they could depend for a sudden rising : he had also talked to him of the design
of killing the two brothers : so he went and discovered all he could to Leg, at that time made
lord Dajrtmojuth. Leg made no great account of it, but sent him to Jenlmis. Jenkins took his
"Depositions, but told him he could not proceed in it without more witnesses ; so he went to
his brother, who was a man of heat in his way, but of probity ; who did not incline to ill
designs, and less to discover them. Keeling carried his brother to Goodenoygh, and assured
him he might be depended on. So Goodenough run out into a rambling discourse of what
they both could and would do : and he also spoke of killing the king and the duke, which
would make their work easy. "When they left him, the discoverer pressed his brother to go
along with him to Westminster, where he pretended business, but stopped at Whitehall.
The other was uneasy, longing to get out of his company, to go to some friends for advice
upon what had happened. But he drew him on : and at last, he not knowing whither he
was going, he drew him into Jenkins's office ; and there told the secretary he had brought
another witness, who had heard the substance of the plot from Goodenough's own mouth
just then. His brother was deeply struck with this cheat and surprise, but could not avoid
the making oath to Jenkins of all he had heard. The secretary, whose phlegmatic head was
not turned for such a work, let them both go, and sent out no warrants till he had communi-
cated the matter to the rest of the ministry, the king being then at Windsor. So Keeling,
who had been thus drawn into the snare by his brother, sent advertisements to Goodenough,
and all the other persons whom he had named, to go out of the way.
Rumsey and West were at this time perpetually together ; and apprehending that they
had trusted themselves to too many persons, who might discover them, they laid a story, in
which they resolved to agree so well together, that they should not contradict one another.
They framed their story thus : that they had laid the design of their rising to be executed
on the seventeenth of November, the day of queen Elizabeth's coming to the crown, on which
the citizens used to run together, and carry about popes in procession, and burn them : so
that day seemed proper to cover their running together, till they met in a body. Others,
they said, thought it best to do nothing on that day, the rout being usually at night, but to
lay their rising for the next Sunday at the hour of people's being at church. This was laid
to shew how near the matter was to the being executed. But the part of their story that
was the best laid, (for this looked ridiculous, since they could not name any one person of
any condition that was to head this rising,) was, that they pretended that Rumbold had
offered them his house in the Heath for executing the design. It was called Rye ; and
from thence it was called the ~Rye Plot. He asked forty men, well armed and mounted,
whom Rumsey and Walcot were to command in two parties : the one was to engage the
guards, if they should be near the coach ; and the other was to stop the coach, and to mur-
der the king and the duke. Rumsey took the wicked part on himself, saying, that Walcot
had made a scruple of killing the king, but none of engaging the guards : so Rumsey was to
do the execution. And they said, they were divided in their minds what to do next : some
were for defending the moat till night, and then to have gone off : others were for riding
through grounds in a shorter way towards the Thames. Of these forty they could name hut i
eight. But it was pretended that Walcot Goodenough, and Rumbold had undertaken to I
OF KING CHARLES II 357
find both the rest of the men and the horses ; for, though upon such an occasion men would
have taken care to have had sure and well tried horses, this also was said to be trusted to
others. As for arms, West had bought some, as on a commission for a plantation : and
these were said to be some of the arms with which they were to be furnished ; though when
they were seen they seemed very improper for such a service. I saw all West's narrative,
which wasjmt in. lord Rochester's hands : and a friend of mine borrowed it of him, and lent v//*
it me. They were- so wise at court, that they would not suffer it to be printed ; for then it
would have appeared too gross to be believed.
But the part of it all that seemed the most amazing was, that it was to have been executed
on thejlay in which the king had intended to return from NewTnarket ; but the happy fire is*
that sent him away a week sooner had quite defeated the whole plot, while it was within a
week of its execution, and neither horses, men, nor arms yet provided. This seemed to be
so eminent a providence, that the whole nation was struck with it : and both preachers and
poets had a noble subject to enlarge on, and to shew how much the king and the duke were
under the watchful care of Providence.
Within three days after Reeling's discovery the plot broke out, and became the whole dis-
course of the town. Many examinations were taken, and several persons were clapped up
upon it. Among these Wildman was one, who had been an agitator in Cromwell's army,
and had opposed his protectorship. After the restoration, he being looked on as a high
republican, was kept long in prison ; where he had studied law and physic so much, that he
passed as a man very knowing in those matters. He had a way of creating in others a great
opinion of his sagacity, and had great credit with the duke of Buckingham, and was now very
active under Sidney's conduct. He was seized on, and his house was searched : in his cel-
lars there !Tappene(I ia.be two smalL-field- pieces that belono-ed to the duke of Buckingham,
and that lay in York-house when that was sold, and was to be pulled down : Wildman
carried those two pieces, which were finely wrought, but of little use, into his cellars, where
they were laid on ordinary wooden carriages, and no way fitted for any service : yet these
were carried to Whitehall, and exposed to view, as an undeniable proof of a rebellion designed,
since here was their cannon.
Several persons came to me from court, assuring me that there was full proof made of a
plot. Lord Howard coming soon after them to see me, talked of the whole matter in his
spiteful way with so much scorn, that I really thought he knew of nothing, and by conse-
quence I believed there was no truth in all these discoveries. He said, the court knew they
were sure of juries, and they would furnish themselves quickly with witnesses : and he
spoke of the duke as of one that would be worse, not only than queen Mary, but than Nero :
and with eyes and hands lifted to Heaven, he vowed to me, that he knew of no plot, and
that he believed nothing of it.
Two days after, a proclamation came out for seizing on some who could not be found : and
among these Rumsey and West were named. The next day West delivered himself: and
Rumsey came in a day after him. These two brought out their story, which, how incredible
ever it was, passed so for certain, that any man that seemed to doubt it was concluded to
in it. That of defending themselves within mud walls and a moat, looked like the inven-
m of a lawyer, who could not lay a military contrivance with any sort of probability. Nor
d it appear where the forty horse were to be lodged, and how they were to be brought
gether. All these were thought objections that could be made by none but those who
fcher were of it, or wished well to it. These new witnesses had also heard of the confer-
ees that the duke of Monmouth and the other lords had with those who were come from
Gotland, but knew nothing of it themselves. Rumsey did likewise remember the discourse
Shepherd's.
When the council found the duke of Monmouth and lord Russel were named, they wrote
to the king to come to London : they would not venture to go further without his presence
and leave. A messenger of the council was sent the morning before the king came, to wait
at lord Russel's gate, to have stopped him if he had offered to go out. This was observed ;
for he walked many hours there j and it was looked on as done on purpose to frighten him
358 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
away ; for his back gate was not watched ; so for several hours he might have gone away
if he had intended it. He heard that Bumscy had named him ; but he knew he had not
trusted him, and he never reflected on the discourse at Shepherd's. He sent his wife amonor
his friends for advice. They were of different minds ; but since he said he apprehended
nothing, from any thing he had said to Rumscy, they thought his going out of the way
would give the court too great an advantage, and would look like a confessing of guilt. So
this agreeing with his own mind, he stayed at home till the king was come : and then a
messenger was sent to carry him before the council. He received it very composedly, and
went thither. Rumsey had also said, that at Shepherd's there was some discourse of Trench-
ard's undertaking to raise a body out of Taunton, and of his failing in it : so lord Russel was
examined upon that, the king telling him, that nobody suspected him of any design against
his person, but that he had good evidence of his being in designs against his government.
Lord Russel protested, he had heard nothing relating to Trenchard : and said to the last,
that either it was a fiction of Rumsey's, or it had passed between him and Armstrong, while
he was walking about the room, or tasting the wines at Shepherd's ; for he had not heard a
word of it. Upon all this he was sent a close prisoner to the Tower.
Sidney was brought next before the council, but his examination lasted not long. He
said, he must make the best defence he could, if they had any proof against him ; but he
would not fortify their evidence by any thing he should say : and, indeed, that was the wisest
course, for the answering questions upon such examinations is a very dangerous thing : every
word that is said is laid hold en, that can be turned against a man's self or his friends, and
no regard is- had to what he might say in favour of them ; and it had been happy for the
rest, especially for Baillie, if they had all held to this maxim. There was at that time no
sort of evidence against Sidney, so that his commitment was against law. Trenchard was
also examined ; he denied every thing. But one point of his guilt was well known : he was
the first man that had moved the exclusion in the house of commons ; so he was reckoned a
lost man.
Baillie and two other gentlemen of Scotland, both Campbells, had changed their lodgings
while the town was in this fermentation : and upon that they were seized on as suspected
persons, and brought before the king. He himself examined them, and first questioned them
about the design against his person, which they very frankly answered, and denied they
knew any thing about it. Then he asked them, if they had been in any consultations with
lords or others in England, in order to an insurrection in Scotland. Baillie faultered at this ;
for his conscience restrained him from lying. He said, he did not know the importance of
those questions, nor what use might be made of his answers : He desired to see them in
writing, and then he would consider how to answer them. Both the king and the duke
threatened him upon this : and he seemed to neglect that with so much of the air of a phi-
losopher, that it provoked them out of measure against him. The other two wTere so lately
come from Scotland, that they had seen nobody, and knew nothing. Baillie was loaded by
a special direction with very heavy irons ; so that for some weeks his life was a burden to
him. Cochran, another of those who had been concerned in this treaty, was complained of,
as having talked very freely of the duke's government of Scotland. Upon which the Scotch
secretary sent a note to him, desiring him to come to him ; for it was intended only to have
given him a reprimand, and to have ordered him to go to Scotland. But he knew his own
secret : so he left his lodgings, and got beyond sea. This shewed the court had not yet got
full evidence ; otherwise he would have been taken up, as well as others were.
As soon as the council rose, the king went to the duchess of Monmouth's, and seemed so
much concerned for the duke of Monmouth, that he wept as he spoke to her. That duke
told a strange passage relating to that visit, to the lord Cutts, from whom I had it. The
king told his lady, that some were to come and search her lodgings ; but he had given orders
that no search should be made in her apartments : so she might conceal him safely in them.
But the duke of Monmouth added, that he knew him too well to trust him : so he went out
of his lodgings. And it seems he judged right ; for the place that was first searched for
him, was her rooms ; but he was gone : and he gave that for the reason why he could never
OF KING CHARLES II. 359
trust the king after that. It is not likely the king meant to proceed to extremities with him,
but that he intended to have him in his own hands, and in his power *.
An order was sent to bring up the lord Grey, which met him coming up. He was brought
before the council, where he behaved himself with great presence of mind. He was sent to
the Tower ; but the gates were shut : so he stayed in the messenger's hands all night, whom
he furnished so liberally with wine, that he was dead drunk. Next morning he went with
him to the Tower gate, the messenger being again fast asleep. He himself called at the
Tower gate, to bring the lieutenant of the Tower to receive a prisoner. But he began to
think he might be in danger : he found Rumsey was one witness, and if another should come
in he was gone : so he called for a pair of oars, and went away, leaving the drunken mes-
senger fast asleep. "Warrants were sent for several other persons ; some went out of the way,
and others were dismissed after some months' imprisonment. The king shewed some appear-
ance of sincerity in examining the witnesses : he told them, ho would not have a growing
evidence ; and so he charged them to tell out at once all that they knew : he led them into
no accusations by asking them any questions : he only asked them if Gates was in their
secret ? They answered, that they all looked on him as such a rogue, that they would not
trust him. The king also said, he found lord Howard was not among them, and he believed
that was upon the same account. There were many more persons named, and more parti-
culars set down in Wjest's narrative, than the court thought fit to make use of : for they had
no appearance of truth in them.
Lord Russel, from the time of his imprisonment, looked upon himself as a dead man, and
turned his thoughts wholly to another world. He read much in the scriptures, particularly
in the Psalms, and read " Baxter's Dying Thoughts." He was as serene and calm as if he
had been in no danger at all. A committee of council came to examine him upon the design
of seizing on the guards, and about his treating with the Scots. He answered them civilly ;
and said, that he was now preparing for his trial, where he did not doubt but he should
answer every thing that could be objected to him. From him they went to Sidney, who
treated them more roughly : he said, it seemed they wanted evidence, and therefore they were
come to draw it from his own mouth ; but they should have nothing from him. Upon this
examination of lord Russel, in which his treating with the Scots was so positively charged
on him, as a tiling of which they were well assured, his lady desired me to see who this
could be that had so charged him ; but this appeared to be only an artifice to draw a con-
fession from him. Cochran was gone ; arid Baillie was a close prisoner, and was very ill
used : none were admitted to him. I sent to the keeper of the prison to let him want for
nothing, and that I should see him paid. I also at his desire sent him books for his enter-
tainment, for which I was threatened with a prison. I said, I was his nearest kinsman in
the place, and this was only to do as I would be done by. From what I found among the
Scots, I quieted the fears of lord Russel's friends.
Lord Howard was still going about, and protesting to every person he saw that there was
no plot, and that he knew of none : yet he seemed to be under a consternation all the while.
Lord Russel told me, he was with him when the news was brought that West had delivered
himself, upon which he saw him change colour : and he asked him, if he apprehended any
thing from him ? He confessed, he had been as free with him as with any man. Hampden
saw him afterwards under great fears : and upon that he wished him to go out of the way,
if he thought there was matter against him, and if he had not a strength of mind to suffer
ny thing that might happen to him. The king spoke of him with such contempt, that it
S not probable that he was all this while in correspondence with the court.
At last, four days before lord Russel's trial, he was taken in his own house after a long
3arch ; and was found standing up within a chimney. As soon as he was taken he fell a
rying; and at his first examination he told, as he said, all that he knew. West and
I-umsey had resolved only to charge some of the lower sort, but had not laid every thing so
ell together, but that they were found contradicting one another. So Rumsey charged
Vest for concealing some things : upon which he was laid in irons, and was threatened with
* The earl of Dartmouth, on the authority of Mi. Francis G win, secretary at war in queen Anne's time, says that \/
the duchess of Monmouth declared that the whole story told by Burnet is false—Oxford edition of this work.
360 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
being hanged : for three days he would eat nothing, and seemed resolved to starve himself,
but nature overcame his resolutions ; and then he told all he knew, and perhaps more than
he knew j for I believe it was at this time that he wrote his narrative. And in that he told
a new story of lord Howard, which was not very credible, that he thought the best way of
killing the king and the duke, was for the duke of Monmouth to fall into Newmarket with
a body of three or four hundred horse when they were all asleep, and so to take them all : as
if it had been an easy matter to get such a body together, and to carry them thither invisibly
upon so desperate a service. Upon lord Howard's examination, he told a long story of lord
Shaftesbury's design of raising the city : he affirmed, that the duke of Monmouth had told
him, how Trenchard had undertaken to bring a body of men from Taunton, but had failed in
it : he confirmed that of a rising intended in the city on the seventeenth or the nineteenth
of November last ; but he knew of nobody that was to be at the head of it. So this was
looked on as only talk. But that which came more home was, that he owned there was a
council of six settled, of which he himself was one ; and that they had several debates among
them concerning an insurrection, and where it should begin, whether in the city or in the
country ; but that they resolved to be first well informed concerning the state Scotland was
in ; and that Sidney had sent Aaron Smith to Scotland, to bring him a sure information from
thence, and that he gave him sixty guineas for his journey : more of that matter he did not
know ; for he had gone out of town to the Bath, and to his estate in the country. During
his absence the lords began to apprehend their error in trusting him : and upon it lord Essex
said to lord Russel, as the last told me in prison, that the putting themselves in the power of
such a man would be their reproach, as well as their ruin, for trusting a man of so ill a
character : so they resolved to talk no more to him : but at his next coming to town they
told him, they saw it was necessary at present to give over all consultations, and to be quiet :
and after that they saw him very little. Hampden was upon lord Howard's discovery seized
on : he, when examined, desired not to be pressed with questions ; so he was sent to the
Tower.
A party of horse was sent to bring up lord Essex, who had stayed all this while at his
house in the country ; and seemed so little apprehensive of danger, that his own lady did not
imagine he had any concern on his mind. He was offered to be conveyed away very safely,
but he would not stir. His tenderness for lord Russel was the cause of this ; for he thought
his going out of the way might incline the jury to believe the evidence the more for his
absconding. He seemed resolved, as soon as he saw how that went, to take care of himself.
When the party came to bring him up, he was at first in some disorder, yet he recovered
himself; but when he came before the council, he was in much confusion. He was sent to
the Tower ; and there he fell under a great depression of spirit : he could not sleep at all.
He had fallen before that twice under great fits of the spleen, which returned now upon him
with more violence. He sent by a servant, whom he had long trusted, and who was suffered
to come to him, a very melancholy message to his wife ; that what he was charged with was
true : he was sorry he had ruined her and her children ; but he had sent for the- earl of
Clarendon, to talk freely to him, who had married his sister. "She immediately sent back
the servant, to beg of him that he would not think of her or her children, but only study to
support his own spirits ; and desired him to say nothing to lord Clarendon, nor to any body
else, till she should come to him, which she was in hope to obtain leave to do in a day or
two. Lord Clarendon came to him upon his message ; but he turned the matter so well to
him, as if he had been only to explain somewhat, that he had mistaken himself in, when he
was before the council : but as to that for which he was clapped up, he said there was
nothing in it, and it would appear how innocent he was. So lord Clarendon went away in
a great measure satisfied, as he himself told me. His lady had another message from him,
that he was much calmer ; especially when he found how she took his condition to heart,
without seeming concerned for her own share in it. He ordered many things to be sent to
him ; and among other things he called at several times for a penknife, with which lie used
to pare his nails very nicely : so this was thought intended for an amusement : but it was
not brought from his house in the country, though sent for. And when it did not come, he
called for a razor, and said, that would do as well. The king and the duke came to the
OF KING CHARLES II. ,1(51
Tower that morning, as was given out, to see some invention about the ordnance. As they
were going into their barge, the cry came after them of what had happened to lord Essex ;
for his man, thinking he staid longer than ordinary in his closet, said, he looked through the
key-hole, and there saw him lying dead : upon which the door being broken open, he was
found dead ; his throat cut, so that both the jugulars and the gullet were cut, a little above
the aspera arteria. I shall afterwards give an account of the further inquiry into this matter,
which passed then universally as done by himself. The coroner's jury found it self-murder.
And when his body was brought home to his own house, and the wound was examined by
his own surgeon, he said to me ; it was impossible the wound could be as it was, if given
by any hand but his own : for, except he had cast his head back, and stretched up his neck
all he could, the aspera arteria must have been cut. But to go on with this tragical day,
in which I lost the two best friends I had in the world :
The lord Russet's trial was fixed for that day. A jury was returned that consisted of
citizens of London who were not freeholders. So the first point argued in law was, whether
this could be a legal jury. The statute wras express : and the reason was, that none but men
of certain estates might try a man upon his life. It was answered, that the practice of the
city was to the contrary, upon the very reason of the law : for the richest men of the city
were often no freeholders, but merchants whose wealth lay in their trade and stock. So this
was overruled, and the jury was sworn. They were picked out with great care, being men
of fair reputation in other respects, but so engaged in the party for the court, that they were
easy to believe any thing on that side. Rumsey, Shepherd, and lord Howard were the wit-
nesses, who deposed according to what was formerly related. Shepherd swore lord Russel
was twice at his house, though he was never there but once. And when lord Russel sent
him word after his sentence, that he forgave him all he had sworn against him, but that he
must remember that he was never within his doors but one single time : to which all the
answer Shepherd made was, that all the while he was in court during the trial, he was under
such a confusion, that he scarce knew what he said. Both Rurasey and he swore, that lord
Russel had expressed his consent to the seizing on the guards, though they did not swear
any one word that he spoke which imported it : so that here a man was convicted of treason,
for being present by accident, or for some innocent purpose, where treasonable matter was
discoursed, without bearing a part in that discourse, or giving any assent by words or other-
wise to what was so discoursed ; which at the most amounts to misprision, or concealment,
of treason only. As lord Howard began his evidence, the news of the earl of Essex's death
came to the court. Upon which lord Howard stopped, and said, he could not go on till he
gave vent to his grief in some tears. He soon recovered himself, and told all his story.
Lord Russel defended himself by many compurgators, who spoke very fully of his great
worth, and that it was not likely he would engage in ill designs. Some others besides myself
testified, how solemnly lord Howard had denied his knowledge of any plot, upon its first
breaking out. Finch, the solicitor-general, said, no regard was to be had to that, for all
witnesses denied at first. It wTas answered, if these denials had been only to a magistrate,
or at an examination, it might be thought of less moment ; but such solemn denials, with
asseverations, to friends, and officiously offered, shewed that such a witness was so bad a man,
that no credit was due to his testimony. It was also urged that it was not sworn by any of
the witnesses, that lord Russel had spoken any such words, or words to that effect : and
without some such indication, it could not be known that he hearkened to the discourse, or
consented to it. Lord Russel also asked, upon what statute he was tried : if upon the old
statute of the twenty-fifth of Edward the Third, or if upon the statute made declaring what
shall be held treason during the king's reign ? They could not rely on the last, because of
the limitation of time in it : six months, and something more, were passed since the time of
these discourses ; so they relied on the old statute. Upon which he asked, where was the
overt act ? For none appeared. It was also said, that by that statute the very imagining
the king's death, when proved by an overt act, was treason : but it was only the levying war,
and not the imagining to levy war against the king, that was treason by that statute. Cook
and Hale were of this opinion, and gave their reasons for it. And it seemed, that the par-
liament that passed the act of treason during the present reign were of that mind ; for they
SG2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
enumerated consultations to raise war among those things which were declared to be treason
during that reign : this shewed that they did not look on them as comprehended within the
old statute. The king's counsel pretended, that consultations to seize on the guards were an
overt act of a design against the king's person. But those forces that have got the designa-
tion of guards appropriated to them, are not the king's guards in law : they are not so much
as allowed of by law : for even the lately dissolved long parliament, that was so careful of
the king, and so kind to him, would never take notice of the king's forces, much le*>3 call
them his guards. The guards were only a company of men in the king's pay ; so that a
design to seize on them amounted to no more, than to a design to seize on a part of the king's
army. But the word guards sounded so like a security to the king's person, that the design
against them was constructed a design against his life : and yet none of the witnesses spoke
of any design against the king's person. Lord Howard swore positively, that they had no
such design. Yet the one was constructed to be the natural consequence of the other. So
that after all the declaiming against a constructive treason in the case of lord Stratford, the
court was always running into it, when they had a rnind to destroy any that stood in
their way. Lord Russel desired, that his counsel might be heard to this point of seizing the
guards ; but that was denied, unless he would confess the fact : and he would not do that,
because, as the witnesses had sworn it, it was false. He once intended to have related the
whole fact, just as it was ; but his counsel advised him against it. Some of his friends were
for it, who thought that it could amount to no more than a concealment and misprision of
treason. Yet the counsel distinguished between a bare knowledge, and a concealing that,
and a joining designedly in council with men that did design treason ; for in that case, though
a man should differ in opinion from a treasonable proposition, yet his mixing in council with
such men will in law make him a traitor. Lord Russel spoke but little : yet in few words
he touched on all the material points of law that had been suggested to him. Finch summed
up the evidence against him ; but in that, and in several other trials afterwards, he shewed
more of a vicious eloquence, in turning matters with some subtlety against the prisoners,
than of solid or sincere reasoning. Jefferies would shew his zeal, and speak after him ; but
it was only an insolent declamation, such as all his were, full of fury and indecent invectives.
Pemberton was the head of the court, the other bench not being yet filled. He summed up
the evidence at first very fairly ; but in conclusion he told the jury, that a design to seize
the guards was surely a design against the king's life. But though he struck upon this,
which was the main point, yet it was thought that his stating the whole matter with so little
eagerness against lord Russel, was that which lost him his place ; for he was turned out
soon after. Lord Russel's behaviour during the trial was decent and composed : so that he
seemed very little concerned in the issue of the matter. He was a man of so much candour,
that he spoke little as to the fact : for since he was advised not to tell the whole truth, he
could not speak against that which he knew to be true, though in some particulars it had
been carried beyond the truth. But he was not allowed to make the difference : so he left
that wholly to the jury, who brought in their verdict against him, upon which he received
sentence.
He then composed himself to die with great seriousness. He said he was sure the day of
his trial was more uneasy to him than that of his execution would be. All possible methods
were used to have saved his life. Money was offered to the lady Portsmouth, and to all
that had credit, and that without measure. He was pressed to send petitions and submis-
sions to the king, and to the duke ; but he left it to his friends to consider how far these
might go, and how they were to be worded. All he was brought to was to offer to live
beyond sea in any place that the king should name, and never to meddle any more in English
affairs. But all was in vain ; both king and duke were fixed in their resolutions ; but with
this difference, as lord Rochester afterwards told me, that the duke suffered some, among
whom he was one, to argue the point with him, but the king could not bear the discourse.
Some have said, that the duke moved that he might be executed in Southampton-square,
before his own house, but that the king rejected that as indecent. So Lincoln's-inn-fields
was the place appointed for his execution. The last week of his life he was shut up all the j
mornings, as he himself desired ; and about noon I came to him, and stayed with him till :
OF KING CHARLES II. 363
night. All the while he expressed a very Christian temper, without sharpness or resent-
ment, vanity or affectation. His whole behaviour looked like a triumph over death. Upon
some occasions, as at table, or when his friends came to see him, he was decently cheerful.
I was by him when the sheriffs came to show him the warrant for his execution. He read
it with indifference ; and when they were gone, he told me it was not decent to be merry
with such a matter, otherwise he was near telling Rich (who, though he was now of the
other side, yet had been a member of the house of commons, and had voted for the exclu-
sion), that they should never sit together in that house any more to vote for the bill of
exclusion. The day before his death he fell a bleeding at the nose ; upon that he said to me
pleasantly, " I shall not now let blood to divert this, that will be done to-morrow." At
night it rained hard, and he said, such a rain to-morrow will spoil a great show, which was
a dull thing on a rainy day. He said, the sins of his youth lay heavy upon his mind ; but
he hoped God had forgiven them, for he was sure he had forsaken them, and for many years
he had walked before God with a sincere heart ; if in his public actings he had committed
errors, they were only the errors of his understanding, for he had no private ends, nor ill
designs of his own in them. He was still of opinion that the king was limited by law, and
that when he broke through those limits his subjects might defend themselves, and restrain
him. He thought a violent death was a very desirable way of ending one's life ; it was only
the being exposed to be a little gazed at, and to suffer the pain of one minute, which, he was
confident, was not equal to the pain of drawing a tooth. He said he felt none of those
transports that some good people felt ; but he Jhad a full calm in his mind, no palpitation at
heart, nor trembling at the thoughts of death. He was much concerned at the cloud that
seemed to be now over his country ; but he hoped his death should do more service than his
life could have done.
This was the substance of the discourse between him and me. Tillotson was oft with him
that last week. "We thought the party had gone too quick in their consultations, and too
far ; and that resistance in the condition we were then in was not lawful. He said he had
not leisure t'j enter into discourses of politics; but he thought a government limited by law
was only a name, if the subjects might not maintain those limitations by force ; otherwise
all was at the discretion of the prince ; that was contrary to all the notions he had lived in
of our government. But he said there was nothing among them but the embryos of things
that were never like to have any effect, and that were now quite dissolved. He thought it
was necessary for him to leave a paper behind him at his death ; and because he had not
been accustomed to draw such papers, he desired me to give him a scheme of the heads fit
to be spoken to, and of the order in which they should be laid, which I did. And he was
three days employed for some time in the morning to write out his speech. He ordered four
copies to be made of it, all which he signed ; and gave the original with three of the copies
to his lady, and kept the other to give to the sheriffs on the scaffold. He wrote it with
great care ; and the passages that were tender he wrote in papers apart, and showed
them to his lady and to myself before he wrote them out fair. He was very easy when this
was ended. He also wrote a letter to the king, in which he asked pardon for everything
he had said, or done, contrary to his duty, protesting he was innocent as to all designs
against his person or government, and that his heart was ever devoted to that which he
thought was his true interest. He added, that though he thought he had met with hard
measure, yet he forgave all concerned in it, from the highest to the lowest ; and ended,
hoping that his majesty's displeasure at him would cease with his own life, and that no part
of it should fall on his wife and children. The day before his death he received the sacra-
i ment from Tillotson, with much devotion. And I preached two short sermons to him,
| which he heard with great affection. And we were shut up till towards the evening. Then
i he offered his children that were very young, and some few of his friends, to take leave of
i him ; in which he maintained his constancy of temper, though he was a very fond father.
| He also parted with his lady with a composed silence ; and, as soon as she was gone, he
i said to me, " The bitterness of death is past ;" for he loved and esteemed her beyond expres-
sion, as she well deserved it in all respects. She had the command of herself so much, that
at parting she gave him no disturbance. He went into his chamber about midnight, and I
SG4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
stayed all night in the outward room. He went not to bed till about two in the morning,
and was fast asleep till four, when, according to his order, we called him. He was quickly
dressed, but would lose no time in shaving ; for he said he was not concerned in his good
looks that day.
He was not ill pleased with the account he heard that morning of the manner of "Walcot's
death, who, together with one Hone and Rowse, had suffered the day before. These were
condemned upon the evidence of the witnesses. Rmnsey and West swore fully against
Walcot ; he had also written a letter to the secretary, offering to make discoveries, in which
he said the plot was laid deep and wide. Walcot denied at his death the whole business of
the Rye-plot, and of his undertaking to fight the guards while others should kill the king.
He said West had often spoken of it to him in the phrase of lopping ; and that he always
said he would not meddle in it, and that he looked on it as an infamous thing, and as that
which the duke of Monmouth would certainly revenge ; though West assured him that
duke had engaged under his hand to consent to it. This confession of Walcot's, as it showed
himself very guilty, so it made West appear so black, that the court made no more use of
him. Hone, a poor tradesman in London, who it seems had some heat but scarce any sense
in him, was drawn in by Keeling, and Lee, another witness, who was also brought in by
Keeling to a very wild thing of killing the king but sparing the duke, upon this conceit, that
we would be in less danger in being under a professed papist than under the king. Hone
had promised to serve in the execution of it, but neither knew when, where, nor how, it was
to be done ; so, though he seemed fitter for a Bedlam than a trial, yet he was tried the day
before the lord Russel, and suffered with the others the day before him. He confessed his
own guilt, but said these who witnessed against him had engaged him in that design, for
which they now charged him ; but he knew nothing of any other persons besides himself
and the two witnesses. The third was one Rowse, who had belonged to Player, the cham-
berlain of London ; against whom Lee and Keeling swore the same things. He was more
affected with a sense of the heat and fury, with which he had been actuated, than the others
were ; but he denied that he was ever in any design against the king's life. He said the
witnesses had let fall many wicked things of that matter in discourse with him, so that he
was resolved to discover them, and was only waiting till he could find out the bottom of
their designs ; but that now they had prevented him. He vindicated all his acquaintance
from being any way concerned in the matter, or from approving such designs. These men
dying as they did was such a disgrace to the witnesses, that the court saw it was not fit to
make any further use of them. Great use was made of the conjunction of these two plots,
one for a rising, and another for an assassination. It was said, that the one was that which
gave the heart and hope to the other black conspiracy, by which they were over all England
blended together as a plot within a plot, which cast a great load on the whole party.
Lord Russel seemed to have some satisfaction to find that there was no truth in the whole
contrivance of the Rye-plot, so that he hoped that infamy, which now blasted their party,
would soon go off. He went into his chamber six or seven times in the morning and prayed
by himself, and then came out to Tillotson and me. He drank a little tea and some sherry.
He wound up his watch, and said, now he had done with time and was going to eternity.
He asked what he should give the executioner ; I told him ten guineas. He said, with a
smile, it was a pretty thing to give a fee to have his head cut off. When the sheriffs called
him about ten o'clock, lord Cavendish was waiting below to take leave of him. They
embraced very tenderly. Lord Russel, after he had left him, upon a sudden thought came
back to him, and pressed him earnestly to apply himself more to religion ; and told him what
great comfort and support he felt from it now in his extremity. Lord Cavendish had very
generously offered to manage his escape, and to stay in prison for him while he should go
away in his clothes ; but he would not hearken to the motion. The duke of Monmouth had
also sent me word to let him know, that if he thought it could do him any service, he would
come in, and run fortunes with him. He answered, it would be of no advantage to him to
have his friends die with him. Tillotson arid I went in the coach with him to the place of
execution. Some of the crowd that filled the streets wept, while others insulted ; he was
touched with a tenderness that the one gave him, but did not seem at all provoked by the
OF KING CHARLES Ii. 305
other. He was singing psalms a great part of the way, and said he hoped to sing better
very soon. As he observed the great crowds of people all the way, he said to us, " I hope
I shall quickly see a much better assembly." When he came to the scaffold he walked about
it four or five times ; then he turned to the sheriffs and delivered his paper. He protested
he had always been far from any designs against the king's life or government. He prayed
God would preserve both, and the protestant religion. He wished all protestants might love
one another, and not make way for popery by their animosities.
The substance of the paper he gave them was, first a profession of his religion, and of his
sincerity in it ; that he was of the church of England ; but wished all would unite together
against the common enemy ; that churchmen would be less severe, and dissenters less scru-
pulous. He owned he had a great zeal against popery, which he looked on as an idolatrous and
bloody religion ; but that though he was at all times ready to venture his life for his religion or
his country, yet that would never have carried him to a black or wicked design. No man ever
had the impudence to move to him anything with relation to the king's life ; he prayed
heartily for him, that in his person and government he might be happy, both in this world
and in the next. He protested that in the prosecution of the popish plot he had gone on in
the sincerity of his heart, and that he never knew of any practice with the witnesses. He
owned he had been earnest in the matter of the exclusion, as the best wTay in his opinion to
secure both the king's life and the protestant religion ; and to that he imputed his present
sufferings ; but he forgave all concerned in them, and charged his friends to think of no
revenges. He thought his sentence was hard ; upon which he gave an account of all that
had passed at Shepherd's. From the heats that appeared in choosing the sheriffs he con-
cluded that this matter would end as it now did, and he was not much surprised to find it
fall upon himself ; he wished it might end in him ; killing by forms of law was the worst
sort of murder. He concluded with some very devout ejaculations. After he had delivered
this paper he prayed by himself. Then Tillotson prayed with him. After that he prayed
again by himself ; and then undressed himself and laid his head on the block, without the
least change of countenance, and it was cut off at two strokes*.
This was the end of that great and good man : on which I have enlarged perhaps too
copiously ; but the great esteem I had for him, and the share I had in this matter, will, I
hope, excuse it. Has speech was so soon printed, that it was selling about the streets an
hour after his death ; upon which the court was highly inflamed. So Tillotson and I were
appointed to appear before the cabinet council. Tillotson had little to say, but only that
lord Russel had showed him his speech the day before he suffered ; and that he spoke to him,
what he thought was incumbent on him, upon some parts of it, but he was not disposed to
alter it. I was longer before them. I saw they apprehended I had penned the speech. I
told the king that at his lady's desire I wrote down a very particular journal of every
passage, great and small, that had happened during my attendance on him ; I had just
ended it, as I received my summons to attend his majesty ; so, if he commanded me, I would
read it to him ; which upon his command I did. I saw they were all astonished at the
many extraordinary things in it : the most important of them are set down in the former
relation. The lord-keeper asked me if I intended to print that. I said it was only intended
* The outlines of the life and character of lord Russel ended in the same tragedy — his conviction was resolved
have been given in a previous page, and but few remarks before he was brought to the bar. This he himself had
need be made upon his trial and execution. The struggle foreseen — he knew that he was marked as the supporter
was now wearing a sterner and more determined aspect, of popular freedom, and that he was to be slaughtered as
that was to decide whether the king or the people were to a terror to his party. This was confessed by the duke of
be the chief sources of political power — every meeting of York, when the earl of Dartmouth warned him that the
parliament had warned the former, if he resolved to per- taking of Russel's life would never be forgiven by a nume-
Revere in aiming at despotism, it must be obtained by rous and great family, who, on the other hand, would be
piusuing a bloody path. It was determined to proceed — bound to him, if the delinquent was pardoned ; and that
and sheriffs were culled, juries packed, and unprincipled some regard was due to lord Southampton's daughter and
judges raised to the bench, to aid the butchery of the free- her children. The duke replied, " All that is true ; but
spirited — by disguising murder with a legal habit. It it is as true, that if I do not take his life he will soon have
mattered little that the evidence against lord Russel was mine." — (Dalrymple's Memoirs, Append, ii. 59.) If the
deficient of that required by the statute to convict of duke had not resolved to be a tyrant, he need not have
treason — if it had been still more imperfect it would have feared lord Russel.
CG3 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
for Jiis lady's pnvataJise*. The lord-keeper, seeing the king silent, added, " You are not
to think the king is pleased with this, because he says nothing." This was very mean. He
then asked me if I had not studied to dissuade the lord Russel from putting many things in
his speech. I said I had discharged my conscience to him very freely in every particular ;
but he was now gone, so it was impossible to know, if I should tell anything of what had
passed between us, whether it was true or false ; I desired therefore to be excused. The
duke asked me if he had said anything to me in confession. I answered, that if he had said
anything to me in confidence, that was enough to restrain me from speaking of it. Only I
offered to take my oath, that the speech was penned by himself, and not by me. The duke,
upon all that passed in this examination, expressed himself so highly offended at me, that it
was concluded I would be ruined. Lord Halifax sent me word, that the duke looked on
my reading the journal as a studied thing, to make a panegyric on lord Russel's memory.
Many pamphlets were written on that occasion ; and I was heavily charged in them all, as
the adviser, if not the author, of the speech. But I was advised by all my friends to write
no answer, but to bear the malice that was vented upon me with silence ; which I resolved
to do.
At this time, prince George of Denmark came into England to marry the duke's second
daughter. The prince of Hanover had come over two years before to make addresses to her ;
but he was scarcely got hither, when he received orders from his father not to proceed in that
design ; for he had agreed a match for him with his brother, the duke of Zell, for his
daughter, which did at that time more accommodate the family. The marriage that was
now made with the brother of Denmark did not at all please the nation ; for we knew that
the proposition came from France. So it was apprehended, that both courts reckoned they
were sure that he would change his religion ; in which we have seen, since that time, that
our fears were ill grounded. He has lived in all respects the happiest with his princess that
was possible, except in one particular ; for though there was a child born every year for
many years, yet they have all died ; so that the most fruitful marriage that has been known
in our age has been fatally blasted as to the effect of it.
The affairs abroad were now everywhere in a great fermentation. The emperor had
governed Hungary so strangely, as at once to persecute the protestants and to oppress the
papists in their liberties, which disposed both to rebel ; upon which the malcontents were
now in arms, and had possessed themselves of several places in the upper Hungary : which
being near Poland, they were managed and assisted by the French ministers in that king-
dom, in which the cardinal of Fourbin was the chief instrument. But they not being able to
maintain themselves against the emperor's whole force, Tekeli, who was set at their head,
offered all submissions to the Turk, and begged his protection. Upon this that great war
- convert us te the opinion—that their duty. No — Rachael Russel was not a maudlin sen-
woman is man's intellectual inferior, must first make us timentalist, who could only weep for those she loved, but
forget that a lady Croke, a countess of Derby, a lady a true woman, who exerted herself as long as she could
Bankes, and lady Rachael Russel, lived as contemporaries be useful in the cause of him whom she loved the most
— to say nothing of a galaxy that may be traced through entirely in this world. Even in that time, when the
every other period of our history, from Boadicea down- sternest heart might be forgiven for failing — when tlie
wards. Education and the rules of society throw man last embrace and the last look were to be exchanged — she
more customarily forward in active life, but no one's ex- did not add to her husband's agony by a fruitless outpour-
perience, perhaps, can justify him in saying that he has ing of grief; she parted from him silently. But when all
oftener seen women fail in rising^ equal to the exertions was over, then did she give vent to the natural sorrow of
required, than those whom they submit to as their superiors her heart, and her blindness was attributed to her almost
and love as their guardians. Lady Russel was one of incessant weeping. Reason, however, triumphed at last,
those who never failed in the hour of extraordinary effort, and she lived to devote herself to her three children.
She cheered her patriot husband during the confinement "• Her ladyship's letters, which have been published, are
preceding his trial, and at that trying period she did not a compound of resigned piety, never-ceasing grief, strong
forsake him. When the court informed him he might sense, and true patriotism, with strkt attention to all
have a clerk to take notes of the evidence, he must have domestic duties. She lived to the age of eighty-seven,
felt strengthened, as he was enabled to reply, " My lords, revered almost as a saint herself, and venerated as the
my wife is here." She was there— and to her dying hour relict of the martyr to liberty and the constitution.'' Site
might feel consolation in reflecting that she thus aided was born in lb'3G, the second daughter of Wriothesiey,
him in his time of extremes! need. It was not insen&i- earl of Southampton. Her first husband was lord
bility, it was not the love of display, that made her thus Vanghan, son of the earl of Carberry. She died on the
act; but that firmness of mind, that forgetfulness of self, 29th of September, 1723 __ Grainger."
which enables those who cherish virtuous emotions to do
OF KING CHARLES II.
roke out, all set on by the practices of tlie king of France ; who, winle he was persecuting
the protestants in his own kingdom, was at the same time encouraging the rebellion of Hun-
gary, and drawing the Turk into Christendom. I need not enlarge further on a matter so
well known as the siege of Vienna ; which, if it had been as well prosecuted as it was first
undertaken, the town would have been certainly taken, and with that the emperor and his
family ruined. The king of France drew a great army together near the frontier of Germany,
and seemed to depend upon it that the town would be taken, and that he would be called in
by the princes of Germany to protect them, and upon that have been chosen emperor. He
at the same time sent Humieres with an army into Flanders, upon a pretension to Alost,
that would have seemed very strange in any other court but that. He had once possessed
himself, during the war, of Alost ; but afterwards he drew his troops out of it. So it not
being in his hands when the peace of Nimeguen was made, no mention was made of restoring
it. But now it was said that, it being once in the king's hands by the right of his arms, it
was still his, since he had not expressly renounced it ; therefore he now demanded it, or to
have Luxembourg given him as an equivalent for it. Humieres finding no resistance in the
Spanish Netherlands, destroyed and ruined the country beyond anything it had felt during
the whole war. This was the state of affairs abroad at the time of these trials.
All people thought we should see a parliament presently called, from which both the king
and the duke might have expected everything that they could desire ; for the body of the
nation was yet so possessed with the belief of the plot, that probably all elections would have
gone as the court directed, and scarcely any of the other party would have had the courage to
have stood for an election any where. But the king of France began to apprehend that the
king might grow so much the master at home, that he would be no longer in their manage-
ment ; and they foresaw that, what success soever the king might have in a parliament with
relation to his own affairs, it was not to be imagined but that a house of commons, at the
same time that they showed their submission to the king, would both enable him to resist
the progress of the French arms, and address to him to enter into alliances with the Spaniards
and the States. So the French made use of all their instruments to divert our court from
calling a parliament, and they got the king to consent to their possessing themselves of
Luxembourg ; for which, I wras told, they gave him 300,000^. But I have no certainty of
that. Lord Montague told me of it, and seemed to believe it ; and lady Portsmouth valued
herself on this of Luxembourg as gained by her, and called it the last service she did the
court of France *.
At this time I went over into France, chiefly to be out of the way, when I was fallen on
almost in every libel ; for new sets of addresses were now running about the nation, with
more heat and swelled eloquence in them than the former ones : in all which the providen-
tial fire of Newmarket was set off with great pomp. And in many of them there were
hard things said of lord Russel and his speech, with insinuations that looked towards me.
In France, Rouvigny, who was the lady Russel's uncle, studied to get me to be much
visited and known. There my acquaintance with marshal Schomberg began ; and by him I
was acquainted with marshal Bellefonds, who was a devout man, but very weak. He read
the Scriptures much, and seemed to practice the virtues of the desert in the midst of that
court. I knew the archbishop of Rheims, who was a rough, boisterous man ; lie seemed to
have good notions of the episcopal duty, in all things except that of the setting a good exam-
ple to his clergy ; for he allowed himself in liberties of all kinds. The duke of Montausier
was a pattern of virtue and sincerity, if not too cynical in it. He was so far from flattering
the king, as all the rest did most abjectly, that he could not hold from contradicting him, as
often as there was occasion for it. And for that reason chiefly the king made him the
dauphin's governor : to which, he told me, he had applied himself with great care, though,
ho very frankly added, without success. The exterior of the king was very solemn ; the
* Barillon writing, December 1st, 1681, to Louis the — (Dalrymple's Memoirs, Append. 31.) According to
Fourteenth, from whom he was ambassador to England, this authority Barillon made the bargain with Charles in
says, "• After much bargaining, the king (Charles) has person. Barillon represents Montague in the blackest
agreed to allow our seizure of Luxembourg, in considers- light as a traitor to his country,
tiori of oui paying him a million livres," (not 30.000/.)
363 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
first time I happened to see him was when the news came of the raising the siege of Vienna,
with which, Schomberg told me, he was much struck, for he did not look for it. While I
was at court, which was only for four or five days, one of the king's coaches was sent to wait
on me, and the king ordered me to be well treated by all about him, which upon that was
done, with a great profusion of extraordinary respects ; at which all people stood amazed.
Some thought it was to encourage the side against the court, by this treatment of one then
in disgrace. Others more probably thought, that the king, hearing I was a writer of history,
had a mind to engage me to write on his side. I was told a pension would be offered me.
But I made no steps towards it ; for though I was offered an audience of the king, I excused
it, since I could not have the honour to be presented to that king by the minister of England *.
I saw the prince of Conde but once, though he intended to see me oftener. He had a great
quickness of apprehension, and was thought the best judge in France both of wit and learn-
ing. He had read my history of the Reformation, that was then translated into French, and
seemed pleased with it. So were many of the great lawyers ; in particular, Harlay, then
attorney-general, and now first president of the court of parliament of Paris. The contests
with Rome were then very high ; for the assembly of the clergy had passed some articles
very derogatory to the papal authority. So many fancied that matter might go to a rupture ;
and Harlay said very publicly that, if that should happen, I had laid before them a good
plan to copy from.
Bellefonds had so good an opinion of me, that he thought instances of devotion might
have some effect on me ; so he made the duchess La Yaliere think that she might be an
instrument in converting me ; and he brought a message from her, desiring me to come to the
grate to her. I was twice there ; and she told me the steps of her conversion, and of her
coming into that strict order of the Carmelites, with great humility, and much devotion.
Treville, one of the duchess of Orleans's admirers, was so struck with her death, that he had
lived in retreat from that time, and was but newly come to appear again. He had great
knowledge, with a true sense of religion ; he seemed to groan under many of the corruptions
of their church. He, and some others whom I knew of the Sorbon, chiefly Faur, Pique, and
Brayer, seemed to think that almost everything among them was out of order, and wished
for a regular reformation ; but their notion of the unity of the church kept them still in a
communion that they seemed uneasy in. And they said very freely, they wondered how
any one, that was once out of their communion, should desire to come back into it. They
were generally learned only in one point ; Faur was the best read in ecclesiastical history of
any man I saw among them ; and I never knew any of that church that understood the
Scriptures so well as Pique. They declared themselves for abolishing the papal authority,
and for reducing the pope to the old primacy again. They spoke to me of the bishops of
France, as men that were both vicious and ignorant ; they seemed now to be against the
pope ; but it was only because he was in the interests of the house of Austria ; for they
would declare him infallible the next day after he should turn to the interest of France. So
they expected no good, neither from the court nor from the clergy. I saw St. Amour, the
author of the journal of what passed at Rome, in the condemnation of the five propositions
of Jansenius. He seemed to be a sincere and worthy man, who had more judgment than
either quickness or learning. He told me, his whole life had been one campaign against the
Jesuits ; and spoke of them as the great plague of the church. He lamented also that sharp-
ness of style with which his friend Arnauld treated the protestants ; for which, he said, both
he and all his friends blamed him. I was carried by a bishop to the Jesuits at St. Anthony's.
There I saw P. Bourdaloue, esteemed one of the greatest preachers of the age, and one of the
honours of his order. He was a man of a sweet temper, not at all violent against protestants ; j
on the contrary, he believed good men among them might be saved, which was a pitch of j
* The reason for his being well received by the French belief that the doctor was influential with the discon-
tnonarch, whilst Mr. Montague was treated but coolly, tented party in England ; and Mr. Montague had required ;
was considered, by the earl of Dartmouth, to arise from money, which was then not very abundant in the French
our author having flattered Louis in his work, "The coffers. — Dalrymple's Memoirs, Appendix, 80 ; Oxford {
History of the Rights of Princes ;" but lord Preston, our ed. of this work,
then ambassador at Paris, thought it proceeded from a
OF KING CHARLES II, SCO
charity that I had never observed in any of the learned of that communion. I was also once
with P. de la Chaise, the king's confessor, who was a dry man. He told me how great a
man they would make me, if I would come over to them.
This was my acquaintance on the popish side. I say little of the protestants. They
came all to rne ; so I was well known among them. The method that carried over the men
of the finest parts among them to popery was this : they brought themselves to doubt of the
whole Christian religion ; when that was once done, it seemed a more indifferent thing of
what side, or form, they continued to be outwardly. The base practices of buying many
over with pensions, and of driving others over with perpetual ill usage, and acts of the
highest injustice and violence, and the vile artifices in bringing on and carrying so many pro-
cesses against most of their churches, ai not comprehended within the edict of Nantes, were
a reproach both to the greatness of their king and to the justice of their courts. Many new
edicts were coming out every day against them, which contradicted the edict of Nantes in
the most express words possible ; and yet to all these a strange clause was added, that the
king did not intend by them to recal, nor to go against any article of the edict of Nantes,
which he would maintain inviolable. I knew Spanheim particularly, who was envoy from
the elector of Brandenburg, who is the greatest critic of the age in all ancient learning, and
! is with that a very able man in all affairs, and a frank, cheerful man : qualities that do not
always meet in very learned men. After a few months' stay I returned, and found both the
king and duke were highly offended at the reception I had met with in France. They did
not know what to make of it, and fancied there was something hid under it.
The addresses had now gone round England. The grand juries made after that high pre-
sentments against all that were esteemed whigs and nonconformists. Great pains were taken
to find out more witnesses. Pardons and rewards were offered very freely. But none came
in ; which made it evident, that nothing was so well laid, or brought so near execution, as
the witnesses had deposed ; otherwise people would have been crowding in for pardons. All
people were apprehensive of very black designs, when they saw Jeffreys made lord chief
justice, who was scandalously vicious, and was drunk every day ; besides a drunkenness of
fury in his temper, that looked like enthusiasm. He did not consider the decencies of his
post ; nor did he so much as affect to seem impartial, as became a judge, but ran out upon
all occasions into declamations, that did not become the bar, much less the bench. He was
not learned in his profession ; and his eloquence, though viciously copious, yet was neither
correct nor agreeable*. Pemberton was turned out of the common pleas, and Jones was put
in his place ; and Jeffreys had three judges joined with him in the king's bench fit to sit
by him.
* George Jeffreys was a native of Acton, in Denbigh- whereof the accused is one, ' as the king himself; and to
shire ; passing through various grades of his education at minister the king's matters duly and truly after the course
Shrewsbury, Westminster, and the Inner Temple. He of law, and their cunning :' not to use their cunning and
was never regularly admitted to the degree of barrister ; craft to hide the truth and destroy the accused if they
but being at Kingston whilst the assizes were proceeding, can." — The Security of Englishmen's Lives, p. 72.
in the year 1666, the plague had so thinned the attendance Mr. Fox was wrong in remarking that Charles the
' if counsellors that he was persuaded to plead, and he Second appointed a fitting tool, when he raised Jeffreys to
1 ontinued to practice without interruption. He was soon the chief-justiceship; for it is a matter of history, that
I ;ifter chosen recorder of London, then a Welch judge, and, Charles really objected to him : once saying of him, that
in 1680, chief-justice of Chester. The following year he "He had neither learning, law, nor good manners, but
\. -as made a baronet, and, in 1683, chief-justice of the more impudence than ten carted whores." And the earl
King's bench, as mentioned in the text. The other pas- of Sunderland, writing to the earl of Rochester in March,
Niges of his life will be noticed in future pages. To ani- 1683, says, " I spoke to the king of Jeffreys, but I found
inadvert upon the brutality of Jeffreys is superfluous — him very much unresolved, and full of objections against
• very historian confesses that a more cruel minister of him, as that all the judges would be unsatisfied if he were
justice never scourged a people. For proofs of his rabid so advanced, and that he had not law enough." — Singer's
fury, both as a counsel and as a judge, the pages of the Clarendon Corr. i. 83.
State Trials may be referred to. Alluding to his conduct Lord Delamere, who was tried and acquitted before Jef-
u the bar, Somers says, " The law intends that every man freys, when chief-justice of Chester, on a charge of high trea-
^liall be exactly just in their several employments, relat- sou, founded upon suspicion of his intending to raise a rebel-
ing to the execution of justice. The serjeant of the king's lion in that county in aid of Monmouth, said, " Our chief-
• unsel, sir George Jeffreys, among the rest who prose- justice, sir George Jeffreys, behaves himself more like a
'i^te in the king's name, and are consulted in the forming jack-pudding than a judge. He was mighty witty upon the
•'ills of indictment, &c. these, if they would remember prisoners at the bar ; he was very full of his jokes upon
it, take an oath ' as well and truly to serve the people,' people that came to give evidence, not suffering them to
B B
370 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The king sent a new message to the city of London, requiring the common council to
deliver up their charter, threatening them, that otherwise he would order the judgment to
be entered. Upon this a great debate arose among them. Some were for their compliance,
that they might prevent the prejudice that would otherwise arise. On the other hand it was
said, that all freemen took an oath to maintain the rights of their corporation ; so that it
was perjury in them to betray these. They said it was better to leave the matter to the
king, than by any act of their own to deliver all up. So it was carried not to do it by a
few voices. Upon that the judgment was entered ; and the king seized on their liberties.
Many of the aldermen and other officers were turned out, and others were put in their places.
So they continued for some time a city without a charter, or a common council, and the king
named the magistrates. New charters were sent to most of the corporations, in which the
king reserved a power to himself, to turn out magistrates at his pleasure. This was done to
make all sure for a new election of parliament, which came now under consideration.
There was a clause in the act that repealed the triennial bill, which had passed in the
beginning of the troubles, whereby it was enacted that a parliament should meet every third
year ; but it had none of those enforcing clauses, in case it did not meet, that were in the
other act ; and the third year from the parliament of Oxford was now near an end. So,
since the king had declared he would govern according to law, and in particular that he
would have frequent parliaments, for which he had special thanks given him in many of the
addresses, it was proposed that a parliament should be called. A war seemed likely to breai
out in Flanders, where the Spaniards, how ill soever they were prepared for it, had declared
war, upon the French troops possessing themselves of Dixmuyd and Courtray. The prince
of Orange was pressing the States to go into a new war, rather than let Luxemburg be taken. .
But this was much opposed by the town of Amsterdam. The calling a new parliament here,
and England's engaging, as all believed they might do, would be an effectual restraint on
the French. But the king had consented to let Luxemburg fall into their hands ; so it was
apprehended that the parliament might fall upon that, which was the only point that could
occasion any difference between the king and them. It was also said, that it was fit all the
charters should be first brought in, and all the corporations new modelled, before the parlia-
ment should be called. The prerogative lawyers pretended that the prerogative was indeed
limited by negative and prohibiting words, but not by affirmative words. Lord Halifax told
me he pressed this all he could ; but there was a French interest working strongly against
it : so the thoughts of a parliament at that time were laid aside. The Scotch prisoners were
ordered to be sent down to be tried in Scotland. This was sad news to them ; for the boots
there are a severe torture. Baillie had reason to expect the worst usage : he was carried to
Newgate in the morning that lord Russel was tried, to see if he could be persuaded to be a
witness against him. Everything that could work on him was made use of, but all in vain :
so they were resolved to use him severely.
I passed slightly over the suspicions that were raised upon lord Essex's death, when I
mentioned that matter. This winter the business was brought to a trial. A boy and a girl
did report that they heard great crying in his lodgings, and that they saw a bloody razor
flung out at a window, which was taken up by a woman that came out of the house where
he was lodged. These children reported this confidently that very day, when they went to
their several homes : they were both about ten or twelve years old. The boy went back-
ward and forward in his story, sometimes affirming it, and at other times denying it ; but
his father had an office in the custom house : so it was thought he prevailed with him to
deny it in open court. But the girl stood firmly to her story. The simplicity of the chil-
dren, together with the ill opinion that was generally had of the court, inclined many to i
declare what they had to say in their own way and great parts, and made a great chancellor in the business of
method." He then proceeds to animadvert upon his that court. In mere private matters, lie was thought an
drunken habits and arbitrary conduct. — Lord Delamere'g able and upright judge, \vherever he sat ; but when the
Works, 142. See also Reresby's Memoirs. crown, or his party, were concerned, he was generally as
The earl of Dartmouth relates, that he has heard air J. Burnefc represents him." — Oxford ed. of this work.
Jekyl, master of the rolls, say, that Jeffreys had a good A very interesting and temperate " Life of Lord
knowledge of the law. The earl adds, " He had likewise Jeffreys" was published by Mr. Woolrych, in 1827.
OF KING CHARLES II. 371
believe this. As soon as his lady heard of it, she ordered a strict inquiry to be made about
it ; and sent what she found to me, to whom she had trusted all the messages, that had
passed between her lord and her, while he was in the Tower. When I perused all, I thought
there was not a colour to found any prosecution on ; which she would have done with all
possible zeal, if she had found any appearances of truth in the matter. Lord Essex had got
into an odd set of extraordinary principles ; and in particular he thought a man was the
master of his own life ; and seemed to approve of what his wife's great grandfather, the earl
of Northumberland, did, who shot himself in the Tower after he was arraigned. He had also
very black fits of the spleen. But at that time one Braddon, whom I had known for some
years for an honest but enthusiastical man, hearing of these stories, resolved to carry the
matter as far as it would go ; and he had picked up a great variety of little circumstances,
all which laid together seemed to him so convincing, that he thought he was bound to pro-
secute the matter. I desired him to come no more near me, since he was so positive. He
talked of the matter so publicly, that he was taken up for spreading false news, to alienate
people's hearts from the king. He was tried upon it. Both the children owned that they
had reported the matter as he had talked it ; the boy saying then that it was a lie. Braddon
had desired the boy to set it all under his hand, though with that he charged him to write
nothing but the truth. This was called a suborning ; and he was fined for it in 2000/ .*
But I go next to a trial of more importance.
Howard was the only evidence against the prisoners of better rank ; for they had no com-
munication with the other witnesses, So other things were to be found out as supplements
to support it. Sidney was next brought to his trial. A jury was returned, consisting for
most part of very mean persons. Men's pulses were tried beforehand, to see how tractable
they would be. One Parry, a violent man, guilty of several murders, was not only par-
doned, but was now made a justice of peace, for his officious meddling and violence. He told
one of the duke's servants, thinking that such a one was certainly of their party, that he had
sent in a great many names of jurors, who were sure men. That person told me this him-
self. Sidney excepted to their not being freeholders. But Jeffreys said that had been over-
ruled in lord Russel's case ; and therefore he overruled it ; and would not so much as suffer
Sidney to read the statute. This was one of his bold strains. Lord Russel was tried at the
Old Bailey, where the jury consisted of Londoners ; and there indeed the contrary practice
had prevailed upon the reason before mentioned ; for the merchants are supposed to be rich.
But this trial was in Middlesex, where the contrary practice had not prevailed ; for in a
county a man who is no freeholder is supposed to be poor. But Jeffreys said, on another
occasion, why might not they make precedents to the succeeding times, as well as those who
had gone before them had made precedents for them ? The witnesses of the other parts of
the plot were now brought out again to make a show ; for they knew nothing of Sidney :
only they said, that they had heard of a council of six, and that he was one of them. Yet
even in that they contradicted one another : Rumsey swearing that he had it from West,
and West swearing that he had it from him : which was not observed till the trial came out.
If it had been observed sooner, perhaps Jeffreys would have ordered it to be struck out ; as
he did all that Sidney had objected upon the point of the jury, because they were not free-
holders. Howard gave his evidence, with a preface that had become a pleader better than a
witness. He observed the uniformity of truth, and that all the parts of his evidence and
theirs met together as two tallies. After this a book was produced, which Sidney had been
* Braddon published a "Narrative," which is worth (1762), or lately was, in the possession of a gentleman at
perusing ; as also are the "Letters'" and " Life " of the Chelsea, who made no scruple of showing it to particular
nobleman to which it relates, which are not at all rare persons. In this book appears a minute of 500/. paid to
s. Borniui, the earl's valet, during his lord's confinement in
very curious circumstance, mentioned by the editor the Tower. This Bornini was never heard of after the
' " Grey's Debates," seems to confirm the suspicion that earl's deatk." Rapin sustains the suspicion of this murder
earl was murdered by his servant, instigated by the by saying, "I am very certain the last-earl of Essex (son
ing powers. "Harry Guy was then secretary to the of him who died in the Tower,) was of opinion his father
.iMu-y, and a sure agent to the king or duke, if any was murdered, and have heard him say so ; and that a
i'l'ty work was to be done. He paid and dispersed the secret- French footman, who then served his father, was strongly
rvice money ; of which payments be kept a regular suspected, and disappeared immediately after the fact."—
count in a book which is still extant, and now is Kapiu's Hist. ii. 729; Grey's Debates, viii. 343.
BB2
372 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
writing, and wliich \vas found in his cioset, in answer to Filmer's book entitled
by whicli Filmer asserted the divine right of monarchy, upon the eldest son's succeeding to
the authority of the father. It was a book of some name, but so poorly written, that it was
somewhat strange that Sidney bestowed so much pains in answering it. In this answer he
had asserted, that princes had their power from the people with restrictions and limitations ;
and that they were liable to the justice of the people, if they abused their power to the pre-
judice of the subjects, and against established laws. This by an innuendo was said to be an
evidence to prove that he was in a plot against the king's life. And it was insisted on, that
this ought to stand as a second witness. The earls of Clare, Anglesey, and some others with
myself, deposed what lord Howard had said, denying there was any plot. Blake, a draper,
deposed, that having asked him when he was to have his pardon, he answered, not till the
drudgery of swearing was over. Howard had also gone to Sidney's house, and had assured
his servants that there was nothing against him, and had desired them to bring his goods to
his own house. Sidney showed how improbable it was that Howard, who could not raise
five men, and had not five shillings to pay them, should be taken into such consultations. As
for the book, it was not proved to be written by him ; for it was an adjudged case in capital
matters, that a similitude of hands was not a legal proof, though it was in civil matters.
That whatever was in those papers, they were his own private thoughts and speculations of
government, never communicated to any. It was also evident that the book had been
written some years ago ; so that could not be pretended to be a proof of a late plot. The
book was not finished, so it could not be known how it would end. A man writing against
atheism, who sets out the strength of it, if he does not finish his answer, could not be con-
cluded an atheist because there was such a chapter in his book. Jeffreys interrupted him
often very rudely, probably to put him in a passion, to which he was subject ; but he main-
tained his temper to admiration. Finch aggravated the matter of the book, as a proof of
his intentions, pretending it was an overt-act ; for he said, " scribere est ayera" Jeffreys
delivered it as law, and said, that all the judges were of the same mind : that if there were
two witnesses, the one to the treason, the other only to a circumstance, such as the buying
a knife, these made the two witnesses, which the statute required in cases of treason. In
conclusion Sidney was cast. And some days after he was brought to court to receive sen-
tence. He then went over his objections to the evidence against him, in which judge
Withins interrupted him, and by a strange indecency gave him the lie in open court ; but he
bore it patiently. He sent to lord Halifax, who was his nephew by marriage, a paper to be
laid before the king, containing the main points of his defence ; upon which he appealed to
the king, and desired he would review the whole matter. Jeffreys upon that, in his furious
way, said, either Sidney must die, or he must die. His execution was respited for three
weeks, the trial being universally cried out on, as a piece of most enormous injustice. When
he saw the warrant of his execution, he expressed no concern at it. And the change that
was now in his temper, amazed all that went to him. He told the sheriffs that brought it,
he would not expostulate upon anything on his own account ; (for the world was now
nothing to him ;) but he desired they would consider how guilty they were of his blood, who
had not returned a fair jury, but one packed, and as they were directed by the king's soli-
citor. He spoke this to them, not for his own sake, but for their sake. One of the sheriffs
was struck with this, and wept. He told it to a person, from whom Tillotson had it, who
told it to me. Sidney wrote a long vindication of himself (which I read), and summed up |
the substance of it in a paper that he gave the sheriffs ; but, suspecting they might suppress I
it, he gave a copy of it to a friend. It was a fortnight before it was printed, though we had j
all the speeches of those who died for the popish plot printed the very next day. But when :
it was understood that written copies of Sidney"^ speech were going about, it was also printed.
In it he showed his innocence ; that lord Howard was an infamous person, and that no credit
was due to him ; yet he did not deny the matter he swore against him. As for his book, I
he showed what reason all princes had to abhor Filmer's maxims ; for if primogeniture from j
Noah was the ground settled by God for monarchy, then all the princes now in the world
were usurpers : none claiming by that pedigree, and this primogeniture being only in one !
person. He said, since God did not now by any declaration of his will, as of old by pro-
,
OF KING CHARLES li.
hets, mark out such or such persona for princes, they could have no titie, out what was
founded on law and compact ; and this was that in which the difference lay between lawful
princes and usurpers. If possession was a donation from God (which Filmer had substituted
to the conceit of primogeniture), then every prosperous usurper had a good right. He con-
cluded with a prayer, that the nation might be preserved from idolatry and tyranny. And
he said, he rejoiced that he suffered for the old cause, in which he was so early engaged.
These last words furnished much matter to the scribblers of that time. In his imprisonment
he sent for some independent preachers, and expressed to them a deep remorse for his past
sins, and great confidence in the mercies of God. And indeed he met death with an uncon-
cernedness, that became one who had set up Marcus Brutus for his pattern. He was but a
very few minutes on the scaffold at Tower Hill : he spoke little, and prayed very short ; and
his head was cut off at one blow*.
At this time an accident happened that surprised both the court and city, and which, if
well managed, might probably have produced great effects. The duke of Monmouth had
lurked in England all this summer, and was then designing to go beyond sea, and to engage
in the Spanish service. The king still loved him passionately. Lord Halifax, seeing matters
run so much further than he apprehended, thought that nothing could stop that so effectually,
as the bringing the duke of Monmouth again into favour. That duke wrote to the king
several letters, penned with an extraordinary force. Lord Halifax drew them all, as he him-
self told me, and showed me his own draughts of them. By these the king was mollified,
and resolved to restore him again to his favour. It stuck much at the confession that he
was to make. The king promised that no use should be made of it ; but he stood on it, that
he must tell him the whole truth of the matter. Upon which he consented to satisfy the
king. But he would say nothing to the duke, more than to ask his pardon in a general
compliment. Lord Halifax had pressed him earnestly upon his first appearance to be silent,
and for a while to bear the censures of the town. The last day of the term was very near,
in which all the prisoners were to be discharged according to the Habeas Corpus act. That
would show he had discovered nothing to their prejudice. So that all discourses concerning
his confession, and discoveries, would vanish in a few days. And if he had followed this,
probably it would have given a great turn to affairs. The king spoke nothing of the recon-
ciliation to the duke of York, till the day before it was to be done. He was much struck
with it ; but the king was positive. Yet the duke's creatures in the cabinet council moved,
that for form's sake he should be for some days put in the Tower. The king cut that off by
saying, he had promised to pardon him. The duke of Monmouth, as was agreed, made an
humble confession of his offences in general words to the king ; and made a compliment to
the duke, and begged that he would intercede with the king to pardon him. The king
received him with a fondness that confounded all the duke's party. He used him more ten-
derly than he had done formerly. The duke put on an outward appearance of being very
well pleased with it. The king said next day, that " James (for so he called him) had
confirmed all that Howard had sworn." This was carried to the duke of Monmouth, who
denied he had ever said any such thing ; adding, that lord Howard was a liar and a rogue.
And this was set round the town by his creatures, who run with it from coffee-house to
coffee-house. The next gazette mentioned that the king had pardoned him upon his con-
fessing the late plot. Lord Halifax pressed the duke of Monmouth to pass that over, and
to impute it to the importunity of his enemies, and to the king's easiness ; but he could not
prevail. Yet he said little till his pardon was past : but then he openly denied that he had
confessed the plot. By that he engaged himself in a plain contradiction to what the king
had said. Some were brought by the duke to the king, who confirmed they had heard the
duke of Monmouth say, that he had not confessed the plot. Upon which the king ordered
him to give a confession of it under his hand. Lord Halifax pressed him to write a letter
to the king, acknowledging he had confessed the plot. Plot was a general word, that might
•signify as much, or little, as a man pleased. They had certainly dangerous consultations among
them which might be well called plots. He said, the service he might do his friends by such a
general letter, and by his gaining the king's heart upon it, would quickly balance the seeming
* The State Trials fully confirm Burnct's statements respecting this, and the other law-cloaked murders of this period
374 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
prejudice that such a general acknowledgment would bring them under, which could do
them no hurt. Upon that he got him to write a letter to that purpose, which he carried to
the king. And the king was satisfied. But the duke of Monmouth, whether of himself, or
upon the suggestion of others, reflected on what he had done, and thought it a base thing.
Though this was no evidence, yet he thought it might have an influence on juries, to make
them believe everything that might be sworn by other witnesses, when from his confession
they were possessed with a general belief of the plot. So he went full of uneasiness to the
king, and desired he might have his letter again, in the terms of an agony like despair. The
king gave it back, but pressed him vehemently to comply with his desire ; and among other
things the duke of Monmouth said, that the king used this expression, " If you do not yield
in this you will ruin me." Yet he was firm. So the king forbid him the court, and spoke
of him more severely than he had ever done formerly. He was upon this more valued and
trusted by his own party than ever. After some days he went beyond sea ; and after a short
concealment he appeared publicly in Holland, and was treated by the prince of Orange with
a very particular respect.
The prince had come for a few days to England after the Oxford parliament, and had
much private discourse with the king at Windsor. The king assured him that he would
keep things quiet, and not give way to the duke's eagerness, as long as he lived ; and added,
he was confident, whenever the duke should come to reign, he would be so restless and
violent, that he could not hold it four years to an end. This I had from the prince's own
mouth*. Another passage was told me by the earl of Portland. The king showed the
prince one of his seals, and told him, that whatever he might write to him, if the letter was
not sealed with that seal, he was to look on it as only drawn from him by importunity. The
reason for which I mention that in this place is, because, though the king wrote some terrible
letters to the prince against the countenance he gave to the duke of Monmouth, yet they
were not sealed with that seal ; from which the prince inferred, that the king had a mind
that he should keep him about him, and use him well. And the king gave orders, that in
all the entries that were made in the council books of this whole business, nothing should be
left on record that could blemish him.
Hampden was now the only man of the six that was left. Yet there was nothing but
Howard's evidence against him, without so much as any circumstance to support it. So
since two witnesses were necessary to treason, whereas one was enough for a misdemeanor,
he was indicted of a misdemeanor, though the crime was either treason or nothing. Jeffreys,
upon Howard's evidence, charged the jury to bring him in guilty ; otherwise, he told them,
they would discredit all that had been done before. So they brought him in guilty. And
the court set 40,000/. fine on him, the most extravagant fine that had ever been set for a
misdemeanor in that court. It amounted indeed to an imprisonment for lifet.
Some time in the spring, eighty-four, Halloway was taken in the West Indies, and sent
over. He was under an outlawry for treason. The attorney-general offered him a trial, if
he desired it. But he was prevailed on, by the hope of a pardon, to submit and confess all
he knew. He said, he was drawn into some meetings, in which they consulted how to raise
an insurrection ; and that he and two more had undertaken to manage a design for seizing
on Bristol, with the help of some that were to come to them from Taunton ; but, he added,
that they had never made any progress in it. He said, at their meetings in London, Rumsey
and West were often talking of lopping the king and the duke ; but that he had never
entered into any discourse with them upon that subject ; and he did not believe that there
were above five persons that approved of it. These were West, Rumsey, Rumbold, and his
brother ; the fifth person is not named in the printed relation. Some said it was Ferguson ;
others said it was Goodenough. Halloway was thought by the court not to be sincere in
his confession And so, since what he had acknowledged made himself very guilty, he was
executed, and died with a firm constancy. He showed great presence of mind. He observed
* A statement by sir Richard Bulstrode, who had been resolved to go abroad no more; but, when I am dead and
the British resident at Brussels for some years, says, that gone, I know not what my brother \vill do. I am much
Charles the Second, when in familiar conversation with afraid that when he comes to the crown he will be obliged
him, said he admired the character'of the Flemish people ; to travel again." — Sir Richard Bulstrode's Memoirs, 424<
" but," added the king, " I am weary of travelling ; I am f See State Trials.
OF KING CHARLES II. 375
the partiality that was evident in managing this plot, different from what had appeared in
managing the popish plot. The same men, who were called rogues when they swore against
papists, were looked on as honest men, when they turned their evidence against protestants.
In all his answers to the sheriffs, who, at the place of execution, troubled him with many
impertinent questions, he answered them with so much life, and yet with so much temper,
that it appeared he was no ordinary man. His speech was suppressed for some days, but it
broke out at last. In it he expressed a deep sense of religion. His prayer was an excellent
composure. The credit of the Rye-plot received a great blow by his confession. All that
discourse about an insurrection, in which the day was said to be set, appeared now to be a
fiction, since Bristol had been so little taken care of, that three persons had only undertaken
to dispose people to that design, but had not yet let it out to any of them. So that it was
plain that, after all the story they had made of the plot, it had gone no further than that a
company of seditious and inconsiderable persons were framing among themselves some trea-
sonable schemes that were never likely to come tb anything ; and that Rumsey and West
had pushed on the execrable design of the assassination ; in which, though there were few
that agreed to it, yet too many had heard it from them, who were both so foolish and so
wicked as not to discover them.
But if the court lost much by the death of Halloway, whom they had brought from the
West Indies, they lost much more by their proceedings against sir Thomas Armstrong, who
was surprised at Leyden, by virtue of a warrant, that Chudleigh, the king's envoy, had
obtained from the States, for seizing on such as should fly out of England on the account of
the plot. So the scout at Leyden, for 5,000 gilders, seized on him ; and delivered him to
Chudleigh, who sent him over in great haste. Armstrong in that confusion forgot to claim
that he was a native of the States : for he was born at Nimeguen : and that would have
obliged the Dutch to have protected him, as one of their natural born subjects. He was
trusted in every thing by the duke of Monmouth : and he having led a very vicious life, the
court hoped that he, not being able to bear the thoughts of dying, would discover every thing.
He shewed such a dejection of mind, while he was concealing himself before he escaped out
of England, that Hampden, who saw him at that time, told me, he believed he would cer-
tainly do any thing that would save his life. Yet all were disappointed in him ; for when
he was examined before the council, he said, he knew of no plot but the popish plot : he
desired he might have a fair trial for his life ; that was all he asked. He was loaded with
irons ; though that was not ordinary for a man who had served in such posts, as to be lieu-
tenant of the first troop of guards, and gentleman of the horse to the king. There was
nothing against him, but what Rumsey and Shepherd had sworn of the discourses at Shep-
herd's, for which lord Russel had suffered. But by this time the credit of the witnesses was
so blasted, that it seems the court was afraid that juries would not now be so easy as they
had been. The thing that Rumsey had sworn against him seemed not very credible ; for
he swore that at the first meeting, Armstrong undertook to go and view the guards, in order
to the seizing them ; and that upon a view he said at a second meeting, that the thing was
very feasible. But Armstrong, who had commanded the guards so long, knew every thing
that related to them so well, that without such a transient view, he could of the sudden have
answered every thing relating to them. The court had a mind to proceed in a summary
way with him, that he should by the hurry of it be driven to saying any thing that could
save him. He was now in an outlawry ; but though the statute was express, that if an out-
lawed person came in at any time within the year, he was to have a trial, notwithstanding
his outlawry : it was pretended in answer to this, that he not coming in, but being taken,
had not a right to the benefit of the statute. But there were several months of the year yet
to run : and since a trial was a demand founded on natural justice, he insisted on it. And
when he was brought to the king's bench bar, and asked what he had to say why sentence
should not be executed, he claimed the benefit of the statute. He said, he had yet, when he
was taken, several months to deliberate upon his coming in : and the seizing on him before
his time was out, ought not to bar him a right that the law gave him. He also mentioned
Hal lo way, to whom a trial was offered the former term : and, since it was a point of law,
he desired counsel might be heard to argue it. Jeffreys rejected all this : he said, the king
376 THE HISTORY OF THE RE/GN
might either offer a trial or not, as he saw cause ; and he refused to hear counsel : which
being demanded upon a point of law, the denying it was thought a very impudent piece of
injustice. And when Armstrong insisted that he asked nothing but the law, Jeffreys in his
brutal way said, he should have it to the full ; and so ordered his execution within six days.
And the law was executed on him with the utmost rigour ; for he was carried to Tyburn on
a sledge, and was quartered, and his quarters were set up. His carriage, during his impri-
sonment and at his death, was far beyond what could have been imagined. He turned
himself wholly to the thoughts of God, and of another state ; and was praying continually.
He rejoiced that he was brought to die in such a manner. He said, it was scarcely possible
for him to have been awakened into a due sense of his sins by any other method. His pride
and his resentments were then so entirely conquered, that one who saw him said to me, that
it was not easy to think it was the same person whom he had known formerly. He
received the sacrament ; and died in so good a temper, and with so much quiet in his mind,
and so serene a deportment, that we have scarcely known in our time a more eminent instance
of the grace and mercy of God. Armstrong in his last paper denied, that he ever knew of
any design against the king's or the duke's life, or was in any plot against the government.
There were no remarks published on his speech, which it was believed the court ordered j
for they saw how much ground they had lost by this stretch of law, and how little they had
gained by his death. One passage in it was the occasion of their ordering no such reflections
to be made on it, as had been made on the other speeches. The king had published a story
all about the court, and had told it to the foreign ministers, as the reason of this extreme
severity against Armstrong : he said, that he was sent over by Cromwell to murder him
beyond sea, and that he was warned of it., and challenged him on it ; and that upon his con-
fessing it, he had promised him never to speak of it any more, as long as he lived. So the
king, counting him now dead in law, thought he was free from that promise. Armstrong
took this heavily : and in one paper which I saw, written in his own hand, the resentments
upon it were sharper than I thought became a dying penitent. So, when that was repre-
sented to him, he changed it : and in the paper he gave the sheriffs, he had softened it much.
But yet he shewed the falsehood of that report ; for he never went beyond sea but once, sent
by the earl of Oxford, and some other cavaliers, with a considerable present to the king in
money, which he delivered ; and brought back letters of thanks from the king to those who
made the present. But Cromwell having a hint of this clapped him up in prison, where he
was kept almost a year : and upon the merit of that service, he was made a captain of horse
soon after the restoration *. When Jeffreys came to the king at Windsor, soon after this
trial, the king took a ring of good value from his finger, and gave it him for these services :
the ring upon that was called his " blood stone." The king gave him one advice, which was
somewhat extraordinary from a king to a judge ; but it was not the less necessary to him.
The king said, it was a hot summer, and he was going the circuit ; he therefore desired
he would not drink too much. With this I leave the affairs of England, to look towards
Scotland.
Great pains were taken there to make a further discovery of the negotiation between the
English and the Scots. A gentleman, who had been at Both well- bridge, was sent over by
the Cargillites to some of their friends in Holland : and he carried with him some letters
written in an odd cant. He was seized at Newcastle together with his letters ; and was so
frightened, that he was easily managed to pretend to discover any thing that was suggested
to him : but he had never been at London, so he could speak of that negotiation but upon
hearsay. His story was so ill laid together, that the court was ashamed to make any use of
it : but it turned heavily on himself, for he went mad upon it. Two others came in, and
charged sir Hugh Campbell, of Cesnock, an ancient gentleman of a good estate, that he had
set on the rebellion of Bothwell-bridge, and had chid them for deserting it. Upon this he
* When sir Thomas Armstrong saw no reasoning was " I am clamour proof." After the revolution, an effort
so strong, no law so explicit, but that in their despite his was made to obtain 5,000/. for the widow and children of
life was determined to be taken away, he denounced Jef- sir Thomas, out of the estates of his persecutors ; but the
fi eys with the appalling words — " My blood be upon your bill was lost, and some years elapsed before even his
head!" " Let it," said the hardened dictator of injustice, attainder was reversed. — Woolrych's Life of Jeffreys.
OF KING CHARLES II. 577
was brought to a trial. In Scotland the law allows of an exculpation, by which the prisoner
is suffered, before his trial, to prove the thing to be impossible. This was prayed by that
gentleman, who had full proofs of his 'being elsewhere, and at a great distance from the place,
at that time. But that is a favour which the court may grant, or not : so that was denied
him. The first witness that was examined at his trial began with a general story : and when
he came to that, in which the prisoner was concerned, Campbell charged him to look him full
in the face, and to consider well what he was to say of him ; for he took God to witness, he
never saw his face before, as far as he could remember. Upon that the witness was struck,
and stopped ; and said, he could say nothing of him. The earl of Perth was then justice-
general, and offered to lead him into his story. But the jury stopped that; and said, that
he upon his oath had declared he knew nothing of the prisoner, and that after that they
could have no regard to any thing that he might say. Upon which some sharp words passed
between lord Perth and them, in which he shewed how ready he was to sacrifice justice and
innocent blood to his ambition. And that was yet grosser in this case, because his brother
was promised that gentleman's estate, when it should be confiscated. The second witness
said nothing, but seemed confounded : so Campbell was acquitted by the jury, but was still
kept in prison. These witnesses were again examined before the council : and they adhered
to their first deposition against the prisoner. The law in Scotland is very severe against
false witnesses, and treats them as felons : but the government there would not discourage
such practices ; of which, when they should be more lucky, they intended to make good use.
The circuits went round the country, as was directed by the proclamation of the former year.
Those who were most guilty compounded the matter, and paid liberally to a creature of
the lord chancellor's, that their names might be left out of the citations. Others took the
test, and that freed them from all further trouble. They said openly, that it was against
their conscience ; but they saw they could not live in Scotland unless they took it. Others
observed, that the severity which the presbyterians formerly had used, forcing all people to
take their covenant, was now returned back on them in this test, that they were thus forced
to take.
In the mean while a great breach was formed, and appeared on all occasions, between the
earls of Aberdeen and Queensbury. The latter was very exact in his payments, both of the
soldiers and of the pensions ; so his party became the strongest. Lord Aberdeen's method
was this : he wrote up letters to the duke of all affairs, and offered expedients, which he pre-
tended were concerted at Edinburgh ; and sent with them the draughts of such letters as he
desired should be sent down from the king. But these expedients were not concerted, as he
said ; they were only his own conceits. Lord Queensbury, offended with this, let the duke
understand how he had been deceived. So an order was sent down, that all expedients
should be concerted by a junto, consisting of lord Queensbury's creatures. Lord Aberdeen
saw that by this he came to signify little : and seeing he was losing ground at court, he
intended to recover himself a little with the people. So he resolved for the future to keep
to the law, and not to go beyond it. And such was the fury of that time, that this was
called moderation and popularity. The churches were now all well kept by the men ; but
their wives not being named in the act of parliament, none of them went to church. The
matter was laid before the council ; and a debate arose upon it, whether man and wife
making one person in law, husbands should not be fined for their wives' offence, as well as
for their own. Lord Aberdeen stood upon this, that the act did not mention the wives : it
uid indeed make the husbands liable to a fine, if their wives went to conventicles ; for they
1 ad it in their power to restrain them : and since the law provided in the one case, that the
liusband should suffer for his wife's fault, but had made no provision in the other case, as
to their going to church, he thought the fining them on that account could not be legally
<lone. Lord Queensbury was for every thing that would bring money into the treasury : so,
ince in those parts, the ladies had for many years withdrawn wholly from the churches, he
)ckoned the setting fines on their husbands to the rigour, would make all the estates of the
mntry be at mercy ; for the selling them outright would not have answered this demand,
T the offences of so many years. The earl of Perth struck in with this, and seemed to set
t up for a maxim, that the presbyterians could not be governed, but with the extremity of
378 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
rigour ; and that they were irreconcilable enemies to the king and the duke, and that there-
fore they ought to be extirpated. The ministry in Scotland being thus divided, they referred
the decision of the point to the king : and lord Perth came up to have his resolution upon it.
The king determined against the ladies, which was thought very indecent ; for in dubious
cases the nobleness of a prince's temper should always turn him to the merciful side. This
was the less expected from the king, who had all his life time expressed as great a neglect of
women's consciences, as regard for their persons.
But to do him right, he was determined to it by the duke ; who since the breaking out of
the plot had got the whole management of affairs, English as well as Scotch, into his hands.
Scotland was so entirely in his dependance, that the king would seldom ask what the papers
imported, which the duke brought to be signed by him. In England, the application and
dependance was visibly on the duke. The king had scarcely company about him to entertain
him, when the duke's levees and couchees were so crowded, that the anti-chambers were full.
The king walked about with a small train of the necessary attendants, when the duke had a
vast following : which drew a lively reflection from Waller, the celebrated wit *. He said,
the house of commons had resolved that the duke should not reign after the king's death :
~ but the king in opposition to them was resolved he should reign even during his life. The
breach grew to that height between lord Aberdeen and lord Queensbury, that both were
called up to give an account of it. It ended in dismissing lord Aberdeen, and making lord
Perth chancellor, to which he had been long aspiring in a most indecent manner. He saw
into the duke's temper, that his spirit was turned to an unrelenting severity : for this had
appeared very indecently in Scotland.
When any are to be struck in the boots, it is done in the presence of the council ; and
upon that occasion almost all offer to run away. The sight is so dreadful, that without an
order restraining such a number to stay, the board would be forsaken. But the duke, while
he had been in Scotland, was so far from withdrawing, that he looked on all the while with
an unmoved indifference, and with an attention, as if he had been to look on some curious
experiment. This gave a terrible idea of him to all that observed it, as of a man that had no
bowels nor humanity in him. Lord Perth, observing this, resolved to let him see how well
qualified he was to be an inquisitor-general. The rule about the boots in Scotland was, that
upon one witness, and presumptions, both together, the question might be given ; but it was
never known to be twice given, or that any other species of torture, besides the boots, might
be used at pleasure. In the court of inquisition they do upon suspicion, or if a man refuses
to answer upon oath, as he is ^required, give him the torture ; and repeat it, or vary it, as
often as they think fit; and do not give over till they have got out of their mangled
prisoners, all that they have a mind to know from them.
This lord Perth resolved to make his pattern, and was a little too early in letting the
world see, what a government we were to expect, under the influence of a prince of that reli-
gion. So, upon his going to Scotland, one Spence, who was a servant of lord Argyle's, and
was taken up at London, only upon suspicion, and sent down to Scotland, was required to
take an oath, to answer all the questions that should be put to him. This was done in direct
contradiction to an express law, against obliging men to swear, that they will answer super
inquirendis. Spence likewise said, that he himself might be concerned in what he might
know : and it was against a very universal law, that excused all men from swearing against
themselves, to force him to take such an oath. So he was struck in the boots, and continued
firm in his refusal. Then a new species of torture was invented : he was kept from sleep
eight or nine nights. They grew weary of managing this. So a third species was invented :
little screws of steel were made use of, that screwed the thumbs with so exquisite a torment,
that he sunk under this ; for lord Perth told him, they would screw every joint of his whole
body, one after another, till he took the oath. Yet such was the firmness and fidelity of
this poor man, that even in that extremity he capitulated, that no new questions should be
put to him, but those already agreed on ; and that he should not be obliged to be a witness
against any person, and that he himself should be pardoned ; so all he could tell them was,
* In his " Maul's Tragedy." See his works, edition 1698 and preface.
OF KJNG CHARLES II. 379
who were lord Argyle's correspondents. The chief of them was Holmes at London, to whom
lord Argyle wrote in a cypher, that had a peculiar curiosity in it : a double key was neces-
sary ; the one was, to shew the way of placing the words or cypher, in an order very different
from that in which they lay in the paper : the other was, the key of the cyphers themselves,
which was found among Holmes's papers, when he absconded. Spence knew only the first
of these : but he putting all in its true order, then by the other key they were deci-
phered. In these it appeared, what Argyle had demanded, and what he undertook to do
upon the granting his demands : but none of his letters spoke any thing of any agreement
then made *.
When the torture had this effect on Spence, they offered the same oath to Carstairs ; and,
upon his refusing to take it, they put his thumbs in the screws, and drew them so hard,
that as they put him to extreme torture, so they could not unscrew them, till the smith that
made them was brought with his tools to take them off. So he confessed all he knew,
which amounted to little more than some discourses of taking off the duke ; to which he
said that he answered, his principles could not come up to that : yet in this he, who was a
preacher among them, was highly to blame, for not revealing such black propositions ; though
it cannot be denied, but that it is a hard thing to discover any thing that is said in confi-
dence : and therefore I saved myself out of those difficulties, by saying to all my friends, that
I would not be involved in any such confidence ; for as long as I thought our circumstances
were such, that resistance was not lawful, I thought the concealing any design in order to it,
was likewise unlawful : and by this means I had preserved myself. But Carstairs had at
this time some secrets of great consequence from Holland, trusted to him by Fagel, of which
they had no suspicion ; and so they asked him no questions about them. Yet Fagel saw by
that, as he himself told me, how faithful Carstairs was, since he could have saved himself
from torture, and merited highly, if he had discovered them. And this was the foundation
of his favour with the prince of Orange, and of the great confidence he put in him to his
death f.
Upon what was thus screwed out of these two persons, the earl of Tarras, who had
married the duchess of Monmouth's elder sister, and six or seven gentlemen of quality,
were clapped up. The ministers of state were still most earnestly set on Baillie's destruc-
tion ; though he was now in so languishing a state, occasioned chiefly by the bad usage he
met with in prison, that if his death would have satisfied the malice of the court, that seemed
to be very near : but they knew how acceptable a sacrifice his dying in a more violent way
would prove. So they continued even in that extremity to use him barbarously. They
were also trying what could be drawn from those gentlemen against him. Tarras had
married his niece, who was his second wife. So they concluded that their confidence was
entire. Baillie's illness increased daily ; and his wife prayed for leave to attend on him ; and,
if they feared an escape, she was willing to be put in irons : but that was denied. Nor
would they suffer his daughter, a child of twelve years old, to attend him, even when he was
go low, that it was not probable he could live many weeks, his legs being much swelled.
But upon these examinations a new method of proceeding against him was taken. An accu-
sation was sent him, not in the form of an indictment, nor grounded on any law, but on a
letter of the king's, in which he charged him not only for a conspiracy to raise rebellion, but
for being engaged in the Rye-plot ; of all which he was now required to purge himself by
oath, otherwise the council would hold him guilty of it, and proceed accordingly. He was
not, as they said, now in a criminal court upon his life, but before the council, who did only
fine and imprison. It was to no purpose for him to say, that by no law, unless it was in a
court of inquisition, a man could be required to swear against himself, the temptation t«
* Lord Fountainhall in his " Diary," under the date of the castle, and was recommended fora remission." This
August 22, 1G84, says, " Mr. William Spence to avoid work affords very valuable information relative to public
further torture, deciphered Argyle's letters, and agrees with affairs during the era of Burnet, and fully sustains his
Holmes's -declaration, that Argyle and Loudon, Dalrymple statements.
t'f Stanis, sir John Cochrane and others, had formed a ^ This was Mr. William Carstairs, son of a presby-
'lesign to raise a rebellion in Scotland ; and that there terian minister at Glasgow. — Fountainhall's Diary, and
were three keys to the said letters, whereof Mrs. Carstairs M'Cormick's " Life of Carstairs."
had two, and Holmes a third, &c. Spence got the liberty
380 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
perjury being so strong, when self-preservation was in the case, that ifc seemed against all law
and religion to lay such a snare in a man's way. But to answer all this, it was pretended he
was not now on his life, and that whatsoever he confessed was not to be made use of against
his life ; as if the ruin of his family, which consisted of nine children, and perpetual imprison-
ment, were not more terrible, especially to one so near his end as he was, than death itself.
But he had to do with inexorable men : so he was required to take this oath within two
days. And by that time, he not being able to appear before the council, a committee of
council was sent to tender him the oath, and to take his examination. He told them, he was
not able to speak by reason of the low state of his health, which appeared very evidently to
them : for he had almost died while they were with him. He in general protested his inno-
cence, and his abhorrence of all designs against the king's or the duke's life : for the other
interrogatories, he desired they might be left with him, and he would consider them. They
persisted to require him to take his oath : but he as firmly refused it. So, upon their report,
the council construed this refusal to be a confession, and fined him 6,000/., and ordered him
to lie still in prison till it was paid. After this it was thought that this matter was at an
end, and that this was a final sentence : but he was still kept shut up, and denied all attend-
ance or assistance. He seemed all the while so composed, and even so cheerful, that his
behaviour looked like the reviving of the spirit of the noblest of the old Greeks or Romans,
or rather of the primitive Christians, and first martyrs in those best days of the church.
But the duke was not satisfied with all this. So the ministry applied their arts to Tarras,
and the other prisoners, threatening them with all the extremities of misery, if they would
not witness treasonable matter against Baillie. They also practised on their wives, and
frightening them, set them on their husbands. In conclusion, they gained what had been
so much laboured. Tarras, and one Murray, of Philipshaugh, did depose some discourses,
that Baillie had with them before he went up to London, disposing them to a rebellion. In
these they swelled up the matter beyond the truth. Yet all did not amount to a full proof.
So the ministers, being afraid that a jury might not be so easy as they expected, ordered
Carstairs's confession to be read in court, not as an evidence, (for that had been promised
him should not be done,) but as that which would fully satisfy the jury, and dispose them
to believe the witnesses. So Baillie was hurried on to a trial. And upon the evidence he
was found guilty, and condemned to be executed that same day : so afraid they were lest
death should be too quick for them. He was very little disturbed at all this : his languish-
ing in so solitary a manner made death a very acceptable deliverance to him. He in his
last speech shewed, that in several particulars the witnesses had wronged him : he still
denied all knowledge of any design against the king's life, or the duke's ; and denied any plot
against the government : he thought it was lawful for subjects, being under such pressures,
to try how they might be relieved from them : and their design never went further ; but he
would enter into no particulars. Thus a learned and a worthy gentleman, after twenty
months' hard usage, was brought to such a death, in a way so full in all the steps of it of the
spirit and practice of the courts of inquisition, that one is tempted to think, that the methods
taken in it, were suggested by one well studied, if not practised in them. The only excuse
that was ever pretended for this infamous prosecution was, that they were sure he was
guilty ; and that the whole secret of the negociation between the two kingdoms was trusted
to him ; and that, since he would not discover it, all methods might be taken to destroy
him : not considering what a precedent they made on this occasion, by which, if men were
once possessed of an ill opinion of a man, they were to spare neither artifice nor violence, but
to hunt him down by any means. I have been perhaps too long in this particular, but the
case was so singular, and my relation to the person was so near, and my value for him was so
great, that I hope I need make no apology for it.
In this I saw how ambition could corrupt one of the best tempered men that I had ever
known : I mean lord Perth, who for above ten years together seemed to me incapable of an
immoral or cruel action, and yet was now deeply engaged in the foulest and blackest of
crimes. I had not now seen him for two years ; but I hoped, that still some good impres-
sions had been left in him : and now, when he came to London to be made lord chancellor,
I had a very earnest message from him, desiring by my means to see Leighton. I thought,
OF KING CHARLES II. 381
that angelical man might have awakened in him some of those good principles, which he
seemed once to have had, and which were now totally extinguished in him. I wrote so
earnestly to Leighton, that he came to London. Upon his coming to me, I was amazed to
see him at above seventy look so fresh and well, that age seemed as it were to stand still
with him : his hair was still black, and all his motions were lively : he had the same quick-
ness of thought, and strength of memory ; but above all, the same heat and life of devotion,
that I had ever seen in him. When I took notice to him, upon my first- seeing him, how
well he looked, he told me, he was very near his end for all that ; and his work and journey
both were now almost done. This at that time made no great impression on me. He
was the next day taken with an oppression, and as it seemed with a cold and with stitches,
which was indeed a pleurisy.
The next day Leighton sunk so, that both speech and sense went away of a sudden : and
he continued panting about twelve hours, and then died without pangs or convulsions. I
was by him all the while. Thus I lost him, who had been for so many years the chief guide
of iny whole life. He had lived ten years in Sussex, in great privacy, dividing his time
wholly between study and retirement, and the doing of good : for in the parish where he
lived, and in the parishes round about, lie was always employed in preaching, and in reading
prayers. He distributed all he had in charities, choosing rather to have it go through other
people's hands than his own : for I was his almoner in London. He had gathered a well
chosen library of curious, as well as useful books ; which he left to the diocess of Dunblane,
for the use of the clergy there, that country being ill provided with books. He lamented
oft to me the stupidity that he observed among the commons of England, who seemed to be
much more insensible in the matters of religion, than the commons of Scotland were. He
retained still a peculiar inclination to Scotland ; and if he had seen any prospect of doing
good there, he would have gone and lived and died among them. In the short time that the
affairs of Scotland were in the duke of Monmouth's hands; that duke had been possessed with
such an opinion of him, that he moved the king to write to him, to go, and at least live in
Scotland, if he would not engage in a bishopric there. But that fell with that duke's credit.
He was in his last years turned to a greater severity against popery than I had imagined a
man of his temper, and of his largeness in point of opinion, was capable of. He spoke of the
corruptions, of the secular spirit, and of the cruelty that appeared in that church, with an
extraordinary concern ; and lamented the shameful advances that we seemed to be making
towards popery. He did this with a tenderness, and an edge, that I did not expect from so
recluse and mortified a man. He looked on the state the church of England was in, with
very melancholy reflections, and was very uneasy at an expression then much used, that it
was the best constituted church in the world. He thought it was truly so, with relation to
the doctrine, the worship, and the main part of our government. But as to the administra-
tion, both with relation to the ecclesiastical courts, and the pastoral care, he looked on it as
one of the most corrupt he had ever seen. He thought we looked like a fair carcase of a
body without a spirit ; without that zeal, that strictness of life, and that laboriousness in the
clergy, that became us.
There were two remarkable circumstances in his death. He used often to say, that if he
were to choose a place to die in, it should be an inn ; it looked like a pilgrim's going home,
to whom this world was all as an inn, and who was weary of the noise and confusion in it.
He added, that the officious tenderness and care of friends was an entanglement to a dying
man ; and that the unconcerned attendance of those that could be procured in such a place,
would give less disturbance. And he obtained what he desired ; for he died at the Bell inn,
in Warwick-lane. Another circumstance was, that while he was bishop in Scotland, he
took what his tenants were pleased to pay him : so that there was a great arrear due, which
was raised slowly by one whom he left in trust with his affairs there : and the last payment
that he could expect from thence was returned up to him about six weeks before his death :
so that his provision and journey failed both at once. And thus in the several parts of
tin's history, I have given a very particular account of every thing relating to this apostolical
man ; whose life I would have written; if I had not found proper places to bring the most
382 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
material parts of it within this work, I reckon that I owed this to that perfect friendship
and fatherly care, with which he had always treated me.
The mentioning his death leads me to name some other clergymen of note, that died in
thi.3 and in the former year. Burnet died in Scotland : and Ross, a poor, ignorant, worth-
ies!} man, but in whom obedience and fury were so eminent, that these supplied all other
def?cts, was raised to be the primate of that church : which was indeed a sad omen, as well
as a step to its fall and ruin. Sterne, archbishop of York, died in the eighty-sixth year of his
age : he was a sour, ill tempered man, and minded chiefly the enriching his family. He was
suspected of popery, because he was more than ordinarily compliant in all things to the court,
and was very zealous for the duke. Dolben, bishop of Rochester, succeeded him, a man of
more spirit than discretion, and an excellent preacher, but of a free conversation, which laid
him open to much censure in a vicious court. And indeed he proved a much better arch-
bishop than he had been a bishop *. Gunning, of Ely, died this summer, a man of great
reading : he had in him all the subtilty, and the disputing humour of a schoolman : and he
studied to infuse that into all those who were formed by him. He was strict in the whole
course of his- life : but was a dry man, and much inclined to superstition. He had a great
confusion of things in his head, and could bring nothing into method ; so that he was- a dark
and perplexed preacher. His sermons were full of Greek and Hebrew, and of the opinions
of the fathers. Yet many of the ladies of a high form loved to hear him preach ; which the
king used to say, was because they did not understand him. Turner succeeded him. He
had been long in the duke's family, and was in high favour with him. He was a sincere
and good-natured man, of too quick an imagination, and too defective a judgment. He was
but moderately learned, having conversed more with men than with books : and so he was
not able to do the duke great service. But he was so zealous for his succession, that this
raised him high upon no great stock of sufficiency. Old Morley, bishop of Winchester, died
this winter, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He was in many respects a very eminent
man, zealous against popery, and yet a great enemy to the dissenters ; he was considerably
learned, and had a great vivacity of thought : but he was too soon provoked, and too little
master of himself upon those occasions. Mew, bishop of Bath and "Wells, succeeded him :
he had been a captain during the wars, and had been Middleton's secretary, when he was
sent to command the insurrection, that the Highlanders of Scotland made for the king in fifty-
three. After that he came into orders ; and, though he knew very little of divinity, or of
any other learning, and was weak to a childish degree, yet obsequiousness and zeal raised
him through several steps to this great see. Ken succeeded him in Bath and Wells ; a man of
an ascetic course of life, and yet of a very lively temper, but too hot and sudden. He had a
* Dr. Richard Sterne was bom at Mansfield, in Not- During the civil contest he took arms in support of the
tinghamshire, during the year 1596. He was of Trinity royal cause, and was severely wounded at the battle of
and Bennet colleges, Cambridge. He became chaplain Marston Moor, and in the siege of York. When resist-
to archbishop Laud, and master of Jesus College in 1633. ance became of no avail, he returned to college, but was
Being very active in sending the plate of the university ejected by the parliamentary visitors in 1648. At the
to Charles the First, to support him during the civil Restoration he was made a canon of Christchurch ; in 1666,
struggle, Cromwell seized and imprisoned him, and others, bishop of Rochester; in 1675, lord high almoner ; and ia
finally sending them on board ship, for the purpose, it is 1683, archbishop of Canterbury ; but this last preferment
said, of selling them as slaves ; but this is hardly credible, he enjoyed only for a brief period. He was most culpably
He kept a school until the Restoration, when he was allowed to sleep at an inn in a bed not freed from the
restored to his mastership, and made bishop of Carlisle, contagion of small-pox ; with this disease he was infected,
and finally archbishop of York. He published several and died in 1686. All authorities unite in praising bw
•works ; had a share in preparing the Polyglot Bible, and eloquence, both as a preacher and debater ; and Burnet is
in revising the liturgy. A correspondent of the earl of too cold in his praise, seeming as if resolved not to com-
Strafford describes him as " a solid scholar, who first mend, yet without anything specific to blame. The high
summed up the 3600 faults that were in our printed character given him. by sir William Trumbull is in print,
bibles." He once had the reputation of being the author as is that by another of his friends, Dr. Sprat : the latter
of the " Whole Duty of Man ;** but this has now been says of him, in his Life of Cowley, " in him we lost the
ascribed> with more certainty to lady Packington. — Straf- greatest abilities, the most useful conversation, the most
ford Papers ; Le Neve's Bishops ; Masters's Hist, of C. C. C. faithful friendship, and one who had a mind that practised
Cambridge. the best virtues itself, and a wit that was best aMe t«
Dr. John Dolben was a native of Stonwick, Northamp- recommend them to others." — Kinpis's Biog B
tonshire, where he was born in 1625. His education was Gitunsrer, &c.
conducted at Westminster, and Christ-cuurch, Oxford.
OF KING CHARLES II.
383
very edifying way of preaching ; but it was more apt to move the passions, than to instruct ;
so that his sermons were rather beautiful than solid ; yet his way in them was very taking.
The king seemed fond of him ; and by him, and Turner, the papists hoped, that great pro-
gress might be made in gaining, or at least deluding the clergy. It was observed, that all
the men in favour among the clergy were unmarried ; from whom, they hoped, they might
more probably promise themselves a disposition to come over to them *.
The prosecution of the dissenters was carried very high all this year ; they were not only
proceeded against for going to conventicles, but for not going to church, and for not receiving
the sacrament ; the laws made against papists with relation to those particulars being now
applied to them. Many were excommunicated, and ruined by the prosecutions. The earl
of Danby, for all his severity against lord Shaftesbury, for moving in the King's Bench to
be bailed, though committed by the lords only for a contempt, yet had been forced to move
often for his being let out upon bail. It was certainly a very great hardship that he lay
under ; for lie had been now five years in the Tower : and three parliaments had sat. The
two last had not mentioned him ; and now a parliament seemed out of sight. Yet, though
he offered a very long and learned argument for their bailing him, the judges of the King's
Bench, even Saunders himself, were afraid to meddle in it. But Jeffreys was bolder ; so he
bailed him : and upon the same grounds all the popish lords were also bailed. Gates was
prosecuted at the duke^s suit for scandalous words : rogue and traitor were very freely
bestowed on the duke by him : so 100,000^. was given, which shut him up in a perpetual
imprisonment, till they saw a fit opportunity to carry matters further against him f. The
* Dr. Peter Gunning was born at Hoo, in Kent, during
the year 1613. His education was pursued at the Canter-
bury free school, and Clare Hall, Cambridge; but being
persecuted there as a loyalist, he, with his friend Mr. Bar-
row, came to Oxford in 1 644, and took his degree of M. A.
At the Restoration he was instituted regius professor of
divinity, and master of St. John's, Cambridge, upon the
ejection of Dr. Tuckney, to whom, however, he gene-
rously allowed a life annuity. In 1669 he was enthroned
b:«shop of Chichester ; and in 1 674, bishop of Ely. The
doctor was handsome in his person, and graceful, which
will perhaps account for the admiration he won from the
court ladies, \vithout libelling their understandings. He
was deeply versed in the scriptures, so as to be hardly
excelled as a textuary ; and this, aided by an enlarged
acquaintance with ecclesiastical history, made him one of
the most powerful opponents that the papists and secta-
rians of his period had to encounter. One anecdote is
worth repeating. An enthusiast had been disseminating
widely a prophecy that the end of the world would be
witliiti the space of twelvemonths, and his folio wers were
numerous. The man had some landed property, for which
Gunning offered him a price equal to two years' purchase;
this was refused, and twenty required, which convinced his
followers that he did not believe his own prediction.—.
Wood's Athense Oxon. ; Masters's Hist, of C. C. C. Cam-
bridge; Salmon's English Bishops, &c.
Dr. Francis Turner was the son of Dr. Thomas Turner,
dean of Canterbury, by Margaret, daughter of Sir Francis
Windebank, secretary of state to Charles the First. He was
a scholar of Winchester, and New College, Oxford. Be
^as successively chaplain to the duke of York, master of
St. John's, dean of Windsor, bishop of Rochester, and bishop
of Ely. He was an unflinching advocate of the protestant
cause, being one of the seven bishops imprisoned by James the
Second for petitioning that monarch against his declaration in
favour of popery. He appears to have been equally uncom-
promising in his opinions relative to hereditary monarchy,
for be refused to take the oaths required at the revolution,
and consequently was deprived of his bishopric. Finally,
in 1691, being accvised of plotting to restore the Stuart
dynasty, he thought it most prudent to leave England,
ami a proclamation was issued for his apprehension. He
was satirized by Marvell in his " Mr. Smirk, or the Divine
in mode/' His " Vindication of the late archbishop Sau-
croft, and the rest of the deprived Bishops," is worth
notice as a piece of contemporary history. He died in
1700 Wood's Athenae Oxon.
Dr. Peter Mews, or Meaux, was of a more accommo-
dating conscience than his contemporary last mentioned.
He fought for Charles the First ; appeared in arms for
James the Second; ar.d finally adhered to William the
Third. He was born at Purse Caundell, Dorsetshire, in
the year 1619; passed through the discipline of merchant
tailor's, and St. John's, Oxford ; lived many years in
exile during the interregnum ; and in the reign of Charles
became successively tne diocesan of Bath and Wells, and
Winchester. Wood says, he was •' much beloved and
admired for his hospitality, generosity, justice, and frequent
preaching.'' He died in 1706. — WTood's Athense Oxon. ;
Grainger, and Reresby's Memoirs.
Dr. Thomas Ken was the son of a London attorney,
but born at Little Berkhampstead, in Hertfordshire, during
the year 1635. He was educated at Winchester, Hart
Hall, and New College, Oxford. Having duly graduated
and held various livings, he in 1679 was appointed chap-
lain to Mary, princess of Orange. Whilst in this office
he compelled one of the prince's favourite officers to marry
a lady of her highness's train, whom he had seduced by
giving her a contract of marriage. The prince is said to
have been greatly offended with Ken, for being so officious.
But Charles the Second was not offended at his boldness,
when he peremptorily refused Nell Gwyn admittance to
his lodgings, when the court was at Winchester. " The
king's good sense told him, though the prince of Orange's
did not, that if a man is really a Christian, his conduct
ought to be uniformly consistent with his character." In
1684, he became bishop of Bath and Wells ; in 1688,
was committed to the Tower with six other prelates for
petitioning the king ; and in 1 690 was deprived for refusing
to take the oaths of allegiance to William the Third. His
writings and his life fully entitled him to the epithet he
acquired of "good Bishop Ken." Wood describes him as
greatly charitable, very devout, and extremely obliging in
his demeanour. Queen Anne gave him a pension of 200/.
a year. — Life prefixed to his works; Wood's Athenae:
Giaingcr.
•f* The evidence adduced at this trial shews conclusively
the violent temper and infamous character of Gates.— See
the State Trials.
384 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
duke of Beaufort, lord Peterborough, and some others, brought actions of scandalum mag-
natum against those, who in the time of our great heat had spoken foul things of them : and
great damages were given by obsequious and zealous juries. An information of a higher
nature was brought against Williams, who, though he was a worthless man, yet was for his
zeal chosen speaker of the house of commons in the two last parliaments. He had licensed
the printing the votes, which had in them matters of scandal relating to some lords. So an
information was brought against him ; and he upon it demurred to the jurisdiction of the
court. This was driven on purpose by the duke's party, to cut off the thoughts of another
parliament ; since it was not to be supposed that any house of commons could bear the
punishing the speaker for obeying their orders.
Jenkins had now done all the drudgery that the. court had occasion for from him ; and
being capable to serve them in nothing else, he was dismissed from being secretary of state ;
and Godolphin, one of the commissioners of the treasury, succeeded him. Another commis-
sioner of the treasury, Deering, dying at the same time, the earl of Rochester hoped to have
been made lord-treasurer. He had lost much ground with the king ; and the whole court
hated him, by reason of the stop of all payments, which was chiefly imputed to him. Lord
Halifax and lord North joined their interest to bring in two other commissioners upon him,
without so much as letting him know of it till it was resolved on. These were Thynd and
North. This last was to be rewarded for his service during his shrievalry in London. Lord
Rochester engaged both the duke and the lady Portsmouth to divert this, if it was possible.
But the king was not to be shaken. So he resolved to quit the treasury. The earl of
Radnor was discharged from being lord president of the council, where he had for some
years acted a very mean part, in which he had lost the character of a steady cynical English-
man, which he had maintained in the former course of his life. And lord Rochester was
made lord president ; which being a post superior in rank, but much inferior both in advan-
tage and credit to that he held formerly, drew a jest from lord Halifax that may be worth
remembering : he said, he had heard of many kicked down stairs, but never of any that
was kicked up stairs before. Godolphin was weary of the drudgery that lay on a secretary
of state. He chose rather to be the first commissioner of the treasury : and he was made a
baron. The earl of Middleton, son to him that had governed Scotland, was made secretary
of state, a man of a generous temper, but without much religion, well learned, of a good judg-
ment, and a lively apprehension *.
If foreign affairs could have awakened the king, the French did enough this summer in
order to it. Besides their possessing themselves of Luxemburg, they sent a fleet against
Genoa upon no sort of provocation, but because Genoa would not comply with some demands,
that were both unjust and unreasonable : the king of France ordered it to be bombarded,
hoping that in that confusion he might by landing a few men Lave made himself easily
master of that state. This would very probably have succeeded, if the attempt had been
made upon the first consternation they were in, when the bombardment began. But the
thing was delayed a day or two ; and jy that time the Genoese not only recovered them-
selves out of their first fright, but putting themselves in order, they were animated with that
indignation and fury, that they beat off the French, with a courage that was not expected
from them. Such an assault, that looked more like the violence of a robber, than the attack
of one that would observe forms in his conquests, ought to have provoked all princes, espe-
cially such as were powerful at sea, to have joined against a prince, who by these practices
was become the common enemy of mankind. But we were now pursuing other designs,
from which it was resolved that nothing from beyond sea should divert us.
After the king had kept Tangier about twenty years, and had been at a vast charge in
making a mole before it, in which several sets of undertakers had failed indeed in the main
« All these arrangements were effected by lord Halifax, advantage ; and he bears it with so little philosophy,
notwithstanding the united interests of the earl of Roches- that, if I had ill-nature enough, he gives me sufficient
ter, the duke of York, and the duchess of Portsmouth, occasion to triumph." — (Reresby's Memoirs, 185.) At
who wished the offices otherwise filled. Lord Halifax, the accession of James the Second, lord Rochester more
writing to sir John Reresby, thus rejoiced over Rochester's than retaliated these vexations upon his rival. The king
removal from the Treasury. " You may believe I am it appears was in much doubt who to appoint as secretary
not at all displeased to see such an adversary removed of state in the place of lord Godolphin.— Singer'e Clarea-
from the only place that could give him power and don Correspondence, i. 95.
OF KING CHARLES II. 335
designs, but had succeeded well in the enriching of themselves, and the work was now brought
near perfection, which seemed to give us the key of the Mediterranean, he, to deliver himself
from that charge, sent lord Dartmouth with a fleet to destroy all the works, and to bring
home all our men. The king, when he communicated this to the cabinet council, charged
them to be secret. But it was believed that he himself spoke of it to the lord Arlington, and
that lord Arlington told it to the Portugal ambassador ; for the ambassador took fire upon
it, and desired that, if the king was weary of keeping it, he would restore it to his master.
And he undertook to pay a great sum for the charge the king had been at all these years that
he had it. But the king believed that as the money would never be paid, so the king of
Portugal would not be able to maintain that place against the Moors ; so that it would fall
in their hands, and by that means prove too important to command the Straits. The thing
was boldly denied by the ministers, when pressed by the ambassador upon that subject.
Lord Dartmouth executed the design as he was ordered. So an end was put to our possess-
ing that place. This was done only to save charge, that the court might hold out the longer
without a parliament. So the republic of Genoa, seeing that we would not, and that,
without us, the Dutch could not, undertake their protection, were forced to make a very
abject compliment to the king of France ; if anything could be abject that was necessary to
save their country. The doge and some of the senators were sent to Versailles to ask the
king pardon, though it was not easy to tell for what : unless it was, because they presumed
to resist his invasion. I happened to be at Paris when the doge was there. One saying of
his was much repeated. When all the glory of Versailles was set open to him, and the
flatterers of the court were admiring everything, he seemed to look at them with a coldness
that became a person who was at the head of a free commonwealth ; and when he was asked
if the things he saw were not very extraordinary, he said, the most extraordinary thing
that he saw there was himself.
The affairs of Holland were much broken. The prince of Orange and the town of Amster-
dam were in very ill terms by the French management, to which Chudleigh, the English
envoy, joined his strength to such a degree of insolence, that he offered personal affronts to the
prince, who upon that would see him no more. Yet the prince was not considered enough
at our court to get Chudleigh to be recalled upon it. The town of Amsterdam went so far,
that a motion was made of setting up the prince of Friezeland as their stadtholder ; and he
was invited to come to their town in order to it. But the prince of Orange prevented this
by coming to a full agreement with that town. So he and his princess were invited thither ;
and that misunderstanding was removed, or at least laid asleep for that time. The war of
Hungary went on with slow success on the emperor's side ; he was poor, and his revenue was
exhausted, so that he could not press so hard upon the Turks, as he might have done with
advantage; for they were in great confusion. The king of Poland had married a French
wife, and she had a great ascendancy over him ; and not being able to get her family raised
in France, she had turned that king to the emperor's interests ; so that he had the glory of
raising the siege of Vienna. The French saw their error, and were now ready to purchase
her at any rate ; so that all the rest of that poor king's inglorious life, after that great action
at Vienna, was a perpetual going backwards and forwards between the interests of France
and Vienna ; which depended entirely upon the secret negotiations of the court of France
with his queen, as they came to her terms, or as they did not quite comply with them.
The misunderstanding between the court of Rome and France went on still. The pope
declared openly for the house of Austria against the Turk ; and made great returns of money
into Germany. He engaged the Venetians into the alliance. He found also fault with
many of the proceedings in France, with relation to the Regale. And now the tables were
turned. The Jesuits, who were wont to value themselves on their dependence on the court
of Rome, were now wholly in the interest of France ; for they resolved to be on the stronger
side. And the Jansenists, wljom Rome had treated very ill, and who were looked on as
the most zealous assertors of the liberties of the Gallican church, were now the men that
dmired the pope, and declared for him. The persecution of the protestants went on still in
;rance ; and no other care was had of them here, but that we sheltered them, and so had
great numbers of them coming over to us. A quarrel was depending between the English
c c
380 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
and the Dutch East India company. The Dutch had a mind to drive us out of Bantam ;
for they did not love to see the English settle so near Batavia. So they engaged the old
king of Bantam into a war with his son, who was in possession of Bantam ; and the son
was supported by the English. But the old king drove out his son by the help that the
Dutch gave him ; and he drove out the English likewise, as having espoused his son's rebel-
lion against him ; though we understood that he had resigned the kingdom to his son, but
that by the instigation of the Dutch he had now invaded him. It is certain, our court laid
up this in their heart, as that upon which they would lay the foundation of a new war with
the States, as soon as we should be in a condition to undertake it. The East India company
saw this, and that the court preyed them to make public remonstrances upon it, which gave
a jealousy of an ill design under it ; so they resolved to proceed rather in a very slow nego-
tiation than in anything that might give a handle to a rupture.
I must now mix in somewhat with relation to myself, though it may seem too inconside-
rable to be put into a series of matters of such importance. But it is necessary to give some
account of that which set me at liberty to go round some parts of Europe, and to stay some
years out of England. I preached a lecture at St. Clement's on the Thursdays ; but after the
lord Russel's death, the king sent an order to Dr. Hascard, then rector of the parish, to dis-
charge me from it. I continued at the Rolls, avoiding very cautiously everything that
related to the public ; for I abhorred the making the pulpit a stage for venting of passion,
or for the serving of interests. There was a parish in London vacant, where the election lay
in the inhabitants, and it was probable it would have fallen on me ; though London was in
so divided a state, that everything was managed by the strength of parties. Yet the king,
apprehending the choice might have fallen on me, sent a message to them, to let them know
he would take it amiss if they chose me. Old sir Harbottle Grimstone lived still to the great
indignation of the court. When the fifth of November, being Gunpowder Treason day,
came, in which we had always sermons at the chapel of the Rolls, I begged the master of the
Rolls (sir H. Grimstone) to excuse me then from preaching ; for that day led one to preach
against popery, and it was indecent not to do it. He said he would end his life as he had
led it all along, in an open detestation of popery. So, since I saw this could not be avoided,
though I had not medcQed with any point of popery for above a year together, I resolved,
since I did it so seldom, to do it to purpose. I chose for my text these words : " Save me
from the lion's mouth, thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns*." I made no
reflection in rny thoughts on the lion and unicorn, as being the two supporters of the king's
scutcheon (for I had ever hated all points of that sort, as a profanation of Scriptures) ; but
I showed how well popery might be compared to the lion's mouth, then open to devour us ;
and I compared our former deliverance from the extremities of danger to the being on the
horn of a rhinoceros. And this leading me to the subject of the day, I mentioned that
wish of king James the First against any of his posterity, that should endeavour to bring that
religion in among us. This was immediately carried to the court. But it only raised more
anger against me ; for nothing could be made of it. They talked most of the choice of the
text, as levelled against the kingns coat of arms. That had never been once in my thought!?.
Lord-keeper North diverted the king from doing anything on the account of my sermon.
And so the matter slept till the end of the term. And then North wrote to the master of
the Rolls, that the king considered the chapel of the Rolls as one of his own chapels ; and,
since he looked on me as a person disaffected to his government, and had for that reason
dismissed me from his own service, he therefore required him not to suffer me to serve any
longer in that chapel. And thus all my service in the church was now stopped ; for upon
such a public declaration made against me, it was not fit for any clergyman to make use of
my assistance any more. And by these means I was set at liberty by the procurement of
my enemies. So that I did not abandon my post either out of fear, or out of any giddiness
to ramble about Europe. But being now under such public marks of jealousy, and put out
of a capacity of serving God and the church in the way of my function, it seemed a prudent
and a decent thing for me to withdraw myself from that fury which I saw was working so j
strongly, and in so many repeated instances, against me.
* Psalm xxii. 21.
OF KING CHARLES IT. 387
These disgraces from the court were the occasion of my going out of England, which botli
preserved me from what I had reason to apprehend, when the duke, by the change that
happened soon after, might have had it in his power to make me feel all that displeasure
which had been growing upon him in a course of so many years against me, and it also put
me in a way to do the greatest services I was capable of, both to the interest of religion, and
of these nations. So that what was intended as a mischief to me proved my preservation.
My employment at the Rolls would have fallen in course within a month, if the court had
delayed the putting me from it in such an open manner ; for that worthy man, sir Harbottle
Grimstone, died about Christmas. Nature sank all at once, he being then eighty-two. He
died, as he had lived, with great piety and resignation to the will of God.
There were two famous trials in Michaelmas term. Three women came and deposed
against Roswell, a presbyterian preacher, treasonable words that he had delivered at a con-
venticle. They swore to two or three periods, in which they had agreed so exactly together,
that there was not the smallest variation in their depositions. Roswell, on the other hand,
made a strong defence. He proved that the witnesses were lewd and infamous persons.
He proved that he had always been a loyal man, even in Cromwell's days : that he prayed
constantly for the king in his family : and that in his sermons he often insisted on the obli-
gations to loyalty. And as for that sermon in which the witnesses swore he delivered those
words, he showed what his text was, which the witnesses could not remember, as they remem-
bered nothing else in his sermon besides the words they had deposed. That text, and his
sermon upon it, had no relation to any such matter. Several witnesses who heard the sermon,
and some who wrote it in short-hand, declared he said no such words, nor anything to that pur-
pose. He offered his own notes to prove this further ; but no regard was had to them. The
women could not prove by any circumstance that they were at his meeting, or that any person
saw them there on that day. The words they swore against him were so gross, that it was not
to be imagined any man in his wits could express himself so, were he ever so wickedly set,
before a mixed assembly. It was also urged, that it was highly improbable that three women
could remember so long a period upon one single hearing ; and that they should all remember
it so exactly as to agree in the same deposition. He offered to put the whole upon this issue :
he would pronounce a period, as long as that which they had sworn, with his usual tone of
voice with which he preached, and then leave it to them to repeat it, if they could. I set
down all this defence more particularly, that it may appear what a spirit was in that time,
when a verdict could be brought in upon such an evidence, and against such a defence.
Jeffreys urged the matter with his ordinary vehemence : he laid it for a foundation, that all
preaching at conventicles was treasonable, and that this ought to dispose the jury to believe
any evidence whatsoever upon that head, and that here were three positive concurring
witnesses. So the jury brought him in guilty. And there was a shameful rejoicing upon
this. It was thought now conventicles would be all suppressed by it ; since any person that
would witness that treasonable words were delivered at them would be believed, how impro-
bable soever it might be. But when the importance of the words came to be examined by
men learned in the law, they were found not to be treason by any statute. So Roswell moved
for an arrest of judgment, till counsel should be heard to that point, whether the words were
treason or not. In Sidney's case, they refused to grant that, unless he would first confess
the fact. And though that was much censured, yet it was more doubtful whether counsel
ought to be heard after the jury had brought in the verdict. But the king was so put out
of countenance with the many stories that were brought him of his witnesses, that the
attorney-general had orders to yield to the arrest of judgment; though it had been more to
the king's honour to have put an end to the business by a pardon. It was thought a good
point gained, which might turn to the advantage of the subject, to allow that a point of law
might be argued after conviction. The impudence of this verdict was the more shameful,
1 wince, though we had a popish successor in view, here was a precedent made, by which posi-
! tive witnesses, swearing to anything as said in a sermon, were to be believed against so many
probabilities, and so much proof to the contrary; which might have been at another time
I very fatal to the clergy.
The other trial was of more importance to the court. In Armstrong's pocket, when he
c c 2
388 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
was taken, a letter was found written by Haies, a banker in London, directed to another
name, which was believed a feigned one. In it credit was given him upon Haies's corre-
spondent in Holland for money ; he was desired not to be too lavish ; and he was promised
that he should be supplied as he needed it. Here was an abetting of a man outlawed for
treason. Much pains was taken on Haies, both by persuasion and threatening, to induce
him to discover that whole cabal of men, that, it seemed, joined in a common purse to supply
those who had fled beyond sea on the account of the plot. And they hoped to know all
Monmouth's friends ; and either to have attainted them, or at least to have fined them
severely for it. But Haies shewed a fidelity and courage far beyond what could have been
expected from such a man : so he was brought to a trial. He made a strong defence. The
letter was not exactly like his hand. It was not addressed to Armstrong, but to another
person, from whom he perhaps had it. No entry was made of it in his books, nor of any
sum paid in upon it. But his main defence was, that a banker examined into no person's
concerns ; and, therefore, when money or good security was brought him, he gave bills of
exchange, or letters of credit, as they were desired. Jeffreys pressed the jury, in his impe-
tuous way, to find Haies guilty of high treason ; because, though there was not a witness
against Haies, but only presumptions appeared upon the proof, yet, Jeffreys said, it was
proved by two witnesses that the letter was found in Armstrong's pocket ; and that was
sufficient, the rest appearing by circumstances. The little difference between the writing in
the letter and his ordinary hand, was said to be only a feint to hide it, which made him the
more guilty. He required the jury to bring him in guilty ; and said, that the king's life
and safety depended upon this trial : so that if they did it not, they exposed the king to a
new Rye-plot ; with other extravagancies with which his fury prompted him. But a jury
of merchants could not be wrought up to this pitch. So he was acquitted, which mortified
the court a little ; for they had reckoned that now juries were to be only a point of form in
a trial, and that they were always to find bills as they were directed.
A trial in a matter of blood came on after this*. A gentleman of a noble family being at
a public supper with much company, some hot words passed between him and another gen-
tleman, which raised a sudden quarrel, none but three persons being engaged in it. Swords
were drawn, and one was killed outright ; but it was not certain by whose hand he was
killed. So the other two were both indicted upon it. The proof did not carry it beyond man-
slaughter, no marks of any precedent malice appearing. Yet the young gentleman was pre-
vailed on to confess the indictment, and to let sentence pass on him for murder : a pardon
being promised him if he should do so, and he being threatened with the utmost rigour of
the law, if he stood upon his defence. After the sentence had passed, it appeared on what
design he had been practised on. It was a rich family, and not well affected to the court ;
so he was told that he must pay well for his pardon. And it cost him 16,000/. : of which
the king had the one half, the other half being divided between two ladies that were in great
favour. It is a very ill thing for princes to suffer themselves to be prevailed on by impor-
tunities to pardon blood which cries for vengeance. Yet an easiness to such importunity is
a feebleness of good nature, and so is in itself less criminal. But it is a monstrous perverting
of justice, and a destroying the chief end of government, which is the preservation of the
people, when their blood is set to sale ; and that not as a compensation to the family of the
person murdered, but to the prince himself, and to some who are in favour with him upon
unworthy accounts ; and it was robbery if the gentleman was innocent.
Another thing of a strange nature happened about this time. The earl of Clancarty in
Ireland, when he died, had left his lady the guardian of his children. It was one of the
noblest and richest families of the Irish nation, which had always been papists ; but the lady
was a protestant. And she, being afraid to trust the education of her son in Ireland, though
in protestant hands, considering the danger he might be in from his kindred of that religion,
brought him over to Oxford, and put him into Fell's hands, who was both bishop of Oxford
and dean of Christchurch, where she reckoned he would be safe. Lord Clancarty had an
uncle, col. Maccarthy, who was in most things, where his religion was not concerned, a man
* This was the indictment of sir H. St. John, afterwards a viscount, — Oxford ed.
OF KING CHARLES II. 389
of honour. So he, both to pervert his nephew and to make his own court, got the kin^ to
write to the bishop of Oxford to let the young lord come up and see the diversions of the
town in the Christmas time : to which the bishop did too easily consent. "When he came
to town, he, being then at the age of consent, was married to one of the lord Sunderland's
daughters. And so he broke through all his education, and soon after turned papist. Thus
the king suffered himself to be made an instrument in one of the greatest of crimes, the taking
an infant out of the hand of a guardian, and marrying him secretly ; against which the
laws of all nations have taken care to provide very effectually. But this leads me into a
further view of the designs at court.
The earl of Rochester grew weary of the insignificant place of president, which procured
him neither confidence nor dependence. And, since the government of Ireland was the
greatest post next to the treasury, he obtained by the duke's favour to be named lord-lieu-
tenant of Ireland. The king seemed to be so uneasy with him, that he was glad to send
him away from the court*. And the king intended to begin in his person a new method in
the government of Ireland. Formerly the lords-lieutenants were generals of the army, as
well as the governors of the kingdom. Their interest in recommending to posts in the
army, and the giving the commissions for them, brought the army into their dependence,
and increased the profits of their secretaries. It was now suggested by lord Sunderland that
this was too much in one person, and therefore he proposed, that there should be a general of
the army, independent on the lord-lieutenant, and who should be a check upon him. When
there were but a few troops kept up there, it might be more reasonable to leave them in the
lord-lieutenant's hands ; but now that an army was kept, it seemed too much to put that, as
well as the civil administration of the kingdom, into the power of one man. In this the earl
of Sunderland's design was to keep that kingdom in a dependence upon himself. And he
told the king, that if he thought that was a good maxim for the government of Ireland, he
ought to begin it when a creature of his own was sent thither, who had not such a right to
dispute points of that kind with him, as ancient noblemen might pretend to. Lord Roches-
ter was much mortified with this. He said, the chief governor of Ireland could not be
answerable for the peace of that kingdom, if the army was not in a dependence on him.
Yet little regard was had to all that he could object to this new method ; for the king seemed
to be the more pleased with it, because it afflicted him so much. The first instance, in which
the king intended to begin the immediate dependence of the Irish a-rmy on himself, was not
so well chosen as to make it generally acceptable : for it was, that colonel Maccarthy was to
have a regiment there. He had a regiment in the French service for several years, and was
called home upon that appearance that we had put on of engaging with the allies in a war
with France in the year 1678. The popish plot had kept the king from employing him for
some years, in which the court was in some management with the nation. But now that
being at an end, the king intended to employ him upon this acceptable service he had done
with relation to his nephew. The king spoke of it to lord Halifax ; and he, as he told me,
asked the king, if he thought that was to govern according to law. The king answered, he
was not tied up by the laws of Ireland as he was by the laws of England. Lord Halifax
offered to argue that point with any person that asserted it before him. He said, that army
was raised by a protestant parliament, to secure the protestant interest : and would the king
give occasion to any to say, that where his hands were not bound up, he would show all the
favour he could to the papists ? The king answered, he did not trouble himself with what
people said, or would say. Lord Halifax replied to this, that it was a just piece of greatness
in the king not to mind what his enemies said ; but he hoped he would never despise what
his friends said, especially when they seemed to have reason on their side ; and he wished the
king would choose rather to make up Maccarthy's losses for his service in pensions and other
favours, than in a way that would raise so much clamour and jealousy. In all this, lord
Halifax only offered his advice to the king, upon the king's beginning the discourse with
him. Yet the king told it all to Maccarthy, who came and expostulated the matter with
* There arc some interesting letters relating to this appointment in Singer's Clarendon Correspondence, i. 99, ike.
» the same work there are many particulars relating to the colonel Justine Maccarthy meiitfoned iu the text.
L'90 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
that lord. So he saw by that how little safe a man was, who spoke freely to the king, when
he crossed the king's own inclinations.
There was a great expectation in the court of France that at this time the king would
declare himself a papist. They did not keep the secret very carefully there ; for the arch-
bishop of Bheims had said to myself, that the king was as much theirs as his brother was,
only he had not so much conscience. This I reported to lord Halifax to tell the king.
Whether he did it, or not, I know not. But it was written over at this time from Paris,
that the king of France had said at his levee, or at table, that a great thing would quickly
break out in England with relation to religion. The occasion of that was afterwards better
known. One of our East India ships had brought over one of the missionaries of Siam, who
was a man of a warm imagination, and who talked of his having converted and baptized
many thousands in that kingdom. He was well received at court ; and the king diverted
himself with hearing him relate the adventures and other passages of his travels. Upon this
encouragement he desired a private audience, in which, in a very inflamed speech, and with
great vehemence, he pressed the king to return to the bosom of the church. The king enter-
tained this civilly, and gave him those answers, that he, not knowing the king's way, took
them for such steps and indications as made him conclude the thing was very near done.
And upon that he wrote to P. de la Chaise, that they would hear the news of the king's
conversion very quickly. The confessor carried the news to the king, who, not doubting it,
gave the general hint of that great turn, of which he was then full of hopes.
That priest was directed by some to apply himself to lord Halifax, to try if he could con-
vert him. Lord Halifax told me he was so vain and so weak a man, that none could be
converted by him, but such as were weary of their religion and wanted only a pretence to
throw it off. Lord Halifax put many questions to him, to which he made such simple
answers, as furnished that lord with many very lively sallies upon the conversions so much
boasted of, when made by such men. Lord Halifax asked him how it came that, since the
king of Siam was so favourable to their religion, they had not converted him ? The mis-
sionary upon that told him, that the king had said he would not examine into the truth of
all that they had told him concerning Jesus Christ. He thought it was not reasonable to
forsake the religion of his fathers, unless he saw good grounds to justify the change. And,
since they pretended that the author of their religion had left a power of working miracles
with his followers, he desired they would apply that to himself. He had a palsy both in
his arm and in his leg ; and if they could deliver him from that, he promised to them he
would change immediately. Upon which the missionary said, that the bishop, who was
the head of that mission, was bold enough (assez hardi were the priest's own words) to
undertake it. A day was set for it. And the bishop, with his priest and some others, came
to the king. And after some prayers, the king told them he felt some heat and motion in his
arm ; but the palsy was more rooted in his thigh ; so he desired the bishop would go on,
and finish that which was so happily begun. The bishop thought he had ventured enough,
and would engage no further, but told the king that, since their God had made one step
towards him, he must make the next to God, and at least meet him half way. But the king
was obstinate, and would have the miracle finished before he would change. On the other
hand, the bishop stood his ground. And so the matter went no further. Upon which lord
Halifax said, since the king was such an infidel, they ought to have prayed the palsy into
his arm again, as well as they prayed it out ; otherwise, here was a miracle lost on an obsti-
nate infidel ; and, if the palsy had immediately returned into his arm, that would perhaps
have given him a full conviction. This put the missionary into some confusion. And lord
Halifax repeated it both to the king and to the duke with that air of contempt, that the
duke was highly provoked by it ; and the priest appeared at court no more.
There was at this time a new scheme formed, that very probably would have for ever
broken the king and the duke. But how it was laid was so great a secret, that I could never
penetrate into it. It was laid at lady Portsmouth's. Barillon and lord Sunderland were the
chief managers of it. Lord Godolphin was also in it. The duke of Monmouth came over
secretly. And though he did not see the king, yet he went back very well pleased with his
journey. But he never told his reason to any that I know of. Mr. May of the privy purse
OF KING ~"'ARLES II. CO I
told me, that he was told £here was a design to break out, with which he himself would he
well pleased ; and when it was ripe, he was to be called on to come and manage the king's
temper, which no man understood better than he did : for he had been bred about the king
ever since he was a child ; and by his post he was in the secret of all his amours ; but was
contrary to his notions in everything else, both with relation to popery, to France, and to
arbitrary government. Yet he was so true to the king in that lewd confidence in which he
employed him, that the king had charged him never to press him in anything, so as to pro-
voke him. By this means he kept all tii'uj wr.:1« nw*;h at a distance ; for he would not enter
into any discourse with the king on matters of state, till the king began with him. And he
told me, he knew by the king's way things were not yet quite ripe, nor he thoroughly fixed on
the design. That with which they were to begin was the sending the duke to Scotland. And
it was generally believed, that if the two brothers should be once parted, they would never
meet again. The king spoke to the duke concerning his going to Scotland, and he answered
that there was no occasion for it ; upon which the king replied, that either the duke must
go, or that he himself would go thither.
The king was observed to be more than ordinarily pensive. And his fondness to ladv
Portsmouth increased, and broke out in very indecent instances. The grand prior of France,
the duke of Vendome's brother, had made some applications to that lady, with which the
king was highly offended. It was said, the king came in on a sudden, and saw that which
provoked him ; so he commanded him immediately to go out of England. Yet after that
the king caressed her in the view of all people, which he had never done on any occasion, or
to any person formerly. The king was observed to be colder and more reserved to the duke
than ordinary. But what was under all this was still a deep secret. Lord Halifax was let
into no part of it. He still went on against lord Rochester. He complained in council that
there were many razures in the books of the treasury, and that several leaves were cut out of
those books ; and he moved the king to go to the treasury chamber, that the books might be
laid before him, and that he might judge of the matter upon sight. So the king named the
next Monday. And it was then expected that the earl of Rochester would have been turned
out of all, if not sent to the Tower. And a message was sent to Mr. May, then at Windsor,
to desire him to come to court that day, which it was expected would prove a critical day.
And it proved to be so indeed, though in a different way.
All this winter the king looked better than he had done for many years. He had a '
humour in his leg which looked like the beginning of the gout ; so that for some weeks he
could not walk as he used to do generally for three or four hours a day in the park, which
he did commonly so fast, that as it was really an exercise to himself, so it was a trouble to all
about him to hold up with him. In the state the king was in, he, not being able to walk,
spent much of his time in his laboratory, and was running a process for the fixing of mercury.
On the first of February, being a Sunday, he eat little all day, and came to lady Portsmouth
at night, and called for a porringer of spoon-meat. It was made too strong for his stomach,
so he eat little of it ; and he had an unquiet night. In the morning, one Dr. King, a physi-
cian, and a chymist, came, as he had been ordered, to wait on him. All the king's discourse
to him was so broken, that he could not understand what he meant. And the doctor con-
cluded he was under some great disorder, either in his mind or in his body. The doctor,
amazed at this, went out, and, meeting with the lord Peterborough, he said the king was in
a strange humour, for he did not speak one word of sense. Lord Peterborough desired he
would go in again to the bedchamber, which he did. And he was scarce come in, when the
king, who seemed all the while to be in great . confusion, fell down all of a sudden in a fit
like an apoplexy ; he looked black, and his eyes turned in his head. The physician, who
had been formerly an eminent surgeon, said it was impossible to save the king's life, if one
minute was lost ; he would rather venture on the rigour of the law than leave the king to
perish. And so he let him blood. The king came out of that fit ; and the physicians
approved what Dr. King had done. Upon which the privy council ordered him a thousand
pounds, which yet was never paid him. Though the king came out of that fit, yet the
effects of it hung still upon him, so that he was much oppressed. And the physicians did
very much apprehend the return of another fit, and that it would carry him off; so they
392 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
looked on him as a dead man. The bishop of London spoke a little to him, to dispose him
to prepare for whatever might be before him ; to which the king answered not a word.
But that was imputed partly to the bishop's cold way of speaking, and partly to the ill
opinion they had of him at court, as too busy in opposition to popery. Bancroft made a
very weighty exhortation to him : in which he used a good degree of freedom, which he said
was necessary, since he was going to be judged by one who was no respecter of persons. To
him the king made no answer neither ; nor yet to Ken, though the most in favour with him
of all the bishops. Some imputed this to an insensibility, of which too visible an instance
appeared, since lady Portsmouth sat in the bed taking care of him as a wrife of a husband.
Others guessed truer, that it would appear he was of another religion. On Thursday a
second fit returned ; and then the physicians told the duke that the king was not likely to
live a day to an end.
The duke immediately ordered Hudleston, the priest that had a great hand in saving the
king at Worcester fight (for which he was excepted out of all severe acts that were made
against priests), to be brought to the lodgings under the bed-chamber. And when he was
told what was to be done, he was in great confusion, for he had no hostie about him. But
he went to another priest that lived in the court, who gave him the pix with an hostie in it.
But that poor priest was so frightened, that he ran out of Whitehall in such haste that lie
struck against a post, and seemed to be in a fit of madness with fear. As soon as Hudleston
had prepared everything that was necessary, the duke whispered the king in the ear. Upon
that the king ordered that all who were in the bed-chamber should withdraw, except the
earls of Bath and Feversham ; and the door was double locked. The company was kept out
half an hour : only lord Feversham opened the door once, and called for a glass of water.
Cardinal Howard told me at Rome, that Hudleston. according to the relation that he sent
thither, made the king go through some acts of contrition, and, after such a confession as he
;ould then make, he gave him absolution and the other sacraments. The hostie stuck in his
throat, and that was the occasion of calling for a glass of water. He also gave him extreme
unction. All must have been performed very superficially, since it was so soon ended. But
the king seemed to be at great ease upon it. It was given out, that the king said to Hudle-
ston that he had saved him twice : first his body, and now his soul ; and that he asked him
if he would have him declare himself to be of their church. But it seems he was prepared
for this, and so diverted the king from it ; and said, he took it upon him to satisfy the world
in that particular. But though by the principles of all religions whatsoever he ought to
have obliged him to make open profession of his religion, yet, it seems, the consequences of
that wTere apprehended ; for without doubt that poor priest acted by the directions that
were given him. The company was suffered to come in. And the king went through the
agonies of death with a calm and a constancy that amazed all who were about him, and
knew how he had lived. This made some conclude that he had made a will, and that his
quiet was the effect of that. Ken applied himself much to the awaking the king's conscience.
He spoke with a great elevation, both of thought and expression, like a man inspired, as
those who were present told me. He resumed the matter often, and pronounced many short
ejaculations and prayers, which affected all that were present, except him that was the most
concerned, who seemed to take no notice of him, and made no answers to him. He pressed
the king six or seven times to receive the sacrament ; but the king always declined it, saying
he was very weak. A table with the elements upon it ready to be consecrated was brought
into the room, which occasioned a report to be then spread about, that he had received it.
Ken pressed him to declare that he desired it, and that he died in the communion of the
church of England. To that he answered nothing. Ken asked him if he desired absolution
of his sins. It seems the king, if he then thought anything at all, thought that would do
him no hurt. So Ken pronounced it over him ; for which he was blamed, since the king
expressed no sense of sorrow for his past life, nor any purpose of amendment. It was
thought to be a prostitution of the peace of the church, to give it to one, who, after a life
led as the king's had been, seemed to harden himself against everything that could be said to
him. Ken was also censured for another piece of indecency ; he presented the duke of Rich-
mond, lady Portsmouth's son, to be blessed by the king. Upon this, some that were in tho
,'
OF KING CHARLES II. 390
room cried out, the king was their common father. And upon that all kneeled down for his
blessing, which he gave them. The king suffered much inwardly, and said, he was burnt
up within ; of which he complained often, but with great decency. He said once, he hoped
he should climb up to heaven's gates, which was the only word savouring of religion that he
was heard to speak.
He gathered all his strength to speak his last words to the duke, to which every one \
hearkened with great attention. He expressed his kindness to him, and that he now delivered •
all over to him wTith great joy. He recommended lady Portsmouth over and over again to
him. He said, he had always loved her, and he loved her now to the last ; and besought the
duke, in as melting words as he could fetch out, to be very kind to her, and to her son. He
recommended his other children to him : and concluded, " Let not poor Nelly starve :" that
was Mrs. Gwyn. But he said nothing of the queen, nor any one word of his people, or of
. his servants : nor did he speak one word of religion, or concerning the payment of his debts,
though he left behind him about 90,000 guineas, which he had gathered, either out of the
privy purse, or out of the money which was sent him from France, or by other methods, and
which he had kept so secretly that no person whatsoever knew any thing of it.
He continued in the agony till Friday at eleven o'clock, being the sixth of February,
1684-5, and then died in the 'fifty-fourth year of his age, after he had reigned, if we reckon
from his father's death, thirty- six years, and eight days ; or, if we reckon from his restora-
tion, twenty-four years, eight months, and nine days. There were many very apparent
suspicions of his being poisoned ; for though the first access looked like an apoplexy, yet it
was plain in the progress of it that it was no apoplexy. When his body was opened, the
physicians who viewed it were, as it were, led by those who might suspect the truth, to look
upon the parts that were certainly sound. But both Lower and Needham, two famous
physicians, told me, they plainly discerned two or three blue spots on the outside of the
stomach. Needham called twice to have it opened ; but the surgeons seemed not to hear
him : and when he moved it the second time, he, as he told me, heard Lower say to one
that stood next him, " Needham will undo us, calling thus to have the stomach opened, for
he may see they will not do it." They were diverted to look to somewhat else : and when
they returned to look upon the stomach, it was carried away : so that it was never viewed.
Le Fevre, a Frencli physician, told me, he saw a blackness in the shoulder : upon wrhich he
made an incision, and saw it was all mortified. Short, another physician, who was a papist,
but after a form of his own, did very much suspect foul dealing : arid he had talked more
freely of it than any of the protostants durst do at that time. But he was not long after
taken suddenly ill, upon a large draught of wormwood wine, which he had drank in the
house of a popish patient, that lived near the Tower, who had sent for him, of which he died.
And, as he said to Lower, Millington, and some other physicians, he believed that he himself
was poisoned, for his having spoken so freely of the king's death. The king's body was
indecently neglected. Some parts of his inwards, and some pieces of the fat, were left in the
water in which they wTcre washed : all which were so carelessly looked after, that the water
being poured out at a scullery hole that went to a drain, in the mouth of which a grate lay,
these were seen lying on the grate many days after. His funeral was very mean. He did
not lie in state : no mournings were given ; and the expense of it was not equal to what an
ordinary nobleman's funeral will rise to. Many upon this said, that he deserved better from
his brother, than to be thus ungratefully treated in ceremonies that are public, and that make
an impression on those who see them, and who will make severe observations and inferences
upon such omissions. But since I have mentioned the suspicions of poison, as the cause of
his death, I must add, that I never heard any lay those suspicions on his brother. But his
lying so critically, as it were in the minute in wrhich he seemed to begin a turn of affairs,
made it to be generally the more believed, and that the papists had done it, either by the means
of some of lady Portsmouth's servants, or, as some fancied, by poisonous snuff; for so many of
the small veins of the brain were burst, that the brain was in great disorder, and no judgment
could be made concerning it. To this I shall add a very surprising story, that I had in
November, 1709, from Mr. Henley, of Hampshire. He told me, that, when the duchess of
Portsmouth came over to England in the year 1699, he heard, that she had talked as if king
394 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Charles had been poisoned ; which he desiring to have from her own mouth, she gave him
this account of it. She was always pressing the king to make both himself and his people
easy, and to come to a full agreement with his parliament : and he was come to a final reso-
lution of sending away his brother, and of calling a parliament ; which was to be executed
the next day after he fell into that fit of which he died. She was put upon the secret, and
spoke of it to no person alive, but to her confessor : but the confessor, she believed, told it to
some, who, seeing what was to follow, took that wicked course to prevent it. Having this
from so worthy a person, as I have set it down without adding the least circumstance to it,
I thought it too important not to be mentioned in this history. It discovers both the knavery
of confessors, and the practices of papists, so evidently, that there is no need of making any
further reflections on it *.
Thus lived and died king Charles the Second. He was the greatest instance in history
of the various revolutions of which any one man seemed capable. He was bred up, the first
v twelve years of his life, with the splendour that became the heir of so great a crown. After
that he passed through eighteen years in great inequalities, unhappy in the war, in the loss
of his father, and of the crown of England. Scotland did not only receive him, though upon
terms hard of digestion, but made an attempt upon England for him, though a feeble one.
He lost the battle of "Worcester with too much indifference ; and then he shewed more care
of his person, than became one who had so much at stake. He wandered about England
for ten weeks after that, hiding from place to place : but, under all the apprehensions he
had then upon him, he shewed a temper so careless, and so much turned to levity, that he
was then diverting himself with little household sports, in as unconcerned a manner, as if he
had made no loss, and had been in no danger at all. He got at last out of England ; but he
had been obliged to so many, who had been faithful to him, and careful of him, that he
seemed afterwards to resolve to make an equal return to them all ; and finding it not easy
to reward them all as they deserved, he forgot them all alike. Most princes seem to have
this pretty deep in them, and to think that they ought never to remember past services, but
that their acceptance of them is a full reward. He, of all in our age, exerted this piece of
prerogative in the amplest manner : for he never seemed to charge his memory, or to trouble
his thoughts, with the sense of any of the services that had been done him t. While he was
abroad at Paris, Cologne, or Brussels, he never seemed to lay any thing to heart. He pursued
all his diversions, and irregular pleasures, in a free career ; and seemed to be as serene under
* A few corrections and additions are required to the the 90,000 guineas mentioned by Burnet, were intended
above narrative of the king's death. The duchess of for their completion. — Oxford ed. of this work. The earl's
Portsmouth, it seems, was not with him in his last moments, authority was William Chiffins, the king's closet-keeper,
although she was very anxious to be with him, and to have The suspicions of the king being poisoned, are sustained
him reconciled to the papal religion. She would have by the statement in the works of Sheffield, duke of Buck-
been present if bishop Ken had not prevented her ; (Ken's ingham, ii. 65, and Wellwood's Memoirs.
Life by a Relative, 17), and she probably assigned the Mr. Henley, quoted by Burnet, Avas the father of the
reason when she told the French ambassador, " I cannot lord keeper ; he was esteemed a man of honour, as he
with decency enter the room — the queen is almost con- certainly was talented, wealthy, and mixed in good society,
stantly there." — ( Dairy in pie's Memoirs, Append. i.95a.) To him Dr. Garth dedicated his "Dispensatory;'' and he
The earl of Aylesford, who attended the king at the time, is the member of parliament who moved for an address
thus describes the final scene. " My good king and to the queen for the promotion of Dr. Hoadley to some
master falling upon me in his fit, I ordered him to be ecclesiastical dignity as a recompence for his writings in
blooded, and then I went to fetch the duke of York, defence of liberty and the established church. The earl
When we came to the bed-side, we found the queen there; of Hardwicke related that he had heard the duke of Rich-
and the imposter (Burnet) says it was the duchess of Ports- mond, son of the duchess of Portsmouth, relate the narra-
mouth/' — (From an original letter published in the Euro- tive us Burnet tells it. — (Oxford ed. of this work.) The
pean Magazine, xxvii. 22.) King James, in his own various opinions upon this point are well weighed by
Memoirs, styled " Life of James the Second," i. p. 749, Ralphs in his " History," and he impartially concludes
says Charles spoke most tenderly to the queen in his that the evidence is so imperfect and conflicting, that "all
dying hour. This is confirmed by the relation of bishop, decision must, and ought to be postponed to the general
Ken just quoted. audit."
The earl of Dartmouth relates that the king was very f The Pendrells and Mrs. Lane were among the small
fond of his buildings at Winchester, designed by sir Chris- number of loyalists who were rewarded after the Restora-
topher Wren, but now converted into barracks, and that tion Grainger, vi. 2.
* This royal courtesan always behaved very respectfully to tbs qiKicn, which w.is never a conduct adopted by her
predecessor, the duchess of Cleveland, who, the queen used to say, was a cruel woman. — E. of Dartmouth. Oxford
edition of this work.
OF KING CHARLES II. 305
the loss of a crown, as the greatest philosopher could have been. Nor did he willingly
hearken to any of those projects, with which he often complained that his chancellor perse-
cuted him. That in which he seemed most concerned was, to find money for supporting his
expense. And it was often said, that, if Cromwell would have compounded the matter, and
have given him a good round pension, that he might have been induced to resign his title to
him. During his exile he delivered himself so entirely to his pleasures, that he became incapable
of application. He spent little of his time in reading, or study, and yet less in thinking :
and, in the state his affairs were then in, he accustomed himself to say to every person, and
upon all occasions, that which he thought would please most : so that words or promises
went very easily from him. And he had so ill an opinion of mankind, that he thought the
great art of living and governing was, to manage all things and all persons with a depth of
craft and dissimulation. And in that few men in the world could put on the appearances of
sincerity better than he could : under which so much artifice was usually hid, that in con-
clusion he could deceive none, for all were become mistrustful of him. He had great vices,
but scarcely any virtues to correct them : he had in him some vices that were less hurtful,
which corrected his more hurtful ones. He was, during the active part of life, given up to
sloth and lewdness to such a degree, that he hated business, and could not bear the engaging
in any thing that gave him much trouble, or put him under any constraint : and though he
desired to become absolute, and to overturn both our religion and our laws, yet he would
neither run the risk, nor give himself the trouble, which so great a design required. He had
an appearance of gentleness in his outward deportment, but he seemed to have no bowels
nor tenderness in his nature ; and in the end of his life he became cruel. He was apt to for-
give all crimes, even blood itself ; yet he never forgave any thing that was done against him-
self, after his first and general act of indemnity, which was to be reckoned as done rather
upon maxims of state than inclinations of mercy. He delivered himself up to a most enor-
mous course of vice, without any sort of restraint, even from the consideration of the nearest
relations : the most studied extravagancies that way seemed, to the very last, to be much
delighted in, and pursued by him. He had the art of making all people grow fond of him
at first, by a softness in his whole way of conversation, as he was certainly the best bred
man of the age. But when it appeared how little could be built on his promise, they were
cured of the fondness that he was apt to raise in them. When he saw young men of quality,
who had something more than ordinary in them, he drew them about him, and set himself
to corrupt them both in religion and morality ; in wrhich lie proved so unhappily successful,
that he left England much changed at his death from what he had found it at his restoration.
He loved to talk over all the stories of his life to every new man that came about him. His
stay in Scotland, and the share he had in the war of Paris, in carrying messages from the one
side to the other, were his common topics. He went over these in a very graceful manner ;
but so often, and so copiously, that all those who had been long accustomed to them grew
weary of them : and when he entered on those stories they usually withdrew ; so that he
often began them in a full audience, and before he had done there were not above four or five
left about him : which drew a severe jest from Wilmot, earl of Rochester. He said, he won-
dered to see a man have so good a memory as to repeat the same story without losing the
least circumstance, and yet not remember that he had told it to the same persons the very
•lay before. This made him fond of strangers; for they hearkened to all his often repeated
stories, and went away as in a rapture at such an uncommon condescension in a king.
His person and temper, his vices as well as his fortunes, resemble the character that we
have given us of Tiberius so much, that it were easy to draw the parallel between them.
Tiberius's banishment, and his coming afterwards to reign, makes the comparison in that
respect come pretty near. His hating of business, and his love of pleasures ; his raising of
favourites, and trusting them entirely ; and his pulling them down, and hating them exces-
sively ; his art of covering deep designs, particularly of revenge, with an appearance of soft-
ness, brings them so near a likeness, that I did not wonder much to observe the resemblance
>f their face and person. At Rome I saw one of the last statues made for Tiberius, after he
iad lost his teeth. But, abating the alteration which that made, it was so like king Charles,
396 TtiE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
that prince Borghese, and Signior Dominico to whom it belonged, did ngree with me in
thinking that it looked like a statue made for him.
Few things ever went near his heart. The duke of Gloucester's death seemed to touch him
much. But those who knew him best thought it was, because he had lost him by whom
only he could have balanced the surviving brother, whom he hated, and yet embroiled all his
affairs to preserve the succession to him.
His ill conduct in the first Dutch war, and those terrible calamities of the plague, and fire
of London, with that loss and reproach which he suffered by the insult at Chatham, made all
people conclude there was a curse upon his government. His throwing the public hatred at
that time upon lord Clarendon was both unjust and ungrateful. And when his people had
brought him out of all his difficulties upon his entering into the triple alliance, his selling
that to France, and his entering on the second Dutch war with as little colour as he had foi
the first ; his beginning it with the attempt on the Dutch Smyrna fleet ; the shutting up the
Exchequer ; and his declaration for toleration, which was a step for the introduction of
popery ; made such a chain of black actions, flowing from blacker designs, that it amazed
those who had known all this to see, with what impudent strains of flattery, addresses were
penned during his life, and yet more grossly after his death. His contributing so much to
the raising the greatness of France, chiefly at sea, was such an error, that it could not flow
from want of thought, or of true sense. Rouvigne told me, he desired that all the methods
the French took in the increase and conduct of their naval force might be sent him. And,
he said, he seemed to study them with concern and zeal. He shewed what errors they com-
mitted, and how they ought to be corrected, as if he had been a viceroy to France, rather
than a king that ought to have watched over and prevented the progress they made, as
the greatest of all the mischiefs that could happen to him or to his people. They that judged
the most favourably of this, thought it was done out of revenge to the Dutch, that, with the
assistance of so great a fleet as France could join to his own, he might be able to destroy
them. But others put a worse construction on it ; and thought, that seeing he could not
quite master, or deceive his subjects by his own strength and management, he was willing
to help forward the greatness of the French at sea, that by their assistance he might more
certainly subdue his own people ; according to what was generally believed to have fallen
from lord Clifford, that, if the king must be in a dependence, it was better to pay it to a
great and generous king, than to five hundred of his own insolent subjects.
No part of his character looked more wicked, as well as meaner, than that he, all the
while that he was professing to be of the church of England, expressing both zeal and affec-
tion to it, was yet secretly inclined to the church of Rome : thus, mocking God, and deceiv-
ing the world with so gross a prevarication. And his not having the honesty or courage to
own it at the last ; his not shewing any sign of the least remorse for his ill led life, or any
tenderness either for his subjects in general, or for the queen and his servants; and his recom-
mending only his mistresses and their children to his brother's care, would have been a strange
conclusion to any other's life, but was well enough suited to all the other parts of his.
The two papers found in his strong box concerning religion, and afterwards published by
his brother, looked like study and reasoning. Tennison told me, he saw the original in
Pepys's hand, to whom king James trusted them for some time. They were interlined in
several places. And the interlinings seemed to be written in a hand different from that in
which the papers were written. But he was not so well acquainted with the king's hand,
as to make any judgment in the matter, whether they were written by him or not. All that
knew him, when they read them, did without any sort of doubting conclude, that he never
composed them : for he never read the scriptures, nor laid things together, further than to
turn them to a jest, or for some lively expression. These papers were probably written either
by lord Bristol, or by lord Aubigny, who knew the secret of his religion, and gave him those
papers, as abstracts of some discourses they had with him on those heads, to keep him fixed
to them. And it is very probable that they, apprehending their danger if any such papers
had been found about him written in their hand, might prevail with him to copy them out
himself, though his laziness that way made it certainly no easy thing to bring him to give |
OF KING CHARLES II
097
himself so much trouble. He had talked over a great part of them to myself: so that, as
eoon I saw them, I remembered his expressions, and perceived that he had made himself
aiaster of the argument, as far as those papers could carry him. But the publishing them
ihewed a want of judgment, or of regard to his memory, in those who did it : for the greatest
kindness that could be shewn to his memory, would have been, to let both his papers and
himself be forgotten.
Which I should certainly have done, if I had not thought that the laying open of what I
knew concerning him and his affairs might be of some use to posterity. And therefore, how
ungrateful soever this labour has proved to myself, and how unacceptable soever it may be to
some, who are either obliged to remember him gratefully, or by the engagement of parties
and interests are under other biasses, yet I have gone through all that I knew relating to his
life and reign with that regard to truth, and wliat I think may be instructive to mankind,
which became an impartial writer of history, and one who believes, that he must give an
account to God of what he writes, as well as of what he says and does *.
* Another character of Charles the Second, agreeing out any fixed generous principle, and agreeing with his
closely with the preceding, yet in less severe terms, is portrait so tersely drawn by the earl of Rochester, when
given by Dr. Well wood, another contemporary, in his he observed, that " the king never said a silly thing ; and
" Memoirs." Both, and indeed all historians of his reign, never did a wise one."
llcw that he was a selfish, witty profligate — totally witli-
TIIE END OF KING CHARLES THE SECOND^ RKIGN.
BOOK IT*
OP THE REIGN OF KING JAMES THE SECOND.
AM now to prosecute this work, and to give the relation of an
inglorious and unprosperous reign, that was begun with great
advantages; but these were so poorly managed, and so ill
improved, that bad designs were ill laid, and worse conducted ;
and all came in conclusion to one of the strangest catastrophes
that is in any history. A great king with strong armies, and
mighty fleets, a vast treasure, and powerful allies, fell all at once :
and his whole strength, like a spider's web, was so irrecoverably
broken with a touch, that he was never able to retrieve, what for
want both of judgment, and heart, he threw up in a day. Such
an unexpected revolution deserves to be well opened ; I will do it as fully as I can. But,
having been beyond sea almost all this reign, many small particulars, that may well deserve
to be remembered, may have escaped me ; yet as I had good opportunities to be well
informed, I will pass over nothing that seems of any importance to the opening such great
and unusual transactions. I will endeavour to watch over my pen with more than ordinary
caution, that I may let no sharpness, from any ill usage I myself met with, any way possess
my thoughts, or bias my mind : on the contrary, the sad fate of this unfortunate prince will
make me the more tender in not aggravating the errors of his reign. As to my own par-
ticular, I will remember how much I was once in his favour, and how highly I was obliged
to him. And as I must let his designs and miscarriages be seen, so I will open things as fully
as I can, that it may appear on whom we ought to lay the chief load of them : which indeed
ought to be chiefly charged on his religion, and on those who had the management of his
conscience, his priests, and his Italian queen : which last had hitherto acted a popular part
with great artifice and skill, but came now to take off the mask, and to discover herself.
This prince was much neglected in his childhood, during the time he was under his father's
care. The parliament, getting him into their hands, put him under the earl of Northumber-
land's government, who, as the duke himself told me, treated him with great respect, and a
very tender regard. When he escaped out of their hands, by the means of colonel Bamfield,
his father wrote to him a letter in cypher, concluding in these plain words, " Do this as you
expect the blessing of your loving father." This was sent to William, duke of Hamilton,
but came after he had made his escape : and so I found it among his papers ; and I gave it
to the duke of York in the year 1674. He said to me, he believed he had his father's cypher
among his papers, and that he would try to decipher the letter ; but I believe he never did it.
I told him I was confident, that as the letter was written when his escape was under consi-
deration, so it contained an order to go to the queen, and to be obedient to her in all things,
except in matters of religion. The king appointed sir John Berkeley, afterwards lord
Berkeley, to be his governor. It was a strange choice, if it was not, because in such a want
of men who stuck then to the king, there were few capable in any sort of such a trust.
Berkeley was bold, and insolent, and seemed to lean to popery : he was certainly very arbi-
trary, both in his temper and notions. The queen took such a particular care of this prince,
that he was soon observed to have more of her favour than either of his two brothers ; and
she was so set on making proselytes, hoping that " to save a soul" would cover a " multitude
of sins," that it is not to be doubted but she used more than ordinary arts to draw him over
to her religion. Yet, as he himself told me, he stood out against her practices.
REIGN OF KING JAMES II. 399
During liis stay in France he made some campaigns under M. de Turenno, who took him
so particularly under his care, that he instructed him in all that he undertook, and shewed
him the reasons of every thing he did so minutely, that he had great advantages by being
formed under the greatest general of the age. Turenne was so much taken with his appli-
cation, and the heat that he shewed, that he recommended him out of measure. He said
often of him : " There was the greatest prince, and like to be the best general of his
time." This raised his character so much, that the king was not a little eclipsed by him.
Yet he quickly ran into amours and vice ; and that by degrees wore out any courage that
had appeared in his youth. And in the end of his life he came to lose the reputation of a
brave man and a good captain so entirely, that either he was never that which flatterers gave
out concerning him, or his age and affairs wrought a very unusual change on him.
He seemed to follow his mother's maxims all the while he was beyond sea. He was the
head of a party that was formed in the king's small court against lord Clarendon. And it
waiTbelieved that his applications to lord Clarendon's daughter were made at first, on design
to dishonour his family, though she had the address to turn it another way *.
After his brother's restoration he applied himself much to the marine, in which he
arrived at great skill, and brought the fleet so entirely into his dependence, that even after
he laid down the command, he was still the master of our whole sea force. He had now for
these last three years directed all our counsels with so absolute an authority, that the king
seemed to have left the government wholly in his hands : only the unlooked-for bringing
in the duke of Monmouth put him under no small apprehensions, that at some time or other
the king might slip out of his hands : now that fear was over.
[ The king wras dead ; and so all the court went immediately and paid their duty to him.
Orders were presently given for proclaiming him king. It was a heavy solemnity ; few
tears were shed for the former, nor were there any shouts of joy for the present king. A
dead silence, but without any disorder or tumult, followed it through the streets 1. 1 When
the privy councillors came back from the proclamation, and waited on the new king, he made
a short speech to them ; which it seems was well considered, and much liked by him, for he
repeated it to his parliament, and upon several other occasions.
He began with an expostulation for the ill character that had been entertained of him.
He told them, in very positive words, that he would never depart from any branch of his pre-
rogative : but with that he promised that he would maintain the liberty and property of the
subject. He expressed his good opinion of the church of England, as a friend to monarchy.
Therefore, he said, he would defend and maintain the church, and would preserve the govern-
ment in church and state, as it was established by law.
This speech was soon printed, and gave great content to those who believed that he wrould
stick to the promises made in it ; and those fewr, who did not believe it, yet durst not seem
to doubt of it. The pulpits of England were full of it, and of thanksgiving for it. It was
magnified as a security far greater than any that laws could give. The common phrase was,
We have now the " word of a king, and a word never yet broken."
Upon this a new set of addresses went round England, in which the highest commenda-
tions, that flattery could invent, were given to the late king ; and assurances of loyalty and
fidelity were renewed to the king, in terms that shewed there were no jealousies, nor fears
left. The University of Oxford in their address promised to obey the king, " without limi-
tations, or restrictions." The king's promise passed for a thing so sacred, that they were
looked on as ill bred, that put in their address, " our religion established by law ; " which
looked like a tie on the king to maintain it : whereas tli3 stile of the more courtly was, to
put all our security upon the king's promise. The clergy of London added a word to this in
their address, " our religion established by law, dearer to us than our lives." This had such
* The progress of this match, and the distress it caused had lived in ease and plenty during his reign ; and Colley
l"i-d Clarendon, are fully detailed in that nobleman's Gibber, no friend of the Stuarts, bears a similar testimony
' Autobiography." in his autobiography. Sir John Reresby in his Memoirs,
f This statement of Burnet is contradicted by other makes the same observation. Wellwood and Calamy in
'"ntemponiries. The carl of Dartmouth says, the com- their Memoirs unite in agreeing that the accession of
nonulty especially deplored the loss of Charles, for they James was hailed \vith the loudest acclamations.
400 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
an insinuation in it, as made it very unacceptable. Some followed their pattern. But this
was marked to be remembered against those that used so menacing a form.
All employments were ended of course with the life of the former king ; but the king
continued all in their places : only the posts in the household were given to those who had
served the king, while he was duke of York. The marquis of Halifax had reason to look
on himself as in ill terms with the king : so in a private audience he made the best excuses
he could for his conduct of late. The king diverted the discourse, and said, he would forget
every thing that was past, except his behaviour in the business of the exclusion. The king
also added, that he would expect no other service of him than what was consistent with law.
He prepared him for the exaltation of the earl of Rochester. He said, he had served him
well, and had suffered on his account, and therefore he would now shew favour to him : and
the next day he declared him lord treasurer. His brother, the earl of Clarendon, was made
lord privy seal : and the marquis of Halifax was made lord president of the council. The
earl of Sunderland was looked on as a man lost at court : and so was lord Godolphin. But
the former of these insinuated himself so into the queen's confidence, that he was, beyond
all people's expectation, not only maintained in his posts, but grew into great degrees of
favour.
The queen was made to consider the earl of Rochester as a person that would be in the
interest of the king's daughters, and united to the church party. So she saw it was neces-
sary to have one in a high post, who should depend wholly on her, and be entirely hers.
And the earl of Sunderland was the only person capable of that. The earl of Rochester did
upon his advancement become so violent and boisterous, that the whole court joined to sup-
port the earl of Sunderland, as the proper balance to the other. Lord Godolphin was put in
a great post in the queen's household.
But before the earl of Rochester had the white staff, the court engaged the lord Godolphin,
and the other lords of the treasury, to send orders to the commissioners of the customs, to
continue to levy the customs, though the act that granted them to the late king was only for
his life, and so was now determined with it. It is known how much this matter was con-
tested in king Charles the First's time, and what had passed upon it. The legal method was
to have made entries, and to have taken bonds for those duties, to be paid when the parlia-
ment should meet, and renew the grant. Yet the king declared, that he would levy the cus-
toms, and not stay for the new grant. But though this did not agree well with the king's
promise of maintaining liberty and property, yet it was said in excuse for it, that, if the
customs should not be levied in this interval, great importations would be made, and the
markets would be so stocked, that this would very much spoil the king's customs. But in
answer to this it was said again, entries were to be made, and bonds taken, to be sued, when
the act granting them should pass. Endeavours were used with some of the merchants to
refuse to pay those duties, and to dispute the matter in Westminster Hall ; but none would
venture on so bold a thing. He who should begin any such opposition would probably be
ruined by it ; so none would run that hazard. The earl of Rochester got this to be done
before he came into the treasury ; so he pretended, that he only held on in the course that
was begun by others.
The additional excise had been given to the late king only for life. But there was a clause
in the act, that empowered the Treasury to make a farm of it for three years, without adding
a limiting clause, in case it should be so long due. And it was thought a great stretch of
the clause, to make a fraudulent farm, by which it should continue to be levied three years
after it was determined, according to the letter and intendment of the act. A farm was now
brought out, as made during the king's life, though it was well known that no such farm had
been made ; for it was made after his death, but a false date was put to it. This matter
seemed doubtful. It was laid before the judges. And they all, except two, were of opinion
that it was good in law. So two proclamations were ordered, the one for levying the cus-
toms, and the other for the excise.
These came out in the first week of the reign, and gave a melancholy prospect. Such
beginnings did not promise well, and raised just fears in the minds of those who considered the
consequences of such proceedings. They saw, that, by violence and fraud, duties were uow
OF KING JAMES II. 401
to be levied without law. But all people were under the power of fear, or flattery, to such
a degree, that none durst complain, and few would venture to talk of those matters.
Persons of all ranks went, in such crowds, to pay their duty to the king, that it was not
easy to admit them all. Most of the Whigs that were admitted were received coldly at best.
Some were sharply reproached for their past behaviour. Others were denied access. The
king began likewise to say, that he would not be served as his brother had been : he would
have all about him serve him without reserve, and go thorough in his business. Many were
amazed to see such steps made at first. The second Sunday after he came to the throne, he,
to the surprise of the whole court, went openly to mass, and sent Caryl to Rome with letters
to the Pope, but without a character.
In one thing only the king seemed to comply with the genius of the- nation, though it
proved in the end to be only a shew. He seemed resolved not to be governed by French
counsels, but to act in an equality with that haughty monarch in all things. And, as he
entertained all the other foreign ministers with assurances that he would maintain the
balance of Europe with a more steady hand than had been done formerly, so wiien he sent
over the lord Churchill to the court of France, with the notice of his brother's death, he ordered
him to observe exactly the ceremony and state with which he was received, that he might
treat him, who should be sent over with the compliment in return to that, in the same man-
ner. And this he observed very punctually, when the marshal de Lorge came over. This
was set about by the courtiers, as a sign of another spirit, that might be looked for in a reign
so begun. And this made some impression on the court of France, and put them to a stand.
But, not long after this, the French king said to the duke of Yilleroy, (who told it to young
Rouvigny, now earl of Galloway, from whom I had it,) that the king of England, after all
the high things given out in his name, was willing to take his money, as well as his brother
had done.
The king did also give out, that he would live in a particular confidence with the prince of
Orange, and the States of Holland. And, because Chudleigh, the envoy there, had openly
broken with the prince, (for he not only waited no more on him, but acted openly against
him ; and once in the Vorhaut had affronted him, while he was driving the princess upon the
snow in a traineau, according to the German manner, and pretending they were masked, and
that he did not know them, had ordered his coachman to keep his way, as they were coming
towards the place where he drove ;) the king recalled him, and sent Skelton in his room, who
was the haughtiest, but withal the weakest man, that he could have found out. He talked
out all secrets, and made himself the scorn of all Holland *. The courtiers now said every
where, that we had a martial prince who loved glory, who would bring France into as humble
a dependence on us, as we had been formerly on that court.
The king did, some days after his coming to the crown, promise the queen and his priests,
that he would see Mrs. Sedley no more, by whom he had some children. And he spoke
openly against lewdness, and expressed a detestation of drunkenness. He sat many hours a
day about business with the council, the treasury, and the admiralty. It was upon this said,
that now we should have a reign of action and business, and not of sloth and luxury, as the
last was. Mrs. Sedley had lodgings in Whitehall : orders were sent to her to leave them.
This was done to mortify her ; for she pretended that she should now govern as absolutely
as the duchess of Portsmouth had done : yet the king still continued a secret commerce with
her. And thus he began his reign with some fair appearances. A long and great frost
liad so shut up the Dutch ports, that for some weeks they had no letters from England : at
last the news of the king's sickness and death, and of the beginnings of the new reign, came
4o them all at once.
The first difficulty the prince of Orange was in, was with relation to the duke of Mon-
mouth. He knew the king would immediately, after the first compliments were over, ask
liim to dismiss him, if not to deliver him up. And as it was no way decent for him to break
v/lth the king upon such a point, so he knew the States would never bear it. He thought
it better to dismiss him immediately, as of himself. The duke of Monmouth seemed sur-
* The prince of Orange soon detected him corresponding with those who were obnoxious to him, and desited hia
recall., — Singer's Clarendon Correspondence, i. 164.
D D
'
402 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
prised at this. Yet at parting he made great protestations both to the prince and pincess of
an inviolable fidelity to their interests. So he retired to Brussels, where he knew he could
be suffered to stay no longer than till a return should come from Spain, upon the notice of
king Charles's death, and the declarations that the king was making of maintaining the
balance of Europe. The duke was upon that thinking to go to Vienna, or to some court in
Germany ; but those about him studied to inflame him both against the king and the prince
of Orange. They told him, the prince, by casting him off, had cancelled all former obliga-
tions, and set him free from them : he was now to look to himself ; and instead of wandering
about as a vagabond, he was to set himself to deliver his country, and to raise his party
and his friends, who were now likely to be used very ill, for their adhering to him, and to his
interest.
They sent one over to England to try men's pulses, and to see if it was yet a proper time
to make an attempt. Wildman, Charlton, and some others, went about trying if men were
in a disposition to encourage an invasion. They talked of this in so remote a way of specu-
lation, that though one could not but see what lay at bottom, yet they did not run into
treasonable discourse. I was in general sounded by them : yet nothing was proposed that
ran me into any danger from concealing it. I did not think fears and dangers, nor some ille-
gal acts in the administration, could justify an insurrection, as lawful in itself : and I was
confident an insurrection undertaken on such grounds would be so ill seconded, and so weakly
supported, that it would not only come to nothing, but it would precipitate our ruin. There-
fore I did all I could to divert all persons wTith whom I had any credit from engaging in
such designs. These were for some time carried on in the dark. The king, after he had put
his affairs in a method, resolved to hasten his coronation, and to have it performed with great
magnificence : and for some weeks he was so entirely possessed with the preparations for that
solemnity, that all business was laid aside, and nothing but ceremony was thought on.
At the same time a parliament was summoned ; and all arts were used to manage elec-
tions so, that the king should have a parliament to his mind. Complaints came up from all
the parts of England, of the injustice and violence used in elections, beyond what had ever
been practised in former times. And this was so universal over the whole nation, that no
corner of it was neglected. In the new charters that had been granted, the election of the
members was taken out of the hands of the inhabitants, and restrained to the corporation-
men, all those being left out who were not acceptable at court. In some boroughs they could
not find a number of men to be depended on : so the neighbouring gentlemen were made the
corporation-men : and, in some of these, persons of other counties, not so much as known in
the borough, were named. This was practised in the most avowed manner in Cornwall by
the earl of Bath ; who, to secure himself the groom of the stole's place, which he held all
king Charles's time, put the officers of the guards' names in almost all the charters of that
county ; which sending up forty-four members, they were for most part so chosen, that the
king was sure of their votes on all occasions.
These methods were so successful over England, that when the elections were all returned,
the king said, there were not above forty members, but such as he himself wished for. They
were neither men of parts, nor estates : so there was no hope left, either of working on their
understandings, or of making them see their interest, in not giving the king all at once.
Most of them were furious and violent, and seemed resolved to recommend themselves to the
king, by putting every thing in his power, and by ruining all those who had been for the
exclusion. Some few had designed to give the king the revenue only from three years to
three years. The earl of Rochester told me, that was what he looked for, though the post
he was in made it not so proper for him to move in it. But there was no prospect of any
strength in opposing anything that the king should ask of them.
This gave all thinking men a melancholy prospect. England now seemed lost, unless some
happy accident should save it. All people saw the way for packing a parliament now laid
open. A new set of charters and corporation-men, if those now named should not continue ,
to be still as compliant, as they were at present, was a certain remedy, to which recourse
might be easily had. The boroughs of England saw their privileges now wrested out ofl
their hands, and that their elections, which had made them so considerable before, were iiere-i
OF KING JAMES II. 403
after to be made as the court should direct ; so that from henceforth little regard would be
had to them ; and the usual practices in courting, or rather in corrupting them, would be no
longer pursued. Thus all people were alarmed; but few durst speak out, or complain
openly : only the duke of Monmouth's agents made great use of this to inflame their party.
It was said, here was a parliament to meet, that was not the choice and representative of
the nation, and therefore was no parliament. So they upon this possessed all people with
dreadful apprehensions, that a blow was now given to the constitution, which could not be
remedied, but by an insurrection. It was resolved to bring up petitions against some elec-
tions, that were so indecently managed, that it seemed scarcely possible to excuse them ; but
these were to be judged by a majority of men, who knew their own elections to be so faulty,
that to secure themselves they would justify the rest : and fair dealing was not to be expected
from those who were so deeply engaged in the like injustice.
All that was offered on the other hand to lay those fears, which so ill an appearance did
\raise, was, that it was probable the king would go into measures against France. All the
offers of submission possible were made him by Spain, the empire, and the States.
^ The king had begun with the prince of Orange upon a hard point. He was not satisfied
with his dismissing the duke of Monmouth, but wrote to him to break all those officers who
had waited on him while he was in Holland. In this they had only followed the prince's
example ; so it was hard to punish them for that, which he himself had encouraged. They
had indeed shewn their affections to him so evidently, that the king wrote to the prince, that
he could not trust to him, nor depend on his friendship, as long as such men served under
him. This was of a hard digestion. Yet, since the breaking them could be easily made up
by employing them afterwards, and by continuing their appointments to them, the prince
complied in this likewise. And the king was so well pleased with it, that when bishop
Turner complained of some things relating to the prince and princess, and proposed rougher
methods, the king told him, it was absolutely necessary that the prince and he should con-
tinue in good correspondence. Of this Turner gave an account to the other bishops, and told
them very solemnly, that the church would be in no hazard during the present reign ; but
that they must take care to secure themselves against the prince of Orange, otherwise they
would be in great danger.
The submission of the prince and the States to the king made some fancy, that this would
overcome him. All people concluded, that it would soon appear whether bigotry, or a desire
of glory was the prevailing passion ; since if he did not strike in with an alliance, that was
then projected against France, it might be concluded that he was resolved to deliver himself
up to his priests, and to sacrifice all to their ends. The season of the year made it to be
hoped, that the first session of parliament would be so short, that much could not be done in
it, but that when the revenue should be granted, other matters might be put off to a winter
session. So that, if the parliament should not deliver up the nation in a heat all at once, but
should leave half their work to another session, they might come under some management,
and either see the interest of the nation in general, or their own in particular ; and manage
their favours to the court in such a manner as to make themselves necessary, and not to give
away too much at once, but be sparing in their bounty ; which they had learned so well in
king Charles's time, that it was to be hoped they would soon fall into it, if they made not
too much haste at their first setting out. So it was resolved not to force them on too hastily
in their first session, to judge of any election, but to keep that matter entire for some time,
till they should break into parties.
The coronation was set for St. George's day. Turner was ordered to preach the sermon ;
and both king and queen resolved to have all done in the protestant form, and to assist in all
the prayers : only the king would not receive the sacrament, which is always a part of the
Ceremony. In this certainly his priests dispensed with him, and he had such senses given
1 im of the oath, that he either took it as unlawful with a resolution not to keep it, or he had
1 reserved meaning in his own mind. The crown was not well fitted for the king's head : it
; ame down too far, and covered the upper part of his face. The canopy carried over him did
| "!so break. Some other smaller things happened that were looked on as ill omens : and his
I ?on by Mrs. Sedley died that day. The queen with the peeresses made a more graceful
D D 2
404 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
figure. The best thing in Turner's sermon was, that lie set forth that part of Constantius
Chlorus's history very handsomely, in which he tried who would be true to their religion, and
reckoned that those would be faithfullest to himself who were truest to their God.
I must now say somewhat concerning myself. At this time I went out of England.
Upon king Charles's death, I had desired leave to come and pay my duty to the king, by the
marquis of Halifax. The king would not see me. So, since I was at that time in no sort of
employment, not so much as allowed to preach any where, I resolved to go abroad. 1 saw
we were likely to fall into great confusion ; and were either to be rescued, in a way that I
could not approve of, by the duke of Monmouth's means, or to be delivered up, by a meeting
that had the face and name of a parliament. I thought the best thing for me was to go
out of the way. The king approved of this, and consented to my going ; but still refused to
see me. So I was to go beyond sea, as to a voluntary exile. This gave me great credit with
all the mal-contents : and I made the best use of it I could. I spoke very earnestly to the
lord Delamer, to Mr. Harnbden, and such others as I could meet with, who I feared might
be drawn in by the agents of the duke of Monmouth. The king had not yet done that
which would justify extreme counsels ; a raw rebellion would be soon crushed, and give a
colour for keeping up a standing army, or for bringing over a force from France. I per-
ceived many thought the constitution was so broken into, by the elections of the house of
commons, that they were disposed to put all to hazard. Yet most people thought the crisis
w^as not so near as it proved to be.
The deliberations in Holland, among the English and Scotch that fled thither, came to
ripen faster than was expected. Lord Argyle had been quiet ever since the disappointment
in the year eighty-three. He had lived for most part in Friezland, but came often to
Amsterdam, and met with the rest of his countrymen that lay concealed there : the chief of
whom were the lord Melvill, sir Patrick Hume, and sir John Cochran. With these lord
Argyle communicated all the advices that were sent him. He went on still with his first
project. He said, he wanted only a sum of money to buy arms, and reckoned, that as soon
as he was furnished with these, he might venture on Scotland. He resolved to go to his own
country, where he hoped he could bring five thousand men together. And he reckoned that
the western and southern counties were under such apprehensions, that without laying of
matters, or having correspondence among them, they would all at once come about him, when
he had gathered a good force together in his own country. There was a rich widow in
Amsterdam, who was full of zeal : so she, hearing at what his designs stuck, sent to him,
and furnished him with ten thousand pounds *. With this money he bought a stock of
arms and ammunition, which was very dexterously managed by one that traded to Venice,
as intended for the service of that republic. All was performed with great secrecy, and put
on board. They had sharp debates among them about the course they were to hold. He
was for sailing round Scotland to his own country. Hume was for the shorter passage : the
other wras a long navigation, and subject to great accidents. Argyle said, the fastnesses of
his own country made that to be the safer place to gather men together. He presumed so
far on his own power, and on his management hitherto, that he took much upon him : so
that the rest were often on the point of breaking with him
The duke of Monmouth came secretly to them, and made up all their quarrels. He would
willingly have gone with them himself ; but Argyle did not offer him the command : on the
contrary he pressed him to make an impression on England at the same time. This was not
possible ; for the duke of Monmouth had yet made no preparations. So he was hurried into
a fatal undertaking before things were in any sort ready for it. He had been indeed much
pressed to the same thing by Wade, Ferguson, and some others about him, but chiefly by the
lord Grey, and the lady Wentworth, who followed him to Brussels desperately in love with
him. And both he and she came to fancy, that he being married to his duchess, while he
was indeed of the age of consent, but not capable of a free one, the marriage was null : so
they lived together : and she had heated both herself and him with such enthusiastical con-
ceits, that they fancied what they did was approved of God. With this small council he
* In lord Grey's papers it is stated that the celebrated Mr. Locke, being in Holland, companion to his patron the carl
of Shaftesbury, then in exile, advanced 1,000/. towards this enterprise. — Oxford edition of this \vork.
OF KING JAMES II. 405
took his measures. Fletcher, a Scotch gentleman of great parts, and many virtues, but a
most violent republican, and extravagantly passionate, did not like Argyle's scheme : so he
resolved to run fortunes with the duke of Monmouth. He told me, that all the English
among them were still pressing the duke of Monmouth to venture. They said, all the west
of England would come about him, as soon as he appeared, as they had done five or six years
ago. They reckoned there would be no fighting, but that the guards, and others who adhered
to the king, would melt to nothing before him. They fancied the city of London would be
in such a disposition to revolt, that, if he should land in the west, the king would be in great
perplexity. He could not have two armies ; and his fear of tumults near his person would
oblige him to keep such a force about him, that he would not be able to send any against
him. So they reckoned he would have time to form an army, and in a little while be in a
condition to seek out the king, and fight him on equal terms.
This appeared a mad and desperate undertaking to the duke of Monmouth himself. He
knew what a weak body a rabble was, and how unable to deal with troops long trained.
He had neither money, nor officers, and no encouragement from the men of estates and inte-
rest in the country. It seemed too early yet to venture. It was the throwing away all his
hopes in one day. Fletcher, how vehemently soever he was set on the design in general, yet
saw nothing in this scheme that gave any hopes : so he argued much against it. And he
said to me, that the duke of Monmouth was pushed on to it against his own sense and reason :
but he could not refuse to hazard his person, when others were so forward. Lord Grey said,
that Henry the seventh landed with a smaller number, and succeeded. Fletcher answered,
he was sure of several of the nobility, who were little princes in those days. Ferguson in
his enthusiastical way said, it was a good cause, and that God would not leave them unless I
they left him. And though the duke of Monmouth' s course of life gave him no great reason
to hope that God would appear signally for him, yet even he came to talk enthusiastically on
the subject. But Argyle's going, and the promise he had made of coming to England with
all possible haste, had so fixed him, that, all further deliberations being laid aside, he pawned a
parcel of jewels, and bought up arms ; and they were put aboard a ship freighted for Spain.
King James was so intent upon the pomp of his coronation, that for some weeks more
important matters were not thought on. Both Argyle's and Monmouth's people were so
true to them, that nothing was discovered by any of them. Yet some days after Argyle had
sailed, the king knew of it : for the night before I left London, the earl of Arran came to
me, and told me, the king had an advertisement of it that very day. I saw it was fit for
me to make haste ; otherwise I might have been seized on, if it had been only to put the
affront on me, of being suspected of holding correspondence with traitors.
Argyle had a very prosperous voyage. He sent out a boat at Orkney to get intelligence,
and to take prisoners. This had no other effect, but that it gave intelligence where he was :
and the wind chopping, he was obliged to sail away, and leave his men to mercy. The
I winds were very favourable, and turned as his occasions required : so that in a very few days
lie arrived in Argyleshire. The misunderstandings between him and Hume grew very high ;
for he carried all things with an air of authority, that was not easy to those who were set-
ting up for liberty. At his landing he found, that the early notice the council had of his
Ulssigns had spoiled his whole scheme; for they had brought in all the gentlemen of his
country to Edinburgh, which saved them, though it helped on his ruin. Yet he got above
pi ve-and-twcnty hundred rneii to come to him. If with these he had immediately gone over
ltd the western counties of Ayr and Renfrew, he might have given the government much
trouble. But he lingered too long, hoping still to have brought more of his Highlanders
'gether. He reckoned these were sure to him, and would obey him blindfold : whereas if
10 had gone out of his own country with a small force, those who might have come in
> his assistance might also have disputed his authority : and he could not bear contradiction.
luch time was by this means lost : and all the country was summoned to come out against
him. At last he crossed an arm of the sea, and landed in the isle of Bute ; where he spent
welve days more, till he had eat up that island, pretending still, that he hoped to be joined
>y more of his Highlanders.
He had left his arms in a castle, with such a guard as he could spare ; but they were
406 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
routed by a party of tne king's forces : and with this he lost both heart and hope. And
then, apprehending that all was gone, he put himself in a disguise, and had almost escaped ;
but lie was taken. A body of gentlemen that had followed him stood better to it, and forced
their way through ; so that the greater part of them escaped. Some of these were taken :
the chief of them were sir John Cochran, Ayloffe, and Rumbold. These two last were
Englishmen : but I knew not upon what motive it was, that they chose rather to run fortunes
with Argyle, than with the duke of Monmouth. Thus was this rebellion brougnt to a speedy
end, with the effusion of very little blood. Nor was there much shed in the way of justice ;
for it was considered, that the Highlanders were under such ties by their tenures, that it was
somewhat excusable in them to follow their lord. Most of the gentlemen were brought in
by order of council to Edinburgh, which preserved them. One of those that were with
Argyle, by a great presence of mind, got to Carlisle, where he called for post horses ; and said,
he was sent by the general to carry the good news by word of mouth to the king. And so
he got to London, and there he found a way to get beyond sea.
Argyle was brought into Edinburgh : he expressed even a cheerful calm under all his mis-
fortunes. He justified all he had done ; for, he said, he was unjustly attainted : that had
dissolved his allegiance : so it was justice to himself and his family, to endeavour to recover
what was so wrongfully taken from him. He also thought, that no allegiance was due to
the king, till he had taken the oath which the law prescribed to be taken by our kings at
their coronation, or the receipt of their princely dignity. He desired that Mr. Charteris
might be ordered to attend upon him ; which was granted. When he came to him, he told
him he was satisfied in conscience with the lawfulness of what he had done, and therefore
desired he would not disturb him with any discourse on that subject. The other, after he
had told him his sense of the matter, complied easily with this. So all that remained was to
prepare him to die, in which he expressed an unshaken firmness. The duke of Queensbury
examined him in private. He said, he had not laid his business with any in Scotland : he
had only found credit with a person that lent him money ; upon which he had trusted, per-
haps too much, to the dispositions of the people, sharpened by their administration. When
the day of his execution came, Mr. Charteris happened to come to him as he was ending
dinner : he said to him pleasantly, " sero vcnientibus ossa." He prayed often wTith him, and
by himself, and went to the scaffold with great serenity. He had complained of the duke of
Monmouth much, for delaying his coming so long after him, and for assuming the name of
king ; both which, he said, were contrary to their agreement at parting. Thus he died,
pitied by all. His death, being pursuant to the sentence passed three years before, of which
mention was made, was looked on as no better than murder. But his conduct in this matter
was made up of so many errors, that it appeared he was not made for designs of this kind.
Ayloffe had a mind to prevent the course of justice, and having got a penknife into his
hands gave himself several stabs ; and thinking he was certainly a dead man, he cried out,
and said, now he defied his enemies. Yet he had not pierced his guts ; so his wounds were
not mortal : and it being believed that he could make great discoveries, he was brought up
to London.
Rumbold was he that dwelt in Rye-house, where it was pretended the plot was laid for
murdering the late and the present king. He denied the truth of that conspiracy. He
owned, he thought the prince was as much tied to the people, as the people were to the
prince ; and that, when a king departed from the legal measures of government, the people
had a light to assert their liberties, and to restrain him. He did not deny but that he had
heard many propositions at West's chambers about killing the two brothers ; and upon that
he had said, it could have been easily executed near his house ; upon which some discourse
had followed, how it might have been managed. But, he said, it was only talk, and that
nothing was either laid, or so much as resolved on. He said, he was not for a common-
wealth, but for kingly government, according to the laws of England ; but he did not think
that the king had his authority by any divine right, which he expressed in rough, but sig-
nificant words. He said, he did not believe that God had made the greater part of mankind
with saddles on their backs and bridles in their mouths, and some few booted and spurred to j
ride tl:e rest.
lV\r»Ml«O Yl 1
OF KING JAMES II. 407
Cochran had a rich father, the earl of Dundonald ; and he offered the priests 5,000£. to
save his son. They wanted a stock of money for managing their designs ; so they interposed
so effectually, that the bargain was made. But, to cover it, Cochran petitioned the council
that he might be sent to the king ; for he had some secrets of great importance, which were
not fit to be communicated to any but to the king himself. He was upon that brought up
to London ; and, after he had been for some time in private with the king, the matters he
had discovered were said to be of such importance, that in consideration of that the king par-
doned him. It was said, he had discovered all their negociations with the elector of Bran-
denburg, and the prince of Orange. But this was a pretence only given out to conceal the
bargain ; for the prince told me, he had never once seen him. The secret of this came to be
known soon after.
When Ayloffe was brought up to London, the king examined him, but could draw nothing
from him, but one severe repartee. He being sullen, and refusing to discover any thing, the
king said to him ; " Mr. Ayloffe, you know it is in my power to pardon you, therefore say
that which may deserve it." It was said that he answered, that though it was in his power,
yet it was not in his nature to pardon. He was nephew to the old earl of Clarendon by
marriage ; for Ayloffe's aunt was his first wife, but she had no children. It was thought,
that the nearness of his relation to the king's children might have moved him to pardon him,
which would have been the most effectual confutation of his bold repartee : but he suffered
with the rest.
Immediately after Argyle's execution, a parliament was held in Scotland. Upon king
Charles's death, the marquis of Queensbury, soon after made a duke, and the earl of Perth,
came to court. The duke of Queensbury told the king, that if he had any thoughts of changing
the established religion, he could not make any one step with him in that matter. The king-
seemed to receive this very kindly from him ; and assured him, he had no such intention, but
that he would have a parliament called, to which he should go his commissioner, and give all
possible assurances in the matter of religion, and get the revenue to be settled, and such other
laws to be passed as might be necessary for the common safety. The duke of Queensbury
pressed the earl of Perth to speak in the same strain to the king. But, though he pretended
to be still a protestant, yet he could not prevail on him to speak in so positive a style. I had
not then left London ; so the duke sent me word of this, and seemed so fully satisfied with
it, that he thought all would be safe. So he prepared instructions by which both the revenue
and the king's authority were to be carried very high. He has often since that time told me,
that the king made those promises to him in so frank and hearty a manner, that he concluded
it was impossible for him to be acting a part. Therefore he always believed that the priests
gave him leave to promise every thing, and that he did it very sincerely ; but that afterwards
they pretended they had a power to dissolve the obligation of all oaths and promises ; since
nothing could be more open and free than his way of expressing himself was, though after-
wards he had no sort of regard to any of the promises he then made. The Test had been the
king's own act while he was in Scotland. So he thought the putting that on all persons
would be the most acceptable method, as well as the most effectual, for securing the protes-
tant religion. Therefore he proposed an instruction obliging all people to take the Test, not
only to qualify them for public employments, but that all those to whom the council should
tender it should be bound to take it, under the pain of treason : and this was granted. He
also projected many other severe laws, that left an arbitrary power in the privy council.
And, as he was naturally violent and imperious in his own temper, so he saw the king's
inclinations to those methods, and hoped to have recommended himself effectually, by being
instrumental in setting up an absolute and despotic form of government. But he found
afterwards how he had deceived himself, in thinking that any thing, but the delivering up
his religion, could be acceptable long. And he saw, after he bad prepared a cruel scheme of
government, other men were entrusted with the management of it : and it had almost proved
fatal to himself.
The parliament of Scotland sat not long. No opposition was made. The duke of
Quecnsbury gave very full assurances in the point of religion, that the king would never alter
it, but would maintain it, as it was established by law. And in confirmation of them ho
408 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
proposed that act enjoining the Test, which was passed, and was looked on as a full security ;
though it was very probable, that all the use that the council would make of this discretional
power lodged with them, would be only to tender the Test to those that might scruple it on
other accounts, but that it would be offered to none of the church of Rome. In return for
this the parliament gave the king for life, all the revenue that had been given to his brother ;
and with that some additional taxes were given.
Other severe laws were also passed. By one of these an inquisition was upon the matter
set up. All persons were required, under the pain of treason, to answer to all such questions
as should be put to them by the privy council. This put all men under great apprehensions,
since upon this act an inquisition might have been grafted, as soon as the king pleased.
Another act was only in one particular case ; but it was a crying one, and so deserves to be
remembered.
When Carstairs was put to the torture, and came to capitulate in order to the making a
discovery, he got a promise from the council, that no use should be made of his deposition
against any person whatsoever. He in his deposition said somewhat that brought sir Hugh
Campbell and his son under the guilt of treason, who had been taken up in London two years
before, and were kept in prison all this while. The earl of Melfort got the promise of his
estate, which was about 1,000/. a year, as soon as he should be convicted of high treason.
So an act was brought in, which was to last only six weeks ; and enacted, that if within
that time any of the privy council would depose that any man was proved to be guilty of
high treason, he should upon such a proof be attainted. Upon which, as soon as the act was
passed, four of the privy council stood up, and affirmed that the Campbells were proved
by Carstairs's deposition to be guilty. Upon this both father and son were brought to the
bar, to see what they had to say, why the sentence should not be executed. The old gentle-
man, then near eighty, seeing the ruin of his family was determined, and that he was con-
demned in so unusual a manner, took courage, and said, the oppression they had been under
had driven them to despair, and made them think how they might secure their lives and
fortunes : upon this he went to London, and had some meetings with Baillie, and others :
that one was sent to Scotland to hinder all risings : that an oath of secresy was indeed
offered, but was never taken upon all this. So it was pretended he had confessed the crime,
and by a shew of mercy they were pardoned : but the earl of Melfort possessed himself of
their estate. The old gentleman died soon after And very probably his death was hastened
by his long and rigorous imprisonment, and this unexampled conclusion of it ; which was so
universally condemned, that when the news of it was written to foreign parts, it was not
easy to make people believe it possible.
But now the sitting of the parliament of England came on. And, as a preparation to it,
Oates was convicted of perjury, upon the evidence of the witnesses from St. Omer's, who had
been brought over before to discredit his testimony. Now juries were so prepared, as to
believe more easily than formerly. So he was condemned to have his priestly habit taken
from him, to be a prisoner for life, to be set on the pillory in all the public places of the city,
and ever after that to be set on the pillory four times a year, and to be whipped by the
common hangman from Aldgate to Newgate one day, and the next from Newgate to Tyburn ;
which was executed with so much rigour, that his back seemed to be all over flayed. This
was thought too little if he was guilty, and too much if innocent, and was illegal in all the
parts of it : for as the secular court could not order the ecclesiastical habit to be taken from
him, so to condemn a man to a perpetual imprisonment was not in the power of the court :
and the extreme rigour of such whipping was without a precedent. Yet he, who was an
original in all things, bore this with a constancy that amazed all those who saw it. So
that this treatment did rather raise his reputation, than sink it.
And, that I may join things of the same sort together, though they were transacted at
some distance of time, Dangerfield, another of the witnesses in the popish plot, was also
found guilty of perjury, and had the same punishment : but it had a more terrible conclusion ;
for a brutal student of the law, who had no private quarrel with him, but was only trans-
ported with the heat of that time, struck him over the head with his cane, as he got his last
lash. This hit him so fatally, that he died of it immediately. The person was apprehended,
OF KING JAMES II.
409
ami the king left him to the law : and, though great intercession was made for him, the king
would not interpose. So he was hanged for it *.
At last the parliament met. The king in his speech repeated that, which he had said to
the council upon his first accession to the throne. He told them, some might think the keep-
ing him low would be the surest way to have frequent parliaments : but they should find
the contrary, that the using him well would be the best argument to persuade him to meet
them often. This was put in to prevent a motion, which was a little talked of abroad, but
none would venture on it within doors, that it was safest to grant the revenue only for a
term of years.
The revenue was granted for life, and every thing else that was asked, with such a pro-
fusion, that the house was more forward to give, than the king was to ask : to which the
king thought fit to put a stop by a message, intimating that he desired no more money that
session. And yet this forwardness to give in such a reign, was set on by Musgrave and
others, who pretended afterwards, when money was asked for just and necessary ends, to be
frugal patriots, and to be careful managers of the public treasure.
As for religion, some began to propose a new and firmer security to it. But all the
courtiers ran out into eloquent harangues on that subject ; and pressed a vote, that they took
the king's word in that matter, and would trust to it ; and that this should be signified in
an address to him. This would bind the king in point of honour, and gain his heart so
entirely, that it would be a tie above all laws whatsoever. And the tide ran so strong
that way, that the house went into it without opposition.
The lord Preston, who had been for some years envoy in France, was brought over, and
set up to be a manager in the house of commons. He told them the reputation of the nation
was beginning to rise very high all Europe over, urxler a prince whose name spread terror
everywhere. And if this was confirmed by the entire confidence of his parliament, even in
the tenderest matters, it would give such a turn to the affairs of Europe, that England would
again hold the balance, and their king would be the arbiter of Europe. This was seconded
by all the court flatterers. So in their address to the king, thanking him for his speech,
they told him they trusted to him so entirely, that they relied on his word, and thought
themselves and their religion safe, since he had promised it to them.
When this was settled, the petitions concerning the elections were presented. Upon those
Seymour spoke very high, and with much weight. He said, the complaints of the irregulari-
ties in elections were so great, that many doubted whether this was a true representative of
the nation or not. He said, little equity was expected upon petitions, where so many were
too guilty to judge justly and impartially. He said it concerned them to look to these ; for
if the nation saw no justice was to be expected from them, other methods would be found, in
which they might come to suffer that justice which they would not do. He was a haughty
man, and would not communicate his design in making this motion to any ; so all were sur-
prised with it, but none seconded it. This had no effect, not so much as to draw on a
debate.
The courtiers were projecting many laws to ruin all who opposed their designs. The most
important of these was an act declaring treasons during that reign, by which words were to
be made treason. And the clause was so drawn, that anything said to disparage the king's
person or government was ms,de treason : within which everything said to the dishonour of
the king's religion would have been comprehended, as judges arid juries were then modelled.
This was chiefly opposed by Serjeant Maynard, who, in a very grave speech, laid open the
* Burnet is not quite accurate in the account of this
melancholy catastrophe ; for there is reason to believe
t'uat the unfeeling law student alluded to, was punished to
iillay the popular discontent, rather than because his
"ffcnce merited the penalty of death. It seems at the
worst to have been only manslaughter. Mr. Francis, a
• 'rayVInn student, asked Dangerfield, after his flogging,
" how he liked his morning's heat?" Dangerficld, in
' turn, spat in his face, which Francis as hastily resented
>y thrusting at him with a small cane he held in his hand ;
the end unfortunately pierced the sufferer's eye. Death
was not the immediate consequence, but he lived so long
afterwards in Newgate as to raise a doubt with the sur-
geons who attended the coroner's inquest, whether the
flogging was not the cause of his death. Francis was tried
and condemned to be executed : intercessions for his life
would perhaps have succeeded, if Jeffreys had not declared
that " Francis must die, for the rabble was thoroughly
heated." — Higgons' Remarks on Burnet, 444; Wool-
rych's Life of Jeffreys, 262.
410 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
inconvenience of making words treason : they were often ill heard, and ill understood, and
were apt to be miscredited by a very small variation ; men in passion, or in drink, might say
things they never intended ; therefore, he hoped they would keep to the law of the twenty-
fifth of Edward the Third, by which an overt-act was made the necessary proof of ill inten-
tions. And when others insisted, that " out of the abundance of the heart the mouth spake,"
he brought the instance of our Saviour's words, "Destroy this temple;" and showed how
near " the temple" was to " this temple," pronouncing it in Syriac, so that the difference
was almost imperceptible. There was nothing more innocent than these words, as our
Saviour meant, and spoke them ; but nothing was more criminal than the setting on a mul-
titude to destroy the temple. This made some impression at that time. But if the duke of
Monmouth's landing had not brought the session to an early conclusion, that, and everything
else which the officious courtiers were projecting, would have certainly passed.
The most important business that was before the house of lords was the reversing the
attainder of the lord Stafford. It was said for it, that the witnesses were now convicted of
perjury, and therefore the restoring the blood that was tainted by their evidence was a just
reparation. The proceedings in the matter of the popish plot were chiefly founded on Oates's
discovery, which was now judged to be a thread of perjury. This stuck with the lords, and
would not go down. Yet they did justice both to the popish lords then in the Tower, and
to the earl of Danby, who moved the house of lords, that they might either be brought to
their trial, or be set at liberty. This was sent by the lords to the house of commons, who
returned answer, that they did not think fit to insist on the impeachments. So upon that
they were discharged of them, and set at liberty. Yet, though both houses agreed in this of
prosecuting the popish plot no further, the lords had no mind to reverse and condemn past
proceedings.
But while all these things were in agitation, the duke of Monmouth's landing brought the
session to a conclusion. As soon as lord Argyle sailed for Scotland, he set about his design
with as much haste as was possible. Arms were bought, and a ship was freighted for
Bilboa in Spain. The duke of Monmouth pawned all his jewels ; but these could not raise
much, and no money was sent him out of England. So he was hurried into an ill designed
invasion. The whole company consisted but of eighty-two persons. They were all faithful
to one another. But some spies, whom Skelton, the new envoy, set on work, sent him the
notice of a suspected ship sailing out of Amsterdam with arms. Skelton neither understood
the laws of Holland, nor advised with those who did ; otherwise he would have carried with
him an order from the admiralty of Holland, that sat at the Hague, to be made use of as
the occasion should require. When he came to Amsterdam, and applied himself to the
magistrates there, desiring them to stop and search the ship that he named, they found the
ship was already sailed out of their port, and their jurisdiction went no further. So he was
forced to send to the admiralty at the Hague. But those on board, hearing what he was
come for, made all possible haste , arid the wind favouring them, they got out of the Texel
before the order desired could be brought from the Hague.
After a prosperous course, the duke landed at Lyme, in Dorsetshire ; and he with his
small company came ashore with some order, but with too much daylight, which discovered
how few they were.
The alarm was brought hot to London ; where, upon the general report and belief of the
thing, an act of attainder passed both houses in one day : some small opposition being made
by the earl of Anglesey, because the evidence did not seem clear enough for so severe a sen-
tence, which was grounded on the notoriety of the thing. The sum of 5000/. was set on his
head. And with that the session of parliament ended ; which was no small happiness to the
nation, such a body of men being dismissed with doing so little hurt. The duke of Mon-
mouth's manifesto was long, and ill penned ; full of much black and dull malice. It was
plainly Ferguson's style, which was both tedious and fulsome. It charged the king with
the burning of London, the popish plot, Godfrey's murder, and the earl of Essex's death :
and to crown all, it was pretended, that the late king was poisoned by his orders. It was
set forth, that the king's religion made him incapable of the crown : that three subsequent
houses of commons had voted his exclusion : the taking away the old charters, arid all the
OF KING JAMES II. 411
ard things done in the last reign were laid to his charge : the elections of the present par-
liament were also set forth very odiously, with great indecency of style : the nation was
also appealed to, when met in a free parliament, to judge of the duke's own pretensions :
and all sort of liberty, both in temporals and spirituals, was promised to persons of all
persuasions.
Upon the duke of Monmouth's landing, many of the country people came in to join him,
but very few of the gentry. He had quickly men enough about him to use all his arms.
The duke of Albemarle, as lord-lieutenant of Devonshire, was sent down to raise the militia,
and with them to make head against him. But their ill affection appeared very evidently :
many deserted, and all were cold in the service. The duke of Monmouth had the whole
country open to him for almost a fortnight, during which time he was very diligent in
training and animating his men. His own behaviour was so gentle and obliging, that he
was master of all their hearts, as much as was possible. But he quickly found what it was
to be at the head of undisciplined men, that knew nothing of war, and that were not to be
used with rigour. Soon after their landing, lord Grey was sent out with a small party.
He saw a few of the militia, and he ran for it ; but his men stood, and the militia ran from
them. Lord Grey brought a false alarm, that was soon found to be so ; for the men whom
their leader had abandoned came back in good order. The duke of Monmouth was struck
with this, when he found that the person on whom he depended most, and for whom he
designed the command of the horse, had already made himself infamous by his cowardice.
He intended to join Fletcher with him in that command ; but an unhappy accident made
it not convenient to keep him longer about him. He sent him out on another party, and
he, not being yet furnished with a horse, took the horse of one who had brought in a great
body of men from Taunton. He was not in the way ; so Fletcher, not seeing him to ask
his leave, thought that all things were to be in common among them that would advance
the service. After Fletcher had ridden about as he was ordered, as he returned, the owner
of the horse he rode on, who was a rough and ill -bred man, reproached him in very injurious
terms, for taking out his horse without his leave. Fletcher bore this longer than could have
been expected from one of his impetuous temper. But the other persisted in giving him
foul language, and offered a switch or a cane ; upon which he discharged his pistol at him,
and fatally shot him dead. He went and gave the duke of Monmonth an account of this,
who saw it was impossible to keep him longer about him, without disgusting and losing
the country people, who were coming in a body to demand justice. So he advised him to
go aboard the ship and to sail on to Spain, whither she was bound. By this means he was
preserved for that time.
Ferguson ran among the people with all the fury of an enraged man that affected to pass
for an enthusiast, though all his performances that way were forced and dry. The duke of
Monmouth's great error was, that he did not in the first heat venture on some hardy action,
d then march either to Exeter or Bristol ; where as he would have found much wealth, so
e would have gained some reputation by it. But he lingered in exercising his men, and
yed too long in the neighbourhood of Lyme.
By this means the king had time both to bring troops out of Scotland, after Argyle was
ken, and to send to Holland for the English and Scotch regiments that were in the service
the States ; which the prince sent over very readily, and offered his own person and a
,ter force, if it was necessary. The king received this with great expressions of acknow-
gment and kindness. It was very visible that he was much distracted in his thoughts,
and that what appearance of courage soever he might put on, he was inwardly full of appre-
hensions and fears. He durst not accept of the offer of assistance that the French made
him ; for by that he Would have lost the hearts of the English nation. And he had no mind
to be much obliged to the prince of Orange, or to let him into his counsels or affairs. Prince
George committed a great error in not asking the command of the army : for the command,
how much soever he might have been bound to the counsels of others, would have given
him some lustre ; whereas his staying at home in such time of danger brought him under
much neglect.
The king could not choose worse than he did, when he gave the command to the earl of
412 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Feversham, who was a Frenchman by birth, and nephew to M. de Turenne. Both his
brothers changing religion, though he continued still a protestant, made that his religion
was not much trusted to. He was an honest, brave and good natured man, but weak to a
degree not easy to be conceived. And he conducted matters so ill, that every step he made
was likely to prove fatal to the king's service. He had no parties abroad : he got no intelli-
gence : and was almost surprised, and likely to be defeated, when he seemed to be under no
apprehension, but was a-bed without any care or order. So, that if the duke of Monmouth
had got but a very small number of good soldiers about him, the king's affairs would have
fallen into great disorder*.
The duke of Monmouth had almost surprised lord Feversham and all about him, while
they were a-bed. He got in between two bodies, into which the army lay divided. He
now saw his error in lingering so long. He began to want bread, and to be so straitened,
that there was a necessity of pushing for a speedy decision. He was so misled in his march
that he lost an hour's time ; and when he came near the army, there was an inconsiderable
ditch : in the passing which he lost so much more time, that the officers had leisure to rise
and be dressed, now they had the alarm ; and they put themselves in order. Yet the duke
of Monmouth's foot stood longer, and fought better than could have been expected : especially
when the small body of horse they had ran upon the first charge ; the blame of which was
cast upon lord Grey. The foot being thus forsaken, and galled by the cannon, did run at
last. About a thousand of them were killed on the spot, and fifteen hundred were taken
prisoners. Their numbers when fullest were between five and six thousand. The duke of
Monmouth left the field too soon for a man of courage, who had such high pretensions ; for
a few days before he had suffered himself to be called king, which did him no service, even
among those that followed him. He rode towards Dorsetshire, and when his horse could
carry him no further, he changed clothes with a shepherd, and went as far as his legs could
carry him, being accompanied only with a German, whom he had brought over with him.
At last, when he could go no further, he lay down in a field where there was hay and straw,
with which tlrey covered themselves, so that they hoped to lie there unseen till night.
Parties went out on all hands to take prisoners. The shepherd was found by the lord
Lumley in the duke of Monmouth's clothes ; so this put him on his track, and having some
dogs with them they followed the scent, and came to the place, where the German was first
discovered. And he immediately pointed to the place where the duke of Monmouth lay.
So he was taken in a very indecent dress and postured .
His body was quite sunk with fatigue, and his mind was now so low, that he begged his
life in a manner that agreed ill with the courage of the former parts of it. He called for pen,
ink, and paper, and wrote to the earl of Feversham, and both to the queen and the queen
dowager, to intercede with the king for his life. The king's temper, as well as his interest,
made it so impossible to hope for that, that it showed a great meanness in him to ask it in
such terms as he used in his letters. He was carried up to Whitehall, where the king
examined him in person ; which was thought very indecent, since he was resolved not to
pardon him. He made new and unbecoming submissions, and insinuated a readiness to
change his religion ; for he said the king knew what his first education was in religion. There
were no discoveries to be got from him ; for the attempt was too rash to be well concerted,
or to be so deep laid that many were involved in the guilt of it. He was examined on
Monday, and orders were given for his execution on Wednesday J.
* Lewis Duras was marquis de Blanquefort in France, proceedings, but consider him to have conducted him-
but naturalised here in 1665; created baron Duras of self with the discretion of a good general. James said,
Holdenby in 1672, and earl of Feversham in 1676. He in the hearing of Reresby, that Monmouth had "not
was loid chamberlain to the queen of Charles the Second, made one false step." The only companion with him when
and, even after her retirement to Portugal, continued to taken was count Horn. That he was worn down by fatigue
have the chief management of her affairs ; so that he was is not surprising, if Reresby's account that he was not in bed
sometimes designated the " king-dowager." He was for three nights, is true. — Reresby's Memoirs,
supple and insinuating, so that he retained the court f When Monmouth fell into the hands of king James's
favour, even in the two following reigns. He will be troops, on the 8th of July, 1685, he immediately wrote
noticed in future pages. to the king, earnestly requesting an interview, and assur-
t Sir John Reresby and other authorities do not give ing him that ho had something to impart of great import-
so unfavourable an account of the duke of Moninouth's auce, and which could only be related in person. On
OF KING JAMES II
413
Turner and Ken, the bishops of Ely and of Bath and Wells, were ordered to wait on him.
But he called for Dr. Tennison. The bishops studied to convince him of the sin of rebellion.
He answered, he was sorry for the blood that was shed in it ; but he did not seem to repent
of the design. Yet he confessed that his father had often told him, that there was no truth
in the reports of his having married his mother. This he set under his hand, probably for
his children's sake, who were then prisoners in the Tower, that so they might not be ill used
on his account. He showed a great neglect of his duchess *. And her resentments for his
course of life with the lady Wentworth wrought so much on her, that, though he desired
to speak privately with her, she would have witnesses to hear all that passed, to justify her-
the following day he wrote to the queen-dowager (vide
Ellis's Letters illustrative of English Hist, iii.), and the
following to the earl of Rochester :
"From Ringwood, the .9th of July, 1685.
" My Lord, — Having had some proofs of your kindness
when I was last at Whitehall, makes me hope now that
you will not refuse interceding for me with the king, being
I now, though too late, see how I have been misled ; were
I not clearly convinced of that, I would rather die a thou-
sand deaths than say what I do. I writ yesterday to the
king, and the chief business of my letter was to desire
to speak to him ; for I have that to say to him that
I am sure will set him at quiet for ever ; I am sure the
whole study of my life shall hereafter be how to serve
him ; and I am sure that which I can do is more worth
than taking my life away ; and I am confident, if I may
be so happy to speak to him, he will himself be convinced
of it, being I can give him such infallible proofs of my
truth to him, that though I would alter, it would not bo
in my power to do it. This which I have now said, I
hope will be enough to encourage your lordship to show
me your favour, which I do earnestly desire of you, and
hope that you have so much generosity as not to refuse
it. I hope, my lord, and I make no doubt of it, that you
will not have cause to repent having saved my life, which
I am sure you can do a great deal in it, if you please ;
being it obliges me for ever to be entirely yours, which I
shall ever be, as long as I have life.
" MoNMOUTH.
" For the Earl of Rochester,
Lord High Treasurer of England."
—Singer's Clarendon Corr. i. 143.
There have been two conjectures respecting the intel-
ligence that Monmouth wished to communicate to James.
The one, that he was encouraged to the invasion by the
prince of Orange, is refuted by all the evidence we pos-
sess— the other, that he had such an encourager in the
intriguing earl of Sunderland, is much better substan-
tiated. Among the Clarendon Papers is a document con-
firming this last opinion. When returned to tlie Tower,
the hauteur of the duke gave way, and he again wrote to
the king. Tradition says that this revealed the treachery
of Sunderland ; but this communication never reached the
king. Colonel Scott gave of this the following narrative to
a friend "In the year 1734, I was in company with
colonel Scott, at Boulogne- sur-Mer, in France, when the
colonel called me to him, and said. ' Mr. Bowdler, you
are a young man and I am an old one, I will tell you
something worth remembering. When the duke of
Monmouth was in the Tower, under sentence of death, I
had the command of the guard there ; and one morning
the duke desired me to let him have pen, ink, and paper,
for he wanted to write to the king. He wrote a very
long letter, and, when he had sealed it, he desired me to
give him my word of honour that I would carry that
letter to the king, and deliver it into no hands but his.
I told him I would most willingly do it, if it was in my
power, but that my orders were, not to stir from him till
his execution ; and, therefore, I dared not leave the
Tower. At this he expressed great uneasiness, saying, he
could have depended on my honour ; but at length asked
me if there was any officer in that place on whose fidelity
I could rely. I told him that captain was one on
whom I would willingly confide, in anything on which my
whole life depended, and more I could not say of any
man. The duke desired he might be called. When he
was come, the duke told him the affair. He promised on
his word and honour that he would deliver the letter to
no person whatever, but to the king only. Accordingly,
he went immediately to court, and being come near the
king's closet, took the letter out of his pocket to give to
the king. Just then lord Sundeiland came out of the
closet, and, seeing him, asked him what he had in his
hand ; he said it was a letter from the duke of Monmouth,
which he was going to give to the king. Lord Sunder-
land said, ' Give it to me, I will carry it to him.' ' No,
my lord,' said the captain, ' I pawned my honour to the
duke, that I would deliver the letter to no man but the
king himself.' ' But,' said lord Sunderland, ' the king
is putting on his shirt, and you cannot be admitted into
the closet ; but the door shall stand so far open that you
shall see me give it to him.' After many words, lord
Sunderland prevailed on the captain to give him the letter,
and his lordship went into the closet with it. After the
Revolution, colonel Scott, who followed the fortunes of
Ving James, going one day to see the king at dinner, at
St. Germains, in France, the king called him to him, and
said, 'Colonel Scott, I have lately heard a thing that I
want to know from you whether it is true.' The king
then related the story, and the colonel assured him that
what his majesty had been told was exactly true. Upon
this the king then said, ' Colonel Scott, as I am a living
man, I never saw that letter, nor did I ever hear of it till
within these few days.' " — Singer's Clarendon Corr. i.
144.
No one can hesitate in agreeing that the king ought
never to have admitted Monmouth to his presence, unless
he intended to pardon him. That Monmouth did not act
heroically at this interview is perhaps true. Reresby says
that he heard the king relate that the duke confessed his
error, threw the blame on the earl of Argyle and Ferguson,
who had incited him to the invasion ; said that he assumed
the style of king to induce the gentry to join him ; and
begged for pardon on his knees. — (Reresby's Memoirs.)
That the king could relate all this, knowing that at the
conclusion he coldly left the offender, his own nephew,
to die on the scaffold, brands him indelibly as a heartless
monster. — See Dalrymple's Memoirs ; James's Memoirs ;
Rose's Observations ; Clarke's Life of James, from the
Stuart Papers, &c.
* This is decidedly contradicted by a MS. belonging
to the Buccleugh fam'ly, and quoted by Mr. Rose in the
Appendix to his " Observations" on Mr. Fox's History of
James the Second. The last farewell of Momnouth and
his wife is there described as being most tender. He
who is standing within a day's space of death would
surely wish for forgiveness, and might readily be forgiveii.
414 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
self, and to preserve her family. They parted very coldly. He only recommended to her
the breeding their children in the protestant religion. The bishops continued still to press on
him a deep sense of the sin of rebellion ; at which he grew so uneasy, that he desired them
to speak to him of other matters. They next charged him with the sin of living with the
lady Wentworth as he had done. In that he justified himself: he had married his duchess
too young to give a true consent. He said, that lady was a pious, worthy woman, and that
he had never lived so well in all respects, as since his engagements with her *. All the pains
^ they took to convince him of the unlawfulness of that course of life had no effect. They did*
certainly very well in discharging their consciences, and speaking so plainly to him ; but
they did very ill to talk so much of this matter, and to make it so public as they did : for
divines ought not to repeat what they say to dying penitents, no more than what the peni-
tents say to them. By this means the duke of Monmouth had little satisfaction in them,
and they had as little in him.
He was much better pleased with Dr. Tennison, who did very plainly speak to him with
relation to his public actings, and to his course of life ; but he did it in a softer and less
peremptory manner. And having said all that he thought proper, he left those points, in
which he saw he could not convince him, to his own conscience, and turned to other things
fit to be laid before a dying man. The duke begged one day more of life wTith such repeated
earnestness, that as the king was much blamed for denying so small a favour, so it gave
occasion to others to believe, that he had some hope from astrologers, that, if he outlived that
day, he might have a better fate. As long as he fancied there was any hope, he was too
much unsettled in his mind to be capable of anything.
But when he saw all was to no purpose, and that he must die, he .complained a little that
_^his death was hurried on so fast. But all on the sudden he came into a composure of mind
I that surprised all that saw it. There was no affectation in it. His whole behaviour was
easy and calm, not without a decent cheerfulness. He prayed God to forgive all his sins,
unknown as well as known. He seemed confident of the mercies of God, and that he was
going to be happy with him. And he went to the place of execution on Tower Hill with
an air of undisturbed courage that was grave and composed. He said little there : only that
he was sorry for the blood that was shed ; but he had ever meant well to the nation. When
he saw the axe, he touched it, and said it was not sharp enough. He gave the hangman
mt half the reward he intended; and said, if he cut off his head cleverly, and not so
mtcherly as he did the lord Russel's, his man would give him the rest. The executioner
•was in great disorder, trembling all over ; so he gave him two or three strokes without being
able to finish the matter, and then flung the axe out of his hand. But the sheriff forced
him to take it up ; and at three or four more strokes he severed his head from his body ; and
)oth were presently buried in the chapel of the Tower. Thus lived and died this unfortu-
* nate young man.J>He had several good qualities in him, and some that were as bad. He
was soft and gentle even to excess, and too easy to those who had credit with him. He was
both sincere and good natured, and understood war well. But he was too much given to
pleasure and to favourites f.
The lord Grey it was thought would go next. But he had a great estate that by his deatli
was to go over to his brother. So the court resolevd to preserve him till he should be
brought to compound for his life. The earl of Rochester had 16,000/. of him. Others had
smaller shares. He was likewise obliged to tell all he knew, and to be a witness in order to
the conviction of others, but with this assurance, that nobody should die upon his evidence J.
* Henrietta Maria Wentworth was the only daughter orders to put him to death if there was any danger of his
and heiress of the earl of Cleveland. — Reresby's Me- escape. The colonel took from the duke's person many
moirs. charms ; and added, when relating this to his nephew, the
•f A still more favourable and interesting charac- earl of Dartmouth, that his tablet-book was full of uniu-
ter of this unfortunate nobleman is given with some let- telligible astrological figures. The duke told him he
tens, and extracts from his " Diary," in Well wood's received them years previously in Scotland, and that he
Memoirs. Reresby says that many charms and spells now found them but foolish conceits See also Dr.
were found in his pockets; a fact we may readily believe Clark's Life of James the Second ; Oxford edition of this
when we know that then almost every one believed in work.
astrology and witchcraft. Colonel Legge was in the £ This dastardly peer, Ford, lord Grey de Werke,
coach M'ith him when conducted to London, and had afterwards had his estate restored, and, obtaining th«
OF KING JAMES II. 415
the lord Brandon, son to the earl of Macclesfk-ld, was convicted by his and some other
evidence. Mr. Hambden was also brought on his trial. And he was told that he must
expect no favour unless he would plead guilty. And he, knowing that legal evidence would
be brought against him, submitted to this ; and begged his life with a meanness, of which
he himself was so ashamed afterwards, that it gave his spirits a depression and disorder that
he could never quite master. And that had a terrible conclusion : for, about ten years after,
he cut his own throat.
The king was now as successful as his own heart could wish. He had held a session of
parliament in both kingdoms that had settled his revenue ; and now two ill-prepared, and ill
managed, rebellions had so broken all the party that was against him, that he seemed secure
in his throne, and above the power of all his enemies. And certainly a reign that was now
so beyond expectation successful in its first six months seemed so well settled, that no ordi-
nary mismanagement could have spoiled such beginnings. If the king had ordered a speedy
execution of sucli persons as were fit to be made public examples, and had upon that granted
a general indemnity, and if he had but covered his intentions till he had got through another
session of parliament, it is not easy to imagine with what advantage he might then have
opened and pursued his designs.
But his own temper and the fury of some of his ministers, and the maxims of his priests,
who were become enthusiastical upon this success, and fancied that nothing could now stand
before him : all these concurred to make him lose advantages that were never to be reco-
vered ; for the shows of mercy, that were afterwards put on, were looked on as an after
game, to retrieve that which was now lost. The army was kept for some time in the
western counties, where both officers and soldiers lived as in an enemy's country, and treated
all that were believed to be ill affected to the king with great rudeness and violence.
Kirk*, who had commanded long in Tangier, was become so savage by the neighbourhood
of the Moors there, that some days after the battle he ordered several of the prisoners to be
hanged up at Taunton, without so much as the form of law, he and his company looking on
from an entertainment they were at. At every new health another prisoner was hanged up.
And they were so-brutal, that, observing the shaking of the legs of those whom they hanged,
it was said among them they were dancing ; and upon that music was called for. This was
both so illegal and so inhuman, that it might have been expected that some notice would
have been taken of it. But Kirk was only chid for it. And it was said that he had a par-
ticular order for some military executions ; so that he could only be chid for the manner
of it.
But, as if this had been nothing, Jefferies was sent the western circuit to try the prisoners.
His behaviour was beyond anything that was ever heard of in a civilized nation. He was
perpetually either drunk or in a rage, more like a fury than the zeal of a judge. He required
the prisoners to plead guilty : and in that case he gave them some hope of favour, if they
gave him no trouble ; otherwise he told them he would execute the letter of the law upon
them in its utmost severity. This made many plead guilty who had a great defence in law.
But he shewed no mercy. He ordered a great many to be hanged up immediately, without
allowing them a minute's time to say their prayers. He hanged in several places about six
hundred persons. The greatest part of these wrere of the meanest sort and of no distinction.
The impieties with which he treated them, and his behaviour towards some of the nobility
and gentry that were well affected, but came and pleaded in favour of some prisoners, would
have amazed one if done by a bashaw in Turkey. England had never known anything like
it. The instances are too many to be reckoned upt.
favour of William the Third, was created by him earl f A very particular and impartial account of this whole-
Tankerville and viscount Grey of Glendale. This was sale murdering is given by Mr. Woolrych in his "Life of
in 1695, and soon after he was appointed first lord-corn- Jeffreys."
missioner of the treasury, and lord privy-seal. He died In his dying hours he was attended by Dr. Scot, a
in 1701. His " Secret History of the Rye-house Plot" very reputable clergyman of the period. Scot reminded
was published in 1754 — Grainger. trim of what was reported of his cruelties in the west;
* Piercy Kirke, in 1680, was colonel of the 4th regi- Jeffrevs thanked him for the suggestion, and added, with
merit of foot. Ironically they were called " Kirke's emotion, " Whatever 1 did then, I did by express orders ;
Lambs." jmd I have this to say farther for myself, that I was not half
41G THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
But that which brought all his excesses to be imputed to the king himself, and to the
orders given by him, was, that the king had a particular account of all his proceedings written
to him every day. And he took pleasure to relate them in the drawing-room to foreign
ministers, and at his table, calling it " Jeffrey s's campaign;" speaking of all he had done in
a style that neither became the majesty nor the mercifulness of a great prince. Dykfield
was at that time in England, one of the ambassadors whom the States had sent over to con-
gratulate the king's coming to the crown. He told me that the king talked so often of these
things in his hearing, that he wondered to see him break out into those indecencies. And upon
Jeffreys's coming back, he was created a baron, and peer of England : a dignity which,
though anciently some judges were raised to it, yet in these later ages, as there was no
example of it, so it was thought inconsistent with the character of a judge.
Two executions were of such an extraordinary nature, that they deserve a more particular
recital. The king apprehended that many of the prisoners had got into London, and were
concealed there ; so he said those who concealed them were the worst sort of traitors, who
endeavoured to preserve such persons to a better time. He had likewise a great mind to
find out any among the rich merchants, who might afford great compositions to save their
lives ; for though there was much blood shed, there was little booty got to reward those who
had served. Upon this the king declared he would sooner pardon the rebels, than those who
harboured them.
There was in London one Gaunt, a woman that was an anabaptist, who spent a great part
of her life in acts of charity, visiting the gaols, and looking after the poor of what persuasion
soever they were. One of the rebels found her out, and she harboured him in her house :
and was looking for an occasion of sending him out of the kingdom. He went about in the
night, and came to hear what the king had said So he, by an unheard of baseness, went and
delivered himself, and accused her that harboured him. She was seized on and tried. There
was no witness to prove that she knew that the person she harboured was a rebel but he
himself; her maid witnessed only that he was entertained at her house. But though the
crime was her harbouring a traitor, and was proved only by this infamous witness, yet the
judge charged the jury to bring her in guilty, pretending that the maid was a second witness,
though she knew nothing of that which was the criminal part. She was condemned, and
burnt, as the law directs in the case of women convicted of treason. She died with a con-
stancy, even to a cheerfulness, that struck all that saw it. She said, charity was a part of
her religion, as well as faith ; this at worst was the feeding an enemy ; so she hoped she had
her reward with him, for whose sake she did this service, how unworthy soever the person
was, that made so ill a return for it. She rejoiced that God had honoured her to be the first
that suffered by fire in this reign ; and that her suffering was a martyrdom for that religion
which was all love. Penn, the quaker, told me he saw her die. She laid the straw about
her for burning her speedily, and behaved herself in such a manner that all the spectators
melted in tears.
The other execution was of a woman of greater quality — the lady Lisle. Her husband
had been a regicide, and was one of Cromwell's lords, and was called the lord Lisle. He
went at the time of the Restoration beyond sea, and lived at Lausanne. But three desperate
Irishmen, hoping by such a service to make their fortunes, went thither, and killed him as
he was going to church ; and being well mounted, and ill pursued, got into France. His
lady was known to be much affected with the 'king's death, and not easily reconciled to her
husband for the share he had in it. She was a woman of great piety and charity. The
night after the action, Hicks, a violent preacher among the dissenters, and Nelthorp, came
to her house. She knew Hicks, and treated him civilly, not asking from whence they came.
But Hicks told what brought them thither ; for they had been with the duke of Monmouth.
Upon which she went out of the room immediately, and ordered her chief servant to send an
information concerning them to the next justice of peace, and in the meanwhile to suffer
bloody enough for him who sent me thither." Mr. true ; hut if James was a sanguinary monster, is that ar/y
speaker Onslow had this from sir J. Jekyl, to whom it excuse for Jeffreys being the ruffianly instrument to gra-
was told by lord Somers, who heard it from Scot himself, tify his thirst for revenge, and for outraging the lawb at
— (Oxford ed. of this work.) This may be, probably is, our nature, and of our country?
OF KING JAMES II. 417
tli em to make their escape. But, before this could be done, a party came about the house,
and took both them, and her for harbouring them. Jeffreys resolved to make a sacrifice of
her, and obtained of the king a promise that he would not pardon her. Which the king
owned to the earl of Feversham, when he, upon the offer of 1000/. if he could obtain her
pardon, went and begged it*. So she was brought to her trial. No legal proof was brought
that she knew that they were rebels : the names of the persons found in her house were in
no proclamation : so there was no notice given to beware of them. Jeffreys affirmed to the
jury, upon his honour, that the persons had confessed that they had been with the duke of
Monmouth. This was the turning a witness against her, after which he ought not to have
judged in the matter. And, though it was insisted on, as a point of law, that till the per-
sons found in her house were convicted, she could not be found guilty, yet Jeffreys charged
the jury in a most violent manner to bring her in guilty. All the audience was strangely
affected with so unusual a behaviour in a judge. Only the person most concerned, the lady
herself, who was then past seventy, was so little moved at it that she fell asleep. The jury
brought her in not guilty. But the judge in great fury sent them out again. Yet they
brought her in a second time not guilty. Then he seemed as in a transport of rage. He
upon that threatened them with an attaint of jury. And they, overcome with fear, brought
her in the third time guilty. The king would show no other favour, but that he changed
the sentence from burning to beheading. She died with great constancy of mind ; and
expressed a joy that she thus suffered for an act of charity and piety.
Most of those that had suffered expressed at their death such a calm firmness, and such a
zeal for their religion, which they believed was then in danger, that it made great impres-
sions on the spectators. Some base men among them tried to save themselves by accusing
others. Goodenough f, who had been under-sheriff of London, when Cornish was sheriff,
offered to swear against Cornish; and also said, that Rumsey had not discovered all he
knew. So Rumsey, to save himself, joined with Goodenough, to swear Cornish guilty of
that for which the lord Russel had suffered. And this was driven on so fast, that Cornish
was seized on, tried, and executed within the week. If he had got a little time, the false-
hood of the evidence would have been proved from Rumsey's former deposition, which
appeared so clearly soon after his death, that his estate was restored to his family, and the
witnesses were lodged in remote prisons for their lives. Cornish, at his death, asserted his
innocence with great vehemence; and with some acrimony complained of the methods taken
to destroy him. And so they gave it out, that he died in a fit of fury. But Pen, who saw
the execution, said to me, there appeared nothing but a just indignation that innocence might
very naturally give. Pen might be well relied on in such matters, he being so entirely in
the king's interests. He said to me, the king was much to be pitied, who was hurried into
all this effusion ofOlood by Jeffreys's impetuous and cruel temper. But, if his own inclina-
tions had not been biased that way, and if his priests had not thought it the interest of their
party to let that butcher loose, by which so many men that were like to oppose them were
put out of the way, it is not to be imagined, that there would have been such a run of
barbarous cruelty, and that in so many instances.
It gave a general horror to the body of the nation : and it let all people see, what might be
expected from a reign that seemed to delight in blood. Even some of the fairest of torics
! began to relent a little, and to think they had trusted too much, and gone too far. The king
had raised new regiments, and had given commissions to papists. This was overlooked
during the time of danger, in which all men's service was to be made use of : and by law
they might serve three months. But now, as that time was near lapsing, the king began to
*ay, the laws for the two tests were made on design against himself: the first was made to
turn him out of the admiralty, and the second to make way for the exclusion; and, he
ridded, that it was an affront to him to insist on the observance of those laws. So these
* This is denied by Macpherson ; but, another defender f Dean Swift has related that this wretch retired after-
>f the Stuarts, the author of "the Caveat," admits its wards to Ireland, where he practised as an attorney, and
ti uth, and adds, that the ladies St. John and Abcrgavenny died there.— Oxford edition of this work.
ked of James a one day's reprieve for her in vain ! —
i'oolrych'3 life of Jeffreys, 195.
E E
418 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
persons, notwithstanding that act, were continued in commission ; and the king declared
openly, that he must look on all those who would not consent to the repeal of those laws,
in the next session of parliament, as his enemies.
The courtiers began everywhere to declaim against them. It was said to be against the
rights of the crown to deny the king the service of all his subjects, to be contrary to the
dignity of peerage to subject peers to any other tests than their allegiance, and that it was
an insufferable affront done the king, to oblige all those whom he should employ, to swear
that his religion was idolatrous. On the other hand all the people saw, that, if those acts
were not maintained, no employment would be given to any but papists, or to those who
gave hopes that they would change : and, if the parliament test was taken off, then the
way was opened to draw over so many members of both houses, as would be in time a
majority, to bring on an entire change of the laws with relation to religion. As long as the
nation reckoned their kings were true, and sure to their religion, there was no such need of
those tests, while the giving employments was left free, and our princes were like to give
them only to those of their own religion. But since we had a prince professing another reli-
gion, it seemed the only security that wras left to the nation, and that the tests stood as a
barrier to defend us from popery. It was also said, that those tests had really quieted the
minds of the greater part of the nation, and had united them against the exclusion ; since
they reckoned their religion was safe by reason of them. The military men went in zealously
into thoso notions : for they saw, that, as soon as the king should get rid of the tests, they
must either change their religion, or lose their employments. The clergy, who for most part
had hitherto run in with fury to all the king's interests, began now to open their eyes. Thus
all on a sudden the temper of the nation was much altered. The marquis of Halifax did
move in council, that an order should be given to examine, whether all the officers in com-
mission had taken the test, or not. But none seconded him : so the motion fell. And now
all endeavours were used, to fix the repeal of the tests in the session that was coming on.
Some few converts were made at this time. The chief of these were the earl of Perth and
his brother, the earl of Melfort. Some differences fell in between the duke of Queensborough
and the earl of Perth. The latter thought the former was haughty and violent, and that ho
used him in too imperious a manner. So they broke. At that time the king published the
two papers found in his brother's strong box. So the earl of Perth was either overcome
with the reasons in them, or he thought it would look well at court, if he put his conversion
upon these. He came up to complain of the duke of Queensborough. And his brother
going to meet him at Ware, he discovered his designs to him, who seemed at first much
troubled at it ; but he plied him so, that he prevailed on him to join with him in his pre-
tended conversion, which he did with great shows of devotion and zeal. But when his
objections to the duke of Queensborough's administration were heard, they wrere so slight,
that the king was ashamed of them : and all the court justified the duke of Queensborough.
A repartee of the marquis of Halifax was much talked of on this occasion. The earl of Perth
was taking pains to convince him that he had just grounds of complaint, and seemed little
concerned in the ill effect this might have on himself. The marquis answered him, he needed
fear nothing, " His faith would make him whole :" and it proved so.
Before he declared his change, the king seemed so well satisfied with the duke of Queens- {
borough, that he was resolved to bring the earl of Perth to a submission, otherwise to dismiss j
him. So the king, having declared himself too openly to recall that so soon, ordered them!
both to go back to Scotland ; and said he would signify his pleasure to them when they
should be there. It followed them down very quickly. The duke of Queensborough wasi
turned out of the treasury, and it was put in commission ; and he, not to be too much)
irritated at once, was put first in the commission. And now it became soon very visible.;
that he had the secret no more ; but that it was lodged between the two brothers, the earlt
of Perth and Melfort. Soon after that the duke of Queensborough was not only turned out!
of all his employments, but a design was laid to ruin him. All persons were encouraged to
bring accusations against him, either with relation to the administration of the government,
or of the treasury. And, if any colourable matter could have been found against him, it wa1
resolved to have made him a sacrifice. This sudden hatred, after so entire a confidence, wa
OF KING JAMES II. 419
imputed to the suggestions the earl of Perth had made of his zeal against popery, and of his
having engaged all his friends to stick firm in opposition to it. It was said, there was no
need of making such promises, as he had engaged the king to make to the parliament of
Scotland. Nobody desired or expected them : he only drove that matter on his own account ;
so it was fit to let all about the king see, what was to be looked for, if they pressed anything
too severely with relation to religion.
But to leave Scotland, and return to England. The king, after he had declared that he
would be served by none but those who would vote for the repeal of the tests, called for the
marquis of Halifax, and asked him how he would vote in that matter. He very frankly
answered, he would never consent to it : he thought the keeping up those laws was neces-
sary, even for the king's service, since the nation trusted so much to them, that the public
quiet was chiefly preserved by that means. Upon this the king told him, that though he
would never forget past services, yet since he could not be prevailed on in that particular,
he was resolved to have all of a piece. So he was turned out. And the earl of Sunderland
was made lord president, and continued still secretary of state. More were not questioned at
that time, nor turned out ; for it was hoped that, since all men saw what \vas to be expected,
if they should not comply with the king's intentions, this would have its full effect upon
those who had no mind to part with their places.
The king resolved also to model Ireland, so as to make that kingdom a nursery for his army
in England, and to be sure at least of an army there, while his designs were to go on more
slowly in the isle of Britain. The Irish bore an inveterate hatred to the duke of Ormond :
so he was recalled. But, to dismiss him with some show of respect, he was still continued
lord Steward of the household. The earl of Clarendon wras declared lord-lieutenant. But the
army was put under the command of Talbot, who was made earl of Tirconnel*. And he
began very soon to model it anew. The archbishop of Armagh had continued lord chancellor
of Ireland, and was in all points so compliant to the court, that even his religion came to be
suspected on that account. Yet, it seemed, he was not thought thorough paced. So sir
Charles Porter, who was a zealous promoter of everything that the king proposed, and was a
man of ready wit, and being poor was thought a person fit to be made a tool of, was declared
lord chancellor of Ireland. To these the king said he was resolved to maintain the settlement
of Ireland. They had authority to promise this, and to act pursuant to it. But, as both
the earl of Clarendon and Porter were poor, it was hoped that they would understand the
king's intentions, and see through those promises, that were made only to lay men asleep ;
and that therefore they would not insist too much on them, nor pursue them too far.
But now, before I come to relate the short session of parliament, that was abruptly broken
off, I must mention one great transaction that went before it, and had no small influence on
all men's minds. And since I saw that dismal tragedy, which was at this time acted in
i France, I must now change the scene, and give some account of myself. When I resolved
' to go beyond sea, there was no choice to be made. So many exiles and outlawed persons
were scattered up and down the towns of Holland and other provinces, that I saw the danger
of going where I was sure many of them would come about me, and try to have involved
me in guilt by coming into my company, that so they might engage me into their designs.
j So I resolved to go to France : and, if I found it not convenient to stay there, I intended to
j fjo on to Geneva, or Switzerland. I asked the French ambassador if I might be safe there.
1 Ie, after some days, I suppose after he had written to the court upon it, assured me I
^liould be safe there ; and that, if the king should ask after me, timely notice should be given
me, that I might go out of the way. So I went to Paris. And there being many there
hvhom I had reason to look on as spies, I took a little house, and lived by myself as privately
p I could. I continued there till the beginning of August, when I went to Italy. I found
pie earl of Montague at Paris, with whom I conversed much, and got from him most of the
crcts of the court, and of the negotiations he was engaged in. The king of France had been
r many years weakening the whole protestant interest there, and was then upon the last
* It is upon the affairs of Ireland, at this period, that Singer's Clarendon Correspondence affords its most useful
EE2
420 fHE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
resolution of recalling the edict of Nantes. And, as far as I could judge, the affairs of
England gave the last stroke to that matter.
This year, of which I am now writing, must ever be remembered as the most fatal to the
protestant religion. In February, a king of England declared himself a papist. In June,
Charles the elector palatine dying without issue, the electoral dignity went to the house of
Newburgh, a most bigotted popish family. In October, the king of France recalled and
vacated the edict of Nantes*. And in December, the duke of Savoy being brought to it,
not only by the persuasions, but even by the threatenings of the court of France, recalled the
edict that his father had granted to the Yaudois. So it must be confessed, that this was a
very critical year. And I have ever reckoned this the fifth great crisis of the protestant •
religion.
For some years the priests were everywhere making conversions in France. The hopes of
pensions and preferments wrought on many. The plausible colours that the bishop of Meaux,
then bishop of Condom, put on all the errors of the church of Rome, furnished others with
excuses for changing. Many thought they must change at last, or be quite undone ; for the
king seemed to be engaged to go through with the matter, both in compliance with the
shadow of conscience that he seemed to have, which was to follow implicitly the conduct of
his confessor, and of the archbishop of Paris, he himself being ignorant in those matters beyond
what can be well imagined ; and because his glory seemed also concerned to go through with
everything that he had once begun.
Old Rouvigny, who was the deputy general of the churches, told me that he was long
deceived in his opinion of the king. He knew he was not naturally bloody. He saw his
gross ignorance in those matters. His bigotry could not rise from any inward principle. So
for many years he flattered himself with the hopes, that the design would go on so slowly,
that some unlocked for accident might defeat it. But after the peace of Nimeguen (in 1678),
he saw such steps made with so much precipitation, that he told the king he must beg a full
audience of him upon that subject. He gave him one that lasted some hours. He came
well prepared. He told him what the state of France was during the wars in his father's
reign : how happy France had been now for fifty years, occasioned chiefly by the quiet it
was in with relation to those matters. He gave him an account of their numbers, their
industry and wealth, their constant readiness to advance the revenue, and that all the quiet
he had with the court of Rome was chiefly owing to them : if they were rooted out, the
court of Rome would govern as absolutely in France as it did in Spain. He desired leave to
undeceive him, if he was made believe they w^ould all change, as soon as he engaged his
authority in the matter : many would go out of the kingdom, and carry their wealth and
industry into other countries. And by a scheme of particulars he reckoned how far that
would go. In fine, he said, it would come to the shedding of much blood : many would
suffer, and others would be precipitated into desperate courses. So that the most glorious
of all reigns would be in conclusion disfigured and defaced, and become a scene of blood and
horror. He told me, as he went through these matters, the king seemed to hearken to him
very attentively. But he perceived they made no impression : for the king never asked any
particulars, or any explanation, but let him go on. And, when he had ended, the king said
he took his freedom well, since it flowed from his zeal to his service. He believed all that
he had told him of the prejudice it might do him in his affairs : only he thought, it would
not go to the shedding of blood. But he said, he considered himself as so indispensably
bound to endeavour the conversion of all his subjects, and the extirpation of heresy, that if
the doing it should require that with one hand he should cut off the other, he would submit
to that. After this Rouvigny gave all his friends hints of what they were to look for. Some
were for flying out into a new civil war. But, their chief confidence being in the assistance
they expected from England, he, who knew what our princes were, and had reason to believe
that king Charles was at least a cold protestant, if not a secret papist, and knew that the States
would not embroil their affairs in assisting them, their maxims rather leading them to connive
* The Edict of Nantes was issued by Henry the Fourth, of France, in 1598. Modicim, in his Eccles
Histor;', gives a detail of its clauses, and of the events which elicited it.
OF KING JAMES II. 421
at anything that would bring great numbers and much wealth into their country than to
oppose it, was against all motions of that kind. He reckoned those risings would be soon
crushed, and so would precipitate their ruin with some colour of justice. He was much
censured for this by some hot men among them, as having betrayed them to the court. But
he was very unjustly blamed, as appeared both by his own conduct, and by his son's ; who
was received at first into the survivance of being deputy general for the churches, and after-
wards, at his father's desire, had that melancholy post given him, in which he daily saw new
injustices done, and was only suffered, for form's sake, to inform against them, but with no
hope of success *.
The father did, upon King Charles's death, write a letter of congratulation to the king,
who wrote him such an obliging answer, that upon it he wrote to his niece the Lady Russel,
that, having such assurances given him by the king of a high sense of his former services, he
resolved to come over, and beg the restoring her son's honour f . The Marquis of Halifax
did presently apprehend, that this was a blind, and that the king of France was sending
him over to penetrate into the king's designs ; since from all hands intimations were brought
of the promises, that he made to the ministers of the other princes of Europe. So I was
ordered to use all endeavours to divert him from coming over : his niece had indeed begged
that journey of him, when she hoped it might have saved her husband's life, but she would
not venture to desire the journey on any other consideration, considering his great age, and
that her son was then but five years old. I pressed this so much on him, that, finding him
fixed in his resolution, I could not hinder myself from suspecting, that such a high act of
friendship, in a man some years past fourscore, had somewhat under it : and it was said,
that, when he took leave of the king of France, he had an audience of two hours of him.
But this was a false suggestion : and I was assured afterwards that he came over only in
friendship to his niece, and that he had no directions nor messages from the court of France.
He came over, and had several audiences of the king, who used him with great kindness,
but did not grant him that which he said he came for ; only he gave him a general promise
of doing it in a proper time.
But whether the court of France was satisfied by the conversation that Rouvigny had
with the king, that they needed apprehend nothing from England ; or whether the king's being
now so settled on the throne made them conclude that the time was come of repealing the
edicts, is not certain. M. de Louvoy, seeing the king so set on the matter, proposed to him a
method which he believed would shorten the work, and do it effectually : which was to let
loose some bodies of dragoons to live upon tho protestants on discretion. They were put
under no restraint, but only to avoid rapes and the killing them. This was begun in Beam.
And the people were so struck with it, that, seeing they were to be eat up first, and, if that
I pre vailed not, to be cast in prison, when all was taken from them, till they should change,
and being required only to promise to reunite themselves to the church, they, overcome with
J'ear and having no time for consulting together, did universally comply. This did so animate
the court, that, upon it the same methods were taken in most places of Guienne, Languedoc,
Dauphine, where the greatest numbers of the protestants were. A dismal consternation
feebleness ran through most of them, so that great numbers yielded. Upon which the / (,
:ing, now resolved to go through with what had been long projected, published the edict
|n -pealing the edict of Nantes, in which (though that edict was declared to be a perpetual
d irrevocable law,) he set forth, that it was only intended to quiet matters by it, till more
iFectual ways should be taken for the conversion of Heretics. He also promised in it, that,
though all the public exercises of that religion were now suppressed, yet those of that per-
uasiou who lived quietly should not be disturbed on that account, while at the same time
iot only the dragoons, but all the clergy and the bigots of France, broke out into all the
instances of rage and fury, against such as did not change upon their being required in the
Ding's name to be of his religion : for that was the style everywhere.
Men and women of all ages, who would not yield, were not only stripped of all they had,
).it kept long from sleep, driven about from place to place, and hunted out of their retire-
* Henry Rouvi^ne will be frequently noticed in future pages as earl of Galway.
•^ Lord Russel was his great-nephew.
422 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
ments. The women were carried into nunneries, in many of which they were almost starved,
whipped, and barbarously treated. Some few of the bishops, and of the secular clergy, to
make the matter easier, drew formularies, importing that they were resolved to reunite them-
selves to the catholic church, and that they renounced the errors of Luther and Calvin.
People in such extremities are easy to put a stretched sense on any words, that may give
them present relief. So it was said, what harm was it to promise to be united to the catholic
church : and the renouncing those men's errors did not renounce their good and sound doc-
trine. But it was very visible with what intent those subscriptions or promises were asked
of them : so their compliance in that matter was a plain equivocation. But, how weak and
faulty soever they might be in this, it must be acknowledged here was one of the most violent
persecutions that is to be found in history. In many respects it exceeded them all, both in
the several inventions of cruelty, and in its long continuance. I went over the greatest part
of France while it was in its hottest rage, from Marseilles to Montpelier,. and from thence to
Lyons, and so to Geneva. I saw and knew so many instances of their injustice and violence,
that it exceeded even what could have been well imagined ; for all men set their thoughts
at work, to invent new methods of cruelty. In all the towns through which I passed, I
heard the most dismal account of those things possible ; but chiefly at Valence, where one
Derapine seemed to exceed even the furies of inquisitors. One in the streets could have
known the new converts, as they were passing by them, by a cloudy dejection that appeared
in their looks and deportment. Such as endeavoured to make their escape, and were seized,
(for guards and secret agents were spread along the whole roads and frontier of France,)
were, if men, condemned to the galleys, and, if women, to monasteries. To complete this
cruelty, orders were given that such of the new converts as did not at their death receive the
sacrament, should be denied burial, and that their bodies should be left where other dead
carcases were cast out, to be devoured by wolves, or dogs. This was executed in several
places with the utmost barbarity : and it gave all people so much horror, that, finding the
ill effect of it, it was let fall. This hurt none, but struck all that saw it, even with more
horror than those sufferings that were more felt. The fury that appeared on this occasion
did spread itself with a sort of contagion : for the intendants and other officers that had been
mild and gentle in the fonner parts of their life seemed now to have laid aside the compassion
of Christians, the breeding of gentlemen, and the common impressions of humanity. The
greatest part of the clergy, the regulars especially, were so transported with the zeal that
their king showed on this occasion, that their sermons were full of the most inflamed
eloquence that they could invent, magnifying their king in strains too indecent and blas-
phemous, to be mentioned by me.
I staid at Paris till the beginning of August. Barrillon sent to me to look to myself ; for
the king had let some words fall importing his suspicion of me, as concerned in the duke of
Monmouth's business. "Whether this was done on design to see if such an insinuation could
fright me away, and so bring me under some appearance of guilt, I cannot tell : for in that
time everything was deceitfully managed. But I, who knew that I was not so much as
guilty of concealment, resolved not to stir from Paris till the rebellion was over, and that
the prisoners were examined and tried. When that was done, Siouppe, a brigadier-general,
told me that M. de Louvoy had said to him, that the king was resolved to put an end to the
business of the Huguenots that season : and since he was resolved not to change, he advised
him to make a tour into Italy, that he might not seem to do anything that opposed the
king's service. Stouppe told me this in confidence. So we resolved to make that journey
together. Some thought it was too bold an adventure in me, after what I had written and
acted in the matters of religion, to go to Rome. But others, who judged better, thought I
ran no hazard in going thither : for, besides the high civility, with which all strangers are
treated there, they were at that time in such hopes of gaining England, that it was not
reasonable to think that they would raise the apprehensions of the nation, by using any that
belonged to it ill : and the destroying me would not do them the service that could in any
sort balance the prejudice that might arise from the noise it would make. And indeed I met
with so high a civility at Rome, that it fully justified this opinion.
Pope Innocent the Eleventh, Odescalchi, knew who I was the day after I came to Rome.
OF KING JAMES II. 423
And he ordered the captain of the Swiss guards to tell Stouppe that he had heard of me,
and would give me a private audience a-bed, to save me from the ceremony of the pantoufle*.
But I knew the noise that this would make, so I resolved to avoid it, and excused it upon
my speaking Italian so ill as I did. But cardinal Howard and the cardinal d'Estrees treated
me with great freedom. The latter talked much with me concerning the orders of our
church, to know whether they had been brought down to us by men truly ordained or not ;
for, he said, they apprehended things would be much more easily brought about, if our orders
could be esteemed valid, though given in heresy and schism. I told him, I was glad they
were not possessed with any opinion that made the reconciliation more difficult ; but, as for
the matter of fact, nothing was more certain than that the ordinations in the beginning of
queen Elizabeth's reign were canonical and regular. He seemed to be persuaded of the truth
of this, but lamented that it was impossible to bring the Romans to think so.
Cardinal Howard showed me all his letters from England, by which I saw that those who
wrote to him reckoned, that their designs were so well laid that they could not miscarry.
They thought they should certainly carry everything in the next session of parliament. There
was a high strain of insolence in their letters : and they reckoned, they were so sure of the
king, that they seemed to have no doubt left of their succeeding in the reduction of England.
The Romans and Italians were much troubled at all this : for they were under such appre-
hensions of the growth of the French power, and had conceived such hopes of the king of
England's putting a stop to it, that they were sorry to see the king engage himself so in the
design of changing the religion of his subjects, which they thought would create him so much
trouble at home, that he would neither havo leisure, nor strength, to look after the common
concerns of Europe. The cardinal told me, that all the advices written over from thence to
England were for slow, calm, and moderate courses. He said, he wished he was at liberty
to show me the copies of them ; but he saw more violent courses were more acceptable, and
would probably be followed. And he added, that these were the production of England, far
different from the counsels of Rome.
He also told me, that they had not instruments enough to work with : for, though they
were sending over all that were capable of the mission, yet he expected no great matters from
them. Few of them spoke true English. They came over young, and retained all the
English that they brought over with them, which was only the language of boys ; but, their
education being among strangers, they had formed themselves so upon that model, that really
they preached as Frenchmen, or Italians, in English words : of which he was every day
warning them, for he knew this could have no good effect in England. He also spoke with
great sense of the proceedings in France, which he apprehended would have very ill conse-
quences in England. I shall only add one other particular, which will show the soft temper
of that good natured man.
He used me in such a manner, that it was much observed by many others. So two French
gentlemen desired a note from me to introduce them to him. Their design was to be
furnished with reliques ; for he was then the cardinal that looked after that matter. One
evening I came in to him as he was very busy in giving them some reliques. So I was called
in to see them : and I whispered to him in English, that it was somewhat odd that a priest
of the church of England should be at Rome, helping them off with the ware of Babylon,
lie was so pleased with this, that he repeated it to the others in French ; and told the
Frenchmen, that they should tell their countrymen how bold the heretics, and how mild the
tardinals, were, at Rome.
I staid in Rome till prince Borghese came to me, and told me it was time for me to go.
I had got great acquaintance there. And, though I did not provoke any to discourse of
points of controversy, yet I defended myself against all those who attacked me with the
same freedom that I had done in other places. This began to be taken notice of. So upon
the first intimation I came away, and returned by Marseilles. And then I went through
those southern provinces of France, that were at that time a scene of barbarity and
cruelty.
I intended to have gone to Orange ; but Tesse, with a body of dragoons, was then quar-
* Kissing his foot, or slipper.
424 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
tered over that small principality, and was treating the protestants there in the same manner
that the French subjects were treated in other parts. So I went not in, but passed near it,
and had this account of that matter from some that were the most considerable men of the
principality. Many inhabitants of the neighbouring places fled thither from the persecution :
upon which a letter was written to the government there, in the name of the king of France,
requiring them to put all his subjects out of their territory. This was hard. Yet they were
too naked, and exposed, to dispute anything with those who could command everything.
So they ordered all the French to withdraw. Upon which Tesse, who commanded in those
parts, wrote to them, that the king would be well satisfied with the obedience they had
given his orders. They upon this were quiet, and thought there was no danger. But the
next morning Tesse marched his dragoons into the town, and let them loose upon them, as he
had done upon the subjects of France. And they plied as feebly as most of the French had
done. This was done *while that principality was in the possession of the prince of Orange,
pursuant to an article of the treaty of Nimeguen, of which the king of England was the
guarantee. Whether the French had the king's consent to this, or if they presumed upon
it, was not known. It is certain, he ordered two memorials to be given in at that court,
complaining of it in very high terms. But nothing followed on it. And, some months after,
the king of France did unite Orange to the rest of Provence, and suppressed all the rights
it had as a distinct principality. The king wrote upon it to the princess of Orange, that he
could do no more in that matter, unless he should declare war upon it ; which he could not
think fit for a thing of such small importance.
But now the session of parliament drew on. And there was a great expectation of the
issue of it. For some weeks before it met there was such a number of refugees coming over
every day, who set about a most dismal recital of the persecution in France, and that in so
many instances that were crying and odious, that, though all endeavours were used to lessen
the clamour this had raised, yet the king did not stick openly to condemn it, as both
unchristian and unpolitic. He took pains to clear the Jesuits of it, and laid the blame of it
chiefly on the king, on madame de Maintenon, and the archbishop of Paris. He spoke often
of it with such vehemence, that there seemed to be an affectation in it. He did more. lie
was very kind to the refugees. He was liberal to many of them. He ordered a brief for a
charitable collection over the nation for them all : upon which great sums were sent in.
They were deposited in good hands, and well distributed. The king also ordered them to be
denizened without paying the fees, and gave them great immunities. So that in all there
came over first and last, between forty and fifty thousand of that nation. Here was such a
real instance of the cruel and persecuting spirit of popery, wheresoever it prevailed, that few
could resist this conviction. So that all men confessed that the French persecution came
very seasonably to awaken the nation, and open men's eyes in so critical a conjuncture : for
upon this session of parliament all did depend.
When it was opened, the king told them how happy his forces had been in reducing a
dangerous rebellion, in which it had appeared how weak and insignificant the militia was :
and therefore he saw the necessity of keeping up an army for all their security, lie had
put some in commission of whose loyalty he was well assured : and they had served him so
well that he would not put that affront on them, and on himself, to turn them out. He told
them, all the world saw, and they had felt the happiness of a good understanding between
him and his parliament : so he hoped nothing should be done on their part to interrupt it, as
he, on his own part, would observe all that he had promised.
Thus he fell upon the two most unacceptable points that he could have found out ; which
were, a standing army, and a violation of the act of the test. There were some debates in
the house of lords about thanking the king for his speech. It was pressed by the courtiers,
as a piece of respect that was always paid. To this some answered, that was done when
there were gracious assurances given. Only the earl of Devonshire said, he was for givii
thanks, because the king had spoken out so plainly, and warned them of what they might
look for. It was carried in the house to make an address of thanks for the speech. The
lord Guilford, North, was now dead. He was a crafty and designing man. He had no
mind to part writh the great seal ; and yet he saw, he could not hold it without an entire
OF KING JAMES II. 425
compliance with the pleasure of the court. An appeal against a decree of his had been
brought before the lords in the former session ; and it was not only reversed with many
severe reflections on him that made it, but the earl of Nottingham, who hated him, because
he had endeavoured to detract from his father's memory, had got together so many instances
of his ill administration of justice, that he exposed him severely for it. And, it was believed,
that gave the crisis to the uneasiness and distraction of mind he was labouring under. He
languished for some time ; and died despised, and ill thought of by the whole nation *.
Nothing but his successor made him be remembered with regret : for Jeffreys had the
seals. He had been made a peer while he was chief justice, which had not been done for
some ages ; but he affected to be an original in every thing. A day or two after the session
was opened, the lords went upon the consideration of the king's speech ; and, when some
began to make remarks upon it, they were told, that by giving thanks for the speech, they
had precluded themselves from finding fault with any part of it. This was rejected with
indignation, and put an end to that compliment of giving thanks for a speech, when there
was no special reason for it. The lords Halifax, Nottingham, and Mordaunt, were the chief
arguers among the temporal lords. The bishop of London (Compton) spoke often likewise :
and twice or thrice he said, he spoke not only his own sense, but the sense of that whole
bench. They said, the Test was now the best fence they had for their religion : if they gave
up so great a point, all the rest would soon follow ; and if the king might by his authority
supersede such a law, fortified with so many clauses, and above all with that of an incapacity,
it was in vain to think of law any more : the government would become arbitrary and abso-
lute. Jeffreys began to argue in his rough manner ; but he was soon taken down ; it appear-
ing, that how furiously soever he raved on the bench, where he played the tyrant, yet where
others might speak with him on equal terms, he was a very contemptible man : and he
received as great a mortification, as such a brutal man was capable of.
But as the scene lay in the house of commons, so the debates there were more important.
A project was offered for making the militia more useful in order to the disbanding the army.
But, to oppose that, the court shewed, how great a danger we had lately escaped, and how
much of an ill leaven yet remained in the nation, so that it was necessary a force should be
kept up. The court moved for a subsidy, the king having been at much extraordinary charge
in reducing the late rebellion. Many, that were resolved to assert the business of the Test
with great firmness, thought, the voting of money first was the decentest way of managing
the opposition to the court : whereas others opposed this, having often observed, that the
voting of money was the giving up the whole session to the court. The court wrought on
many weak men with this topic, that the only way to g'lln the king, and to dispose him to
agree to them in the business of the Test, was to begin with the supply. This had so great
an effect, that it was carried only by one vote to consider the king's speech, before they should
proceed to the supply f. It was understood, that when they received satisfaction in other
things, they were resolved to give five hundred thousand pounds.
They went next to consider the act about the Test, and the violations of it, with the king's
speech upon that head. The reasoning was clear and full on the one hand. The court offered
nothing on the other hand in the way of argument, but the danger of offending the king,
and of raising a misunderstanding between him and them. So the whole house went unani-
mously into a vote for an address to the king, that he would maintain the laws, in particular
that concerning the test. But with that they offered to pass a bill, for indemnifying those
(who had broken that law ; and were ready to have considered them in the supply that they
ntended to give.
The king expressed his resentments of this with much vehemence, when the address was
brought to him. He said, some men intended to disturb the good correspondence that was
between him and them, which would be a great prejudice to the nation : he had declared
This is, totis verbis, differing fiom the character them. " Sir," said he to Captain Kendal, " do you not
:ivcn the lord keeper in his "Life'' by his brother, command a troop of horse in his majesty's service?" —
Mr. R. North. " Yes, my lord," replied the captain ; but my brother
t The Scot«h earl of Middleton, then secretary of died last night, and has left me 700/. a year !" Mr.
state, seeing many go out to vote against the court, who Speaker Onslow says he bad this from his uncle, who wa»
wsre in its service, went down to the bar to reproach present.— Oxford ed.
420 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
liis mind so positively in that matter, that he hoped they would not have meddled with it.
Yet, he said, he would still observe all the promises that he had made. This made some
reflect on the violations of the edict of Nantes, by many of the late edicts that were set out
in France, before the last that repealed it, in which the king of France had always declared,
that he would maintain that edict, even when the breaches made upon it were the most
visible and notorious. The house, upon this rough answer, was in a high fermentation. Yet,
when one Cook said, that they were Englishmen, and were not to be threatened, because this
seemed to be a want of respect, they sent him to the Tower ; and obliged him to ask pardon
for those indecent words. But they resolved to insist on their address, and then to proceed
upon the petitions concerning elections. And now those, that durst not open their mouth
before, spoke with much force upon this head. They said, it was a point upon which the
nation expected justice, and they had a right to claim it. And it was probable, they would
have condemned a great many elections ; for an intimation was set round, that all those who
had stuck to the interest of the nation, in the main points then before them, should be chosen
over again, though it should be found that their election was void, and that a new writ
should go out. By this means those petitions were now encouraged, and were likely to have
a fair hearing, and a just decision : and it was believed, that the abject courtiers would have
been voted out.
The king saw that both houses were now so fixed, that he could carry nothing in either of
them, unless he would depart from his speech, and let the act of the test take place. So he
prorogued the parliament, and kept it by repeated prorogations still on foot for about a year
and a half, but without holding a session. All those who had either spoken, or voted, for
the test, were soon after this disgraced, and turned out of their places, though many of these
had served the king hitherto with great obsequiousness, and much zeal. He called for many
of them, and spoke to them very earnestly upon that subject in his closet : upon which the
term of closeting was much tossed about. Many of these gave him very flat and hardy
denials : others, though more silent, yet were no less steady : so that, when, after a long
practice both of threatening and ill usage on the one hand, and of promises and corruption
on the other, the king saw he could not bring them into a compliance with him, he at last
dissolved the parliament ; by which he threw off" a body of men, that were in all other respects
sure to him, and that would have accepted a very moderate satisfaction from him at any
time. And, indeed, in all England it would not have been easy to have found five hundred
men so weak, so poor, and so devoted to the court, as these were. So happily was the nation
taken out of their hands by the precipitated violence of a bigoted court.
Soon after the prorogation, the lord Delamer was brought to his trial. Some witnesses
swore high treason against him only upon report, that he had designed to make a rebellion
in Cheshire, and to join with the duke of Monmouth. But, since those swore only upon
hearsay, that was no evidence in law. One witness swore home against him, and against
two other gentlemen, who, as he said, were in company with him ; and that treasonable
messages were then given to him by them all to carry to some others. That which gave the
greatest credit to the evidence was, that this lord had gone from London secretly to Cheshire,
at the time of the duke of Monmouth's landing, and that after he had stayed a day or two
in that county, he had come up as secretly to London. This looked suspicious, and made it
to be believed, that he went to try what could be done. The credit of that single witness
was overthrown by many unquestionable proofs, by which it appeared that the two gentle-
men, who he said met with that lord in Cheshire, were all that while still in London. The
witness, to gain the more credit, had brought others into the plot, by the common fate of
false swearers, who bring in such circumstances to support their evidence, as they think will
make it more credible, but, being ill laid, give a handle to those concerned to find out their
falsehood. And that was the case of this witness ; for, though little doubt was made of the
truth of that which he swore against this lord as to the main of his evidence, yet he had
added such a mixture of falsehood to it, as being fully proved, destroyed the evidence. As
for the secret journey to, and again between London and Cheshire, that lord said, he had been
long a prisoner in the Tower upon bare suspicion : he had no mind to be lodged again there ;
so ha resolved in that time of jealousy to go out of the way : and hearing that a child, of
OF KING JAMES II. 427
which ho was very fond, was sick in Cheshire, he went thither : and hearing from his lady
that his eldest son was very ill at London, he made haste back again. This was well proved
by his physicians and domestics, though it was a thing of very ill appearance, that he made
such journeys so quick and so secretly at such a time. The solicitor-general, Finch, pur-
suant to the doctrine he had maintained in former trials, and perhaps to atone for the zeal he
had shewed in the house of commons, for maintaining the act of the test, made a violent
declamation, to prove that one witness with presumptions was sufficient to convict one of
high treason. The peers did unanimously acquit the lord ; so that trial ended to the great
joy of the whole town; which was now turned to be as much against the court, as it had
been of late years for.it. Finch had been continued in his employment only to lay the load
of this judgment upon him ; and he acted his part in it with his usual vehemence. He was
presently after turned out : and Powis succeeded him, who was a compliant young aspiring
lawyer, though in himself he was no ill-natured man. Now the posts in the law began to
be again taken care of ; for it was resolved to act a piece of pageantry in Westminster-Hall,
with which the next year began.
Sir Edward Hales, a gentleman of a noble family in Kent, declared himself a papist,
though he had long disguised it ; and had once to myself so solemnly denied it, that I was
led from thence to see, there was no credit to be given to that sort of men, where their church,
or religion, was concerned. He had an employment ; and not taking the test, his coachman
was set up to inform against him, and to claim the 500/. that the law gave to the informer.
When this was to be brought to tria), the judges were secretly asked their opinions ; and
such as were not clear, to judge as the court did direct, were turned out : and upon two, or
three, canvassings the half of them were dismissed, and others of more pliable and obedient
understandings were put in their places. Some of these were weak and ignorant to a scandal.
The suit went on in a feeble prosecution ; and in Trinity Term judgment was given.
There was a new chief justice found out, very different indeed from Jeffreys, sir Edward
Herbert. He was a well bred and a virtuous man, generous, and good-natured. He was
but an indifferent lawyer ; and had gone to Ireland to find practice and preferment there.
He unhappily got into a set of very high notions wTith relation to the king's prerogative.
His gravity and virtues gave him great advantages, chiefly his succeeding such a monster as
had gone before him. So he, being found to be a fit tool, was, without any application of
his own, raised up all at once to this high post *. After the coachman's cause had been
argued with a most indecent coldness, by those who were made use of on design to expose
and betray it, it was said, in favour of the prerogative, that the government of England
was entirely in the king : that the crown was an imperial crown, the importance of which
was, that it was absolute : all penal laws wrere powers lodged in the crown, to enable the
king to force the execution of the law, but were not bars to limit, or bind up, the king's
power : the king could pardon all offences against the law, and forgive the penalties ; and
why could not he as well dispense with them ? Acts of parliament had been often super-
seded : the judges had sometimes given directions in their charges at circuits, to enquire
after some acts of parliament no more ; of which one late instance happened during the
* Sir Edward Herbert, born about 1646, was a younger having promised to be more complying in shedding blood !
brother of admiral Herbert, who will be next mentioned. — (Woolrych's Life of Jeffreys.) When James the
They were sons of sir Edward Herbert, knight, of London. Second abdicated, sir Edward followed him during his
He was of Winchester and New College. He took his exile, and was made by the ex-monarch earl of Portland,
bachelors's degree in arts, and then became a student of and lord chancellor ; consequently he was excepted out of
the Middle Temple. He was successively attorney-general the bill of indemnity. His conduct as detailed above shews
in Ireland, and chief justice of Chester. In 1683 he that he was a mild, conscientious man. That he was fear,
was knighted, and made attorney to the duke of York, less of offending the highest powers when his duty required
when sir John Churchill was promoted to the mastership it is further proved by his exposing Jeffreys upon the
of the rolls in the place of sir H. Grimstone. In 1685, bench, by demonstrating his briberies and corruptions when
he was promoted to the lord chief justiceship of the king's in the west ; which "extremely offended" the king. —
bench, and made a privy councillor. In 1686, he sat (Singer's correspondence.) Sir Edward published 4t A
ix one of the ecclesiastical commissioners. In the fol- short Account of the Authorities upon which judgment
lowing year he was removed to be chief of the com- was given in sir Edward Kale's case." This was refuted
mon pleas, because he would not interpret the law in pamphlets by a Mr. Attwood, and sir Robert Atkins, —
in the king's bench so as to take away the life of a (Wood's Athena) Oxon.) King William gave his estate
soldier who deserted his colours upon Hounslow Heath, to his brother, admiral Herbert. — Oxford edition of this
It is said that sir Robert Wright was promoted to his seat, work.
428 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
former reign : an act passed concerning the size of carts and waggons, with many penalties
upon the transgressors ; and yet, when it appeared that the model prescribed in the act was
not practicable, the judges gave direction not to execute the act.
These were the arguments brought to support the king's dispensing power. In opposition
to this it was said, though not at the bar, yet in the common discourse of the town, that if
penalties did arise only by virtue of the king's proclamation, it was reasonable that the power
of dispensing should be only in the king : fe<it since the prerogative was fecita constituted
and limited by law, and sinc« penalties were imposed to force the observation of laws, that
were necessary for the public safety, it was an overturning the whole government, and the
changing it from a legal into a despotic form, to say that laws, made and declared not to be
capable of being dispensed with, where one of the penalties was an incapacity, which by a
maxim of law cannot be taken away, even by a pardon, should at the pleasure of the prince
be dispensed with ; a fine was also set by the act on offenders, but not given to the king, but
to the informer, which thereby became his. So that the king could no more pardon that,
than he could discharge the debts of the subjects, and take away property. Laws of small
consequence, when a visible error not observed in making them was afterwards found out,
like that of the size of carts, might well be superseded : for the intention of the legislature
being the good of the subject, that is always to be presumed for the repeal of an imprac-
ticable law. But it was not reasonable to infer from thence, that a law made for the secu-
rity of the government, with the most effectual clauses that could be contrived, on design to
force the execution of it, even in bar to the power of the prerogative, should be made so pre-
carious a thing, especially when it was so lately asserted with so much vigour by the repre-
sentatives of the nation. It was said, that, though this was now only applied to one statute,
yet the same force of reason would hold to annul all our laws : and the penalty being that
which is the life of the law, the dispensing with penalties might soon be carried so far,
as to dissolve the whole government : and the security that the subjects had were only from
the laws, or rather from the penalties, since laws without these were feeble things, which
tied men only according to their own discretion.
Thus was this matter tossed about in the arguments, with which all people's mouths were
now filled : but judges, who are beforehand determined how to give their opinions, will not
be much moved even by the strongest arguments. The ludicrous ones used on this occasion
at the bar were rather a farce, fitter for a mock trial in a play, than such as became men of
learning in so important a matter. Great expectations were raised, to hear with what argu-
ments the judges would maintain the judgment that they should give. But they made
nothing of it ; and without any arguing gave judgment for the defendant, as if it had been
in a cause of course.
Now the matter was as much settled, as a decision in the King's Bench could settle it.
Yet so little regard had the chief justice's nearest friends to his opinion in this particular,
that his brother, admiral Herbert, being pressed by the king to promise that he would vote
the repeal of the test, answered the king very plainly, that he could not do it either in
honour, or conscience. The king said, he knew he was a man of honour, but the rest of his
life did not look like a man that had great regard to conscience. He answered boldly, he
had his faults, but they were such, that other people, who talked more of conscience, were
guilty of the like. He was indeed a man abandoned to luxury and vice. But, though he
was poor, and had much to lose, having places to the value of 4(X)6/. a year, he chose to lose
them all rather than comply. This made much noise : for as he had a great reputation for
his conduct in sea affairs, so he had been most passionately zealous in the king's service,
from his first setting out to that day. It appeared by this, that no past services would be
considered, if men were not resolved to comply in every thing. The door was now opened,
so all regard to the test was laid aside. And all men that intended to recommend themselves
took employments, and accepted of this dispensing power. This was done even by some of
those who continued still protestants, though the far greater number of them continued to
qualify themselves according to law *.
* Arthur Herbert, the admiral, who spoke so fearlessly the time his brother was trying the bishops. He will be
to James, had been employed by Charles the Second at. noticed in future pages. — Noble.
Tangier, and Algiers. He became an exile in Holland at
OF KING JAMES II. 429
Many of the papists, that were men of quiet or of fearful tempers, did not like these
methods : they thought the priests went too fast, and the king was too eager in pursuing
every thing that was suggested by them. One Peter, descended from a noble family, a
man of no learning, nor any way famed for his virtue, but who made all up in boldness and
zeal, was the Jesuit of them all that seemed animated with the most courage. He had,
during the popish plot, been introduced to the king, and had suggested things that shewed
him a resolute and undertaking man. Upon that the king looked on him as the fittest man
to be set at the head of his counsels. So he was now considered as the person who of all
others had the greatest credit. He applied himself most to the earl of Sunderland, and was
for some time chiefly directed by him*.
The maxim that the king set up, and about which he entertained all that were about
him, was, the great happiness of an universal toleration. On this the king used to enlarge
in a great variety of topics. He said nothing was more reasonable, more Christian, and more
politic : and he reflected much on the church of England, for the severities with which dis-
senters had been treated. This, how true, or just, soever it might be, yet was strange doc-
trine in the mouth of a professed papist, and of a prince on whose account, and by whose
direction, the church party had been, indeed, but too obsequiously, pushed on to that
rigour. But, since the church party could not be brought to comply with the design of the
court, applications were now made to the dissenters : and all on a sudden the churchmen
were disgraced, and the dissenters were in high favour. Chief justice Herbert went the
western circuit after Jefrreys's bloody one. And now all was grace and favour to them.
Their former sufferings were much reflected on, and pitied. Every thing was offered that
could alleviate their sufferings. Their teachers were now encouraged to set up their con-
venticles again, which had been discontinued, or held very secretly, for four or five years.
Intimations were every where given, that the king would not have them, or their meetings to
be disturbed. Some of them began to grow insolent upon this shew of favour ; but wiser men
among them saw through all this, and perceived the design of the papists was now, to set
on the dissenters against the church, as much as they had formerly set the church against
them : and therefore, though they returned to their conventicles, yet they had a just
jealousy of the ill designs, that lay hid under all this sudden and unexpected shew of grace
and kindness : and they took care not to provoke the church party.
Many of the clergy acted now a part that made good amends for past errors. They
began to preach generally against popery, which the dissenters did not. They set themselves
to study the points of controversy : and upon that there followed a great variety of small
books, that were easily purchased and soon read. They examined all the points of popery
with a solidity of judgment, a clearness of arguing, a depth of learning, and a vivacity of
writing, far beyond any thing that had before that time appeared in our language. The
truth is, they were very unequally yoked ; for, if they are justly to be reckoned among the
best writers that have yet appeared on the protestant side, those they wrote against were
certainly among the weakest that had ever appeared on the popish side. Their books were
poorly but insolently written ; and had no other learning in them, but what was taken out
of some French writers, which they put into very bad English ; so that a victory over them
need have been but by a mean performance.
This had a mighty effect on the whole nation ; even those who could not search things to
the bottom, yet were amazed at the great inequality that appeared in this engagement. The
papists, who knew what service the bishop of Meaux's book had done in France, resolved to
pursue the same method here in several treatises, which they entitled " Papists represented
and misrepresented;" to which such clear answers were written, that what effect soever
that artifice might have, where it was supported by the authority of a great king, and the
terror of ill usage, and a dragoonacLe in conclusion, yet it succeeded so ill in England, that it
* Father Edward Peters had some abilities, but these would not sit at the council board with him. He was
were completely rendered nugatory by his vanity, ambi- James the Second's confessor. Frequent notices of him
tion, and rashness. It is evident from the Clarendon will occur in the following pages, and further information
papers, that all the moderate statesmen of the period were 'may be found in Dodd's Hist, of the English Church,
opposed to him. Lords Clarendon, Nottingham, and others, Dalrymplc's Memoirs, Clarendon Correspondence, &c.
430 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
gave occasion to enquire into the true opinions of that church, not as some artful writers
had disguised them, but as they were laid down in the books that are of authority among
them, such as the decisions of councils received among them, and their established offices, and
as they are held at Rome, and in all those countries where popery prevails without any
intermixture with heretics, or apprehension of them, as in Spain and Portugal. This was
done in so authentic a manner, that popery itself was never so well understood by the
nation, as it came to be upon this occasion.
The persons who both managed and directed this controversial war, were chiefly Tillotson,
Stillingfleet, Tennison, and Patrick. Next them were Sherlock, Williams, Claget, Gee,
Aldrich, Atterbury, Whitby, Hooper, and above all these, Wake, who having been long in
France, chaplain to the lord Preston, brought over with him many curious discoveries, that
were both useful and surprising. Besides the chief writers of those books of controversy,
there were many sermons preached and printed on those heads, that did very much edify
the whole nation. And this matter was managed with that concert, that for the most part
once a week some new book, or sermon, came out, which both instructed, and animated,
those who read them. There were but very few proselytes gained to popery ; and these
were so inconsiderable, that they were rather a reproach than an honour to them. Walker,
the head of University college *, and five or six more at Oxford, declared themselves to be
of that religion ; but with this brand of infamy, that they had continued for several years
complying with the doctrine and worship of the church of England after they were recon-
ciled to the church of Rome. The popish priests were enraged at this opposition made by
the clergy, when they saw their religion so exposed, and themselves so much despised.
They said, it was ill manners and want of duty to treat the king's religion with so much
contempt.
It was resolved to proceed severely against some of the preachers, and to try if by that
means they might intimidate the rest. Dr. Sharp was the rector of St. Giles's, and was
both a very pious man, and one of the most "popular preachers of the age, who had a peculiar
talent of reading his sermons with much life and zeal. He received one day, as he was
coming out of the pulpit, a paper sent him, as he believed, by a priest, containing a sort of
challenge upon some points of controversy, touched by him in some of his sermons. Upon
this, he, not knowing to whom he should send an answer, preached a sermon in answer to it ;
and, after he had confuted it, he concluded shewing how unreasonable it was for protestants
to change their religion on such grounds. This was carried to court, and represented there,
as a reflection on the king for changing on those grounds.
The information, as to the words pretended to be spoken by Sharp, was false, as he himself
assured me ; but, without enquiring into that, the earl of Sunderland sent an order to the
bishop of London (Compton), in the king's name, requiring him to suspend Sharp imme-
diately, and then to examine the matter. The bishop answered, that he had no power to
proceed in such a summary way ; but, if an accusation were brought into his court in a
regular way, he would proceed to such a censure, as could be warranted by the ecclesiastical
law : yet, he said, he would do that which was in his power, and should be upon the matter
a suspension ; for he desired Sharp to abstain from officiating, till the matter should be
better understood. But to lay such a censure on a clergyman, as a suspension, without
proof, in a judiciary proceeding, was contrary both to law and justice. Sharp went to
court to shew the notes of his bermon, which he was ready to swear were those from which
he had read it, by which the falsehood of the information would appear. But, since he was
not suspended, he was not admitted. Yet he was let alone ; and it was resolved to proceed
against the bishop of London for contempt.
Jeffreys was much sunk at court, and Herbert was the most in favour. But now Jeffreys,
to recommend himself, offered a bold and illegal advice, for setting up an ecclesiastical com-
mission, without calling it the high commission, pretending it wras only a standing court of
delegates. The act that put down the high commission in the year 1640 had provided by a
clause, as full as could be conceived, that no court should be ever set up for those matters,
* This was Dr. Obadiali Walker; sec an account of him in Wood's Athcnae Oxon.
besides the
OF KING JAMES II. 431
ides the ordinary ecclesiastical courts. Yet, in contempt of that, a court was erected,
with full power to proceed in a summary and arbitrary way in all ecclesiastical matters, with-
out limitations to any rule of law in their proceedings. This stretch of the supremacy, so
contrary to law, was assumed by a king, whose religion made him condemn all that supremacy,
that the law had vested in the crown.
The persons with whom this power was lodged, were the archbishop of Canterbury (San-
croft), and the bishops of Duresme (Crew), and Rochester (Sprat), and the lord chancellor, the
lord treasurer (Rochester), and lord chief justice (Herbert), the lord chancellor being made
president in the court " sine quo non;" for they would trust this to no other management.
The bishop of London was marked out to be the first sacrifice. Sancroft lay silent at Lam-
beth. He seemed zealous against popery in private discourse ; but lie was of such a timo-
rous temper, and so set on the enriching his nephew, that he shewed no sort of courage.
He would not go to this court when it was first opened, and declare against it, and give his
reasons why he could not sit and act in it, judging it to be against law : but he contented
himself with his not going to it. The other two bishops were more compliant. Duresmc
was lifted up with it, and said, now his name would be recorded in history : and when some
of his friends represented to him the danger of acting in a court so illegally constituted, he
said, he could not live if he should lose the king's gracious smiles ; so low, and so fawning
was he *. Dolben, archbishop of York, died this year. So, as Sprat had succeeded him in
Rochester, he had some hopes let fall of succeeding likewise in York : but the court had laid
it down for a maxim, to keep all the great sees, that should become vacant, still empty, till
they might fill them to their own mind : so he was mistaken in his expectations, if he ever
had them.
The bishop of London was the first person that was summoned to appear before this new
court. He was attended by many persons of great quality, which gave a new offence : and
the lord chancellor treated him in that brutal way, that was now become as it were natural
to him. The bishop said, here was a new court of which he knew nothing : so he desired a
copy of the commission that authorised them. And after he had drawn out the matters by
delays for some time, hoping that the king might accept of some general and respectful sub-
mission, and so let the matter fall ; at last he came to make his defence, all secret methods to
divert the storm prviong ineffectual. The first part of it was an exception to the authority
of the court, as being not only founded on no law, but contrary to the express words of the
act of parliament, that put down the high commission. Yet this point was rather insinu-
ated, than urged with the force that might have been used ; for it was said, that, if the
bishop should insist too much 011 that, it would draw a much heavier measure of indignation
on him ; therefore it was rather opened, and modestly represented to the court, than strongly
argued. But it may be easily believed, that those who sat by virtue of this illegal commis-
sion would maintain their own authority. The other part of the bishop of London's plea
was, that he had obeyed the king's orders, as far as he legally could ; for he had obliged
Dr. Sharp to act as a man that was suspended ; but that he could not lay an ecclesiastical
censure on any of his clergy without a process, and articles, and some proof brought. This
was justified by the constant practice of the ecclesiastical courts, and by the judgment of all
lawyers. But arguments, how strong soever, are feeble things, when a sentence is resolved
on before the cause is heard. So it was proposed, that he should be suspended during the
king's pleasure. The lord chancellor, and the poor-spirited bishop of Duresme were for this :
but the earl and bishop of Rochester, and the lord chief justice Herbert, were for acquitting
him. There was not so much as a colour of law to support the sentence ; so none could be
given.
* Of this prelate, Dr. Nathaniel Crew, it is unnecessary taph, in Stene chapel, Northamptonshire, is as follows ; —
to relate more than is told in his epitaph ; for he was a " Near this place lieth the body of the right reverend,
base- spirited, fawning, vain, ambitious truckler to the and right honourable Nathaniel, Lord Crew, lord bishop
higher powers ; 'who bought his preferment by a bribe of of Durham, and baron Stene, fifth son of John Lord
some thousands to Nell Gwyn, and whose charities were Crew. He was born Jan. 31, 1633; was consecrated
not bestowed until the last days of his existence. If bishop of Oxford, IQjl : translated to Durham in 1G74;
more full particulars are required, they will be found in was clerk of the closet, and privy councillor in the reigns
the Biographia Britr.nniea, by Dr. Kippis, Wood's Athenae of king Charles the Second, and king James the Second,
Oxon, and Hutchinson's Hist, of Durham. His epi- and died Sept. 18, 1721, aged eighty-eight "
432 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
But the king was resolved to carry this point, and spoke roundly about it to the earl of
Rochester. He saw he must either concur in the sentence, or part with the white staff. So
he yielded. And the bishop was suspended ctb qffkio. They did not think fit to meddle
with his revenues. For the lawyers had settled that point, that benefices were of the nature
of freeholds. So, if the sentence had gone to the temporalities, the bishop would have
had the matter tried over again in the king's bench, where he was likely to find good
justice, Herbert not being satisfied with the legality and justice of the sentence. While this
matter was in dependence, the princess of Orange thought it became her, to interpose a little
in the bishop's favour. He had confirmed, and married her. So she wrote to the king,
earnestly begging him to be gentle to the bishop, who she could not think would offend
willingly. She also wrote to the bishop,expressing the great share she took in the trouble he
was fallen into. The prince wrote to him to the same purpose. The king wrote an answer
to the princess, reflecting severely on the bishop, not without some sharpness on her for
meddling in such matters ; yet the court seemed uneasy, when they saw they had gained so
poor a victory ; for now the bishop was more considered than ever. His clergy, for all the
suspension, were really more governed by the secret intimations of his pleasure, than they
had been by his authority before. So they resolved to come off as well as they could.
Dr. Sharp was admitted to offer a general petition, importing how sorry he was, to find
himself under the king's displeasure : upon which he was dismissed with a gentle reprimand,
and suffered to return to the exercise of his function. According to the form of the ecclesi-
astical courts, a person under such a suspension must make a submission within six months ;
otherwise he may be proceeded against as obstinate. So, six months after the sentence, the
bishop sent a petition to the king, desiring to be restored to the exercise of his episcopal func-
tion. But he made no acknowledgment of any fault : so this had no other effect, but that
it stopped all further proceedings ; only the suspension lay still on him. I have laid all this
matter together, though the progress of it ran into the year eighty-seven.
Affairs in Scotland went on much at the same rate as they did in England. Some few
proselytes were gained ; but as they were very few, so they could do little service to the side
to which they joined themselves. The earl of Perth prevailed with his lady, as she was
dying, to change her religion : and in a very few weeks after her death he married very inde-
cently a sister of the duke of Gordon's. They were first cousins ; and yet, without staying
for a dispensation from Rome, they ventured on a marriage, upon the assurances that they
said their confessor gave them, that it would be easily obtained. But Pope Innocent was
a stiff man, and did not grant those things easily : so that cardinal Howard could not at first
obtain it. The pope said, these were strange converts, that would venture on such a thing
without first obtaining a dispensation. The cardinal pretended, that new converts did not so
soon understand the laws of the church ; but he laid before the pope the ill consequences of
offending converts of such importance. So he prevailed at last, not without great difficulty.
The earl of Perth set up a private chapel in the court for mass, which was not kept so pri-
vate, but that many frequented it.
The town of Edinburgh was much alarmed at this ; and the rabble broke in with such
fury, that they defaced every thing in the chapel : and if the earl of Perth had not been con-
veyed away in disguise, he had very probably fallen a sacrifice to popular rage. The guards
upon the alarm came, and dispersed the rabble : some were taken ; and one that was a ring-
leader in the tumult was executed for it. When he was at the place of execution, he told
one of the ministers of the town, that was with him assisting him with his prayers, that he
was offered his life, if he would accuse the duke of Queensborough as the person that had
set on the tumult, but he would not save his life by so false a calumny. Mr. Macom, the
minister, was an honest but weak man. So, when the criminal charged him to make this dis-
covery, he did not call any of those who were present to bear witness of it : but in the sim-
plicity of his heart he went from the execution to the archbishop of St. Andrews, and told
him what had passed. The archbishop acquainted the duke of Queensborough with it : and
he wrote to court, and complained of it. The king ordered the matter to be examined. So
the poor minister, having no witness to attest what the criminal had said to him, was declared
the forger of that calumny : and upon that he was turned out. But how severely soever
OF KING JAMES II.
those in authority may handle a poor incautious man, yet the public is apt to judge true.
And, in this case, as the minister's weakness and misfortune was pitied, so the earl of Perth's
malice and treachery was as much detested.
In summer this year, the earl of Murray, another new convert, was sent the king's com-
missioner to hold a parliament in Scotland, and to try if it would be more compliant than
the English parliament had been. The king did by his letter recommend to them, in very
earnest words, the taking off all penal laws and tests relating to religion. And all possible
methods were used to prevail on a majority. But two accidents happened before the open-
ing the parliament, which made great impression on the minds of many.
Whitford, son to one of their bishops before the wars, had turned papist. He was the
person that killed Darislaus in Holland ; and, that he might get out of Cromwell's reach,
he had gone into the duke of Savoy's service, and was there when the last massacre was
committed on the Vaudois. He had committed many barbarous murders with his own
hands, and had a small pension given him after the restoration. He died a few days before
the parliament met ; and called for some ministers, and to them declared his forsaking of
popery, and his abhorrence of it for its cruelty. He said, he had been guilty of some execra-
ble murders in Piedmont, both of women and children, which had pursued him with an
intolerable horror of mind ever after. He had gone to priests of all sorts, the strictest as
well as the easiest, and they had justified him in what he had done, and had given him
absolution. But his conscience pursued him so, that he died as in despair, crying out against
that bloody religion.
The other was more solemn. Sir Robert Sibbald, a doctor of physic, and the most learned
antiquary in Scotland, who had lived in a course of philosophical virtue, but in great doubts
as to revealed religion, was prevailed on by the earl of Perth to turn papist, in hopes to find
that certainty among them, which he could not arrive at upon his own principles. But he
had no sooner done this, than he began to be ashamed, that he had made such a step upon so
little enquiry. So he went to London, and retired for some months from all company, and
went into a deep course of study, by which he came to see into the errors of popery, with so
full a conviction, that he came down to Scotland some weeks before the parliament, and
could not be at quiet till he had published his recantation openly in a church. The bishop
of Edinburgh was so much a courtier, that, apprehending many might go to hear it, and that
it might give offence at court, he sent him to do it in a church in the country. But the
recantation of so learned a man, upon so much study, had a great effect upon many *. ,
Rosse and Paterson, the two governing bishops, resolved to let the king see how compliant
they would be. And they procured an address to be signed by several of their bench, offer-
ing to concur with the king in all that he desired, with relation to those of his own religion,
(for the courtly style now was not to name popery any other way than by calling it the king's
religion) provided the laws might still continue in force and be executed against the presby-
terians. With this Paterson was sent up. He communicated the matter to the earl of Mid-
dleton, who advised him never to shew that paper ; it would be made use of against them,
and render them odious : and the king and all his priests were so sensible, that it was an
indecent thing for them to pretend to any special favour, that they were resolved to move for
nothing but a general toleration. And so he persuaded him to go back without presenting
it. This was told me by one who had it from the earl himself.
When the session of parliament was opened, duke Hamilton was silent in the debate. He
promised he would not oppose the motion ; but he would not be active to promote it. The
duke of Queensborough was also silent ; but the king was made believe that he managed
the opposition under hand. Rosse and Paterson did so entirely forget what became their
•acters, that they used their utmost endeavours to persuade the parliament to comply with
the king's desire. The archbishop of Glasgow opposed it, but fearfully. The bishop of
Dunk eld, Bruce, did it openly and resolutely ; and so did the bishop of Galloway. The
i'est were silent, but were resolved to vote for the continuance of the laws. Such was the
meanness of most of the nobility, and of the other members, that few did hope that a resist-
He died about 162J. Charieo
Sir Robert Sibbald published several works relative to the history of Scotland.
second patronized him __ Gen. Biog. Diet.
P F
434 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
aiice to the court could be maintained. Yet the parliament would consent to nothing,
further than to a suspension of those laws during the king's life. The king despised this:
so the session was put off, and the parliament was quickly dissolved. And, soon after that,
both the archbishop of Glasgow and the bishop of Dunkeld were turned out, by an express
command from the king. And Paterson was made archbishop of Glasgow. And one
Hamilton, noted for profaneness and impiety, that sometimes broke out into blasphemy, was
made bishop of Dunkeld. No reason was assigned for turning out those bishops, but the
king's pleasure.
The nation, which was become very corrupt, and both ignorant and insensible in the mat-
ters of religion, began now to return to its old zeal against popery. Few proselytes were
made after this. The episcopal clergy were in many places so sunk into sloth and ignorance,
that they were not capable of conducting this zeal. Some of them about Edinburgh, and in
divers other places, began to mind those matters, and recovered some degrees of credit by the
opposition they made to popery. But the presbyterians, though they were now freed from
the great severities they had long smarted under, yet expressed on all occasions their uncon-
querable aversion to popery. So the court was soon convinced, that they were not to be
depended on.
But, what opposition soever the king met with in the isle of Britain, things went on more
to his mind in Ireland. The earl of Clarendon, upon his first coming over, gave public and
positive assurances that the king would maintain their act of settlement. This he did very
often, and very solemnly ; and proceeded accordingly. In the mean while the earl of Thcon-
nel went on more roundly. He not only put Irish papists into such posts in the army as
became void, but upon the slightest pretences he broke the English protestant officers, to
make room for the others : and in conclusion, without so much as pretending a colour for it,
he turned them all out. And now an army, paid by virtue of the act of settlement to secure
it, was wrested out of legal hands, and put in the hands of those who were engaged, both in
religion and interest, to destroy the settlement, and those concerned in it ; which was too
gross a v/olation of law to be in any sort palliated. So the English protestants of Ireland
looked OP themselves as at mercy, since the army was now made up of their enemies. And
all that the lord lieutenant, or the lord chancellor could say, did not quiet their fears : good
words could not give security against such deeds as they saw every day. Upon this the earl
of Clarendon, and the earl of Tirconnel, fell into perpetual jarrings, and were making such
complaints one of another, that the king resolved to put an end to those disorders by recall-
ing both the earl of Clarendon and Porter. He made the earl of Tirconnel lord lieutenant,
and Fitton lord chancellor, who were both not only professed but zealous papists. Fitton
knew no other law but the king's pleasure *.
This struck all people there with great terror, when a man of Tirconnel's temper, so
entirely trusted and depended on by the Irish, capable of the boldest undertakings, and of
the cruelest execution, had now the government put so entirely in his hands. The papists of
England either dissembled very artificially, or they were much troubled at this, which gave
so great an alarm every where. It was visible, that father Peter, and the Jesuits, were
resolved to engage the king so far, that matters should be put past all retreating and com-
pounding ; that so the king might think no more of governing by parliament, but by a mili-
tary force ; and, if that should not stick firm to him, by assistance from France, and by an
Irish army.
An accident happened at this time, that gave the queen great offence, and put the priests
much out of countenance. The king continued to go still to Mrs. Sedley ; and she gained
so much on him, that at last she prevailed to be made countess of Dorchester. As soon as
the queen heard of this, she gave order to bring all the priests that were admitted to a par-
ticular confidence, into her closet. And, when she had them about her, she sent to desire the
* Sir Alexander Fitton is thus mentioned by arch- conscience, though he wanted law and natural capacity, as
bishop King. " He was detected of forgery, not only at well as honesty and courage, to discharge such a trust; and
Westminster and Chester, but likewise fined by the house had no other quality to recommend him, besides being a
of lords in parliament ; he was brought out of gaol, and converted papist ; that is, a renegade to his religion and
set iu the nighest court of the kingdom to keep the king's his country." — State of the Protestants in Ireland.
OF KING JAMES II.
435
king to come and speak to her. When he came, he was surprised to see such a company
about her, but much more when they fell all on their knees before him. And the queen
broke out into a bitter mourning for this new honour, which they expected would be followed
with the setting her up openly as mistress. The queen was then in an ill habit of body, and
had an illness that, as was thought, would end in a consumption. And it was believed that
her sickness was of such a nature, that it gave a very melancholy presage, that, if she should
live, she could have no children. The priests said to the king, that a blemish in his life
blasted their designs ; and the more it appeared, and the longer it was continued, the more
ineffectual all their endeavours would prove. The king was much moved with this, and was
out of countenance for what he had done. But to quiet them all, he promised them, that he
would see the lady no more ; and pretended, that he gave her this title in order to the break-
ing with her the more decently. And, when the queen did not seem to believe this, he
promised that he would send her to Ireland, which was done accordingly : but after a stay
there for some months, she came over again ; and that ill commerce was still continued.
The priests were no doubt the more apprehensive of this, because she was bold and lively,
and was always treating them and their proceedings with great contempt *.
The court was now much set on making of converts, which failed in most instances, and
produced repartees, that, whether true or false, were much repeated, and were heard with
great satisfaction.
The earl of Mulgrave was lord chamberlain. He was apt to comply in every thing that
he thought might be acceptable ; for he went with the king to mass, and kneeled at it ; and,
being looked on as indifferent to all religions, the priests made an attack on him. He heard
them gravely arguing for transubstantiation. He told them, he was willing to receive instruc-
tion : he had taken much pains to bring himself to believe in God, who had made the world
and all men in it ; but it must not be an ordinary force of argument that could make him
believe that man was quits with God, and made God again.
The earl of Middleton had married into a popish family, and was a man of great parts
and a generous temper, but of loose principles in religion. So a priest was sent to instruct
him. He began with transubstantiation, of which he said he would convince him imme-
diately : and began thus, " You believe the Trinity ." Middleton stopped him, and said, " Who
told you so ?" At which he seemed amazed. So the earl said, he expected he should con-
vince him of his belief, but not question him of his own. With this the priest was so dis-
ordered, that he could proceed no further. One day the king gave the duke of Norfolk the
sword of state to carry before him to the chapel ; and he stood at the door. Upon which
the king said to him, " My lord, your father would have gone further :" to which the duke
answered, " Your majesty "s father was the better man, and he would not have gone so far."
Kirk was also spoken to, to change his religion ; and replied briskly, that he was already
pre-engaged, for he had promised the king of Morocco, that if ever he changed his religion,
lie would turn Mahometan.
But the person that was the most considered, was the earl of Rochester. He told me,
that upon the duke of Monmouth's defeat, the king did so immediately turn to other measures,
that, though before that the king talked to him of all his affairs with great freedom, and
commonly every morning of the business that was to be done that day ; yet the very day
after the duke's execution the king changed his method, and never talked more to him of any
* Catherine Sedley was more distinguished for her wit
[and taste than for her beauty. Charles the Second once
declared he thought his brother's mistresses were given to
:na by his confessor as penance. She was the daughter
j«f Sir Charles Sedley, noticed in a previous page. The
priests at length prevailed, and she was ordered to retire
into France, or her pension of 4,OOOJ. would cease. —
j(Reresby s Memoirs.) Her daughter by the king married
the earl of Anglesea, and the duke of Buckingham. In
('lie reign of William, the countess of Dorchester having
vturned to England, married the earl of Portmore. She
«>r.tinued to correspond with the exiled king ; and her
' i tiers being intercepted, she was in danger of an impeach-
ment. She died in 1717. — (Singer's Clarendon Corre-
spondence ; Dalrymple's Memoirs ; Grainger.) She had
more wit than discretion. Meeting the duchess of Ports-
mouth and lady Orkney in the palace of George the First,
she exclaimed, " Who would have thought we three
w s should meet here?" Speaking of some others
of James the Second's favourites, she said, li Why does
he choose us? we are none of us handsome; and if we
have wit, he has not enough to find it out.'' To her two
sons by the earl of Portmore, she observed, " If any
body should call you sons of a w — e, you must bear it,
for you are so ; but if they call you bastards, fight till you
die, for you are an honest man's sons." — Noble's History.
P F 2
436 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
business, but what concerned the treasury : so that he saw he had now no more the root he
formerly had. He was looked on as so much united to the clergy, that the papists were all
set against him. He had, in a want of money, procured a considerable loan, by which he
was kept in his post longer than was intended. At last, as he related the matter to me, the
king spoke to him, and desired he would suffer himself to be instructed in religion. He
answered, he was fully satisfied about his religion : but upon the king's pressing it, that he
would hear his priests, he said, he desired then to have some of the English clergy present,
to which the king consented ; only he excepted to Tillotson and Stillingfleet. Lord Roches-
ter said, he would take those who should happen to be in waiting ; for the forms of the
chapel were still kept up. And doctor Patrick and Jane were the men. Upon this a day
was set for the conference.
But his enemies had another story. He had notice given him, that he would shortly lose
the white staff: upon which his lady, who was then sick, wrote to the queen, and begged she
would honour her so far as to come, and let her have some discourse with her. The queen
came, and stayed above two hours with her. She complained of the ill offices that were done
them. The queen said, all the protestants were now turning against them, so that they
knew not how they could trust any of them. Upon which that lady said, her lord was not
so wedded to any opinion, as not to be ready to be better instructed. And it was said, that
this gave the rise to the king's proposing a conference ; for it has been observed to be a
common method of making proselytes with the more pomp, to propose a conference : but this
was generally done, after they were well assured, that, let the conference go which way it
might, the person's decision for whom it was appointed should be on their side. The earl
denied he knew any thing of all this to me : and his lady died not long after. It was further
said by his enemies, that the day before the conference he had an advertisement from a sure
hand, that nothing he could do would maintain him in his post, and that the king had engaged
himself to put the treasury in commission, and to bring some of the popish lords into it.
Patrick told me, that at the conference there was no occasion for them to say much.
The priests began the attack ; and, when they had done, the earl said, if they had nothing
stronger to urge, he would not trouble those learned gentlemen to say any thing ; for he was
sure he could answer all that he had heard. And so answered it all with much heat and
spirit, not without some scorn, saying, were these grounds to persuade men to change their
religion ? This he urged over and over again with great vehemence. The king, seeing in
what temper he was, broke off the conference, charging all that were present to say nothing
of it *.
Soon after that he lost his white staff, but had a pension of 4,000/. a year for his own life
and his son's, besides his grant upon the lord Grey, and another valued at 20,000/. So here
were great regards had to him : no place having ever been sold, even by a person in favour, j
to such advantage. The sum that he had procured to be lent the king being 400,000/., and !
it being all ordered to go towards the repair of the fleet, this began to be much talked of. <
The stores were very ill furnished ; and the vessels themselves were in decay. But now
orders were given, with great dispatch to put the whole fleet in condition to go to sea, though
the king was then in full peace with all his neighbours. Such preparations seemed to be
made upon some great design.
The priests said every where, but chiefly at Rome, that the design was against the States ;
and that both France and England would make war on them all of the sudden ; for it was
generally known that the Dutch fleet was in no good condition. The interests of France,
and of the priests, made this to be the more easily believed. The embroiling the king with I
the prince of Orange was that which the French desired above all other things, hoping that !
such a war, being successful, might put the king on excluding the prince from the succession !
to the crown in the right of his wife, which was the thing that both the French, and priests, ,
desired most ; for they saw that, unless the queen had a son, all their designs must stand still,
at present, and turn abortive in conclusion, as long as the nation had such a successor in view. !
* The " Memoirs of king James " say that this conference was an artifice of lord Sunderland's to get Rochester dis-j
charged. This and the particulars of other conferences upon the same subject, are in Singer's Clarendon Correspon-i
dence.
OF KING JAMES II. 437
This carries me now to open the state of affairs in Holland, and at the prince of Orange's
court. I must first say somewhat of myself : for this summer, after I had rambled above a
year, I came into Holland. I stayed three, or four, months in Geneva, and Switzerland,
after I came out of Italy. I stayed also some time among the Lutherans at Strasburg and
Franckfort, and among the Calvinists at Heidleberg. Besides the further opportunities I had
to know their way in Holland, I made it my business to observe all their methods, and to
know all the eminent men among them. I saw the churches of France in their best state,
while they were every day looking when this dreadful storm should break out, which has
scattered them up and down the world. I was all the winter at Geneva, where we had
constantly fresh stories brought us of the miseries of those who were suffering in France.
Refugees were coming over every day, poor and naked, and half starved before they got thither.
And that small state was under great apprehensions of being swallowed up, having no
strength of their own, and being justly afraid that those at Bern would grow weary of
defending them, if they should be vigorously attacked. The rest of Switzerland was not in
such imminent danger : but, as they were full of refugees, and all sermons and discourses were
much upon the persecution in France, so Basil wTas exposed in such manner, that the French
could possess themselves of it when they pleased, without the least resistance. Those of Stras-
burg, as they have already lost their liberty, so they were every day looking for some fatal
edict, like that which the French had fallen under. The churches of the Palatinate, as they
are now the frontier of the empire, exposed to be destroyed by every new war, so they are
fallen into the hands of a bigoted family. All the other churches on the Rhine see how near
they are to ruin. And as the United Provinces were a few years before this very near being
swallowed up, so they were now well assured that two great kings designed to ruin them.
Under so cloudy a prospect it should be expected, that a spirit of true devotion and of a
real reformation should appear more, both among the clergy and laity ; that they should all
apprehend that God was highly offended with them, and was therefore punishing some, and
threatening others, in a most unusual manner. It might have been expected, that those
unhappy contests between Lutherans and Calvinists, Arminians, and anti-Arminians, with
some minuter disputes that have enflamed Geneva and Switzerland, should have been at
least suspended, while they had a common enemy to deal with, against whom their whole
force united was scarce able to stand. But these things were carried on rather with more
eagerness, and sharpness, than ever. It is true, there has appeared much of a primitive
charity towards the French refugees ; they have been in all places well received, kindly
treated, and bountifully supplied. Yet even among them there did not appear a spirit of
piety and devotion suitable to their condition : though persons who have willingly suffered
the loss of all things, and have forsaken their country, their houses, estates, and their friends,
and some of them their nearest relations, rather than sin against their consciences, must be
believed to have a deeper principle in them, than can well be observed by others.
I was indeed amazed at the labours and learning of the ministers among the reformed.
They understood the scriptures well in the original tongues : they had all the points of con-
troversy very ready, and did thoroughly understand the whole body of divinity. In many
places they preached every day, and were almost constantly employed in visiting their flock.
But they performed their devotions but slightly, and read their prayers, which were too long,
with great precipitation and little zeal. Their sermons were too long and too dry : and they
were so strict, even to jealousy, in the smallest points in which they put orthodoxy, that one
who could not go into all their notions, but was resolved not to quarrel with them, could not
converse much with them with any freedom. I have, upon all the observation that I have
made, often considered the inward state of the reformation, and the decay of the vitals of
Christianity in it, as that which gives more melancholy impressions than all the outward
dangers that surround it.
In England things were much changed, with relation to the court, in the compass of a year.
The terror all people were under from an ill chosen, and an ill constituted, parliament, was
now almost over ; and the clergy were come to their wits, and, were beginning to recover
their reputation. The nation was like to prove much firmer than could have been expected,
especially in so short a time. Yet after all, though many were like to prove themselves
438 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
better protestants than was looked for, they were not become much better Christians ; and
few were turning to a stricter course of life : nor were the clergy more diligent in their
labours among their people, in which respect it must be confessed that the English clergy are
the most remiss of any. The curates in popery, besides their saying mass every day, their
exactness to their breviary, their attending on confessions and the multiplicity of offices to
which they are obliged, do so labour in instructing the youth, and visiting the sick, that, in
all the places in which I could observe them, it seemed to be the constant employment of
their lives : and in the foreign churches, though the labours of the ministers may seem mean,
yet they are perpetually in them. All these things lay so much on my thoughts, that I was
resolved to retire into some private place, and to spend the rest of my life in a course of stricter
piety and devotion, and in writing such books, as the state of matters with relation to religion
should call for, whether in points of speculation or practice. All my friends advised my
coming near England, that I might be easier sent to, and informed of all our affairs, and
might accordingly employ my thoughts and time. So I came down the Rhine this summer,
and was resolved to have settled in Groning or Friezeland.
When I came to Utrecht, I found letters written to me by some of the prince of Orange's
court, desiring me to come first to the Hague, and wait on the prince and princess, before I
should settle any where. Upon my coming to the Hague, I was admitted to wait on them.
I found they had received such characters of me from England, that they resolved to treat me
with great confidence ; for, at my first being with them, they entered into much free dis-
course with me concerning the affairs of England. The prince, though naturally cold and
reserved, yet laid aside a great deal of that with me. He seemed highly dissatisfied with
the king^s conduct. He apprehended that he would give such jealousies of himself, and
come under such jealousies from his people, that these would throw him into a French
management, and engage him into such desperate designs as would force violent remedies.
There was a gravity in his whole deportment that struck me. He seemed very regardless
of himself, and not apt to suspect designs upon his person. But I had learned somewhat of
the design of a brutal Savoyard, who was capable of the blackest things, and who for a foul
murder had fled into the territory of Geneva, where he lay hid in a very worthy family, to
whom he had done some services before. He had formed a scheme of seizing on the prince,
who used to go in his chariot often on the sands near Scheveling, with but one person with
him, and a page or two on the chariot. So he offered to go in a small vessel of twenty guns,
that should lie at some distance at sea, and to land in a boat with seven persons besides him-
self, and to seize on the prince, and bring him aboard, and so to France. This he wrote to
M. de Louvoy, who upon that wrote to him to come to Paris, and ordered money for his
journey. He, being a talking man, spoke of this, and shewed M. de Louvoy's letter, and the
copy of his own : and he went presently to Paris. This was brought me by Mr. Fatio, the
celebrated mathematician, in whose father's house that person had lodged. When I told the
prince this, and had Mr. Fatio at the Hague to attest it, he was not much moved at it. The
princess was more apprehensive ; and by her direction I acquainted Mr. Fagel, and some
others of the States, with it, who were convinced that the thing was practicable. And so
the States desired the prince to suffer himself to be constantly attended on by a guard when
he went abroad, with which he was not without some difficulty brought to comply. I fancied
his belief of predestination made him more adventurous than was necessary. But he said as
to that, he firmly believed a providence ; for if he should let that go, all his religion would be
much shaken ; and he did not see how providence could be certain, if all things did not arise
out of the absolute will of God. I found those who had the charge of his education, had
taken more care to possess him with the Calvinistical notions of absolute decrees, than to
guard him against the ill effects of those opinions in practice : for in Holland the main thing
the ministers infuse into their people, is an abhorrence of the Arminian doctrine, which
spreads so much there, that their jealousies of it make them look after that, more than after
the most important matters.
The prince had been much neglected in his education ; for all his life long he hated con-
straint. He spoke little. He put on some appearance of application ; but he hated business
of all sorts ; yet he hated talking, and all house games more. This put him on a perpetual
OF KING JAMES II. 439
course of hunting, to which he seemed to give himself up, beyond any man I ever knew :
but I looked on that always as a flying from company and business. The depression of
France was the governing passion of his whole life. He had no vice, but of one sort, in
which he was very cautious and secret. He had a way that was affable and obliging to the
Dutch : but he could not bring himself to comply enough with the temper of the English,
his coldness and slowness being very contrary to the genius of the nation.
The princess possessed all that conversed with her with admiration. Her person was
majestic and created respect. She had great knowledge, with a true understanding, and a
noble expression. There was a sweetness in her deportment that charmed, and an exactness
in piety and virtue that made her a pattern to all that saw her. The king gave her no
appointments to support the dignity of a king's daughter ; nor did he send her any presents,
or jewels, which was thought a very indecent, and certainly was a very ill-advised thing.
For the settling an allowance for her and the prince would have given such a jealousy of
them, that the English would have apprehended a secret correspondence and confidence
between them ; and the not doing it shewed the contrary very evidently. But, though the
prince did not increase her court and state upon this additional dignity, she managed her
privy purse so well, that she became eminent in her charities : and the good grace with which
she bestowed favours did always increase their value. She had read much, both in history
and divinity. And when a course of humours in her eyes forced her from that, she set her-
self to work with such a constant diligence, that she made the ladies about her ashamed to
be idle. She knew little of our affairs till I was admitted to wait on her. And I began to
lay before her the state of our court, and the intrigues in it, ever since the restoration ; which
she received with great satisfaction, and shewed true judgment, and a good mind, in all the
reflections that she made. I will only mention one in this place : she asked me, what had
sharpened the king so much against Mr. Jurieu, the most copious, and the most zealous
writer of the age, who wrote with great vivacity as well as learning. I told her, he mixed
all his books with a most virulent aorimony of style, and among other things he had written
with great indecency of Mary Queen of Scots, which cast reflections on them that were
descended from her ; and was not very decent in one, that desired to be considered as zealous
for the prince and herself. She said, Jurieu was to support the cause that he defended, and
to expose those that persecuted it, in the best way he could. And, if what he said of
Mary Queen of Scots was true, he was not to be blamed, who made that use of it : and, she
added, that if princes would do ill things, they must expect that the world will take
revenges on their memory, since they cannot reach their persons : that was but a small suf-
fering, far short of what others suffered at their hands. So far I have given the character of
those persons, as it appeared to me upon my first admittance to them. I shall have occasion
to say much more of them in the sequel of this work.
I found the prince was resolved to make use of me. He told me it would not be con-
venient for me to live any where but at the Hague ; for none of the outlawed persons came
thither. So I would keep myself, by staying there, out of the danger that I might legally
incur by conversing with them, which would be unavoidable if I lived any where else. He
also recommended me both to Fagel, Dykvelt, and Halewyn's confidence, with whom he
chiefly consulted. I had a mind to see a little into the prince's notions, before I should
engage myself deeper into his service. I was afraid lest his struggle with the Louvestein
party, as they were called, might have given him a jealousy of liberty and of a free govern-
ment. He assured me, it was quite the contrary : nothing but such a constitution could
resist a powerful aggressor long, or have the credit that was necessary to raise such
sums, as a great war might require. He condemned all the late proceedings in England, j
with relation to the charters, and expressed his sense of a legal and limited authority very 1
fully. I told him, I was such a friend to liberty, that I could not be satisfied with the \
point of religion alone, unless it was accompanied with the securities of law. I asked his
senses of the church of England. He said, he liked our worship well, and our government
in the church, as much better than parity; but he blamed our condemning the foreign
churches, as he had observed some of our divines did. I told him, whatever some hotter
men might say, all were not of that mind. When he found I was in my opinion for tolera-
440 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
tion, he said, that was all he would ever desire to bring us to, for quieting our contentions
at home. He also promised to me, that he should never be prevailed with to set up the
Calvinistical notions of the decrees of God, to which I did imagine some might drive him.
He wished some of our ceremonies, such as the surplice and the cross in baptism, with our
bowing to the altar, might be laid aside. I thought it necessary to enter with him into all
these particulars, that so I might be furnished from his own mouth, to give a full account of
his sense to some in England, who would expect it of me, and were disposed to believe what
I should assure them of. This discourse was of some hours' continuance : and it passed in
the princess's presence. Great notice came to be taken of the free access and long confer-
ences I had with them both. I told him, it was necessary for his service, to put the fleet of
Holland in a good condition. And this he proposed soon after to the States, who gave the
hundredth penny for a fund to perfect that. I moved to them both, the writing to the
bishop of London, and to the king concerning him. And, though the princess feared it
might irritate the king too much, in conclusion I persuaded them to it.
The king, hearing of this admission I had, began in two or three letters to reflect on me,
as a dangerous man, whom they ought to avoid and beware of. To this no answer was
made. Upon the setting up the ecclesiastical commission, some from England pressed them
to write over against it, and to begin a breach upon that. I told them, I thought that was
no way advisable : they could not be supposed to understand our laws so well, as to oppose
those things on their own knowledge ; so that I thought this could not be expected by them,
till some resolute person would dispute the authority of the court, and bring it to an argu-
ment, and so to a solemn decision. I likewise said, that I did not think every error in
government would warrant a breach : if the foundations were struck at, that would vary
the case ; but illegal acts in particular instances could not justify such a conclusion. The
prince seemed surprised at this ; for the king made me pass for a rebel in my heart : and he
now saw how far I was from it. I continued on this ground to the last.
That which fixed me in their confidence was, the liberty I took, in a private conversation
with the princess, to ask her, what she intended the prince should be, if she came to the
crown. She, who was new to all matters of that kind, did not understand my meaning,
but fancied that whatever accrued to her would likewise accrue to him in the right of mar-
riage. I told her it was not so : and I explained king Henry the Seventh's title to her, and
what had passed when Queen Mary married Philip king of Spain. I told her, a titular
kingship was no acceptable thing to a man, especially if it was to depend on another's life :
and such a nominal dignity might endanger the real one that the prince had in Holland.
She desired me to propose a remedy. I told her the remedy, if she could bring her mind to
it, was to be contented to be his wife, and to engage herself to them, that she would give
him the real authority as soon as it came into her hands, and endeavour effectually to get it
to be legally vested in him during life : this would lay the greatest obligation on him pos-
sible, and lay the foundation of a perfect union between them, which had been of late a little
embroiled : this would also give him another sense of all our affairs : I asked pardon for the
presumption of moving her in such a tender point : but I solemnly protested, that no person
living had moved me in it, or so much as knew of it, or should ever know of it, but as she
should order it. I hoped she would consider well of it ; for, if she once declared her mind, I
hoped she would never go back or retract it. I desired her therefore to take time to think
of it. She presently answered me, she would take no time to consider of any thing, by
which she could express her regard and affection to the prince ; and ordered me to give him
an account of all that I had laid before her, and to bring him to her, and I should hear what
she would say upon it. He was that day a hunting ; and next day I acquainted him with
all that had passed, and carried him to her ; where she in a very frank manner told him, that
she did not know that the laws of England were so contrary to the laws of God, as I had
informed her : she did not think that the husband was ever to be obedient to the wife : she
promised him he should always bear rule ; and she asked only, that he would obey the
command of " husbands love your wives," as she should do that, " wives be obedient to
your husbands in all things.1' From this lively introduction we engaged into a long dis-
course of the affairs of England. Both seemed well pleased with me, and with all that
OF KING JAMES II. 441
I had suggested. But such was the prince's cold way, that he said not one word to me
upon it, that looked like acknowledgment. Yet he spoke of it to some about him in
another strain. He said, he had been nine years married, and had never the confidence
to press this matter on the queen, which I had now brought about easily in a day. Ever
after that he seemed to trust me entirely.
Complaints came daily over from England of all the high things that the priests were
every where throwing out. Penn, the quaker, came over to Holland. He was a talking
vain man, who had been long in the king's favour, he being the vice-admiral's son. He had
such an opinion of his own faculty of persuading, that he thought none could stand before
it : though he was singular in that opinion ; for he had a tedious luscious way, that was not apt
to overcome a man's reason, though it might tire his patience. He undertook to persuade
the prince to come into the king's measures, and had two or three long audiences of him
upon the subject : and he and I spent some hours together on it. The prince readily con-
sented to a toleration of popery, as well as of the dissenters, provided it were proposed and
passed in parliament : and he promised his assistance, if there was need of it, to get it to
pass. But for the tests, he would enter into no treaty about them. He said, it was a plain
betraying the security of the protestant religion to give them up. Nothing was left unsaid
that might move him to agree to this in the way of interest : the king would enter into an
entire confidence with him, and would put his best friends in the chief trusts. Penn under-
took for this so positively, that he seemed to believe it himself, or he was a great proficient
in the art of dissimulation. Many suspected that he was a concealed papist. It is certain,
he was much with father Peter, and was particularly trusted by the earl of Sunderland. So,
though he did not pretend any commission for what he promised, yet we looked on him as
a man employed. To all this the prince answered, that no man was more for toleration in
principle than he was : he thought the conscience was only subject to God : and as far as a
general toleration, even of papists, would content the king, he would concur in it heartily :
but he looked on the tests as such a real security, and indeed the only one, when the king
was of another religion, that he would join in no counsels with those that intended to repeal
those laws that enacted them. Penn said the king would have all or nothing : but that, if
this was once done, the king would secure the toleration by a solemn and unalterable law.
To this the late repeal of the edict of Nantes, that was declared perpetual and irrevocable,
furnished an answer that admitted of no reply. So Penn's negotiation with the prince had
no effect.
He pressed me to go over to England, since I was in principle for toleration : and he
assured me the king would prefer me highly. I told him, since the tests must go with this
toleration, I could never be for it. Among other discourses, he told me one thing, that was
not accomplished in the way in which he had a mind I should believe it would be, but had
a more surprising accomplishment. He told me a long series of predictions, which, as he
said, he had from a man that pretended a commerce with angels, who had foretold many
things that were passed very punctually. But he added, that, in the year 1688, there
would such a change happen in the face of affairs as would amaze all the world. And after
the Revolution, which happened that year, I asked him before much company, if that was
the event that was predicted. He was uneasy at the question ; but did not deny what he
had told me, which, he said, he understood of the full settlement of the nation upon a tolera-
tion, by which he believed all men's minds would be perfectly quieted and united *.
* William Penn, the son of the admiral of the same Low, and finally became a member of the quaker frater-
natne, noticed in previous pages, was born in London, nity, from which neither paternal nor magisterial severity
during 1644. His early education was at Chigvvell school, could separate him. In 1668, becoming an itinerant
ni Essex ; and in 1660 he was a gentleman commoner of preacher, he was sent to the Tower, where during seven
Christchurcli, Oxford. Attracted by the preachmg of a quaker months' confinement, he wrote his "No Cross, no Crown,"
named Low, he frequented theii meetings, and was conse- and " Innocency with her open face," which obtained his
quently expelled from college. His father acted in the same release. When his father died he came into possession
spirit of severity, but at length sent him to France, where of 1,500/. a year, but this did not prevent his preaching,
he acquired the accomplishments usual at the period, for which he was committed to Newgate. His trial came
Upon his return he studied the law at Lincoln's Inn, but on at the Old Bailey. He pleaded his own cause, and
the plague forced him thence in 1665. Proceeding to was acquitted. — (See State Trials.) After travelling for
some of his father's estates in Ireland, he again met with some time in Holland and Germany, he returned to thia
442 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Now I go from this to prosecute the recital of English affairs. Two eminent bishops died
this year, Pearson, bishop of Chester, and Fell, bishop of Oxford. The first of these was
in all respects the greatest divine of the age : a man of great learning, strong reason, and of
a clear judgment. He was a judicious and grave preacher, more instructive than affective ;
and a man of a spotless life, and of an excellent temper. His book on the Creed is
among the best that our church has produced. He was not active in his diocese, but too
remiss and easy in his episcopal function ; and was a much better divine than a bishop. He
was a speaking instance of what a great man could fall too : for his memory went from him
so entirely, that he became a child some years before he died.
Fell, bishop of Oxford, was a man of great strictness in the course of his life, and of much
devotion. His learning appears in that noble edition of St. Cyprian that he published. He
had made great beginnings in learning before the Restoration ; but his continued application
to his employments after that, stopped the progress that otherwise he might have made.
He was made soon after dean of Christchurch, and afterwards bishop of Oxford. He set
himself to promote learning in the university, but most particularly in his own college, which
he governed with great care : and was indeed in all respects a most exemplary man, a little
too much heated in the matter of our disputes with the dissenters. But, as he was among
the first of our clergy that apprehended the design of bringing in popery, so he was one of
the most zealous against it. He had much zeal for reforming abuses ; and managed it
perhaps with too much heat, and in too peremptory a way. But we have so little of that
among us, that no wonder if such men are censured by those who love not such patterns,
nor such severe task-masters *.
Ward, of Salisbury, fell also under a loss of memory and understanding : so that he who
was both in mathematics and philosophy, and in the strength of judgment and understanding,
one of the first men of his time, though he came too late into our profession to become very
eminent in it, was now a great instance of the despicable weakness to which man can fall.
The court intended once to have named a coadjutor for him. But there being no precedent
for that since the Reformation, they resolved to stay till he should die.
The other two bishoprics were less considerable : so they resolved to fill them with the
two worst men that could be found out. Cartwright was promoted to Chester. He was a
man of good capacity, and had made some progress in learning. He was ambitious and
servile, cruel and boisterous, and, by the great liberties he allowed himself, he fell under much
scandal of the worst sort. He had set himself long to raise the king's authority above law ;
which, he said, was only a method of government to which kings might submit as they
pleased ; but their authority was from God, absolute and superior to law, which they might
country. In 1672 he married and settled at Rickmans- difficulties, he retired to his elegant residence at Ruscomb,
worth. In 1681, king Charles, in return for his father's near Twyford,in Buckinghamshire, and died therein 1718.
services, and in consideration of a deht due to him from Burnet speaks of him too unfavourably ; he was unques-
the crown, granted Penn a province of North America. He tionably a man of sound sense and wit ; benevolent and
then devoted himself to establishing a colony there, and just. Dean Swift says, " he spoke very agreeably, and
to prepare for it a constitution. His liberal and enlight-. with much spirit." — See Clarkson's Life of Penn, and bis
ened conduct secured the success of this new country, numerous works in Wood's Athense Oxon.
now so well known as Pennsylvania. — (See " Frame of * Dr. John Pearson was a native of Norfolk, being born
Government of Pennsylvania.") Penn was much courted at Snoring in 1612. He was at Eton, and King's college,
and favoured by James the Second, but the " Clarendon Cambridge. His " Exposition of the Creed" consists of
Correspondence " informs us that he laboured to thwart a course of sermons, preached at St. Clement's, East-
the Jesuitical influence that predominated in that reign, cheap. It needs no more commendation than is given by
Notwithstanding, William the Third and others suspected Burnet. In 1662 he was one of the commissioners for
him of favouring the Romish creed ; and though he fully reviewing the liturgy. He was successively master of
refuted this suspicion, (see his correspondence with arch- Jesus and Trinity colleges, Cambridge. He was pro-
bishop Tillotson) yet the king assured a friend of the earl inoted to the see of Chester in 1673. — Biog. Britannica.
of Dartmouth, that " Penn is no more a quaker than I Dr. John Fell wTas born in 1625, at Longworth, in
am." — (Oxford edition of this work.) Queen Anne Berkshire. He was educated at Thame, and Christ-
favoured him, and he constantly attended her court, which church, Oxford. After various vicissitudes he was raised
certainly does not accord with the practice of his sect, to the bishopric of this city in 1676, His biographies of
A law-suit involved him in more trouble; but whilst Dr. Hammond and Dr. Allestree have had many readers,
retired within the rules of the Fleet prison, he found His other works are numerous and excellent — Wood'*
opportunity to write his " Fruits of Solitude," and Atbense Oxon. ; Biog. Britannica.
*' Fruits of a Father's Love." Finally, overcoming his
OF KING JAMES II. 443
exert, as oft as they found it necessary for the ends of government. So he was looked on as
a man that would more effectually advance the design of popery, than if he should turn over
to it. And indeed, bad as he was, he never made that step, even in the most desperate state
of his affairs.
The see of Oxford was given to Dr. Parker, who was a violent independent at the time of
the Restoration, with a high profession of piety in their way. But he soon changed, and
struck into the highest form of the church of England ; and wrote many books with a strain
of contempt and fury against all the dissenters, that provoked them out of measure ; of which
an account was given in the history of the former reign. He had exalted the king's autho-
rity in matters of religion in so indecent a manner, that he condemned the ordinary form of
saying the king was under God and Christ, as a crude and profane expression : saying, that
though the king was indeed under God, yet he was not under Christ, but above him. Yet,
not being preferred as he expected, he wrote after that many books, on design to raise the
authority of the church to an independence on the civil power. There was an entertaining
liveliness in all his books : but it was neither grave nor correct. He was a covetous and
ambitious man ; and seemed to have no other sense of religion but as a political interest, and
a subject of party and faction. He seldom came to prayers, or to any exercises of devotion ;
and was so lifted up with pride, that he was become insufferable to all that came near him.
These two men were pitched on as the fittest instruments that could be found among all the
clergy to betray and ruin the church. Some of the bishops brought to archbishop Sancroft
articles against them, which they desired he would offer to the king in council, and pray that
the mandate for consecrating them might be delayed, till time were given to examine parti-
culars. And bishop Lloyd told me, that Sancroft promised to him not to consecrate them,
till he had examined the truth of the articles, of which some were too scandalous to be
repeated. Yet when Sancroft saw what danger he might incur, if he were sued in a premu-
nire, lie consented to consecrate them.
The deanery of Christchurch, the most important post in the university, was given to Massey,
one of the new converts, though he had neither the gravity, the learning, nor the age that
was suitable to such a dignity. But all was supplied by his early conversion : and it was
set up for a maxim to encourage all converts. He at first went to prayers in the chapel.
But soon after he declared himself more openly*. Not long after this the president of Mag-
dalen college died. That is esteemed the richest foundation in England, perhaps in Europe :
for, though the certain rents are but about four or five thousand pounds, yet it is thought
that the improved value of the estate belonging to it is about forty thousand pounds. So it
was no wonder that the priests studied to get this endowment into their hands.
They had endeavoured to break in upon the university of Cambridge in a matter of less
importance, but without success ; and now they resolved to attack Oxford, by a strange
"atality in their counsels. In all nations the privileges of colleges and universities are
esteemed such sacred things, that few will venture to dispute these, much less to disturb
them, when their title is good, and their possession is of a long continuance ; for in these not
only the present body espouses the matter, but all who have been of it, even those that have
only followed their studies in it, think themselves bound in honour and gratitude to assist
and support them. The priests began where they ought to have ended, when all other
things were brought about to their mind. The Jesuits fancied that, if they could get footing
in the university, they would gain such a reputation by their methods of teaching youth,
that they would carry them away from the university tutors, who were certainly too remiss.
Some of the more moderate among them proposed, that the king should endow a new col-
lege in both universities, which needed not have cost above two thousand pounds a-year, and
in these set his priests to work. But either the king stuck at the charge which this would
put him to, or his priests thought it too mean, and below his dignity, not to lay his hand
* Dr. Douglas justly observes that Burnet's account of pensation on the 29th of December, 1686 — a dispensation
this transaction leads the reader to understand that that was a decided and unmitigated inroad upon our con-
Massey, at the time of his appointment to the deanery, stitution. — Dalrymple's Memoirs ; Sancroft MSS. in the
had not openly deserted protestantism ; but we now know Bodleian Library,
to ihe contrary. Massey produced and pleaded his di&-
444 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
upon those great bodies : so rougher methods were resolved on. It was reckoned, that by
frightening them they might be driven to compound the matter, and deliver up one or two
colleges to them ; and then, as the king said sometimes in the circle, they who taught
best would be most followed.
They began with Cambridge upon a softer point, which yet would have made way for all
the rest. The king sent his letter, or mandamus, to order F. Francis, an ignorant benedic-
tine monk, to be received a master of arts ; once to open the way for letting them into the
degrees of the university. The truth is, the king's letters were scarce ever refused in con-
ferring degrees ; and when ambassadors, or foreign princes, came to those places, they usually
gave such degrees to those who belonged to them as were desired. The Morocco ambassa-
dor's secretary, who was a mahometan, had that degree given him ; but a great distinction
was made between honorary degrees given to strangers, who intended not to live among
them, and those given to such as intended to settle among them ; for every master of arts
having a vote in the convocation, they reckoned that if they gave this degree, they must give
all that should be pretended to on the like authority : and they knew all the king's priests
would be let in upon them, which might occasion in present great distraction and contentions
among them ; and in time they might grow to be a majority in the convocation, which is
their parliament. They refused the mandamus with great unanimity, and with a firmness
that the court had not expected from them. New and repeated orders, full of severe threat-
enings in case of disobedience, were sent to them : and this piece of raillery was everywhere
set up, that a papist was reckoned worse than a mahometan, and that the king's letters were
less considered than the ambassador from Morocco had been. Some feeble or false men of
the university tried to compound the matter by granting this degree to F. Francis, but
enacting at the same time, that it should not be a precedent for any other of the like nature.
This was not given way to : for it was said, that in all such cases the obedience that was
once paid would be a much stronger argument for continuing to do it, as oft as it should be
desired, than any such proviso could be against it.
Upon this the vice-chancellor was summoned before the ecclesiastical commission to
answer this contempt. He was a very honest but a very weak man. He made a poor
defence. And it was no small reflection on that great body, that their chief magistrate was
so little able to assert their privileges, or to justify their proceedings. He was treated with
greated contempt by Jeffreys*. But he having acted only as the chief person of that body,
all that was thought fit to be done against him was to turn him out of his office. That was
but an annual office, and of no profit : so this was a slight censure, chiefly when it was all
that followed on such heavy threatenings. The university chose another vice-chancellor
(Dr. Balderson), who was a man of much spirit ; and in his speech, which in course he made
upon his being chosen, he promised that, during his magistracy, neither religion, nor the
rights of the body, should suffer by his means. The court did not think fit to insist more
upon this matter : which was too plain a confession, either of their weakness in beginning
such an ill-grounded attempt, or of their feebleness in letting it fall, doing so little, after they
had talked so much about it. And now all people began to see that they had taken wrong
notions of the king, when they thought that it would be easy to engage him into bold things,
before he could see into the ill consequences that might attend them, but that being once
engaged he would resolve to go through with them at all adventures. When I knew him,
he seemed to have set up that for a maxim, that a king when he made a step was never to
go back, nor to encourage faction, and disobedience, by yielding to it.
After this unsuccessful attempt upon Cambridge, another was made upon Oxford, that
lasted longer, and had greater effects, which I shall set all down together, though the con-
clusion of this affair ran far into the year after this that I now write of. The presidentship
of Magdalen's was given by the election of the fellows. So the king sent a mandamus,
requiring them to choose one Farmer, an ignorant and vicious person, who had not one quali-
fication that could recommend him to so high a post, besides that of changing his religion.
* This was Dr. Peachell. The coarse manner in which he was treated by Jeffreys is fully related in Woolrych'l
Life of this judge.
OF KING JAMES II.
Mandamus letters had no legal authority in them ; but all the great preferments of the
church being in the king's disposal, those who did pretend to favour were not apt to refuse
his recommendation, lest that should be afterwards remembered to their prejudice. But
now, since it was visible in what channel favour was likely to run, less regard was had to
such a letter. The fellows of that house did upon this choose Dr. Hough, one of their body,
who, as he was in all respects a statutable man, so he was a worthy and a firm man, not
apt to be threatened out of his right. They carried their election according to their statutes
to the bishop of Winchester (Dr. Mews), their visitor, and he confirmed it. So that matter
was legally settled. This was highly resented at court. It was said, that, in case of a
mandamus for an undeserving man, they ought to have represented the matter to the king,
and staid till they had his pleasure : it was one of the chief services that the universities
expected from their chancellors, which made them always choose men of great credit at
court, that by their interest such letters might be either prevented or recalled. The duke
of Ormond was now their chancellor ; but he had little credit in the court, and was declining
in his age, which made him retire into the country. It was much observed that this univer-
sity, that had asserted the king's prerogative in the highest strains of the most abject flattery
possible, both in their addresses and in a wild decree they had made but three years before
this, in which they had laid together a set of such high-flown maxims as must establish an
uncontrolable tyranny, should be the first body of the nation that should feel the effects of it
most sensibly. The cause was brought before the ecclesiastical commission. The fellows
were first asked why they had not chosen Farmer in obedience to the king's letter ? And
to that they answered by offering a list of many just exceptions against him. The subject
was fruitful, and the scandals he had given were very public. The court was ashamed of
him, and insisted no more on him ; but they said, that the house ought to have showed
more respect to the king's letter, than to have proceeded to an election in contempt of it.
The ecclesiastical commission took upon them to declare Hough's election null, and to put
the house under suspension. And, that the design of the court in this matter might be
carried on without the load of recommending a papist, Parker, bishop of Oxford, was now
recommended ; and the fellows were commanded to proceed to a new election in his favour.
They excused themselves, since they were bound by their oaths to maintain their statutes :
and by these, an election being once made and confirmed, they could not proceed to a new
choice, till the former was annulled in some court of law : church benefices and college pre-
ferments were freeholds, and could only be judged in a court of record : and, since the king
was now talking so much of liberty of conscience, it was said, that the forcing men to act
against their oaths, seemed not to agree with those professions. In opposition to this it was
said, that the statutes of colleges had been always considered as things that depended entir. ly
on the king's good pleasure : so that no oaths to observe them could bind them, when it was
in opposition to the king's command.
This did not satisfy the fellows : and though the king, as he went through Oxford in his
progress in the year 1687, sent for them, and ordered them to go presently and choose Parker
for their president, in a strain of language ill suited to the majesty of a crowned head, (for
he treated them with foul language, pronounced in a very angry tone,) yet it had no effect
on them. They insisted still on their oaths, though with a humility and submission that
they hoped would have mollified him. They continued thus firm. A subaltern commission
was sent from the ecclesiastical commission to finish the matter. Bishop Cartwright was
the head of this commission, as sir Charles Hedges was the king's advocate to manage the
matter. Cartwright acted in so rough a manner, that it showed he was resolved to sacrifice
all things to the king's pleasure. It was an afflicting thing, which seemed to have a peculiar
character of indignity in it, that this first act of violence committed against the legal posses-
sions of the church, was executed by one bishop, and done in favour of another.
The new president was turned out. And, because he could not deliver the keys of his
house, the doors were broken open : and Parker was put in possession. The fellows were
required to make their submission, to ask pardon for what was passed, and to accept of the
bishop for their president. They still pleaded their oath, and were all turned out, except two
446 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
that submitted. So that it was expected to see that house soon stocked with papists*. Tho
nation, as well as the university, looked on all this proceeding with a just indignation. It
was thought an open piece of robbery and burglary, when men, authorised by no legal com-
mission, came and forcibly turned men out of their possession and freehold. This agreed ill
with the professions that the king was still making, that he would maintain the church of
England as by law established : for this struck at the whole estate, and all the temporalities
of the church. It did so inflame the church party and the clergy, that they sent over
very pressing messages upon it to the prince of Orange, desiring that he would interpose and
espouse the concerns of the church ; and that he would break upon it, if the king would not
redress it. This I did not see in their letters. Those were of such importance, since the
writing them might have been carried to high treason, that the prince did not think fit to
show them. But he often said, he was pressed by many of those who were afterwards his
bitterest enemies, to engage in their quarrel. "When that was communicated to me I was
still of opinion that, though this was indeed an act of despotical and arbitrary power, yet I
did not think it struck at the whole : so that it was not in my opinion a lawful case of
resistance ; and I could not concur in a quarrel occasioned by such a single act, though the
precedent set by it might go to everything.
Now the king broke with the church of England. And, as he was apt to go warmly
upon every provocation, he gave himself such liberties in discourse upon that subject, that it
was plain all the services they had done him, both in opposing the exclusion and upon his
first accession to the crown, were forgotten. Agents were now found out, to go among the
dissenters, to persuade them to accept of the favour the king intended them, and to concur
with him in his designs.
The dissenters were divided into four main bodies. The presbyterians, the independents,
the anabaptists, and the quakers. The two former had not the visible distinction of different
rites : and their depressed condition made, that the dispute about the constitution, and subor-
dination, of churches, which had broken them when power was in their hands, was now
out of doors : and they were looked on as one body, and were above three parts in four of
all the dissenters. The main difference between these was, that the presbyterians seemed
reconcilable to the church ; for they loved episcopal ordination and a liturgy, and upon some
amendments seemed disposed to come into the church ; and they liked the civil government
and limited monarchy. But as the independents were for a commonwealth in the state, so
they put all the power of the church in the people, and thought that their choice was an
ordination : nor did they approve of set forms of worship. Both were enemies to this high
prerogative that the king was assuming, and were very averse to popery. They generally
were of a mind as to the accepting the king's favour ; but were not inclined to take in the
papists into a full toleration, much less could they be prevailed on to concur in taking off
the tests. The anabaptists were generally men of virtue, and of an universal charity : and
as they were far from being in any treating terms with the church of England, so nothing
but an universal toleration could make them capable of favour or employments. The quakers
had set up such a visible distinction in the matter of the hat, and saying thou and thee, that
they had all as it were a badge fixed on them ; so they were easily known. Among these
Penn had the greatest credit, as he had a free access at court. To all these it was proposed
that the king designed the settling the minds of the different parties in the nation, and the
^* Dr. John Hough was a native of Middlesex, and 1743. — (Wood's Athenae Oxon. ; Wiltnot's Life of Dr.
born in 1651. He was a demy of Magdalen college, Hough). Pious, serene, meek, and patient, virtuous
Oxford. In 1681, he went as chaplain to the duke of qualities that ensure firmness of character, his path t<
Ormond into Ireland. He was prebendasy of Worcester the grave was gently sloped and protracted. Extreme
when elected president of his college in opposition to old age did not affect him with the petulance which is its
Anthony Farmer. Dr. Samuel Parker, who was made usual accompaniment. A few weeks before his death,^a
to supersede him, only lived a few months, and then a young clergyman awkwardly threw down the bishop's
professed Roman catholic was appointed to the president- favourite barometer. The offender was confounded with
ship, namely Bonaventure Gifford, a Sorbonne doctor and surprise and regret, but he was prevented apologizing, by
secular priest, bishop elect of Madaura At the Revolu- the bishop approaching him with his usual complacency,
tion, Dr. Hough and the fellows of Magdalen were re- saying, " Sir, do not be uneasy ; I have observed tlus
stored, and in 1690 he was enthroned bishop of Oxford, glass almost daily for upwards of seventy years, and never
then of Lichfield, and finally of Worcester. He died in saw it so low before." — Noble's Life of Grainger.
OF KING JAMES II.
enriching it by enacting a perpetual law, that should be passed with such solemnities as had
accompanied the Magna Charta ; so that not only penal laws should be for ever repealed,
bift that public employments should be opened to men of all persuasions, without any tests,
or oaths, limiting them to one sort, or party, of men. There were many meetings among
the leading men of the several sects.
It was visible to all men, that the courting them at this time was not from any kindness
or good opinion that the king had of them. They had left the church of England, because
of some forms in it that they thought looked too like the church of Rome. They needed
not to be told, that all the favour expected from popery was once to bring it in under the
colour of a general toleration, till it should be strong enough to set on a general persecution :
and therefore, as they could not engage themselves to support such an arbitrary prerogative
as was now made use of, so neither should they go into any engagements for popery. Yet
they resolved to let the points of controversy alone, and leave those to the management of
the clergy, who had a legal bottom to support them. They did believe that this indignation
against the church party, and this kindness to them, were things too unnatural to last long.
So the more considerable among them resolved not to stand at too great a distance from the
court, nor to provoke the king so far, as to give him cause to think they were irreconcilable
to him, lest they should provoke him to make up matters on any terms with the church
party. On the other hand, they resolved not to provoke the church party, or by any ill
behaviour of theirs drive them into a reconciliation with the court. It is true Penn shewed
both a scorn of the clergy, and virulent spite against them, in which he had not many
followers.
The king was so fond of his army that he ordered them to encamp on Hounslow Heath,
and to be exercised all the summer long. This was done with great magnificence, and at a
vast expense ; but that which abated the king's joy in seeing so brave an army about him
was, that it appeared visibly, and on many occasions, that his soldiers had as great an aver-
sion to his religion as his other subjects had expressed. The king had a chapel in his camp,
whore mass was said ; but so few went to it, and those few were treated by the rest with so
much scorn, that it was not easy to bear it. It was very plain that such an army was not
to be trusted in any quarrel, in which religion was concerned.
The few papists that were in the army were an unequal match for the rest. The heats
about religion were likely to breed quarrels : and it was once very near a mutiny. It was
thought that these encampments had a good effect on the army. They encouraged one
another, and vowed they would stick together, and never forsake their religion. It was no
mall comfort to them to see they had so few papists among them ; which might have been
better disguised at a distance, than when they were all in view. A resolution was formed
ipon this at court, to make recruits in Ireland, and to fill them up with Irish papists ; which
ucceeded as ill as all their other designs did, as shall be told in its proper place.
The king had for above a year managed his correspondence with Rome secretly. But now
the priests resolved to drive the matter past reconciling. The correspondence with that court,
while there was none; at Rome with a public character, could not be decently managed, but
»y cardinal Howard's means. He was no friend to the Jesuits ; nor did he like their over-
Iriving matters. So they moved the king to send an ambassador to Rome. This was high
:reason by law. Jeffreys was very uneasy at it. But the king's power of pardoning had
'>een much argued in the earl of Danby's case, and was believed to be one of the unquestion-
able rights of the crown. So he knew a safe way in committing crimes : which was, to take
t pardons as soon as he had done illegal things.
The king's choice of Palmer, earl of Castlemain, was liable to great exception. For, as he
was believed to be a Jesuit, so he was certainly as hot and eager in all high notions, as any
of them could be. The Romans were amazed when they heard that he was to be the person.
His misfortunes were so eminent and public, that they who take their measures much from
astrology, and from the characters they think are fixed on men, thought it strange to see
uch a negotiation put in the hands of so unlucky a man. It was managed with great
splendour, and at a vast charge *.
* For an account of this embassy, aud its pageantry, see Misson's " Voyage to Italy," ii. 256.
448 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
He was unhappy in every step of it. He disputed with a nice sort of affectation every
punctilio of the ceremonial. And when the day, set for his audience, came, there happened
to be such an extraordinary thunder, and such deluges of rain, as disgraced the show, and
heightened the opinion of the ominousness of this embassy. After this was over, he had yet
many disputes with relation to the ceremony of visits. The points he pressed were, first,
the making P. Renaldi, of Este, the queen's uncle, a cardinal : in which he prevailed ; and
it was the only point in which he succeeded. He tried if it was possible to get father Petre
to be made a cardinal. But the pope was known to be intractable in that point, having fixed
it as a maxim not to raise any of that order to the purple. Count Mansfield told me, as he
came from Spain, that our court had pressed the court of Spain to join their interest with
ours at Rome for his promotion. They gave it out that he was a German by birth, and
undertook that he should serve the Austrian interest. They also promised the court of
Madrid great assistance in other matters of the last importance, if they would procure this :
adding, that this would prove the most effectual means for the conversion of England.
Upon which, the count told me, he was asked concerning father Petre. He, who had gone
often to Spain through England, happened to know that Jesuit, and told them he was no
German, but an Englishman. They tried their strength at Rome for his promotion, but
with no success.
The ambassador at Rome pressed cardinal Cibo much to put an end to the differences
between the pope and the king of France, in the matter of the franchises, that it might
appear that the pope had a due regard to a king that had extirpated heresy, and to
another king who was endeavouring to bring other kingdoms into the sheepfold. What
must the world say, if two such kings, like whom no ages had produced any, should be
neglected, and ill used, at Rome for some punctilios ? He added, that, if these matters were
settled, and if the pope would enter into concert wTith them, they would set about the
destroying heresy every where, and would begin with the Dutch ; upon whom, he said, they
would fall without any declaration of war, treating them as a company of rebels, and pirates,
who had not a right, as free states and princes have, to a formal denunciation of war. Cibo,
who was then cardinal patron, was amazed at this, and gave notice of it to the imperial car-
dinals. They sent it to the emperor, and he signified it to the prince of Orange. It is
certain that one prince's treating with another, to invade a third, gives a right to that third
prince to defend himself, and to prevent those designs. And, since what an ambassador says
is understood as said by the prince whose character he bears, this gave the States a right to
make use of all advantages that might offer themselves. But they had yet better grounds
to justify their proceedings, as will appear in the sequel.
When the ambassador saw that his remonstrances to the cardinal patron were inef-
fectual, he demanded an audience of the pope ; and there he lamented that so little regard i
was had to two such great kings. He reflected on the pope, as shewing more zeal about j
temporal concerns than the spiritual ; which, he said, gave scandal to all Christendom. He f
concluded, that, since he saw intercessions made in his master's name were so little considered, ;
he would make haste home : to which the pope made no other answer, but " lei e padrone" \
he might do as he pleased. But he sent one after the ambassador, as he withdrew from the
audience, to let him know how much he was offended with his discourses, that he received
no such treatment from any person, and that the ambassador was to expect no other private
audience. Cardinal Howard did what he could to soften matters. But the ambassador was
so entirely in the hands of the Jesuits, that he had little regard to any thing that the cardinal
suggested. And so he left Rome after a very expensive, but insignificant embassy.
The pope sent in return a nuncio, Dada, now a cardinal. He was highly civil in all his
deportment ; but it did not appear that he was a man of great depth, nor had he power to
do much. The pope was a jealous and fearful man, who had no knowledge of any sort, but
in the matters of the revenue, and of money : for he was descended from a family that was ,
become rich by dealing in banks. And, in that respect, it was a happiness to the papacy ;
that he was advanced : for it was so involved in vast debts, by a succession of many waste-
ful pontificates, that his frugal management came in good time to set those matters in better {
order. It was known that he did not so much as understand Latin. I was> told at Rome,
OF KING JAMES II. 449
when he was made cardinal, he had a master to teach him to pronounce that little
Latin that he had occasion for at high masses. He understood nothing of divinity. I
remembered what a Jesuit at Venice had said to me, whom I met sometimes at the French
ambassador's there, when we were talking of the pope's infallibility : he said, that being in
Rome during Altieri's pontificate, who lived some years in a perfect dotage, he confessed it
required a very strong faith to believe him infallible : but he added pleasantly, the harder it
was to believe it, the act of faith was the more meritorious. The submitting to pope Inno-
cent's infallibility was a very implicit act of faith, when all appearances were so strongly
against it. The pope hated the Jesuits, and expressed a great esteem for the Jansenists ;
not that he understood the ground of the difference, but because they were enemies to the
Jesuits, and were ill-looked on by the court of France. He understood the business of the
regale a little better, it relating to the temporalities of the church. And therefore he took
all those under his protection who refused to submit to it. Things seemed to go far towards
a breach between the two courts : especially after the articles which were set out by the
assembly of the clergy of France in the year 1682, in favour of the councils of Constance
and Basil, in opposition to the papal pretensions. The king of France, who was not accus-
tomed to be treated in such a manner, sent many threatening messages to Rome, which
alarmed the cardinals so much, that they tried to mollify the pope. But it was reported at
Rome, that he made a noble answer to them, when they asked him what he would do,
if so great a king should send an army to fall upon him ? He said, he could suffer mar-
tyrdom.
He was so little terrified with all those threatenings, that he had set on foot a dispute
about the franchises. In Rome all those of a nation put themselves under the protection of
their ambassador, and are, upon occasions of ceremony, his cortege. These were usually
lodged in his neighbourhood, pretending that they belonged to him. So that they exempted
themselves from the orders and justice of Rome, as a part of the ambassador's family. And
that extent of houses or streets in which they lodged was called the franchises : for in it they
pretended they were not subject to the government of Rome. This had made these houses
to be well filled, not only with those of that nation, but with such Romans as desired to be
covered with that protection. Rome was now much sunk from what it had been : so that
these franchises were become so great a part of the city, that the privileges of those that lived in
them were giving every day new disturbances to the course of justice, and were the common
sanctuaries of criminals. So the pope resolved to reduce the privileges of ambassadors to their
own families, within their own palaces. He first dealt with the emperor's and the king
of Spain's ambassadors, and brought them to quit their pretensions to the franchises ; but
vith this provision, that, if the French did not the same, they would return to them. So
now the pope was upon forcing the French to submit to the same methods. The pope said,
iis nuncio, or legate, at Paris, had no privilege but for his family, and for those that lived
n his palace. The French rejected this with great scorn. They said, the pope was not to
)retend to an equality with so great a king. He was the common father of Christendom :
so those who came thither, as to the centre of unity, were not to be put on the level with the
imbassadors that passed between sovereign princes. Upon this the king of France pretended
that he would maintain all the privileges and franchises that his ambassadors were possessed
)f. This was now growing up to be the matter of a new quarrel, and of fresh disputes,
>etween those courts.
The English ambassador being so entirely in the French interests, and in the confidence
>f the Jesuits, he was much less considered at Rome than he thought he ought to have been.
The truth is, the Romans, as they have very little sense of religion, so they considered the
reduction of England as a thing impracticable. They saw no prospect of any profits likely
to arise in any of their offices by bulls, or compositions : and this was the notion that they
Had of the conversion of nations, chiefly as it brought wealth and advantages to them.
I will conclude all that I shall say in this place of the affairs of Rome with a lively saying
f queen Christina to myself at Rome. She said, it was certain that the church was
uoverned by the immediate care and providence of God : for none of the four popes that she
luid known, since she oaine to Rome, had common sense. She added, they were the first
G G
450 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
and the last of men. She had given herself entirely for some years to the study of astrology :
and upon that she told me the king would live yet many years, but added that he would
have no son.
I come, from the relation of this embassade to Rome, to give an account of otner negotia-
tions. The king found Skeltpn managed his affairs in Holland with so little sense, and
gave such an universal distaste, that he resolved to change him. But he had been so ser-
vilely addicted to all his interests, that he would not discourage him. And, because all his
concerns with the court of France were managed with Barillon, the French ambassador at
London, he was sent to Paris.
The king found out one White, an Irishman, who had been long a spy of the Spaniards.
And when they did not pay his appointments well, he accepted of the title of marquis
d'Albeville from them in part of payment. And then he turned to the French, who paid
their tools more punctually. But though he had learned the little arts of corrupting under-
secretaries, and had found out some secrets by that way, which made him pass for a good
spy, yet, when he came to negotiate matters in a higher form, he proved a most contempt-
ible and ridiculous man, who had not the common appearances either of decency or of truth.
He had orders, before he entered upon business with the prince or princess, to ask of them
not only to forbid me the court, but to promise to see me no more. The king had written
two violent letters against me to the princess. She trusted me so far, that she showed them
to me : and was pleased to answer them according to the hints that I suggested. But now
it was put so home, that this was to be complied with, or a breach was immediately to
follow upon it. So this was done. And they were both so true to their promise, that I
saw neither the one nor the other till a few days before the prince set sail for England.
The prince sent Dykvelt and Halewyn constantly to me, with all the advertisements that
came from England. So I had the whole secret of English affairs still brought me.
That which was first resolved on was, to send Dykvelt to England with directions how
to talk with all sorts of people : to the king, to those of the church, and to the dissenters.
I was ordered to draw his instructions, which he followed very closely. He was ordered to
expostulate decently, but firmly, with the king, upon the methods he wras pursuing, both at
home and abroad ; and to see if it was possible to bring him to a better understanding with
the prince. He was also to assure all the church party, that the prince would ever be firm
to the church of England, and to all our national interests. The clergy, by the methods in
which thev corresponded with him, which I suppose was chiefly by the bishop of London's
means, had desired him to use all his credit with the dissenters, to keep them from going
into the measures of the court ; and to send over very positive assurances that, in case they
stood firm now to the common interest, they would in a better time come into a comprehen-
sion of such as could be brought into a conjunction with the church, and to a toleration of
the rest. They had also desired him to send over some of the preachers whom the violence
of the former years had driven to Holland ; and to prevail effectually with them to oppose
any false brethren whom the court might gain to deceive the rest : which the prince had
done. And to many of them he gave such presents, as enabled them to pay their debts and
to undertake the journey. Dykvelt had orders to press them all to stand off, and not to be
drawn in by any promises the court might make them to assist them in the elections of par-
liament. He was also instructed to assure them of a full toleration ; and likewise of a com-
prehension, if possible, whensoever the crown should devolve on the princess. He was to
try all sorts of people, and to remove the ill impressions that had been given them of the
prince : for the church party was made believe he was a presbyterian, and the dissenters
were possessed with a conceit of his being arbitrary and imperious. Some had even the
impudence to give out that he was a papist. But the ill terms in which the king and he
lived put an end to those reports at that time. Yet they were afterwards taken up, and
managed with much malice to create a jealousy of him. Dykvelt was not gone off when ,
D'Albeville came to the Hague. He did all he could to divert the journey : for he knew j
well Dykvelt's way of penetrating into secrets, he himself having been often employed by '
him, and well paid for several discoveries made by his means.
D' 41beville assured the prince and the States that the king was firmly resolved to main-
ING JAMES II.
tain his alliance with them : that his naval preparations were only to enable him to preserve
the peace of Europe : for he seemed much concerned to find that the States had such appre-
hensions of these, that they were putting themselves in a condition not to be surprised by
them. In his secret negotiations with the prince and princess, he began with very positive
assurances that the king intended never to wrong them in their right of succession : that all
that the king was now engaged in was only to assert the rights of the crown, of which they
would reap the advantage in their turn : the test was a restraint on the king's liberty, and
therefore he was resolved to have it repealed : and he was also resolved to lay aside all
penal laws in matters of religion : they saw too well the advantages that Holland had, by the
liberty of conscience that was settled among them, to oppose him in this particular : the
king could not abandon men, because they were of his own religion, who had served him
well, and had suffered only on his account, and on the account of their conscience. He told
them how much the king condemned the proceedings in France ; and that he spoke of that
king as a poor bigot, who was governed by the archbishop of Paris and Madame de Main-
tenon ; whereas he knew Pere de la Chaise had opposed the persecution as long as he could.
But the king hated those maxims : and therefore he received the refugees very kindly, and
had given orders for a collection of charity over the kingdom for their relief.
This was the substance both of what D'Albeville said to the prince and princess, and of what
the king himself said to Dykvelt upon those subjects. At that time the king thought he had
made a majority of the house of commons sure : and so he seemed resolved to have a session
of parliament in April. And of this D'Albeville gave the prince positive assurances. But
the king had reckoned wrong : for many of those who had been with him in his closet were
either silent, or had answered him in such respectful words, that he took these for promises.
But, when they were more strictly examined, the king saw his error : and so the sitting of
the parliament was put off.
To all these propositions the prince and princess, and Dykvelt in their name, answered,
that they were fixed in a principle against persecution in matters of conscience ; but they
could not think it reasonable to let papists in to sit in parliament, or to serve in public
Crusts : the restless spirit of some of that religion, and of their clergy in particular, shewed
they could not be at quiet till they were masters : and the power they had over the king's
spirit, in making him forget what he had promised upon his coming to the crown, gave but
too just a ground of jealousy : it appeared that they could not bear any restraints, nor
remember past services longer, than those who did them could comply in everything with
that which was desired of them : they thought the prerogative, as limited by law, was great
enough : and they desired no such exorbitant power as should break through all laws : they
feared that such an attack upon the constitution might rather drive the nation into a com-
monwealth : they thought the surest as well as the best way was to govern according to
law : the church of England had given the king signal proofs of their affection and fidelity ;
and had complied with him in everything, till he came to touch them in so tender a point
as the legal security they had for their religion : their sticking to that was very natural :
and the king's taking that ill from them was liable to great censure : the king, if he pleased
to improve the advantages he had in his hand, might be both easy and great at home, and
the arbiter of all affairs abroad : but he was prevailed on by the importunities of some rest-
less priests to embroil all his affairs to serve their ends : they could never consent to abolish
those laws which were the best, and now the only fence of that religion which they them-
selves believed true. This was the substance of their answers to all the pressing messages
that were often repeated by D'Albeville. And upon this occasion the princess spoke so
often, and with such firmness to him, that he said, she was more intractable on those matters
than the prince himself. Dykvelt told me he argued often with the king on all these topics,
but he found him obstinately fixed in his resolution. He said he was the head of the family,
and the prince ought to comply with him ; but that he had always set himself against him.
Dykvelt answered that the prince could not carry his compliance so far, as to give up his
religion to his pleasure ; but that in all other things he had shown a very ready submission
to ais will : the peace of Nimeguen, of which the king was guarantee, was openly violated
in the article relating to the principality of Orange : yet since the king did not think fit to
G G 2
452 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
espouse his interests in that matter, he had been silent, and had made no protestations upon
it : so the king saw that he was ready to be silent under so great an injury, and to sacrifice
his own concerns rather than disturb the king's affairs. To this the king made no answer.
The earl of Sunderland and the rest of the ministry pressed Dykvelt mightily to endeavour
to bring the prince to concur with the king. And they engaged to him, that, if that were
once settled, the king would go into close measures with him against France. But he put
an end to all those propositions. He said, the prince could never be brought to hearken to
them.
At this time a great discovery was made of the intentions of the court, by the Jesuits of
Liege, who, in a letter that they wrote to their brethren at Friburg, in Switzerland, gave
them a long account of the affairs of England. They told them, that the king was received
into a communication of the merits of their order : that he expressed great joy at his becom-
ing a son of the society ; and professed, he was as much concerned in all their interests as in
his own : he wished they could furnish him with many priests to assist him in the conversion
of the nation, which he was resolved to bring about, or to die a martyr in endeavouring it ;
and that he would rather suffer death for carrying on that, than live ever so long and happy
without attempting it. He said, he must make haste in this work, otherwise, if he should
die before he had compassed it, he would leave them worse than he found them. They
added, among many particulars, that, when one of them kneeled clown to kiss his hand, he
took him up, and said, since he was a priest, he ought rather to kneel to him, and to kiss
his hand. And, when one of them was lamenting that his next heir was an heretic, he said,
" God would provide an heir/*
The Jesuits at Friburg showed this about. And one of the ministers, on whom they
were taking some pains, and of whom they had some hopes, had got a sight of it. And he
obtained leave to take a copy of it, pretending that he would make good use of it. He sent
a copy of it to Heidegger, the famous professor of divinity at Zurich : and from him I had
it. Other copies of it were likewise sent, both from Geneva and Switzerland. One of those
was sent to Dykvelt ; who upon that told the king, that his priests had other designs, and
were full of those hopes that gave jealousies which could not be easily removed : and he
named the Liege letter, and gave the king a copy of it. He promised to him he would read
it ; and he would soon see whether it was an imposture framed to make them more odious
or not. But he never spoke of it to him afterwards. This Dykvelt thought was a con-
fessing that the letter was no forgery. Thus Dykvelt's negotiation at London, and D'Albe-
ville's at the Hague, ended without any effect on either side.
But, if his treating with the king was without success, his management of his instructions
was more prosperous. He desired that those who wished well to their religion and their
country would meet together, and concert such advices and advertisements as might be fit
for the prince to know, that he might govern himself by them. The marquis of Halifax,
and the earls of Shrewsbury, Devonshire, Danby, and Nottingham, the lords Mordaunt and
Lumley, Herbert and Russel among the admirals, and the bishop of London, were the per-
sons chiefly trusted. And upon the advices that were sent over by them the prince governed
all his motions. They met often at the earl of Shrewsbury's. And there they concerted
matters, and drew the declaration on which they advised the prince to engage.
In this state things lay for some months. But the king resolved to go on in his design of
breaking through the laws. He sent a proclamation of indulgence to Scotland in February.
It set forth in the preamble, that the king had an absolute power vested in him, so that all
his subjects were bound to obey him without reserve : by virtue of this power, the king
repealed all the severe laws that were passed in his grandfather's name during his infancy :
he with that took off all disabilities that were by any law laid on his Roman catholic sub-
jects, and made them capable of all employments and benefices : he also slackened all the i
laws made against the moderate presbyterians : and promised he would never force his sub-
jects by any invincible necessity to change their religion : and he repealed all laws imposing j
tests on those who held any employments : instead of which he set up a new one, by which
they should renounce the principles of rebellion, and should oblige themselves to maintain ;
the king in this his absolute power against all mortals
KING JAMES II. 453
This was published in Scotland to make way for that which followed it some months after
in England. It was strangely drawn, and liable to much just censure. The king by this
raised his power to a pitch, not only of suspending, but of repealing laws, and of enacting
new ones by his own authority. His claiming an absolute power, to which all men were
bound to obey without reserve, was an invasion of all that was either legal or sacred. The
only precedent that could be found for such an extraordinary pretension, was in the declara-
tion that Philip the Second of Spain sent by the duke of Alva into the Netherlands, in
which he founded all the authority that he committed to that bloody man, on the absolute
power that rested in him. Yet in this the king went further than Philip, who did not pre-
tend that the subjects were bound to obey without reserve. Every prince that believes the
truth of religion, must confess that there are reserves in the obedience of their subjects, in
case their commands should be contrary to the laws of God. The requiring all persons that
should be capable of employments to swear to maintain this, was to make them feel their
slavery too sensibly. The king's promising to use " no invincible necessity" to force his
subjects to change their religion, showed that he allowed himself a very large reserve in this
grace that he promised his subjects ; though he allowed them none in their obedience. The
laws that had passed during king James's minority had been often ratified by himself after
he was of age. And they had received many subsequent confirmations in the succeeding
reigns ; and one in the king's own reign. And the test that was now taken away was
passed by the present king, when he represented his brother. Some took also notice of the
word " moderate presbyterians," as very ambiguous.
The court finding that so many objections lay against this proclamation (as indeed it
seemed penned on purpose to raise new jealousies), let it fall, and sent down another some
months after that was more cautiously worded ; only absolute power was so dear to them,
that it was still asserted in the new one. By it, full liberty was granted to all presbyte-
rians to set up conventicles in their own way. They did all accept of it without pretending
any scruples. And they magnified this, as an extraordinary stroke of providence, that a
prince, from whom they expected an increase of the severities under which the laws had
Drought them, should thus of a sudden allow them such an unconfined liberty. But they
were not so blind as not to see what was aimed at by it. They made addresses upon it full
of acknowledgments, and of protestations of loyalty. Yet, when some were sent among
them, pressing them to dispose all their party to concur with the king in taking away the
tests and penal laws, they answered them only in cold and general words.
In April the king set out a declaration of toleration and liberty of conscience for England.
But it was drawn up in much more modest terms than the Scotch proclamation had been.
In the preamble, the king expressed his aversion to persecution on the account of religion,
and the necessity that he found of allowing his subjects liberty of conscience, in which he did
not doubt of the concurrence of his parliament : he renewed his promise of maintaining the
church of England, as it was by law established : but with this he suspended all penal and
sanguinary laws in matters of religion : and, since the service of all his subjects was due to
him by the laws of nature, he declared them all equally capable of employments, and sup-
pressed all oaths or tests that limited this : in conclusion, he promised he would maintain all
his subjects in all their properties, and particularly in the possession of the abbey lands.
This gave great offence to all true patriots, as well as to the whole church party. The king
did now assume a power of repealing laws by his own authority : for though he pretended
only to suspend them, yet no limitation was set to this suspension : so it amounted to a
repeal, the laws being suspended for all time to come. The preamble, that pretended so
much love and charity, and that condemned persecution, sounded strangely in the mouth of
a popish prince. The king's saying that he did not doubt of the parliament's concurring with
him in this matter seemed ridiculous ; for it was visible by all the prorogations, that the
iing was but too well assured, that the parliament would not concur with him in it. And
the promise to maintain the subjects in their possessions of the abbey lands, looked as if the
<lesign of setting up popery was thought very near being effected, since otherwise there was
no need of mentioning any such thing.
Upon this a new set of addresses went round the dissenters. And they, who had so long
464 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
reproached the church of England, as too courtly in their submissions and flatteries, seemed
now to vie with them in those abject strains. Some of them, being penned by persons whom
the court had gained, contained severe reflections on the clergy, and on their proceedings.
They magnified the king's mercy and favour, and made great protestations of fidelity and
gratitude. Many promised to endeavour that such persons should be chosen to serve in
parliament, as should concur with the king in the enacting what he now granted so gra-
ciously. Few concurred in those addresses : and the persons that brought them up were
mean and inconsiderable. Yet the court was lifted up with this. The king, and his priests,
were delighted with these addresses out of measure : and they seemed to think that they
had gained the nation, and had now conquered those who were hitherto their most irrecon-
cilable enemies. The king made the cruelty of the church of England the common subject
of discourse. He reproached them for setting on so often a violent persecution of the dis-
senters. He said he had intended to have set on this toleration sooner, but that he was
restrained by some of them, who had treated with him, and had undertaken to show favour
to those of his religion, provided they might be still suffered to vex the dissenters. He
named the persons that had made those propositions to him. In which he suffered much in
his honour : for as the persons denied the whole thing, so the freedom of discourse in any
such treaty, ought not to have been made use of to defame them.
But, to carry this further, and to give a public and an odious proof of the rigour of the
ecclesiastical courts, the king ordered an enquiry to be made into all the vexatious suits into
which dissenters had been brought in these courts, and into all the compositions that they
had been forced to make, to redeem themselves from further trouble : which, as was said,
would have brought a scandalous discovery of all the ill practices of those courts. For the use
that many that belonged to them had made of the laws with relation to the dissenters, was,
to draw presents from such of them as could make them ; threatening them with a process
in case they failed to do that, and upon their doing it, leaving them at full liberty to neglect
the laws as much as they pleased. It was hoped at court, that this fury against the church
would have animated the dissenters to turn upon the clergy, with some of that fierceness with
which they themselves had been lately treated. Some few of the hotter of the dissenters
answered their expectations. Angry speeches and virulent books were published. Yet
these were disowned by the wiser men among them : and the clergy, by a general agreement,
made no answer to them. So that the matter was let fall, to the great grief of the popish
party. Some of the bishops, that were gained by the court, carried their compliance to a
shameful pitch : for they set on addresses of thanks to the king for the promise he had
made, in the late declaration of maintaining the church of England : though it was visible
that the intent of it was to destroy the church. Some few were drawn into this. But the
bishop of Oxford had so ill success in his diocese, that he got but one single clergyman to
concur with him in it. Some foolish men retained still their old peevishness. But the far
greater part of the clergy began to open their eyes, and see how they had been engaged by
ill-meaning men, who were now laying by the mask, into all the fury that had been driven
on for many years by a popish party. And it was often said, that if ever God should deliver
them out of the present distress, they would keep up their domestic quarrels no more, which
were so visibly and so artfully managed by our enemies to make us devour one another, and
so in the end to be consumed one of another. And when some of those who had been
always moderate, told these, who were putting on another temper, that they would perhaps
forget this as soon as the danger was over, they promised the contrary very solemnly. It
shall be told afterwards how well they remembered this. Now the bed-chamber and
drawing-room were as full of stories to the prejudice of the clergy, as they were formerly to
the prejudice of the dissenters. It was said they had been loyal as long as the court was in
their interests, and was venturing all on their account j but as soon as this changed, they
changed likewise.
The king, seeing no hope of prevailing on his parliament, dissolved it ; but gave it out,
that he would have a new one before winter. And, the queen being advised to go to
the Bath for her health, the king resolved on a great progress through some of ths western
counties.
OF KING JAMES II. 455
Before lie set out, he resolved to give the pope's nuncio a solemn reception at Windsor.
lie apprehended some disorder might have happened if it had been done at London. He
thought it below both his own dignity, and the pope's, not to give the nuncio a public
audience. This was a hard point for those who were to act a part in this ceremony ; for all
commerce with the see of Rome being declared high treason by law, this was believed to
fall within the statute. It was so apprehended by queen Mary. Cardinal Pool was obliged
to stay in Flanders till all those laws were repealed. But the king would not stay for that.
The duke of Somerset, being the lord of the bed-chamber then in waiting, had advised with
his lawyers : and they told him, he could not safely do the part that was expected of him
in the audience. So he told the king that he could not serve him upon that occasion ; for
he was assured it was against the law. The king asked him, if he did not know that he
was above the law. The other answered, that, whatever the king might be, he himself was
not above the law. The king expressed a high displeasure, and turned him out of all
employments*. The ceremony passed very heavily : and the compliment was pronounced
with so low a voice, that no person could hear it ; which was believed done by concert.
When this was over, the king set out for his progress, and went from Salisbury all round
as far as to Chester. In the places through which the king passed he saw a visible coldness
both in the nobility and gentry, which was not easily borne by a man of his temper. In
many places they pretended occasions to go out of their counties. Some stayed at home.
And those who waited on the king seemed to do it rather out of duty and respect, than with
any cordial affection. The king on his part was very obliging to all that came near him,
and most particularly to the dissenters, and to those who had passed long under the notion
of commonwealth's men. He looked very graciously on all that had been of the duke of
Monmouth's party. He addressed his discourse generally to all sorts of people. He ran out
on the point of liberty of conscience : he said, this was the true secret of the greatness and
wealth of Holland. He was well pleased to hear all the ill-natured stories that were brought
him of the violences committed of late, either by the justices of peace, or by the clergy.
He everywhere recommended to them the choosing such parliament men, as would concur
with him in settling this liberty as firmly as the Magna Charta had been : and to this he
never forgot to add the taking away the tests. But he received such cold and general
answers that he saw he could not depend on them. The king had designed to go through
many more places : but the small success he had in those which he visited made him shorten
his progress. He went and visited the queen at the Bath, where he stayed only a few
days, two or three at most : and she continued on in her course of bathing. Many books
were now written for liberty of conscience ; and, since all people saw what security the tests
gave, these spoke of an equivalent to be offered, that should give a further security beyond
what could be pretended from the tests. It was never explained what was meant by this :
so it was thought an artificial method to lay men asleep with a high sounding word. Some
talked of new laws to secure civil liberty, which had been so much shaken by the practices
of these last years, ever since the Oxford parliament. Upon this a very extravagant thing
was given out, that the king was resolved to set up a sort of a commonwealth : and the
papists began to talk everywhere very high for public liberty, trying by that to recommend
themselves to the nation.
When the king came back from his progress, he resolved to change the magistracy in most
of the cities of England. He began with London. He not only changed the court of alder-
men, but the government of many of the companies of the city : for great powers had been
reserved in the new charters that had been given, for the king to put in, and to put out, at
pleasure : but it was said at the granting them, that these clauses were put in only to keep
them in a due dependence on the court, but that they should not be made use of, unless great
provocation was given. Now all this was executed with great severity and contempt.
Those who had stood up for the king, during the debates about the exclusion, were now
1 urned out with disgrace : and those who had appeared most violently against him were put
The duke of Grafton eventually introduced him. The conversation between James the Second and the duke of
rsel is very similarly told in an unpublished Life of the King, by the earl of Lonsdale — Oxford edition of
HIM work.
Some
this?
456 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
in the magistracy, who took liberties now in their turn to insult their neighbours. All this
turned upon the king, who was so given up to the humours of his priests, that he sacrificed
both his honour, and gratitude, as they dictated. The new men, who were brought in, saw
this too visibly to be much wrought on by it.
The king threw off his old party in too outrageous a manner ever to return to them again.
But he was much surprised to find that the new mayor and aldermen took the test, and
ordered the observation of Gunpowder-treason day to be continued. When the sheriffs came,
according to custom, to invite the king to the lord mayor's feast, he commanded them to go and
invite the nuncio ; which they did. And he went upon the invitation, to the surprise of all
who saw it. But the mayor and aldermen disowned the invitation ; and made an entry of it
in their books, that the nuncio came without their knowledge. This the king took very ill.
And upon it, he said, he saw the dissenters were an ill-natured sort of people, that could
not be gained. The king signified to the lord mayor that he might use what form of worship
he liked best in Guildhall chapel. The design in this was to engage the dissenters to make
the first change from the established worship : and, if a presbyterian mayor should do this
in one year, a popish mayor might do it in another. But the mayor put the decision of this
upon persons against whom the court could have no exception. He sent to those, to whom
the governing of the diocese of London was committed during the suspension, and asked
their opinion in it ; which they could not but give in behalf of the established worship : and
they added, that the changing it was against law. So this project miscarried ; and the
mayor, though he went sometimes to the meetings of the dissenters, yet he came often to
church, and behaved himself more decently than was expected of him.
This change in the city not succeeding as the court had expected, did not discourage them
from appointing a committee to examine the magistracy in the other cities, and to put in, or
out, as they saw cause for it. Some were putting the nation in hope that the old charters
were to be restored. But the king was so far from that, that he was making every day a
very arbitrary use of the power of changing the magistracy, that was reserved in the new
charters. These regulators, who were for most part dissenters gained by the court, went on
very boldly ; and turned men out upon every story that was made of them, and put such
men in their room as they confided in. And in these they took their measures often so
hastily, that men were put in one week, and turned out the other.
After this, the king sent orders to the lords-lieutenants of the counties, to examine the
gentlemen and freeholders upon three questions. The first was, whether, in case they should
be chosen to serve in parliament, they would consent to repeal the penal laws, and those for
the tests. The second was, whether they would give their vote for choosing such men as
would engage to do that. And the third was, whether they would maintain the king's
declaration. In most of the counties the lords-lieutenants put those questions in so careless
a manner, that it was plain they did not desire they should be answered in the affirmative.
Some went further, and declared themselves against them. And a few of the more resolute
refused to put them. They said, this was the prelimiting and packing of a parliament,
which in its nature was to be free, and under no previous engagement. Many counties
answered very boldly in the negative : and others refused to give any answer, which was
understood to be equivalent to a negative. The mayor, and most of the new aldermen of
London, refused to answer. Upon this many were turned out of all commissions.
This, as all the other artifices of the priests, had an effect quite contrary to what they
promised themselves from it : for those who had resolved to oppose the court were more
encouraged than ever, by the discovery now made of the sense of the whole nation in those
matters. Yet such care was taken in naming the sheriffs and mayors that were appointed
for the next year, that it was believed that the king was resolved to hold a parliament within
that time, and to have such a house of commons returned, whether regularly chosen, or not,
as should serve his ends.
It was concluded, that the king would make use both of his power and of his troops,
either to force elections, or to put the parliament under a force when it should meet : for it
was so positively said that the king would carry his point, and there was so little appearance
of his being able to do it in a fair and regular way, that it was generally believed some very
OF KING JAMES II. 457
desperate resolution was now taken up. His ministers were now so deeply engaged in illegal
things, that they were very uneasy, and were endeavouring either to carry on his designs
with success, so as to get all settled in a body that should carry the face and appearance of
a parliament, or at least to bring him to let all fall, and to come into terms of agreement
with his people ; in which case, they reckoned, one article would be an indemnity for all
that had been done.
The king was every day saying, that he was king, and he would be obeyed, and would
make those who opposed him feel that he was their king ; and he had both priests and flat-
terers about him, that were still pushing him forward. All men grew melancholy with this
sad prospect. The hope of the true protestants was in the king's two daughters ; chiefly on
the eldest, who was out of his reach, and was known to be well instructed, and very zealous
in matters of religion. The princess Anne was still very stedfast and regular in her devo-
tions, and was very exemplary in the course of her life. But, as care had been taken to put
very ordinary divines about her for her chaplains, so she had never pursued any study in
those points with much application. And, all her court being put about her by the king
and queen, she was beset with spies. It was therefore much apprehended that she would
be strongly assaulted, when all other designs should so far succeed as to make that season-
able. In the mean while she was let alone by the king, who was indeed a very kind and
indulgent father to her. Now he resolved to make his first attack on the princess of Orange.
D'Albeville went over to England in the summer, and did not come back before the twenty-
fourth of December, Christmas eve : and then he gave the princess a letter from the king,
bearing date the fourth of November: he was to carry this letter; and his dispatches being
put off longer than was intended, that made this letter come so late to her.
The king took the rise of his letter from a question she had put to D'Albeville, desiring
to know what were the grounds upon which the king himself had changed his religion.
The king told her, he was bred up in the doctrine of the church of England by Dr. Stewart,
whom the king his father had put about him ; in which he was so zealous, that when he
perceived the queen his mother had a design upon the duke of Gloucester, though he pre-
served still the respect that he owed her, yet he took care to prevent it. All the while that
he was beyond sea, no catholic, but one nun, had ever spoken one word to persuade him to
change his religion ; and he continued for the most part of that time firm to the doctrine of
the church of England. He did not then mind those matters much ; and, as all young
people are apt to do, he thought it a point of honour not to change his religion. The first
thing that raised scruples in him was, the great devotion that he had observed among catho-
lics : he saw they had great helps for it : they had their churches better adorned, and did
greater acts of charity, than he had ever seen among protestants. He also observed, that
many of them changed their course of life, and became good Christians, even though they
continued to live still in the world. This made him first begin to examine both religions.
He could see nothing in the three reigns in which religion was changed in England, to
incline him to believe that they who did it were sent of God. He read the history of that
time, as it was written in the chronicle. He read both Dr. Heylin, and Hooker's preface to
his Ecclesiastical Policy, which confirmed him in the same opinion. He saw clearly that
Christ had left an infallibility in his church, against which " the gates of Hell cannot pre-
vail :" and it appeared that this was lodged with St. Peter from our Saviour's words to him,
St. Mat. xvi. ver. 18. Upon this the certainty of the Scriptures, and even of Christianity
itself, was founded. The Apostles acknowledged this to be in St. Peter, Acts xv. when they
said, " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." It was the authority of the church
that declared the Scriptures to be canonical ; and certainly they who declared them could
only interpret them ; and wherever this infallibility was, there must be a clear succession.
The point of the infallibility being once settled, all other controversies must needs fall. Now
I the Roman church was the only church that either has infallibility, or that pretended to it.
And they who threw off this authority did open a door to atheism and infidelity, and took
people off from true devotion, and set even Christianity itself loose to all that would ques-
tion it, and to Socinians and Latitudinarians who doubted of every thing. He had dis-
coursed of these things with some divines of the church of England ; but had received no
458 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
satisfaction from them. The Christian religion gained its credit by the miracles which the
apostles wrought, and by the holy lives and sufferings of the martyrs, whose blood was the
seed of the church. Whereas Luther and Calvin, and those who had set up the church of
England, had their heads fuller of temporal matters than of spiritual, and had let the world
loose to great disorders. Submission was necessary to the peace of the church ; and when
every man will expound the scriptures, this makes way to all sects, who pretend to build
upon it. It was also plain, that the church of England did not pretend to infallibility ; yet
she acted as if she did ; for ever since the reformation she had persecuted those who differed
from her, dissenters as well as papists, more than was generally known. And he could not
see why dissenters might not separate from the church of England, as well as she had done
from the church of Rome. Nor could the church of England separate herself from the catho-
lic church, any more than a county of England could separate itself from the rest of the king-
dom. This, he said, was all that his leisure allowed him to write ; but he thought that these
things, together with the king his brother's papers, and the duchess's papers, might serve, if
not to justify the catholic religion to an unbiassed judgment, yet at least to create a favour-
able opinion of it.
I read this letter in the original ; for the prince sent it to me together with the princess's
answer, but with a charge not to take a copy of either, but to read them over as often as I
pleased ; which I did till I had fixed both pretty well in my memory. And, as soon as I
had sent them back, I sat down immediately to write out all that I remembered, which the
princess owned to me afterwards, when she read the abstracts I made, were punctual almost
to a tittle. It was easy for me to believe that this letter was all the king^s inditing ; for I
had heard it almost in the very same words from his own mouth. The letter was written
very decently, and concluded very modestly. The princess received this letter, as was told
me, on the twenty-fourth of December, at night. Next day being Christmas-day, she
received the sacrament, and was during the greatest part of the day in public devotions : yet
she found time to draw first an answer, and then to write it out fair ; and she sent it by the
post on the twenty- sixth of December. Her draught, which the prince sent me, was very
little blotted, or altered. It was long, about two sheets of paper ; for, as an answer runs
generally out into more length than the paper that is to be answered, so the strains of
respect, with which her letter was full, drew it out to a greater length.
She began with answering another letter that she had received by the post ; in which the
king had made an excuse for failing to write the former post day. She was very sensible of
the happiness of hearing so constantly from him ; for no difference in religion could hinder
her from desiring both his blessing and his prayers, though she was ever so far from him.
As for the paper that M. Albeville delivered her, he told her, that his majesty would not bo
offended if she wrote her thoughts freely to him upon it.
She hoped he would not look on that as want of respect in her. She was far from sticking
to the religion in which she was bred out of a point of honour ; for she had taken much
pains to be settled in it upon better grounds. Those of the church of England who had
instructed her, had freely laid before her that which was good in the Romish religion, that so,
seeing the good and the bad of both, she might judge impartially ; according to the apostle's
rule of " proving all things, and holding fast that which was good." Though she had come
young out of England, yet she had not left behind her either the desire of being well informed,
or the means for it. She had furnished herself with books, and had those about her who
might clear any doubts to her. She saw clearly in the scriptures that she must work her
own salvation with fear and trembling, and that she must not believe by the faith of another,
but according as things appeared to herself. It ought to be no prejudice against the refor-
mation, if many of those who professed it led ill lives. If any of them lived ill, none of the
principles of their religion allowed them in it. Many of them led good lives, and more might
do it by the grace of God. But there were many devotions in the church of Rome, on which
the reformed could set no value.
She acknowledged that, if there was an infallibility in the church, all other controversies
must fall to the ground ; but she could never yet be informed where that infallibility was
lodged : whether in the pope alone, or in a general council, or in both. And she desired to
OF KING JAMES II. 459
know in whom the infallibility rested, when there were two or three popes at a time, acting
one against another, with the assistance of councils, which they called general ; and at least
the succession was then much disordered. As for the authority that is pretended to have
been given to St. Peter over the rest, that place which was chiefly alleged for it was other-
wise interpreted by those of the church of England, as importing only the confirmation of
him in the office of an apostle, when in answer to that question, " Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me," he had by a triple confession washed off his triple denial. The words that
the king had cited were spoken to the other apostles, as well as to him. It was agreed by
all, that the apostles were infallible, who were guided by God's holy spirit. But that gift,
as well as many others, had ceased long ago. Yet in that, St. Peter had no authority over
the other apostles ; otherwise St. Paul understood our Saviour's words ill, who " withstood
him to his face, because he was to be blamed." And if St. Peter himself could not maintain
that authority, she could not see how it could be given to his successors, whose bad lives
agreed ill with his doctrine.
Nor did she see, why the ill use that some made of the scriptures ought to deprive others
of them. It is true, all sects made use of them, and find somewhat in them that they draw
in to support their opinions : yet for all this our Saviour said to the Jews, " Search the
Scriptures;" and St. Paul ordered his epistles to be read to all the Saints in the churches :
and he says in one place, " I write as to wise men, judge what I say." And if they might
judge an apostle, much more any other teacher. Under the law of Moses, the Old Testa-
ment was to be read, not only in the hearing of the scribes, and the doctors of the law, but
likewise in the hearing of the women and children. And since God had made us reasonable
creatures, it seemed necessary to employ our reason chiefly in the matters of the greatest con-
cern. Though faith was above our reason, yet it proposed nothing to us that was contradic-
tory to it. Every one ought to satisfy himself in these things : as our Saviour convinced
Thomas, by making him to thrust his own hand into the print of the nails, not leaving him
to the testimony of the other apostles, who were already convinced. She was confident that,
if the king would hear many of his own subjects, they would fully satisfy him as to all those
prejudices, that he had at the reformation ; in which nothing was acted tumultuously, but
all was done according to law. The design of it was only to separate from the Roman
church, in so far as it had separated from the primitive church ; in which they had brought
things to as great a degree of perfection, as those corrupt ages were capable of. She did not
see how the church of England could be blamed for the persecution of the dissenters ; for the
laws made against them were made by the State, and not by the church ; and they were
made for crimes against the state. Their enemies had taken great care to foment the divi-
sion, in which they had been but too successful. But, if he would reflect on the grounds
upon which the church of England had separated from the church of Rome, he would find
them to be of a very different nature from those for which the dissenters had left it.
Thus, she concluded, she gave him the trouble of a long account of the grounds upon
which she was persuaded of the truth of her religion : in which she was so fully satisfied,
that she trusted by the grace of God that she should spend the rest of her days in it ; and
she was so well assured of the truth of our Saviour's words, that she was confident the gates
of hell should not prevail against it, but that he would be with it to the end of the world.
All ended thus, that the religion which she professed taught her her duty to him, so that
she should ever be his most obedient daughter and servant.
To this the next return of the post brought an answer from the king, which I saw not.
But the account that was sent me of it was : the king took notice of the great progress he
saw the princess had made in her enquiries after those matters : the king's business did not
allow him the time that was necessary to enter into the detail of her letter : he desired she
would read those books that he had mentioned to her in his former letters, and some others
that he intended to send her : and, if she desired to be more fully satisfied, he proposed to her
to discourse about them with F. Morgan, an English Jesuit then at the Hague.
I have set down very minutely every particular that was in those letters, and very nearly
in the same words. It must be confessed, that persons of this quality seldom enter into such
ii discussion. The king's letter contained a studied account of the change of his religion,
460 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
which he had repeated often : and it was perhaps prepared for him by some others. There
were some things in it, which, if he had made a little more reflection on them, it may be
supposed he would not have mentioned. The course of his own life was not so strict, as to
make it likely that the good lives of some papists had made such impressions upon him. The
easy absolutions that are granted in that church, are a much juster prejudice in this respect
against it, than the good lives of a few can be supposed to be an argument for it. The
adorning their churches was a reflection that did no great honour to him that made it. The
severities used by the church of England against the dissenters, were urged with a very ill
grace by one of the church of Rome, that has delighted herself so often by being, as it were,
bathed with the blood of those they call heretics : and, if it had not been for the respect that a
daughter paid her father, here greater advantages might have been taken. I had a high
opinion of the princess's good understanding, and of her knowledge in those matters, before I
saw this letter : but this surprised me. It gave me an astonishing joy, to see so young a
person all of the sudden, without consulting any one person, to be able to write so solid and
learned a letter, in which she mixed with the respect that she paid a father so great a firm-
ness, that by it she cut off all further treaty. And her repulsing the attack, that the king
made upon her, with so much resolution and force, did let the popish party see, that she
understood her religion as well as she loved it.
But now I must say somewhat of myself : after I had stayed a year in Holland, I heard
from many hands, that the king seemed to forget his own greatness when he spoke of me,
which he took occasion to do very often. I had published some account of the short tour I
had made, in several letters ; in which my chief design was to expose both popery and tyranny.
The book was well received, and was much read ; and it raised the king's displeasure very
high *.
My continuing at the Hague made him conclude, that I was managing designs against
him. And some papers in single sheets came out, reflecting on the proceedings of England,
which seemed to have a considerable effect on those who read them. These were printed in
Holland ; and many copies of them were sent into all the parts of England. All which
inflamed the king the more against me ; for he believed they were written by me, as indeed
most of them were. But that which gave the crisis to the king's anger was, that he heard
I was to be married to a considerable fortune at the Hague. So a project was formed to
break this, by charging me with high treason for corresponding with lord Argyle, and for
conversing with some that were outlawed for high treason.
The king ordered a letter to be written in his name to his advocate in Scotland, to prose-
cute me for some probable thing or other ; which was intended only to make a noise, not
doubting but this would break the intended marriage. A ship coming from Scotland the day
in which this prosecution was ordered, that had a quick passage, brought me the first news
of it, long before it was sent to D' Albeville. So I petitioned the States, who were then sit-
ting, to be naturalized, in order to my intended marriage. And this passed of course, with-
out the least difficulty ; which perhaps might have been made, if this prosecution, now begun
in Scotland, had been known. Now I was legally under the protection of the States of Hol-
land ; yet I wrote a full justification of myself, as to all particulars laid to my charge, in
some letters that I sent to the earl of Middleton. But in one of these I said, that, being now
naturalized in Holland, my allegiance was, during my stay in these parts, transferred from
his majesty to the States. - I also said, in another letter, that, if upon my non-appearance a
sentence should pass against me, I might be perhaps forced to justify myself, and to give an
account of the share that I had in affairs these twenty years past ; in which I might be led
to mention some things, that I was afraid would displep.se the king ; and therefore I should
be sorry if I were driven to it.
Now the court thought they had somewhat against me ; for they knew they had nothing i
before. So the first citation was let fall, and a new one was ordered on these two accounts.
It was pretended to be high treason to say my allegiance was now transferred ; and it was
set forth, as a high indignity to the king, to threaten him with writing a history of the trans-
* This was his " Travels through France, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland."
OF KING JAMES If. 401
actions passed these last twenty years. The first of these struck at a great point, which was
a part of the law of nations. Every man that was naturalized took an oath of allegiance to
the prince, or state, that naturalized him. And, since no man can serve two masters, or be
under a double allegiance, it is certain that there must be a transfer of allegiancr, at least
during the stay in the country where one is so naturalized.
This matter was kept up against me for some time, the court delaying proceeding to any
sentence for several months. At last a sentence of outlawry was given ; and upon that
Albeville said, that, if the States would not deliver me up, he would find such instruments
as should seize on me, and carry me away forcibly. The methods he named of doing this
were very ridiculous. And he spoke of it to so many persons, that I believe his design was
rather to frighten me, than that he could think to effect them. Many overtures were made
to some of my friends in London, not only to let this prosecution fall, but to promote me, if
I would make myself capable of it. I entertained none of these. I had many stories
brought me of the discourses among some of the brutal Irish, then in the Dutch service ;
but, I thank God, I was not moved with them. I resolved to go on, and to do my duty, and
to do what service I could to the public:, and to my country ; and resigned myself up entirely
to that Providence that had watched over me tp that time with an indulgent care, and had
made all the designs of my enemies against me turn to my great advantage.
I come now to the year 1638, which proved memorable, and produced an extraordinary
and unheard-of revolution. The year in this century made all people reflect on the same
year in the former century, in which the power of Spain received so great a check, that the
decline of that monarchy began then ; and England was saved from an invasion, that, if it
had succeeded as happily as it was well laid, must have ended in the absolute conquest, and
utter ruin of the nation. Our books are so full of all that related to that armada, boasted
to be invincible, that I need add no more to so known and so remarkable a piece of our his-
tory. A new eighty-eight raised new expectations, in which the surprising events did far
exceed all that could have been looked for.
I begin the year with Albeville's negotiation after his coming to the Hague. Tie had
before his going over given in a threatening memorial upon the business of Bantam, that
looked like a prelude to a declaration of war ; for he demanded a present answer, since the
king could no longer bear the injustice done him in that matter, which was set forth in very
high words. He sent this memorial to be printed at Amsterdam, before he had communi-
cated it to the States. The chief effect that this had, was, that the actions of the company
did sink for some days. But they rose soon again : and by this it was said, that Albeville
himself made the greatest gain. The East-India fleet was then expected home every day.
So the merchants, who remembered well the business of the Smyrna fleet in the year seventy-
two, did apprehend that the king had sent a fleet to intercept them, and that this memorial
was intended only to prepare an apology for that breach, when it should happen; but
nothing of that sort followed upon it. The States did answer this memorial with another,
that was firm, but more decently expressed : by their last treaty with England it was pro-
vided, that, in case any disputes should arise between the merchants of either side, commis-
sioners should be named on both sides to hear and judge the matter : the king had not yet
named any of his side ; so that the delay lay at his door : they were therefore amazed to receive
a memorial in so high a strain, since they had done all that by the treaty was incumbent on
them. Albeville, after this, gave in another memorial, in which he desired them to send
over commissioners for ending that dispute. But, though this was a great fall from the
i Height in which the former memorial was conceived, yet in this the thing was so ill appre-
! hended, that the Dutch had reason to believe that the king's ministers did not know the
j treaty, or were not at leisure to read it ; for, according to the treaty, and the present pos-
Uire of that business, the king was obliged to send over commissioners to the Hague to judge
<>f that affair. When this memorial was answered, and the treaty was examined, the matter
TO8 let fall.
Albeville's next negotiation related to myself. I had printed a paper in justification of
myself, together with my letters to the earl of Middleton ; and he, in a memorial, complained
1 f t\vo passages in that paper. One was, that I said it was yet too early to persecute men
462 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
for religion, and therefore crimes against the state were pretended by my enemies : this, he
said, did insinuate, that the king did in time intend to persecute for religion. The other was,
that I had put in it an intimation, that I was in danger by some of the Irish papists. This,
he said, was a reflection on the king, who hated all such practices. And to this he added,
that by the laws of England all the king's subjects were bound to seize on any person that
was condemned in his courts, in what manner soever they could : and therefore he desired,
that both I, and the printer of that paper, might be punished. But now upon his return to
the Hague, I being outlawed by that time, he demanded, that, in pursuance of an article of
the treaty that related to rebels or fugitives, I might be banished the Provinces. And to this
he craved once and again a speedy answer.
I was called before the deputies of the States of Holland, that I might answer the two
memorials that lay before them relating to myself. I observed the difference between them.
The one desired that the States wrould punish me, which did acknowledge me to be their
subject. The other, in contradiction to that, laid claim to me as the king's rebel. As to
the particulars complained of, I had made no reflection on the king ; but to the contrary. I
said, my enemies found it was not yet time to persecute for religion. This insinuated, that
the king could not be brought to it ; and no person could be offended with this, but he who
thought it was now not too early to persecute. As to that of the danger in which I appre-
hended myself to be in, I had now more reason than before to complain of it, since the
envoy had so publicly affirmed, that every one of the king's subjects might seize on any one
that was condemned, in what manner soever they could, which was either dead or alive. I
was now the subject of the States of Holland, naturalized in order to a marriage among
them, as they all knew ; and therefore I claimed their protection. So, if I was charged
with any thing that was not according to law, I submitted myself to their justice. I
should decline no trial, nor the utmost severity, if I had offended in any thing. As for the
two memorials that claimed me as a fugitive and a rebel, I could not be looked on as a
fugitive from Scotland. It was now fourteen years since I had left that kingdom, and three
since I came out of England with the king's leave. I had lived a year in the Hague openly ;
and nothing was laid to my charge. As for the sentence that was pretended to be passed
against me, I could say nothing to it, till I saw a copy of it.
The States were fully satisfied with my answers ; and ordered a memorial to be drawn
according to them. They also ordered their ambassador to represent to the king that he
himself knew how sacred a thing naturalization was. The faith and honour of every state
was concerned in it. I had been naturalized upon marrying one of their subjects, which was
the justest of all reasons. If the king had any thing to lay to my charge, justice should be
done in their courts. The king took the matter very ill ; and said, it was an affront
offered him, and a just cause of war. Yet, after much passion, he said, he did not intend
to make war upon it ; for he was not then in a condition to do it. But he knew there
were designs against him, to make war on him, against which he should take care to secure
himself ; and he should be on his guard. The ambassador asked him, of whom he meant
that. But he did not think fit to explain himself further. He ordered a third memorial to
be put in against me, in which the article of the treaty was set forth ; but no notice was
taken of the answers made to that by the States : but it was insisted on, that, since the
States were bound not to give sanctuary to fugitives and rebels, they ought not to examine ;
the grounds on which such judgments were given, but were bound to execute the treaty. I
Upon this it was observed, that the words in treaties ought to be explained according to
their common acceptation, or the sense given them in the civil law, and not according to any
particular forms of courts, where for non-appearance a writ of outlawry, or rebellion, might
lie. The sense of the word rebel in common use was, a man that had borne arms, or had
plotted against his prince ; and a fugitive was a man that fled from justice. The heat with !
which the king seemed inflamed against me, carried him to say, and do, many things that
were very little to his honour.
I had advertisements sent me of a further progress in his designs against me. He had
it suggested to him, that, since a sentence was passed against me for non-appearance, and
the States refused to deliver me up, he might order private persons to execute the sentence
OF KING JAMES II. 463
as they could : and it was written over very positively, that 5,000/. would be given to
any one that should murder me. A gentleman of an unblemished reputation wrote me
word, that he himself by accident saw an order drawn in the secretary's office, but not yet
signed, for 3,000^. to a blank person that was to seize, or destroy, me*. And he also
affirmed, that prince George had heard of the same thing, and had desired the person to
whom he trusted it to convey the notice of it to me : and my author was employed by
that person to send the notice to me. The king asked Jeffreys what he might do against
me in a private way, now that he could not get me into his hands. Jeffreys answered, he
did not see how the king could do any more than he had done. He told this to Mr. Kirk
to send it to me ; for he concluded the king was resolved to proceed to extremities, and only
wanted the opinion of a man of the law to justify a more violent method. I had so many
different advertisements sent me of this, that I concluded a whisper of such a design might
have been set about, on design to frighten me into some mean submission, or into silence at
least : but it had no other effect on me, but that I thought fit to stay more within doors,
and to use a little more than ordinary caution. I thank God, I was very little concerned
at it. I resigned up my life very freely to God. I knew my own innocence, and the root
of all the malice that was against me. And I never possessed my own soul in a more
perfect calm, and in a clearer cheerfulness of spirit, than I did during all those threatenings,
and the apprehensions that others were in concerning me.
Soon after this a letter written by Fagel, the pensioner of Holland, was printed ; which
leads me to look back a little into a transaction that passed the former year. There was
one Steward, a lawyer of Scotland, a man of great parts, and of as great ambition. He had
given over the practice of the law, because all that were admitted to the bar in Scotland
were required to renounce the covenant, which he would not do. This recommended him to
the confidence of that whole party. They had made great use of him, and trusted him
entirely. Penn had engaged him, who had been long considered by the king, as the chief
manager of all the rebellions and plots that had been on foot these twenty years past, more
particularly of Argyle's, to come over : and he undertook that he should not only be received
into favour, but into confidence. He came, before he crossed the seas, to the prince, and
promised an inviolable fidelity to him, and to the common interests of religion and liberty.
He had been often with the pensioner, and had a great measure of his confidence. Upon his
coming to court, he was caressed to a degree that amazed all who knew him. He either
believed that the king wras sincere in the professions he made, and that his designs went no
further than to settle a full liberty of conscience ; or, he thought, that it became a man who
had been so long in disgrace, not to shew any jealousies at first, when the king was so gra-
cious to him. He undertook to do all that lay in his power to advance his designs in Scot-
land, and to represent his intentions so at the Hague, as might incline the prince to a better
opinion of them.
He opened all this in several letters to the pensioner : and in these he pressed him vehe-
mently, in the king's name, and by his direction, to persuade the prince to concur with the
king in procuring the laws to be repealed. He laid before him the inconsiderable number
of the papists : so that there was no reason to apprehend much from them. He also enlarged
on the severities that the penal laws had brought on the dissenters. The king was resolved
not to consent to the repealing them, unless the tests were taken away with them ; so that
the refusing to consent to this might at another time bring them under another severe pro-
secution. Steward, after he had written many letters to this purpose without receiving any
answers, tried if he could serve the king in Scotland with more success, than it seemed he
was likely to have at the Hague. But he found there, that his old friends were now much
alienated from him, looking on him as a person entirely gained by the court.
The pensioner laid all his letters before the prince. They were also brought to me. The
prince upon this thought, that a full answer made by Fagel, in such a manner as that it
might be published as a declaration of his intentions, might be of service to him in many
* Burnct's informant was lord Ossory, afterwards duke of Orinond. — Burnet's Life by his Son.
4C4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
respects ; chiefly in popish courts, that were on civil accounts inclined tc an alliance against
France, but were now possessed with an opinion of the prince, and of his party in England,
as designing nothing but the ruin and extirpation of all the papists in those kingdoms. So
the pensioner wrote a long answer to Steward, which was put in English by me.
He began it with great assurances of the prince and princess's duty to the king. They
were both of tnem much against all persecution on the account of religion. They freely con-
sented to the covering papists from the severities of the laws made against them on the
account of their religion, and also that they might have the free exercise of it in private.
They also consented to grant a full liberty to dissenters ; but they could not consent to the
repeal of those laws, that tended only to the securing the protestant religion ; such as those
concerning the tests, wThich imported no punishment, but only an incapacity of being in
public employments, which could not be complained of as great severities. This was a
caution observed in all nations, and was now necessary, both for securing the public peace
and the established religion. If the numbers of the papists were so small as to make them
inconsiderable, then it was not reasonable to make such a change for the sake of a few ; and
if those few, that pretended to public employments, would do all their own party so great a
prejudice, as not to suffer the king to be content with the repeal of the penal laws, unless
they could get into the offices of trust, then their ambition was only to be blamed, if the
offers now made were not accepted. The matter was very strongly argued through the
whole letter ; and the prince and princess's zeal for the protestant religion was set out in
terms, that could not be very acceptable to the king. The letter was carried by Steward to
the king, and was brought by him into the cabinet council ; but nothing followed then upon it.
The king ordered Steward to write back, that he would either have all, or nothing. All the
lay-papists of England, who were not engaged in the intrigues of the priests, pressed earnestly
that the king would accept of the repeal of the penal laws ; which was offered, and would
have made them both easy and safe for the future. The emperor was fully satisfied with
what was offered ; and promised to use his interest at Rome, to get the pope to write to the
king to accept of this, as a step to the other : but I could not learn whether he did it, or
not. If he did, it had no effect. The king was in all points governed by the Jesuits, and
the French ambassador.
Father Petre, as he had been long in the confidence, was now brought to the council board,
and made a privy councillor : and it was given out that the king was resolved to get a car-
dinal's cap for him, and to make him archbishop of York. The pope was still firm to his
resolution against it : but it was hoped that the king would conquer it, if not in the present,
yet at furthest in the next pontificate. The king resolved at the same time not to disgust
the secular priests : so bishop Leyburn, whom cardinal Howard had sent over with the epis-
copal character, was made much use of in appearance, though he had no great share in the
counsels. There was a faction formed between the seculars and the Jesuits, which was some-
times near breaking out into an open rupture. But the king was so partial to the Jesuits,
that the others found they were not on equal terms with them. There were three other
bishops consecrated for England. And these four were ordered to make a progress and cir-
cuit over England, confirming, and doing other episcopal offices, in all the parts of England.
Great numbers gathered about them, wheresoever they went.
The Jesuits thought all was sure, and that their scheme was so well laid that it could not
miscarry ; and they had so possessed that contemptible tool of theirs, Albeville, with this,
that he seemed upon his return to the Hague to be so sanguine,that he did not stick to speak
out, what a wiser man would have suppressed though he had believed it. One day, when the
prince was speaking of the promises the king had made, and the oath that he had sworn to
maintain the laws and the established church, he, instead of pretending that the king still
kept his word, said, upon some occasions princes must forget their promises. And, when the
prince said, that the king ought to have more regard to the church of England, which was
the main body of the nation, Albeville answered, that the body which he called the church
of England would not have a being two years to an end. Thus he spoke out the designs of
the court, both too early arid too openly ; but at the same time he behaved himself in all
OF KING JAMES II. 405
other respects so poorly, that he became the jest of the Hague. The foreign ministers,
M. d'Avaux, the French ambassador, not excepted, did not know how to excuse, or bear
with, his weakness, which appeared on all occasions and in all companies.
What he wrote to England upon his first audiences was not known ; but it was soon after
spread up and down the kingdom, very artificially and with much industry, that the prince
and princess had now consented to the repeal of the tests, as well as of the penal laws.
This was written over by many hands to the Hague. The prince, to prevent the ill effects
that might follow on such reports, gave orders to print the pensioner's letter to Steward ;
which was sent to all the parts of England, and was received with an universal joy. The
dissenters saw themselves now safe in his intentions towards them. The church party was
confirmed in their zeal for maintaining the tests. And the lay papists seemed likewise to
be so well pleased with it, that they complained of those ambitious priests, and hungry
courtiers, who were resolved, rather than lay down their aspirings and other projects, to
leave them still exposed to the severities of the laws, though a freedom from these was now
offered to them. But it was not easy to judge, whether this was sincerely meant by them,
or if it was only a popular art, to recommend themselves under such a moderate appearance.
The court saw the hurt that this letter did them. At first they hoped to have stifled it by
calling it an imposture. But when they were driven from that, the king began to speak
severely and indecently of the prince, not only to all about him, but even to foreign ministers :
and resolved to put such marks of his indignation upon him, as should let all the world see
how deep it was.
There were six regiments of the king's subjects, three English and three Scotch, in the
ervice of the States. Some of them were old regiments, that had continued in their service
uring the two wars in the late king's reign. Others were raised since the peace in seventy-
hree. But these came not into their service under any capitulation, that had reserved an
uthority to the king to call for them at his pleasure. When Argyle and Monmouth made
heir invasion, the king desired that the States would lend them to him. Some of the towns
f Holland were so jealous of the king, and wished Monmouth's success so much, that the
>rince found some difficulty in obtaining the consent of the States to send them over. There
was no distinction made among them between papists and protestants, according to a maxim
f the States with relation to their armies : so there were several papists in those regiments.
And the king had showed such particular kindness to these, while they were in England,
;hat at their return they formed a faction which was breeding great distractions among them.
This was very uneasy to the prince, who began to see that he might have occasion to make
ise of those bodies, if things should be carried to a rupture between the king and him : and yet
ic did not know how he could trust them, while such officers were in command. He did
no see neither how he could get rid of them well. But the king helped him out of that
difficulty : he wrote to the States, that he had occasion for the six regiments of his subjects
that were in their service, and desired that they should be sent over to him.
This demand was made all of the sudden, without any previous application to any of the
States, to dispose them to grant it, or to many of the officers to persuade them to ask their
:onge to go over. The States pretended the regiments were theirs : they had paid levy
noney for them, and had them under no capitulation : so they excused themselves, that they
•ould not part with them. But they gave orders, that all the officers that should ask their
onge, should have it. Thirty, or forty, came and asked, and had their conge. So now the
ririce was delivered from some troublesome men by this management of the king's. Upon
that, these bodies were so modelled, that the prince knew that he might depend entirely
n them : and he was no more disturbed by those insolent officers, who had for some years
shaved themselves rather as enemies, than as persons in the States' pay.
The discourse of a parliament was often taken up, and as often let fall : and it was not
"isy to judge in what such fluctuating counsels would end. Father Petre had gained such
iii ascendant, that he was considered as the first minister of state. The nuncio had moved
the king to interpose, and mediate a reconciliation between the court of Rome and France,
t he answered, that, since the pope would not gratify him in the promotion of father
Petre, he would leave him to free himself of the trouble, into which he had involved himself,
II H
400 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the best way he could. And our court reckoned, that as soon as the pope felt himself
pressed, he would fly to the king for protection, and grant him everything that he asked of
him in order to obtain it. That Jesuit gave daily newr proofs of a weak and ill-governed
passion, and discovered all the ill qualities of one, that seemed raised up to he the common
incendiary, and to drive the king and his party to the precipice.
Towards the end of April the king though fit to renew the declaration that he had set out
the former year for liberty of conscience, with an addition, declaring that he would adhere
firmly to it, and that he would put none in any public employments, but such as would
concur with him in maintaining it. He also promised, that he would hold a parliament in
the November following. This promise of a parliament so long beforehand was somewhat
extraordinary. Both father Petre, and Penn, engaged the king to it, but with a different
prospect. Penn, and all the tools who were employed by him, had still some hopes of car-
rying a parliament to agree with the king, if too much time was not lost : wrhereas the
delaying a parliament raised jealousies, as if none \vere intended, but that it was only talked
of to amuse the nation till other designs were ripe.
On the other hand, father Petre and his cabal saw that the king was kept off from many
things that they proposed, with the expectation of the concurrence of a parliament : and the
fear of giving new disgusts, which might obstruct that, had begotten a caution that was
very uneasy to them. They thought that much time was already lost, and that they made
but a small progress. They began to apprehend that the regulators, who were still feeding
them with hopes, and were asking more time, and more money, did intend only to amuse
them, and to wear out the business into more length, and to keep themselves the longer in
credit and in pay ; but that they did not in their hearts wish well to the main design, and
therefore acted but an insincere part w^ith the king. Therefore they resolved to put that
matter to the last trial, reckoning that, if the king saw it was in vain to hope for anything in
a parliamentary way, he might be more easily carried to extreme and violent methods.
The king was not satisfied with the publishing his declaration : but he resolved to oblige
the clergy to read it in all their churches in the time of divine service. And now it appeared
what bad effects wexe likely to follow on that officious motion that Bancroft had made, for
obliging the clergy to read the declaration that king Charles set out in the year 1681, after
the dissolution of the 'Oxford parliament. An order passed in council, requiring the bishops
to send copies of the declaration to all their clergy, and to order them to read it on two
several Sundays in time of divine service.
This put the clergy under great difficulties. And they were at first much divided about
it. Even many of the best and worthiest of them were under some distraction of thought;
They had many meetings, and argued the point long among themselves, in and about
London. On the one hand it was said, that if they refused to read it, the king would proceed
against them for disobedience. It did not seem reasonable to run so great a hazard upon
such a point, that was not strong enough to bear the consequences that might follow on a
breach. Their reading it did not import their approving it. But was only a publication of
an act of their king's. So it was proposed, to save the whole, by making some declaration,
that their reading it was a mere act of obedience, and did not import any assent and appro-
bation of theirs. Others thought, that the publishing this in such manner was only imposed
on them, to make them odious and contemptible to the whole nation, for reading that which
was intended for their ruin. If they carried their compliance so far, that might provoke the
nobility and gentry to carry theirs much further. If they once yielded the point, that they
were bound to read every declaration, with this salvo that it did not import their approving-
it, they would be then bound to read everything that should be sent io them : the king
might make declarations in favour of all the points of popery, and require them to read them :
and they could not see where they must make their stops, if they did it not now. So it
seemed necessary to fix on this, as a rule, that they ought to publish nothing in time
divine service but that which they approved of. The point at present was not whether
toleration was a lawful, or an expedient, thing. The declaration was founded on the claim
of a dispensing power, which the king did now assume, that tended to the total subvers:
of the government, and the making it arbitrary ; whereas, by the constitution, it was a legal
>F KING JAMES II.
407
administration. It also allowed such an infinite liberty, with the suspension of all penal
laws, and that without any limitation, that paganism itself might be now publicly professed.
It was visible, that the design in imposing the reading of it on them was only to make them
ridiculous, and to make them contribute to their own ruin. As for the danger that they
might incur, they saw their ruin was resolved on • and nothing they could do was likely to
prevent it, unless they would basely sacrifice their religion to their worldly interests. It
would be perhaps a year sooner, or later, t>y any other management : it was therefore fit, that
they should prepare themselves for suffering ; and not endeavour to prevent it by doing that,
which would draw on them the hatred of their friends, and the scorn of their enemies.
These reasons prevailed : and they resolved not to read the declaration. They saw of what
importance it was that they should be unanimous in this. Nothing could be of more fatal
consequence than their being divided in their practice. For, if any considerable body of the
clergy, such as could carry the name of the church of England, could have been prevailed on
to give obedience, and only some number, how valuable soever the men might be, should
refuse to obey ; then the court might still pretend that they would maintain the church of
England, and single out all those who had not given obedience, and fall on them, and so
break the church within itself upon this point, and then destroy the one half by the means
of the rest. The most eminent were resolved not to obey : and those who might be prevailed
on to comply would by that means fall under such contempt, that they could not have the
credit or strength to support the established religion. The court depended upon this, that
the greater part would obey : and so they would be furnished with a point of state, to give a
colour for turning out the disobedient, who were likely to be the men that stood most in
their way, and crossed their designs most, both with their learning and credit.
Those few bishops that were engaged in the design of betraying the church, were persuaded
that this would be the event of the matter : and they possessed the king with the hope of it
so positively, that he seemed to depend upon it. The correspondence over England was
managed with that secrecy, that these resolutions were so communicated to the clergy in
the country, that they were generally engaged to agree in their conduct, before the court came
to apprehend that they would be so unanimous, as it proved in conclusion that they were.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Bancroft, resolved upon this occasion to act suitably to his
post and character. He wrote round his province, and desired- that such of the bishops as
were able would come up and consult together in a matter of this great concern : and he
asked the opinion of those whom their age and infirmities disabled from taking the journey.
He found that eighteen of the bishops, and the main body of the clergy, concurred in the
resolution against reading the declaration. So he, with six of the bishops that came up to
London, resolved, in a petition to the king, to lay before him the reasons that determined
them not to obey the order of council that had been sent them : this flowed from no want of
respect to his majesty's authority, nor from any unwillingness to let favour be shown to
dissenters ; in relation to whom they were willing to come to such a temper as should be
thought fit when that matter should be considered and settled in parliament and convocation :
but, this declaration being founded on such a dispensing power as had been often declared
illegal in parliament, both in the year 1662 and in the year 1672, and in the beginning of
his own reign, and was a matter of so great consequence to the whole nation, both in church
and state, they could not in prudence, honour, and conscience, make themselves so far parties
to it, as the publication of it once and again in God's house, and in the time of divine service,
must amount to.
The archbishop was then in an ill state of health. So he sent over the six bishops with
the petition to the king, signed by himself and the rest. The king was much surprised with
this, being flattered and deceived by his spies. Cartwright, bishop of Chester, was possessed
with a story that was too easily believed by him, and was by him carried to the king, who
was very apt to believe everything that suited with his own designs. The story was, that
the bishops intended, by a petition to the king, to let him understand that orders of this kind
to be addressed to their chancellors, but not to themselves ; and to pray him to continue
that method : and that by this means they hoped to get out of this difficulty. This was
very acceptable to the court, and procured the bishops a quick admittance. And they had
HIl2
408 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
proceeded so carefully that nothing concerted among them had broken out ; for they had
been very secret and cautious. The king, when he heard their petition, and saw his mistake,
spoke roughly to them. He said, he was their king, and he would be obeyed : and they
should be made to feel what it was to disobey him. The six bishops, were St. Asaph, Ely,
Bath and TVells, Peterborough, Chichester, and Bristol. The answer they made the king
was in these words : " The will of God be done." And they came from the court in a sort
of triumph. Now matters were brought to a crisis. The king wras engaged on his part, as
the bishops were on theirs. So all people looked on with great expectations, reckoning that
upon the issue of this business a great decision would be made, both of the designs of the
court, and of the temper of the nation.
The king consulted for some days with all that were now employed by him, what lie
should do upon this emergent ; and talked with people of all persuasions. Lob, an eminent
man among the dissenters, who was entirely gained to the court, advised the king to send
the bishops to the Tower. Father Petre seemed now as one transported with joy : for he
thought the king was engaged to break with the church of England. And it was reported
that he broke out into that indecent expression upon it, that they should be made to eat
their own dung. The king was long in doubt. Some of the popish nobility pressed him
earnestly to let the matter fall : for now it appeared, that the body of the clergy were
resolved not to read the declaration. Those who did obey were few and inconsiderable.
Only seven obeyed in the city of London, and not above two hundred all England over :
and of these some read it the first Sunday, but changed their minds before the second .
others declared in their sermons, that though they obeyed the order, they did not approve of
the declaration : and one, more pleasantly than gravely, told his people that, though he was
obliged to read it, they were not obliged to hear it ; and he stopped till they all went out,
and then he read it to the walls. In many places, as soon as the minister began to read it,
all the people rose and went out*.
The king did what he could to encourage those that did obey his order. Parker, bishop
of Oxford, died about this time. He wrote a book against the tests full of petulant scur-
rility, of which I shall only give one instance. He had reflected much on the whole popish
plot, and on Oates's evidence : and upon that he called the test, the sacrament of the
Oatesian villany. He treated the parliament, that enacted the tests, with a scorn that no
popish writer had yet ventured on : and he said much to excuse transubstantiation, and to free
the church of Rome from the charge of idolatry. This raised such a disgust at him, even in
those that had been formerly but too much influenced by him, that, when he could not help
seeing that, he sunk upon it. I was desired to answer his book with the severity that he
deserved : and I did it with an acrimony of style, that nothing but such a time, and such a
man, could in any sort excuse. It was said, the king sent him my papers, hearing that
nobody else durst put them in his hands, hoping that it would raise his indignation, and
engage him to answer them. One Hall, a conformist in London, who was looked on as half
a presbyterian, yet, because he read the declaration, was made bishop of Oxford. One of
the popish bishops was upon the king's mandamus chosen, by the illegal fellows of Magda-
len's college, their president. The sense of the nation, as well as of the clergy, had appeared
so signally on this occasion, that it was visible, that the king had not only the seven peti-
tioning bishops to deal with, but the body of the whole nation, both clergy and laity.
The violent advices of father Petre, and the Jesuit party, were so fatally suited to the
king's own temper and passion, that they prevailed over the wiser counsels of almost all that
were advised with. But the king, before he would bring the matter to the council, secretly
engaged all the privy councillors to concur wTith him : and, after a fortnight's consultation,
the bishops were cited to appear before the council. The petition was offered to them ; and
they were asked if they owned it to be their petition. They answered, it seemed they were
* The earl of Dartmouth says he was then at West- none left but a few prebendaries in their stalls, the clio-
minster school. As soon as bishop Sprat, who was then risters, and Westminster scholars. The bishop could hardly
dean, gave order for the declaration being read, there was hold the proclamation for trembling, and every one looked
so great a murmur and noise in the Abbey, that no one under a strange consternation. — Oxford edition of this
could hear him ; but, before he had finished, there was work.
OF KING JAMES II. 4G9
be proceeded against upon that account ; so they hoped the king would not press them to
a confession, and then make use of it against them : after they had offered this, they owned
the petition. They were next charged with the publication of it ; for it was then printed.
But they absolutely denied that was done by their means. The archbishop had written the
petition all in his own hand, without employing any person to copy it out : and though
there was one draught written of the petition, as it was agreed on, from which he had written
out the original which they had all signed, yet he had kept that still in his own possession,
and had never shown it to any person : so it was not published by them : that must have
been done by some of those to whom the king had shown it.
They were in the next place required to enter into bonds, to appear in the court of king's
bench, and answer to an information of misdemeanor. They excepted to this ; and said,
that by their peerage they were not bound to do it. Upon their insisting on this, they were
sent to the Tower, by a warrant signed by the whole board, except father Petre, who was
passed over by the king's order. This set the whole city into the highest fermentation that
was ever known in memory of man. The bishops were sent by water to the Tower : and
all along as they passed the banks of the river were full of people, who kneeled down and
asked their blessing, and with loud shouts expressed their good wishes for them, and their
concern in their preservation. The soldiers, and other officers in the Tower, did the same.
An universal consternation appeared in all people's looks. But the king was not moved
with all this. And, though two days after, upon the queen's pretended delivery, the king
had a fair occasion to have granted a general pardon, to celebrate the joy of that birth (and
it was given out by those papists that had always affected to pass for moderate men, that
they had all pressed this vehemently), the king was inflexible : he said, his authority would
become contemptible, if he suffered such an affront to pass unpunished.
A week after their commitment, they were brought upon a habeas corpus to the king^s
bench bar, where their counsel offered to make it appear to be an illegal commitment : but
the court allowed it good in law. They were required to enter into bonds for small sums,
to answer to the information that day fortnight.
The bishops were discharged of their imprisonment : and people of all sorts ran to visit
them as confessors, one company going in as another went out. The appearance in West-
minster-hall was very solemn : about thirty of the nobility accompanying them. All the
streets were full of shoutings the rest of the day, and with bonfires at night.
When the day fixed for their trial came, there was a vast concourse. Westminster-hall,
and all the places about, were full of people, who were strangely affected with the matter.
Even the army, that was then encamped on Hounslow Heath, showed such a disposition to
mutiny, that it gave the king no small uneasiness. The trial came on, which was chiefly
managed against the bishops by sir William Williams. He had been speaker in two
successive parliaments, and was a zealous promoter of the exclusion : and he had continued
many years a bold pleader in all causes against the court : but he was a corrupt and vicious
man, who had no principles, but followed his own interests. Sawyer, the attorney-general,
who had for many years served ths ends of the court in a most abject and obsequious manner,
would not support the dispensing power : so he was turned out, Powis being advanced to be
attorney-general : and Williams was made solicitor-general. Powis acted his part in this
trial as fairly as his post could admit of. But Williams took very indecent liberties. And
he had great advantages over Sawyer and Finch, who were among the bishops' counsel,
by reflecting on the precedents and proceedings during their being the king's counsel. The
king's counsel could not have full proof that the bishops' hands were truly theirs, and were
forced to have recourse to the confession they had made at the council board : which was
thought very dishonourable, since they had made that confession in confidence, trusting to
the king's honour, though it did not appear that any promise was made, that no advantage
should be taken of that confession. No proof was brought of their publishing it, which was
the main point. The presenting it to the king, and afterwards their owning it to be their
K-titioii, when it was put to them at the council board, was all that the king's counsel could
»ffer for proof of this ; which was an apparent strain, in which even those judges that were
470 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the surest to the court, did not seem to be satisfied. It was much urged against them, that
this petition was a libel, tending to the defaming the king's government.
But to this it was answered, that they having received an order, to which they found they
could not give obedience, thought it was incumbent on them, as bishops and as subjects, to
lay before the king their reasons for it : all subjects had a right to petition the king : they,
as peers, were of his great council, and so had yet a better claim to that : and that more
particularly in matters of religion ; for the act of uniformity in queen Elizabeth's time had
required them under a curse to look carefully after those matters ; the dispensing power had
been often brought into debate in parliament, and was always voted to be against law : and
the late king had yielded the point by recalling his declaration : so they thought, they had
a right to represent these things to the king. And occasion was often taken to reflect on
the dispensing power. To this the king's counsel replied, that the votes of one, or both
houses were not laws, till they were enacted by king and parliament : and the late king's
passing once from a point of his prerogative did not give it up, but only waved it for that
time : they urged much the sacredness of the king's authority ; that a paper might be true
in fact, and yet be a libel ; that in parliament the two houses had a right to petition, but it
was sedition to do it in a point of government out of parliament.
The trial did last long, above ten hours. The crowds continued in expectation all the
while, and expressed so great a concern for the bishops, that the witnesses who were brought
against them were not only treated with much scorn and loud laughter upon every occasion,
but seemed to be in such danger, that they escaped narrowly, going away by a back pas-
sage. Two of the judges, Powel and Hallo way, delivered their opinion, that there was no
seditious matter in the petition, and that it was no libel. Wright was now brought into
this court and made chief justice; and Herbert was made chief justice of the common pleas:
Herbert was with the court in the main of the king's dispensing power, but was against them
in most particulars : so he could not serve their ends in this court. "Wright was the more
proper tool. He in his charge called the petition a libel : but he did not think the publica-
tion was proved.
The jury was fairly returned. When they were shut up, they were soon agreed upon
their verdict, to acquit the bishops. But it was thought to be both the more solemn, and
the safer way, to continue shut up till the morning. The king still flattered himself with
the hope that the bishops would be brought in guilty. He went that morning to the camp :
for the ill humour the army was in the day before, made him think it necessary to go and
keep them in- awe and order, by his own presence.
The court sat again next day. And then the jury came in with their verdict. Upon
which there were such shoutings, so long continued, and as it were echoed into the city, that
all people were struck with it. Every man seemed transported with joy. Bonfires were
made all about the streets. And the news going over the nation, produced the like rejoic-
ings and bonfires all England over. The king's presence kept the army in some order. But
he was no sooner gone out of the camp, than he was followed with an universal shouting, as
if it had been a victory obtained*. And so fatally was the king pushed on to his ruin, that
* The following are more particular details, relative to your Majesty, (our holy motner, the Church of England,
this memorable transaction. The petition was as follows : being, both in her principles and constant practice, unques-
"The Petition of some of the Bishops to King tionabf^ loyal; aa,dr ^"J' t°1h.er g^at honour, been
James the Second, against promulgating his « Decla- m°re tha" °nce P"blicly ^"owledged to be so by your
ration for liberty of conscience: gracious Majesty,) nor yet from any want of due tender.
y ness to Dissenters : m relation to whom they arc willing
' To the King's Most Excellent Majesty. to come to such a temper, as shall be thought fit, when
" The humble Petition of William, Archbishop of that matter shall be considered and settled in Parliament
Canterbury, and of divers of the suffragan Bishops and Convocation; but, among many other considerations,
of that province, now present with him, in behalf from this especially, because that declaration is founded
of ourselves and other of our absent brethren, and upon such a dispensing power, as hath been often derhuvd
of the Clergy of our respective dioceses. illegal in Parliament ; and particularly in the years 1C62
« HUMBLY SHKWSTH, and 1672, and in the beginning of your Majesty's reign ;
" That the great averseness they find in themselves to and is a matter of so great moment and consequence to
the distributing and publishing, in all their churches, your the whole nation, both in Church and State, that your
Majesty's late declaration for liberty of conscience, pro- petitioners cannot in prudence, honour, or conscience, so
ceedeth neither from any want of duty and obedience to far make themselves parties to it, as the distribution of it
OF KING JAMES II.
471
tie seemed not to be, by all this, enough convinced of the folly of those violent counsels. He
intended still to pursue them. It was therefore resolved on, to bring this matter of the con-
tempt of the order of council, in not reading the declaration, before the ecclesiastical commis-
St. Asaph. It was declared against in the first parlia-
ment called by his late majesty, and by that 'which was
called by your majesty.
The King, insisting upon the tendency of the petition
to rebellion, said, he would have his declaration pub-
lished.
Bath and Wells. We are bound to fear God, and
honour the king : we desire to do both. We will honour
you ; we must fear God.
Bristol. We will do our duty to your majesty in every
thing to the utmost, which does not interfere with our duty
to God.
King. Is this what I have deserved of you, who have
supported the church of England, and will support it ? I
will remember you that have signed this paper : I wil*
keep (his paper ; I will not part with it. I did not expect
this from you; especially from some of you: I will be
obeyed in publishing my declaration.
Bath aid Wells. God's will be done 1
King. What is that?
Bath and Wells and Peterborough. God's will ba
done !
King. If I think fit to alter my mind, I will send to
you. God hath given me this dispensing power, and I
will maintain it. I tell you, there are seven thousand
men, and of the church of England too, that have not
bowed their knees to Baal.
This is the sum of what passed, as far as the bishops
could recollect it ; and this being said, they were dis-
missed."— Archbishop Sancroft's MSS. ; Singer's Cla-
rendon Corn ii. 479, &c.
"On Friday, June 8th, at five in the afternoon, his
majesty came into the privy council. About half an hour
after, the archbishop and six bishops, who were attending
in the next room, were called into the council chamber,
and graciously received by his majesty. The lord chan-
cellor took a paper then lying on the table, and, showing
it to the archbishop, asked him in words to this effect :—
' Is this the petition that was written and signed by your
grace, and which these bishops presented to his majesty ?'
The archbishop received the paper from the lord chan-
cellor, and, addressing himself to his majesty, said to this
purpose : ' Sir, I am called hither as a criminal, which I
never was before in my life, and little thought I ever
should be, especially before your majesty : but, since it is
my unhappiness to be so at this time, I hope your majesty
will not be offended, that I am cautious of answering
questions. No man is obliged to answer questions that
may tend to the accusing of himself.' His majesty called
this chicanery, and hoped he would not deny his hand.
The archbishop still insisted upon it, that there could be
no other end of this question, but to draw such an answer
from him as might afford ground for an accusation ; and
therefore desired there might be no answer required of
him. St. Asaph said, ' All divines of all Christian
churches agree in this, that no man in our circumstances
is obliged to answer any such questions.' The king still
pressing for an answer with some seeming impatience, the
archbishop said, ' Sir, though we are not obliged to give
any answer to this question, yet, if your majesty lays your
command upon us, we shall answer it, in trust upon your
majesty's justice and generosity, that we shall not suffer
for our obedience, as we must if our answer should be
brought in evidence against us.' His majesty said, ' No,
I will not command you ; if you will deny your own hand,
all over the nation, and the solemn publication of it once
and again, even in God's house, and in the time of his
divine service, must amount to in common and reasonable
construction.
" Your petitioners, therefore, most humbly and ear-
nestly beseech your Majesty, that you will be graciously
pleased not to insist upon the distributing and reading
your Majesty's said declaration.
" And your petitioners will ever pray, &c." — Singer's
Clarendon Corr. ii. 478.
This petition was signed by William Bancroft, arch-
bishop of Canterbury ; William Lloyde, bishop of St.
Asaph ; Francis Turner, of Ely ; John Lake, of Chiches-
ter ; Thomas Ken, of Bath arid Wells ; Thomas White,
of Peterborough ; and Jonathan Trelawney, of Bristol.
It was signed in the presence of, and consented to, by
Henry, bishop of London a ; Dr. Tillotson, dean of Can-
terbury ; Stillingfleet, dean of St. Paul's ; Patrick, dean
of Peterborough ; Tenison, vicar of St. Martin's in the
Fields; Grove, rector of St. Andrew's Undershaft; and
Sherlock, master of the Temple.
When the bishops came to present the petition, they
•were " brought to the king in his closet within his bed-
chamber, where the bishop of St. Asaph, with the rest, all
being upon their knees, delivered the petition to his
majesty. He was pleased at first to receive the petitioners
and their petition graciously, and, having opened it, said,
' This is my lord of Canterbury's own hand.' To which
the bishops replied, ' Yes, Sir ; it is his own hand.'
But the king, having read it over, and then folding it up,
said thus, or to this effect :
King. This is a great surprise to me : here are strange
•words. I did not expect this from you ; especially from
some of you. This is a standard of rebellion.
St. Asaph, and some of the rest, replied, that they
had adventured their lives for his majesty, and would lose
the last drop of their blood, rather than lift up a finger
against him.
King. I tell you this is a standard of rebellion : I
never saw such an address.
Bristol, falling down on his knees, said, Rebellion J
Sir, I beseech you, do not say so hard a thing of us. For
God's sake, do not believe we are, or can be, guilty of
rebellion; it is impossible that I, or any of my family,
should be so. Your majesty cannot but remember that
you sent me down into Cornwall, to quell Montnouth's
rebellion ; and I am as ready to do what I can to quell
another, if there were occasion.
Chichest.fr. Sir, we have quelled one rebellion, and
will not raise another.
Ely. We rebel ! Sir, we are ready to die at your feet.
Bath and Wells. Sir, I hope you will give that liberty
to us, which you allow to all mankind.
Peterborough. Sir, you allow liberty of conscience to
all mankind : the reading this declaration is against our
conscience.
King. I will keep this paper. It is the strangest
address which I ever saw : it tends to rebellion. Do you
question my dispensing power ? Some of you here have
printed and preached for it, when it was for your pur-
pose.
Peterborough. Sir, what we say of the dispensing
power, refers only to what was declared in parliament.
King. The dispensing power was never questioned by
1 the men of the church of England.
On two other copies of the petition, one of which is in archbishop Sancroft's handwriting, are the following sub-
scriptions :— Approbo, II. London, May 23 ; William, Norwich, May 23; Robert, Gloucester, May 21 ; Scth, Sarurn,
May 26; P. Winchester: Tho. Exon, May 29.— Silver's Clarendon Con- ii. 47b\
472
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
sioners. They did not think fit to cite the archbishop and bishops before them : for they did
not doubt they would plead to their jurisdiction, and refuse to acknowledge their authority ;
which they hoped their chancellors, and the inferior clergy, would not venture on.
I know not what to say to you,' &c. The lord chancellor
said, ' Withdraw.' After about half a quarter of an hour,
they were called in again. Then the lord chancellor said,
' His majesty has commanded me to require you to
answer this question : Whether these be your hands that
are set to this petition ? ' His majesty himself also said,
' I command you to answer this question.' Then the
archbishop took the petition, and, having read it over, said,
' I own that I wrote this petition, and that this is my
hand.' Then the lord chancellor asked each of the
bishops ; and they all acknowledged their hands, and that
they delivered this petition. Then they were commanded
to withdraw. After a while, they were called in a third
time. Then the lord chancellor told them, ' It is his
majesty's pleasure to have you proceeded against for this
petition : but it shall be with all fairness at Westminster
HalL There will be an information against you, which
you are to answer; and in order to that, you are to enter
into a recognisance.' The archbishop said, ' that without
a recognisance they should be ready to appear, and to
answer, whenever they were called.' One of the bishops
said, the lord Lovelace had been called before the council,
to answer to a complaint that was brought against him,
and that he was allowed to answer it in Westminster
Hall, without entering into any recognisance ; and that
they hoped they might be allowed to answer in like man-
ner. The lord chancellor said, ' the lord Lovelace had
affronted hi.s majesty, and behaved himself very rudely
before them ; and, therefore, his majesty would have him
proceeded against in the common way ; but, for the
bishops there present, his majesty was pleased to treat
them with all favour in respect of their character ; and
therefore he would have them enter into a recognisance.'
His majesty was pleased to say, ' I offer you this as a
favour, and I would not have you refuse it.' St. Asaph
said, ' Whatsoever favour your majesty vouchsafes to
offer to any person, you are pleased to leave it to him
whether he will accept it or no ; and you do not expect he
should accept it to his own prejudice. We conceive that
this entering into recognisance may be prejudicial to us ;
and, therefore, we hope your majesty will not be offended
at our declining it.' Then the lord chancellor said,
1 There are but three ways to proceed -in matters of this
kind : it must be either by commitment, or by recogni-
sance, or by subpoena out of the king's bench. His
majesty was not willing to take the common way in pro-
ceeding against you, but he would give you leave to enter
into recognisance ;' and his lordship again advised them
to accept it. Some of the bishops said, they were in-
formed that no man was obliged to enter into recognisance,
unless there were special matter against him, and that
there was an oath of it made against that person. This
they said, not considering that now the petition was made
special matter, and that their confessing it was as good
as an oath. But at last they insisted on this, that there
was no precedent for it, that any member of the house of
peers should be bound in recognisance for misdemeanour.
The lord chancellor said there were precedents for it ; but,
being desired to name one, he named none. The bishops
desired to be proceeded against the common way ; but
that was not allowed, and they were a third time com-
manded to withdraw.
" A while after, they were called in the fourth time,
and asked, whether they had considered of it better ? and
whether they would accept of his majesty's favour ? The
archbishop said, he had the advice of the best counsel in
to an, and they warned him of this, assuring him it would
be to his prejudice ; and therefore he desired that it might
not be required, offering his promise again to appear and
to answer, whensoever he should be called. But his
majesty seemed to be displeased, and said, ' You will
believe others before you will believe me.' So they were
the fourth time commanded to withdraw.
" A good while after this, the earl of Berkely came
forth to the bishops, and endeavoured first to persuade the
archbishop to enter into recognisance, which he thought
had been agreed between them over-night ; for on Thurs-
day night, almost at bed-time, his lordship came to the
archbishop at Lambeth, and, after half an hour's discourse,
at last came to speak of his appearing at council the next
day, and then advised his grace to offer a recognisance.
His grace said, 'I am advised to that way.' His lord-
ship said, ' That is well ;' and soon after took his leave.
Now he seemed to look upon it as something strange,
that his grace should refuse to enter into recognisance ;
but finding him fixed, he endeavoured to persuade the
other bishops. He told them he would do it, if lie were
in their case ; but finding them all of a mind, he went
outward from the council, bu; soon after returned that
way into the council chamber again ; from whence, about
half an hour after, came forth Mr. Riley, a serjeant-at-
arms, with the warrant, signed with fifteen hands, to carry
the seven bishops to the Tower; and another warrant,
with nineteen hands and seals, for the lieutenant of the
Tower to keep them in safe custody." — Singer's Claren-
don Corr. ii. 481.
Dialogue between the King and Bishops, after the
third or fourth coming in.
A. Sir, we appear before you this day, by virtue of
your summons, as criminals ; the first time that ever I
itood as a criminal before any man, and I am sorry that it
happens to be before my sovereign-lord. We are advised,
Sir, that they, who are in this condition of criminals, are
not obliged to answer to any questions which may be to
their prejudice ; notwithstanding, if your majesty requires
it of us, we will tell you the true matter of fact, trusting
in your majesty's justice and generosity, that no advan-
tage shall be taken against us from our confession.
Q. Is this your petition ?
R. Pray, Sir, give us leave to see it ; and if, upon
perusal, it appears to be the same yes, Sir, this is our
petition, and these are our subscriptions.
Q. Who were present at the forming of it?
R. All who have subscribed it.
Q. Were no other persons present ?
R. It is our great infelicity that we are here as crimi-
nals; and your majesty is so just and generous that you
will not require us to accuse either ourselves or others.
Q. Upon what occasion came you to London ?
R. I received an intimation from the archbishop, that
my advice and assistance was required in the affairs of the
church.
Q. What were the affairs which you consulted of?
R. The matter of the petition.
Q. What is the temper you are ready to come to with
the dissenters ?
R. We refer ourselves to the petition.
Q. What mean you by the dispensing power being de-
clared illegal in parliament?
R. The words are so plain that we cannot use any
plainer.
Q. What want of prudence or honour is there in obey-
ing the king?
OF KING JAMES II.
473
Citations were sent out requiring the chancellors and archdeacons to send in the lists of all
the clergy, both of such as had obeyed, and of those who had not obeyed the order of council.
Some of these were now so much animated, with the sense that the nation had expressed
of the bishops' imprisonment and trial, that they declared they would not obey this order :
and others excused themselves in softer terms. When the day came to which they were
cited, the bishop of Rochester, though he himself had obeyed the order, and had hitherto
gone along, sitting with the other commissioners, but had always voted on the milder side,
yet now, when he saw matters were running so fast to the ruin of the church, he not only
would sit no longer with them, but wrote a letter to them ; in which he said, it w\as impos-
sible for him to go on with them any longer, for though he himself had obeyed the order of
council, which he protested he did because he thought he was bound in conscience to do it,
yet he did not doubt but that those who had not obeyed it had gone upon the same prin-
ciple of following their conscience, and he would much rather choose to suffer with them,
than to concur in making them suffer. This stopped proceedings for that day, arid put
the court to a stand. So they adjourned themselves till December, and they never sat
any more.
This was the progress of that transaction, which was considered all Europe over as the
R. What is against conscience is against prudence and
honour too, especially in persons of our character.
Q. Why is it against conscience ?
R. Because our consciences oblige us (as far as we are
able) to preserve our laws and religion according to the
Reformation.
Q. Is the dispensing power then against law ?
R. We refer ourselves to the petition.
Q. How could the distributing and reading the declara-
ion make you parties to it ?
R. We refer ourselves to our petition, whether the
ommon and reasonable construction of mankind would
iot make it so.
Q. Did you disperse a printed letter in the country,
>r otherwise dissuade any of the clergy from reading it?
R. If this be one of the articles of misdemeanour
igainst us we desire to answer it with the rest.
General. We acknowledge the petition : we are sum-
moned to appear here to answer such matters of misde-
meanour as shall be objected ; we therefore humbly
lesirc a copy of our charge, and that time convenient may
>c allowed us to advise about it, and answer it. We are
icre in obedience to his majesty's command, to receive
•ur charge, but humbly desire we may be excused from
inswering questions, from whence occasion may be taken
igainst us. — Singer's Clarendon Corr. ii. 483.
Henry, earl of Clarendon, in his Diary, May 18, 1688,
>ays, " In the evening, the bishops, six in number, pre-
sented a petition to the king, praying that his majesty
•vould recall his proclamation for reading the Proclama-
tion of Indulgence in the churches. It was written with
'he archbishop's own hand, and signed by himself and the
Hher six. The king took them into the room within the
l>ed-chatnber ; when he had read the petition, he was
mgry, and said, he did not expect such a petition from
hern. This the bishop of St. Asaph told me when he
•ame home."
So angry was James, that the next day he appears to
aave sent for all the judges to Whitehall, to consult them
"pon this episcopal offence. — (Singer's Clarendon Corr. ii.
1 72.) On the 28th, Lord Sunderland sent a summons
to them to appear before the king in council, on the 8th
'f June, to answer to such matters of misdemeanour
•is should be then objected against them (Ibid. 173.)
'lie. king was informed that lord Clarendon had been
1 resent when the bishops' petition was drawn up at Lam-
letlv; and this is not at all improbable, since he mentions
i-i his diary that he had frequent conferences subsequently
vith them, at his own house. On the 8th of June they
appeared before the council, and were called upon to enter
into recognizances to appear in the court of King's Bench
on the first day of the following term ; and, upon refusing,
they were committed to the Tower : and the attorney-
general was ordered to prefer an information against them.
On the following day, lord Clarendon relates that " mul-
titudes of people went to the Tower to the bishops/'
The lord chancellor (Jeffreys) told lord Clarendon that
he regretted very much that the king had been induced to
proceed with the prosecution of the bishops, which at one
time he had declined ; " some men (he added) would hurry
the king to his destruction."
On the 15th of June the attorney-general moved to
have the bishops brought to the bar of the court of King's
Bench. " Both the hall and palace yard were extremely
crowded : all the way, as the bishops came from the
bridge, where they landed, to the very court, the people
made a lane for them, and begged their blessings. When
they were in court, the information against them was read.
The bishops'1 counsel offered several pleas, but they were
all overruled ; judge Powell dissenting from his brethren
on every point. At last they pleaded the general issue ;
and so their trials were appointed to be this day fortnight.
The court took their own recognizances to appear then,
the archbishop in 200/., the rest in 100/. each ; and so
they went home ; the people in like manner crowding for
their blessing. As I was taking coach in the little Palace-
yard, I found the bishop of St. Asaph in the midst of a
crowd, the people thinking it a blessing to kiss any of
these bishops' hands, or garments.'' — Ibid. 177.
On the 21st the chancellor had introduced to the king,
Sir Samuel Astry ; and, as he was to strike the jury, it
was immediately reported it was for foul play against the
bishops. — (Ib. 178.) According to the same authority,
sir Robert Clarke had been very busy at sir Samuel Astry 'a
about the jury. This was not portentous of good, and
the chance of justice being administered, was still farther
diminished, if, as the lord chancellor told lord Clarendon,
the judges were " most of them rogues." — Ib. 179.)
On the 29th they were brought to trial ; the proceedings
lasted from nine in the morning until aft.tr six in the
evening. " When the jury withdrew, the court adjourned
until ten the next morning ; and at that time, the jury,
(sir Roger Langley, foreman) brought ii» their verdict
" not guilty ;" upon which there was a most wonderful
shout, that one would have thought the hall had cracked,
insomuch that the court took notice of it. In the even-
ing multitudes of bonfires were made to celebrate the
acquittal.1'
474 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
trial, whether the king or the church were like to prevail. The decision was as favourable
as was possible. The king did assume to himself a power to make laws void, and to qualify
men for employments, whom the law had put under such incapacities, that all they did was
null and void. The sheriffs and mayors of towns were no legal officers ; judges (one of
them being a professed papist, Alibon,) who took not the test, were no judges : so that the
government, and the legal administration of it, was broken. A parliament returned by such
men was no legal parliament. All this was done by virtue of the dispensing power, which
changed the whole frame of our government, and subjected all the laws to the king's
pleasure ; for, upon the same pretence of that power, other declarations might have
come out, voiding any other laws that the court found stood in their way ; since we had
scarce any law that was fortified with such clauses, to force the execution of it, as those tliat
were laid aside had in them. And when the king pretended that this was such a sacred point
of government, that a petition, offered in the modestest terms, and in the humblest manner
possible, calling it in question, was made so great a crime, and carried so far against men of
such eminence ; this. I confess, satisfied me, that here was a total destruction of our consti-
tution, avowedly begun, and violently prosecuted. Here was not jealousies, nor fears ; the thing
was open and avowed. This was not a single act of illegal violence, but a declared design
against the whole of our constitution. It was not only the judgment of a court of law : the
king had now by two public acts of state, renewed in two successive years, openly published
his design. This appeared such a total subversion, that, according to the principles, that
some of the highest assertors of submission and obedience, Barklay and Grotius, had laid
down, it was now lawful for the nation to look to itself, and see to its own preservation.
And, as soon as any man was convinced that this was lawful, there remained nothing but to
look to the prince of Orange, who was the only person that either could save them, or had a
right to it : since by all the laws in the world, even private as well as public, he that has in
him the reversion of any estate, has a right to hinder the possessor, if he goes about to
destroy that, which is to come to him after the possessor's death.
Upon all this disorder that England was falling into, admiral Russel came to the Hague.
He had a good pretence for coming over to Holland, for he had a sister then living in it.
He was desired by many of great power and interest in England to speak very freely to the
prince, and to know positively of him what might be expected from him. All people were
now in a gaze : those who had little or no religion had no mind to turn papists, if they could
see any probable way of resisting the fury with which the court was now driving ; but men
of fortune, if they saw no visible prospect, would be governed by their present interest :
they were at present united ; but, if a breaking should once happen, and some men of figure
should be prevailed on to change, that might go far ; especially in a corrupt and dissolute
army, that was as it were let loose to commit crimes and violences every where, in which
they were rather encouraged than punished ; for it seemed to be set up as a maxim, that the
army by rendering itself odious to the nation would become thereby entirely devoted to the
court : but after all, though soldiers were bad Englishmen and worse Christians, yet the court
found them too good protestants to trust much to them. So Russel put the prince to explain
himself what he intended to do.
The prince answered, that, if he was invited by some men of the best interest, and the
most valued in the nation, who should, both in their own name and in the name of others
who trusted them, invite him to come and rescue the nation and the religion, he believed he
could be ready by the end of September to come over. The main confidence we had was in
the electoral prince of Brandenburg ; for the old elector was then dying. And I told Russel
at parting, that, unless he died, there would be great difficulties, not easily mastered, in the
design of the prince's expedition to England.
He was then ill of a dropsy, which, coming after a gout of a long continuance, seemed to
threaten a speedy end of his life. I had the honour to see him at Cleves ; and was admitted
to two long audiences, in which he was pleased to speak to me with great freedom. He was
a prince of great courage. He both understood military matters well, and loved them much.
He had a very perfect view of the state Europe had been in for fifty years, in which he had
borne a great share in all affairs, having directed his own counsels himself. He had a won-
OF KING JAMES II.
.erful memory, even in the smallest matters ; for every thing passed under his eye. He had
a quick apprehension, and a choleric temper. The heat of his spirits was apt to kindle too
quick, till his interest cooled him ; and that fetched him back, which brought him under the
censure of changing sides too soon, and too often. He was a very zealous man in all the
concerns of religion. His own life was regular, and free of all blemishes. He tried all that
was possible to bring the Lutherans, and Calvinists, to some terms of reconciliation. He
complained much of the rigidity of the Lutherans, more particularly of those in Prussia:
nor was he wrell pleased with the stiffness of the Calvinists : and he inveighed against the
synod of Dort, as that which had set all on fire, and made matters almost past reconciling.
He thought, all positive decisions in those matters ought to be laid aside by both parties,
without which nothing could bring them to a better temper.
He had a very splendid court ; and to maintain that, and his great armies, his subjects
were pressed hard by many uneasy taxes. He seemed not to have a just sense of the
miseries of his people. His ministers had great power over him in all lesser matters, while
he directed the greater ; and he suffered them to enrich themselves excessively.
In the end of his life the electoress had gained great credit, and governed his counsels too
much. He had set it up for a maxim, that the electoral families in Germany had weakened
themselves so much, that they would not be able to maintain the liberty of the empire
against the Austrian family, which was now rising by their victories in Hungary : the
houses of Saxe, and the Palatine, and of Brunswick, and Hesse, had done this so much, by
the dismembering some of their dominions to their younger children, that they were moulder-
ing to nothing ; he therefore resolved to keep all his dominions entire in one hand : tins
would make his family the balance to the house of Austria, on whom the rest of the empire
must depend : and he suffered his electoress to provide for her children, and to enrich herself
by all the ways she could think on, since he would not give them any share of his domi-
nions. This she did not fail to do. And the elector, having just cause of complaint for
being abandoned by the allies in the peace of Niinegucn, and so forced to restore what he
had got from the Swedes, the French upon that gave him a great pension, and made the elec-
toress such presents, that he was prevailed on to enter into their interests ; and in this he
made some ill steps in the decline of his life. But nothing could soften him with relation
to that court, after they broke the edict of Nantes, and began the persecution of the protest-
ants. He took great care of all the refugees. He set men on the frontier of France to
receive and defray them ; and gave them all the marks of Christian compassion, and of a
bounty becoming so great a prince. But his age and infirmities, he being crippled with the
gout, and the ill understanding that was between the prince electoral arid electoress, had so
disjointed his court, that little was to be expected from him.
Death came upon him quicker than wras looked for. He received the intimations of it
with the firmness that became both a Christian and a hero. He gave his last advices to his
son, and to his ministers, with a greatness and a tenderness that both surprised and melted
them all : and above all other things he recommended to them the concerns of the protestant
religion, then in such an universal danger. His son had not his genius. He had not a
strength of body, nor a force of mind, capable of great matters. But he was filled with zeal
for the reformed religion ; and he was at that time so entirely possessed with a confidence
I in the prince of Orange, and with a high esteem of him, as he was his cousin-german, that
vve had a much better prospect of all our affairs, by his succeeding his father. And this
was increased by the great credit that Dankelman, who had been his governor, continued to
lave with him ; for he had true notions of the affairs of Europe, and was a zealous pro-
sestant, and was likely to prove a very good minister, though he was too absolute in his
tavour, and was too much set on raising his own family. All at the Hague were looking
with great concern on the affairs of Europe; these being, in many respects, and in many
different places, brought to a very critical state.
I must now look back to England, where the queen's delivery was the subject of all men's
discourse. And since so much depends on this, I will give as full and as distinct an account
I 'f all that related to that matter, as I could gather up either at that time or afterwards.
The queen had been for six or seven years in such an ill state of health, that every Winter
470 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
brought her very near death. Those about her seemed well assured that she, who had
buried all her children, soon after they were born, and had now for several years ceased
bearing, would have no more children. Pier own priests apprehended it, and seemed to wish
for her death. She had great, and frequent distempers, that returned often, which put all
people out of their hopes, or fears, of her having any children. Her spirits were now much
on the fret. She was eager in the prosecution of all the king's designs. It was believed
that she had a main hand in driving him to them all. And he, perhaps to make her gentler
to him in his vagrant amours, was more easy to her in every thing else. The lady Dorches-
ter was come back from Ireland ; and the king went often to her. But it was visible, she
was not likely to gain that credit in affairs to which she had aspired ; and therefore this was
less considered.
She had another mortification, when Fitz-James, the king's son, was made duke of Ber-
wick *. He was a soft and harmless young man, and was much beloved by the king : but
the queen's dislike kept him from ma,king any great figure. He made two campaigns in
Hungary, that were little to his honour ; for, as his governor diverted the allowance that was
given for keeping a table, and sent him always to eat at other tables, so, though in the siege
of Buda there were many occasions given him to have distinguished himself, yet he had
appeared in none of them. There was more care taken of his person than became his age
and condition : yet his governor's brother was a Jesuit, and in the secret; so every thing was
ventured on by him, and all was forgiven him.
In September, the former year, the queen went to the Bath, where, as was already told,
the king came and saw her, and stayed a few days with her. She after that pursued a full
course of bathing : and, having resolved to return in the end of September, an accident took
her to which the sex is subject ; and that made her stay there a week longer. She came to
Windsor on the sixth of October. It was said, that, at the very time of her coming to the
king, her mother, the duchess of Modem, made a vow to the lady Loretto, that her daughter
might by her means have a son. And it went current, that the queen believed herself to be
with child in that very instant, in which her mother made her vow ; of which, some travellers
have assured me, there was a solemn record made at Loretto f . A conception said to be
thus begun looked suspicious. It was now fixed to the sixth of October ; so the nine months
were to run to the sixth of July. She was in the progress of her big belly let blood several
times ; and the most astringent things that could be proposed were used.
It was soon observed that all things about her person were managed with a mysterious
secrecy, into which none were admitted but a few papists. She was not dressed, nor
undressed, with the usual ceremony. Prince George told me, that the princess went as far
in desiring to be satisfied by feeling the motion, after she said she was quick, as she could go
without breaking with her ; and she had sometimes stayed by her even indecently long in
mornings, to see her rise, and to give her her shift ; but she never did either. She never
offered any satisfaction in that matter by letter to the princess of Orange, nor to any of the
ladies of quality, in whose word the world would have acquiesced. The thing upon this
began to be suspected ; and some libels were written, treating the whole as an imposture.
The use the queen made of this was, to say, that since she saw some were suspecting her as
capable of so black a contrivance, she scorned to satisfy those who could entertain such
thoughts of her. How just soever this might be with relation to the libellers, yet certainly,
if she was truly with child, she owed it to the king and herself, to the king's daughters, but
most of all to the infant she carried in her belly, to give such reasonable satisfaction, as might
put an end to jealousy. This was in her power to do every day ; and her not doing it gave
just grounds of suspicion.
Things went thus on till Monday in Easter week. On that day the king went to Roches-
ter, to see some of the naval preparations ; but was soon sent for by the queen, who appre-
hended she was in danger of miscarrying. Dr. Scarborough was come to Knightsbridge to
see bishop Ward, my predecessor, who had been his ancient friend, and was then his patient :
but the queen's coach was sent to call him in all haste, since she was near miscarrying.
* This was the king's illegitimate son by Arabella, sister to the lord Churchill,
f See an account of this affair in Misson's Voyage d'ltalie, i. 314.
OF KING JAMES II. 477
Dr. Windebank, who knew nothing of this matter, stayed long that morning upon an
appointment for Dr. Wallgrave, another of the queen's physicians, who the next time he saw
him excused himself; for the queen, he said, was then under the most apparent signs of mis-
carrying. Of this the doctor made oath ; and it is yet extant.
On the same day the countess of Clarendon, being to go out of town for a few days, came
to see the queen before she went, knowing nothing of what had happened to her : and she,
being a lady of the bedchamber to queen dowager, did, according to the rule of the court, go
into the queen's bedchamber without asking admittance. She saw the queen abed, bemoan-
ing herself in a most doleful manner, saying often, "Undone, undone:" and one that
belonged to her carried somewhat out of the bed, which she believed was linen taken from
the queen. She was upon this in some confusion ; and the countess of Powis coming in,
went to her, and said with some sharpness, what do you here ? And carried her to the door.
Before she had got out of the court, one of the bedchamber women followed her, and charged
her not to speak of any thing she had seen that day. This matter, whatever was in it, was
hushed up ; and the queen held on her course.
The princess had miscarried in the spring ; so as soon as she had recovered her strength,
the king pressed her to go to the Bath, since that had so good an effect on the queen. Some
of her physicians, and all her other friends, were against her going. Lowen, one of her phy-
sicians, told me, he was against it : he thought she was not strong enough for the Bath,
though the king pressed it with an unusual vehemence. Millington, another physician, told
the earl of Shrewsbury, from whom I had it, that he was pressed to go to the princess, and
advise her to go to the Bath. The person that spoke to him told him, the king was much
set on it, and that he expected it of him, that he would persuade her to it. Millington
answered, he would not advise a patient according to direction, but according to his own
reason ; so he would not go. Scarborough and Witherly took it upon them to advise it ; so
she went thither in the end of May.
As soon as she was gone, those about the queen did all of the sudden change her reckoning,
ind began it from the king's being with her at Bath. This came on so quick, that, though the
queen had set the fourteenth of June for her going to Windsor, where she intended to
ie in, and all the preparations for the birth and for the child were ordered to be made ready
jy the end of June, yet now a resolution was taken for the queen's lying in at St. James's ;
ind directions were given to have all things quickly ready. The Bath water either did not
igree with the princess, or the advices of her friends were so pressing, wrho thought her
ibsence from the court at that time of such consequence, that in compliance with them she
gave it out, it did not, and that therefore she would return in a few days.
The day after the court had this notice, the queen said, she would go to St. James's, and
look for the good hour. She was often told, that it was impossible upon so short a warning
to have things ready. But she was so positive, that she said, she would lie there that night,
though she should lie upon the boards. And at night, though the shorter and quicker way
was to go from Whitehall to St. James's through the Park, and she always went that way ;
yet now, by a sort of affectation, she would be carried thither by Charing Cross through the
Pall Mall. And it was given out by all her train, that she was going to be delivered.
Some said it would be next morning ; and the priests said very confidently, that it would
be a boy.
The next morning, about nine o'clock, she sent word to the king, that she was in labour.
The queen dowager was next sent to ; but no ladies were sent for : so that no women were in
the room, but two dressers and one undresser, and the midwife. The earl of Arran sent notice
to the countess of Sunderland ; so she came. The lady Bellasis came also in time. The
protestant ladies that belonged to the court, were all gone to church before the news was let
£0 abroad ; for it happened on Trinity Sunday, it being that year on the tenth of June. The
king brought over with him from Whitehall a great many peers and privy councillors ; and
<>f these eighteen were let into the bedchamber; but they stood at the furthest end of the
room. The ladies stood within the alcove. The curtains of the bed were drawn close, and
none came within them but the midwife and an under dresser. The queen lay all the while
abed ; and, in order to the warming one side of it, a warming-pan was brought : but it was
478 THE HISTORY OF f gji R£IJN
not opened, that it might be seen that there was fire and nothing else in it ; so here was
matter for suspicion, with which all people were filled.
A little before ten, the queen cried out as in a strong pain, and immediately after the
midwife said aloud, she was happily brought to bed. When the lords all cried out of what,
the midwife answered, the queen must not be surprised ; only she gave a sign to the countess
of Sunderland, who upon that touched her forehead, by which, it being the sign before agreed
on, the king said he knew it was a boy. No cries were heard from the child ; nor was it
shewn to those in the room. It was pretended more air was necessary. The under dresser
went out with the child, or something else, in her arms to a dressing room, to which there
was a door near the queen's bed ; but there was another entry to it from other apartments.
The king continued with the lords in the bedchamber for some minutes, which was either a
sign of much phlegm upon such an occasion ; for it was not known whether the child was
alive or dead ; or it looked like the giving time for some management. After a little while
they went all into the dressing-room ; and then the news was published. In the mean while,
nobody was called to lay their hands on the queen's belly, in order to a full satisfaction.
When the princess came to town three days after, she had as little satisfaction given her.
Chamberlain, the man-midwife, who was always ordered to attend her labour before, and who
brought the plaisters for putting back the milk, wondered that he had not been sent to. He
went according to custom with the plaisters ; but he was told they had no occasion for him.
He fancied, that some other person was put in his place ; but he could not find that any had it.
All that concerned the milk, or the queen's purgations, was managed still in the dark. This
made all people inclined more and more to believe, there was a base imposture now put on
the nation. That still increased. That night one Hemings, a very worthy man, an apothe-
cary by his trade, who lived in St. Martin's Lane, the very next door to a family of an emi-
nent papist ; (Brown, brother to the viscount Montacute, lived there :) the wall between his
parlour and theirs being so thin, that he could easily hear any thing that was said with a
louder voice, he (Hemings) was reading in his parlour late at night, when he heard one
coming into the neighbouring parlour, and say with a doleful voice, " The prince of Wales is
dead :" upon which a great many that lived in the house came down stairs very quick : upon
this confusion he could not hear any thing more ; but it was plain, they were in a great con-
sternation. He went with the news next morning to the bishops in the Tower. The
countess of Clarendon came thither soon after, and told them, she had been at the young
princess door, but was denied access : she was amazed at it ; and asked, if they knew her.
They said they did, but that the queen had ordered, that no person whatsoever should be
suffered to come in to him. This gave credit to Hemings' story, and looked as if all was
ordered to be kept shut up close, till another child was found. One, that saw the child
two days after, said to me, that he looked strong, and not like a child so newly born. Win-
debank met Walgrave the day after this birth, and remembered him of what he had told
him eight weeks before. He acknowledged what he had said, but added, that God wrought
miracles ; to which no reply could, or durst be made by the other : it needed none. So
healthy a child being so little like any of those the queen had borne, it was given out that
he had fits, and could not live. But those who saw him every day observed no such thing.
On the contrary, the child was in a very prosperous state. None of those fits ever happened
when the princess was at court ; for she could not be denied admittance, though all others
were. So this was believed to be given out to make the matter more credible. It is true,
some weeks after that, the court being gone to Windsor, and the child sent to Richmond, he
fell into such fits, that four physicians were sent for. They all looked on him as a dying
child. The king and queen were sent for. The physicians went to a dinner prepared for
them ; and were often wondering that they were not called for. They took it for granted,
that the child was dead ; but when they went in after dinner to look on him, they saw a
sound healthy child, that seemed to have had no sort of illness on him. It was said, that
the child was strangely revived of a sudden. Some of the physicians told Lloyd, bishop of
St. Asaph, that it was not possible for them to think it was the same child. They looked on
one another, but durst not speak what they thought.
Thus I have related such particulars as 1 could gather of this birth ; to which some more
OF KING JAMES II. 470
shall be added, when I give an account of the proof that the king brought afterwards to put
this matter out of doubt ; but by which it became indeed more doubtful than ever. I took
most of these from the informations that were sent over to the prince and princess of Orange,
as I had many from the vouchers themselves. I do not mix with these the various reports
that were, both then and afterwards, spread of this matter, of which bishop Lloyd has a
great collection, most of them well attested. "What truth soever may be in these, this is
certain, that the method in which this matter was conducted, from first to last, was very
unaccountable. If an imposture had been intended, it could not have been otherwise
managed. The pretended excuse that the queen made, that she owed no satisfaction to
those who could suspect her capable of such base forgery, was the only excuse that she could
have made, if it had been really what it was commonly said to be. She seemed to be soon
recovered, and was so little altered by her labour, either in her looks or voice, that this helped
not a little to increase jealousies. The rejoicings over England upon this birth were very cold
and forced. Bonfires were made in some places, and a set of congratulatory addresses
went round the nation. None durst oppose them ; but all was formal, and only to make
a shew *.
The prince and princess of Orange received the news of this birth very decently. The first
letters gave not those grounds of suspicion that were sent to them afterwards ; so they sent
over Zuylestein to congratulate : and the princess ordered the prince of Wales to be prayed
for in her chapel. Upon this occasion, it may not be improper to set down what the princess
aid to myself on this subject two years before. I had asked her, in the freedom of much
discourse, if she knew the temper of her own inind, and how she could bear the queen's
aving a son. She said, she was sure it would give her no concern at all on her own account ;
Grod knew best what was fit for her ; and, if it was not to serve the great ends of Providence,
he was sure that, as to herself, she would rather wish to live and die in the condition she
vas then in. The advertisements formerly mentioned came over from so many hands, that
t was impossible not to be shaken by them. It was also taken ill in England, that the
princess should have begun so early to pray for the pretended prince ; upon which the
laming him discontinued. But this was so highly resented by the court of England, that
he prince, fearing it might precipitate a rupture, ordered him to be again named in the
)rayers.
The prince set himself with great application to prepare for the intended expedition ; for
Zuylestein brought him such positive advices, and such an assurance of the invitation he
lad desired, that he was fully fixed in his purpose. It was advised from England, that the
>rince could never hope for a more favourable conjuncture, nor for better grounds to break
>a, than he had at that time. The whole nation was in a high fermentation. The proceed-
ngs against the bishops, and those that were &till kept on foot against the clergy, made all
>eople think the ruin of the church was resolved on, and that on the first occasion it would
>e executed, and that the religion would be altered. The pretended birth made them reckon
* However interest and party prejudice at the time When the lords of the council waited upon the princess
iiay have influenced Burnet and others to suspect the with the depositions made before them by the king, and
ruth of the birth of prince James Francis Edward, better the queen-dowager, she avoided expressing any concur-
;nown by the political epithet of "the Pretender," few rence, but merely observed, " My lords, this was not
icrsous who will take the trouble to compare the con- necessary; for I have so much duty for the king, that his
flictirig statements that were published then, and subse- word must be more to me than these depositions.'' —
luently, will think there is any circumstantial evidence Singer's Clarendon Corr. ii. 198,199.
• Idueed that at all shakes the direct testimony that be Circumstantial evidence is certainly strong to justify
\vas the offspring of the queen. Lord Clarendon says tliat the suspicions that were entertained ; but all such evidence
• was " every where ridiculed, as if scarce any one will bear two interpretations, and that which is in accord-
1 licvcd" the queen was pregnant; yet that popular ance with direct testimony must prevail. The queen's
'•ejudice that she was incapable of child-bearing is refuted repugnance to be inspected is readily accounted for with-
•v tlie fact that she subsequently gave birth to a princess out having recourse to the explanation that she was carry-
n 1C 92, during her exile in France. Princess Anne evi- ing on a deception. Full particulars relative to this much-
lently doubted the assertion that the pretender was really disputed point can be obtained from the mtmcroua
!'.e offspring of the queen. The latter, during her preg- pamphlets of the time, the names of which can be found
may, carefully avoided letting the princess or any but her by a reference to Watt's BibliothecaBritannica. See espe-
nimediate attendants have an opportunity to see her per- cially, " The several Declarations, &c. concerning the Birth
'>, which, considering the reports about her non-preg- of the Prince of Wales ;" "A full answer to the Deposi-
-V, was very injudicious. tions, &c." Life of J. Kettlewall ; Dalrymple's Memoirs.
480 THE HISTOET OF THE BEIGrN
that popery and slavery would be entailed on the nation. And, if this heat went off, people
would lose heart. It was also visible, that the army continued well affected. They spoke
openly against popery ; they drank the most reproachful healths against them that could be
invented, and treated the few papists that were among them with scorn and aversion. The
king saw this so visibly, that he broke up the camp, and sent them to their quarters ; and it
was believed, that he would bring them no more together till they were modelled more to
his mind. The seamen shewed the same inclinations. The Dutch had set out a fleet of
twenty-four men of war, on pretence to secure their trade : so the king resolved to set out
as strong a fleet. Strickland, who was a papist, had the command. He brought some priests
aboard witli him, who said mass, or at least performed such offices of 'their religion as are
allowed in ships of war : and the chaplain, that was to serve the protestants in Strickland's
ship, was sent away upon a slight pretence. This put the whole fleet into such a disorder,
that it was likely to end in a mutiny. Strickland punished some for this ; and the king came
down to accommodate the matter. He spoke very softly to the searnen ; yet this made no
great impression ; for they hated popery in general, and Strickland in particular. When
some gained persons among the seamen tried their affections to the Dutch, it appeared they
had no inclinations to make war on them. They said aloud, they were their friends and
their brethren ; but they would very willingly go against the French. The king saw all this,
and was resolved to take other more moderate measures.
These advices were suggested by the earl of Sunderland, who saw the king was running
violently to his own ruin. So, as soon as the queen admitted men to audiences, he had some
very long ones of her. He represented to her, that the state of her affairs was quite
changed by her having a son. There was no need of driving things fast, now they had a
succession sure : time would bring all about, if matters were but softly managed. He told
her, it would become her to set up for the author of gentle counsels, that she might by
another administration lay the flame that was now kindled. By this she would gain the
hearts of the nation, both to herself and to her son : she might be declared regent, in case
the king should die before her son came to be of age. He found these advices began to be
hearkened to ; but, that he might have the more credit in pressing them, he, who had but
too slight notions of religion, resolved to declare himself a papist. And then, he, being in
the same interest with her, and most violently hated for this ill step he had made, gained
«uch an ascendant over her spirit, that things were likely to be put in another manage-
ment.
He made the step to popery all on the sudden, without any previous instruction or con-
ference ; so that the change he made looked too like a man who, having no religion, took up
one, rather to serve a turn, than that he was truly changed from one religion to another.
He has since been accused, as if he had done all this to gain the more credit, that so he
might the more effectually ruin the king. There was a suspicion of another nature, that
stuck with some in England, who thought that Mr. Sidney, who had the secret of all the
correspondence that was between the prince, and his party in England, being in particular :
friendship with the earl of Sunderland, the earl had got into that secret ; and they fancied
he would get into the prince's confidence by Sidney's means. So I was written to, and
desired to put it home to the prince, whether he was in any confidence or correspondence |
with the earl of Sunderland, or not ? For, till they were satisfied in that matter, they would j
not go on ; since they believed he would betray all, when things were ripe for it, and that
many were engaged in the design. The prince upon that did say very positively, that he
was in no sort of correspondence with him. His counsels lay then another way ; and, if
time had been given him to follow the scheme then laid down by him, things might have
turned fatally ; and the nation might have been so laid asleep with new promises, and a '
different conduct, that in a slow method they might have gained that, which they were so I
near losing, by the violent proceedings in which they had gone so far. The judges had
orders in their circuits to proceed very gently, and to give new promises in the king's name. ,
But they were treated every where with such contempt, that the common decencies were (
scarce paid them, when they were on the bench. And they now saw that the presentments j
of grand juries, and the verdicts of other juries, were no more under their direction. Things j
OF KING JAMES II. 481
slept in England, as is usual, during the long vacation. But the court had little quiet,
Laving every day fresh alarms from abroad, as well as great mortifications at home.
I must now change the scene, and give a large account of the affairs abroad, they having
such a connection with all that followed in England. Upon the elector of Brandenburg's
death, the prince sent Mr. Bentinck with the compliment to the new elector ; and he was
ordered to 'ay before him the state of affairs, and to communicate the prince's design to him,
and to ask him, how much he might depend upon him for his assistance. The answer was
full and frank, lie offered all that was asked, and more. The prince resolved to carry over
toEnglmd an army of nine thousand foot, and four thousand horse and dragoons, lie
intended to choose these out of the whole Dutch army. But for the security of the States,
under such a diminution of their force, it was necessary to have a strength from some other
princes. This was soon concerted between the prince and the new elector, with the land-
grave of Hesse, and the duke of Lunenberg and Zell, who had a particular affection to the
prince, and was a cordial friend to him on all occasions.
His brother, the duke of Hanover, was at that time in some engagements with the court
of France. But, since he had married the princess Sophia of the Palatine House, I ventured
to send a message to her by one of their court, who was then at the Hague. He was a
French refugee, named Mr. Boucour. It was to acquaint her with our design with relation
to England, and to let her know, that, if we succeeded, certainly a perpetual exclusion of all
papists from the succession to the crown would be enacted ; and, since she was the next
protcstant heir after the two princesses, and the prince of Orange, of whom at that time
there was no issue alive, I was very confident, that, if the duke of Hanover could be disen-
gaged from the interests of France, so that he came into our interests, the succession to the
crown would be lodged in her person, and in her posterity ; though on the other hand, if he
continued, as he stood then, engaged with France, I could not answer for this. The gentle-
man carried the message, and delivered it. The duchess entertained it with much warmth,
and brought him to the duke to repeat it to him. But at that time this made no great
impression on him. He looked on it as a remote and a doubtful project ; yet when he saw
our success in England, he had other thoughts of it. Some days after this Frenchman was
gone, I told the prince what I had done. He approved of it heartily; but was particularly
glad, that I had done at, as of myself, without communicating it to him, or any way
engaging him in it : for he said, if it should happen to be known that the proposition was made
by him, it might do us hurt in England, as if he had already reckoned himself so far master,
is to be forming projects concerning the succession to the crown.
But while this was in a secret management, the elector of Cologne's death came in very
luckily to give a good colour to intrigues and preparations. The old elector was brother to
Maximilian, duke of Bavaria. He had been long bishop, both of Cologne and Liege : he was
ilso elected bishop of Munster : but the pope would never grant his bulls for that see ; but
lie had the temporalties, and that was all he thought on. He had thus a revenue of near
four millions of guilders, and four great bishoprics ; for he was likewise bishop of Hildesheim.
fie could arm and pay twenty thousand men, besides that his dominions lay quite round the
Netherlands. Munster lay between them and the northern parts of Germany ; and from
ihcnce their best recruits came. Cologne commanded twenty leagues of the Rhine ; by which,
as an entrance was opened into Holland, which they had felt severely in the year 1672, so
the Spanish Netherlands were entirely cut off from all assistance that might be sent them
out of Germany : and Liege was a country full both of people and wealth, by which an
• •ntrance is open into Brabant; and if Maestricht was taken, the Maese was open down to
Holland. So it was of great importance to the States to take care who should succeed him.
The old man was a weak prince, much set on chemical processes, in hopes of the philosopher's
^tone. He had taken one of the princes of Furstenberg into his particular confidence, and
| was entirely governed by him. He made him one of the canons of Cologne; and he came
I' o be dean at last. He made him not only his chief minister, but left the nomination of
he canons that were preferred by him wholly to his choice. The bishop, and the dean and
hapter, name those by turns. So, what by those the elector named on his motion, what by
bose he got to be chosen, he reckoned he was sure of succeeding the elector ; and nothing
1
482 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
but ill management could have prevented it. He had no hopes of succeeding at Minister,
but he had taken much pains to secure Liege.
1 need not enlarge further on this story than to remember that he got the elector to
deliver his country up to the French in the year 1672, and that the treaty opened at Cologne
was broken up on his being seized by the emperor's order. After he was set at liberty, he
was, upon the recommendation of the court of France, made a cardinal, though with much
difficulty. In the former winter, the emperor had been prevailed on by the Palatine family,
cO consent to the election of a coadjutor in Cologne. But this was an artifice of the cardi-
nal's, who deceived that family into the hopes of carrying the election for one of their
branches. And they obtained the emperor's consent to it, without which it could not be
done. But so ill grounded were the Palatine's hopes, that of twenty-five voices the cardinal
had nineteen, and they had only six voices.
The contest at Rome about the franchises had now occasioned such a rupture there, that
France and Rome seemed to be in a state of war. The count Lavardin was sent ambas-
sador to Rome; but the pope refused to receive him, unless he would renounce the pretension
to the franchises. So he entered Rome in a hostile manner, with some troeps of hcrse,
though not in form of troops ; but the force was too great for the pope. He kept guards
about his house, and in the franchises, and affronted the pope's authority on all occasions.
The pope bore all silently, but would never admit him to an audience, nor receive any mes-
sage nor intercession from the court of France ; and kept off every thing, in which they
concerned themselves; and therefore he would not eonfi.m the election of a coadjutor to
Cologne. So, that not being done when the elector died, the canons were to proceed to a new
election ; the former being void, because not confirmed : for if it had been confirmed, there
would have been no vacancy.
The cabal against the cardinal grew so strong, that he began to apprehend he might lose
it, if he had not leave from the pope to resign the bishopric of Strasburg, which the French
had forced him to accept, only to lessen the pension that they paid him by giving him that
bishopric. By the rules of the empire, a man that is already a bishop, cannot be chosen to
another see, but by a postulation; and to that it is necessary to have a concurrence of two-
thirds of the chapter. But it was at the pope's choice, whether he would accept of the
resignation of Strasburg or not ; and therefore he refused it. The king of France sent a
gentleman to the pope with a letter written in his own hand, desiring him to accept of that
resignation, and promising him upon it all reasonable satisfaction ; but the pope would not
admit the bearer, nor receive the letter. He said, while the French Ambassador lived at
Rome like an enemy, that had invaded it, he would receive nothing from that court.
In the bishoprics of Munster and Hildesheim, the deans were promoted, of whom both the
States and the princes of the empire were well assured. But a new management was set up
at Cologne. The elector of Bavaria had been disgusted at some things in the emperor's
court. He complained, that the honour of the success in Hungary was given so entirely to
the duke of Lorrain, that he had not the share which belonged to him. The French instru-
ments that were then about him took occasion to alienate him more from the emperor, bj
representing to him, that, in the management now at Cologne, the emperor shewed more I
regard to the Palatine family than to himself, after all the service he had done him. Th?.
emperor, apprehending the ill consequences of a breach with him, sent and offered him the
supreme command of his armies in Hungary for that year, the duke ( f Lorrain being taken
ill of a fever, just as they were upon opening the campaign. He likewise offered him all the
voices that the Palatine had made at Cologne, iu favour of his brother prince Clement.
Upon this they wTere again reconciled: and the elector of Bavaria commanded the emperor's
army in Hungary so successfully, that he took Belgrade by storm after a short siege
Prince Clement was then but seventeen, and was not of the chapter of Cologne; so he was
not eligible according to their rules, till he obtained a bull from the pope dispensing with
these things. That was easily got. With it the emperor sent one to manage the election
in his name, with express instructions to offer the chapter the whole revenue and govern-
ment of the temporalties for five years, in case they would choose prince Clement, who
wanted all that time to be of age. If he could make nine voices sure for him, he was to
OF KING JAMES II. 483
stick firm to his interest ; but if he could not gain so many, he was to consent to any person
that should be set up in opposition to the cardinal. He was ordered to charge him severely
before the chapter, as one that had been for many years an enemy and traitor to the empire.
This was done with all possible aggravations, and in very injurious words.
The chapter saw that this election was likely to be attended with a war in their country,
and other dismal consequences ; for the cardinal was chosen by the chapter vicar, or guardian
of the temporalties : and he had put garrisons in all their fortified places, that were paid
with French money : and they knew he would put them all in the king of France's hands,
if he was not elected. They had promised not to vote in favour of the Bavarian prince ; so
they offered to the emperor's agent to consent to any third person. But ten voices were
made sure to prince Clement ; so he was fixed to his interests. At the election, the cardinal
had fourteen voices, and prince Clement had ten. By this means the cardinal's postulation
was defective, since he had not two-thirds. And upon that, prince Clement's election was
first judged good by the emperor, as to the temp realties ; but was transmitted by him to
Rome, where a congregation of cardinals examined it ; and it was judged in favour of prince
Clement. The cardinal succeeded worse at Liege, where the dean was without any difficulty
chosen bishop ; and nothing but the cardinal's purple saved him from the violences of the
people at Liege. He met with all sorts of injurious usage, being hated there, both on the
account of his depending so much on the protection of France, and for the effects they had
felt of his violent and cruel ministry under the old elector. I will add one circumstance in
honour of some of the canons of Liege. They not only would accept of no presents from
those whom the States appointed to assist in managing that election before it was made ;
but they refused tliem after the election was over. This I saw in the letter that the States
deputy wrote to the Hague.
I have given a more particular account of this matter, because I was acquainted with all
the steps that were made in it. And it had such an immediate relation to the peace and
safety of Holland, that, if they had miscarried in it, the expedition designed for England
would not have been so safe, nor could it have been proposed easily in the States. By this
it appeared, what an influence the papacy, low as it is, may still have in matters of the
greatest consequence. The foolish pride of the French court, which had affronted the pope
in a point in which, since they allowed him to be the prince of Rome, he certainly could lay
down such rules as he thought fit, did now defeat a design that they had been long driving at,
and which could not have miscarried by any other means than those that they had found out.
Such great events may and do often rise from inconsiderable beginnings. These things
furnished the prince with a good blind for covering all his preparations ; since here a war in
their neighbourhood was unavoidable, and it was necessary to strengthen both their alliances
and their troops. For it was visible to all the world, that, if the French could have fixed
themselves in the territory of Cologne, the way was open to enter Holland, or to seize on
Flanders, when that king pleased ; and he would have the four electors on the Rhine at
mercy. It was necessary to dislodge them, and this could not be done without a war with
France. The prince got the States to settle a fund for nine thousand seamen, to be con-
stantly in their service : and orders were given to put the naval preparations in such a case,
that they might be ready to put to sea upon orders. Thus things went on in July and
August, with so much secrecy and so little suspicion, that neither the court of England nor
the court of France seemed to be alarmed at them.
In July, admiral Herbert came over to Holland, and was received with a particular regard
to his pride and ill humour : for he was upon every occasion so sullen and peevish, that it
was plain he set a high value on himself, and expected the same of all others. He had got
Ms accounts passed, in which he complained that the king had used him not only hardly,
but unjustly. He was a man delivered up to pride and luxury; yet he had a good under-
handing ; and he had gained so great a reputation by his steady behaviour in England, that
the prince understood that it was expected he should use him in the manner he himself
should desire ; in which it was not very easy for him to constrain himself so far as that
required. The managing him was in a great measure put on me ; and it was no easy thing.
1 f made me often reflect on the providence of God, that makes some men instruments in
i i2
484
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
great things, to which they themselves have no sort of affection or disposition ; for his pri-
vate quarrel with the lord Dartmouth, who he thought had more of the king's confidence
than he himself had, was believed the root of all the sullenness he fell into towards the king,
and of all the firmness that grew out of that.
I now return to England, to give an account of a secret management there. The lord
Mordaunt was the first of all the English nobility that came over openly, to see the prince
of Orange. He asked the king's leave to do it. He was a man of much heat, many notions,
and full of discourse ; he was brave and generous, but had not true judgment : his thoughts
were crude and indigested, and his secrets were soon known. He was with the prince in
the year 1686; and then he pressed him to undertake the business of England: and he
represented the matter as so easy, that this appeared too romantic to the prince to build
upon it. He only promised in general, that he should have an eye on the affairs of England ;
and should endeavour to put the affairs of Holland in so good a posture as to be ready to act
when it should be necessary : and he assured him, that, if the king should go about either to
change the established religion, or to wrong the princess in her right, or to raise forged plots
to destroy his friends, that he would try what he could possibly do. Next year a man of a
far different temper came over to him *.
The earl of Shrewsbury : he had been bred a papist, but had forsaken that religion, upon
a very critical and anxious enquiry into matters of controversy. Some thought, that,
though he had forsaken popery, he was too sceptical, and too little fixed in the points of
religion. He seemed to be a man of great probity, and to have a high sense of honour.
He had no ordinary measure of learning, a correct judgment, with a sweetness of temper that
charmed all who knew him. He had at that time just notions of government, and so great
a command of himself, that, during all the time that he continued in the ministry, I never
heard any one complaint of him, but for his silent and reserved answers, with which his
friends were not always well pleased. His modest deportment gave him such an interest in
the prince, that he never seemed so fond of any of his ministers, as he was of him. He
* Noble gives the following spirited sketch of this dis-
tinguished peer. Charles Mordaunt, third earl of Peter-
borough, and first of Monmouth, was one of the strangest
compounds that nature, in her most sportive moments, ever
produced. Of great ancestry, a peer by creation, as well
as, afterwards, by descent ; yet, in his youth, he seemed
to disregard decency, and the greatest of all moral obliga-
tions. Justice, indeed, ought to have claimed him, as a
shedder of human blood. Graceful and elegant in his
manners and person, and a favourite with the Muses, he
seemed emulous to mix only with the rough, and then
untutored, brave tars of the ocean. Leaving the naval
service, he charmed the senate with hi? oratory. Dis-
gusted with James the Second's government, lie obtained
a command of part of the Dutch fleet ; but William the
Third brought him back to England, where he became a
military officer, yet a councillor to his majesty. Under
Anne he was a conqueror ; and Spain would have been
transferred from the Bourbon to the Austrian family, if
Charles had attended as much to fighting as to bull-feast-
ing. Never was a braver or more skilful general. An
adept in the illusions of perspective, he imposed upon the
enemy as to the numbers under his command ; even his
gallantries aided his plans. He astonished the proud
Spaniards ; the patient Germans ; even the sprightly French
taw themselves excelled in courage, celerity, and stra-
tagem. The parliament thanked him, but, imitating his
fickleness, withdrew their favour. Even at home, his pen
vindicated his sword ; and at the change of the queen's
ministry, he blazed forth a knight of the garter, and as
negotiator in all the Italian courts. Restless and alert, on
the continent, or in England, he was ever on the wing :
" he saw more kings and postilions than any man in
Europe." This quarter of the globe seemed too confined
for his pastimes. He asked for a commission as captain-
general of our forces in North America ; but Marlborough,
his enemy and rival, thwarted him. Under the two first
Georges he became a conspicuous Whig ; was continued
by them lord-lieutenant of Northamptonshire, and made
general of our marine forces. In these reigns he employed
his time more as a wit than as a politician ; caprice dic-
tated, and inclination followed. He was insufferably
haughty, and loved popularity. A correspondent of Pope
and Swift, and gifted in all that learning and genius could
bestow ; yet he delighted to declaim in coffee-houses,
where the stupid stare of astonishment was all his reward.
Living on the borders of parsimony, yet he was always in
debt. They who blamed could not but admire him :
even the cynic Swift, after remarking that at sixty he
was more spirited than the young, adds, " I love the
hang-dog dearly." An avowed atheist, he gained the
admiration of revealed religion's friends. He was like no
other human being, yet all human beings admired his sense,
his wit, and his courage : this was so marked that he was
said to be without fear; but he replied — " No, I am not ;
only 1 never saw occasion to fear/' He died at Lisbon,
aged seventy-seven, in the year 1735. His first wife was
a daughter of sir Alexander Frazer ; whilst a widower the
earl became deeply enamoured with the accomplished
Anastasia Robinson, the daughter of an artist. She was
an opera singer, and a teacher of music and Italian, to
support an aged parent ; yet she rejected all the earl's
advances towards an illicit connection. He married her
privately, and concealed his union until 1735, and then
proclaimed it like no other husband. He went one
evening to the rooms at Bath, where a servant was ordered
distinctly and audibly to announce " Lady Peterborough s
carriage waits." Every lady of rank and fashion msc
and congratulated the declared countess. — Continuation of
Grainger.
OF KING JAMES IT. 485
had only in general laid the state of affairs before the prince, without pressing him too
much *.
But Russel t coming over in May brought the matter nearer a point. He was a cousin
german to lord Russel. He had been bred at sea, and was bedchamber-man to the king,
when he was duke of York ; but, upon the lord Russel's death, he., retired from the court.
He was a man of much honour, and great courage. He had good principles, and was firm
to them. The prince spoke more positively to him than he had ever done before. He said,
he must satisfy both his honour and conscience, before he could enter upon so great a design,
which, if it miscarried, must bring ruin both on England and Holland : he protested, that
no private ambition, nor resentment, of his own could ever prevail so far with him, as to
make him break with so near a relation, or engage in a wrar, of which the consequences must
be of the last importance, both to the interests of Europe, and of the protestant religion ;
therefore he expected formal and direct invitations. Russel laid before him the danger of
trusting such a secret to great numbers. The prince said, if a considerable number of men,
that might be supposed to understand the sense of the nation best, should do it, he would
acquiesce in it.
Russel told me, that, upon his return to England, he communicated the matter, first to the
earl of Shrewsbury, and then to the lord Lumley, who was a late convert from popery, and
had stood out very firmly all this reign. He was a man who laid his interest much to heart :
and he resolved to embark deeply in this design.
But the man in whose hands the conduct of the whole design was chiefly deposited by the
prince's own order, was Mr. Sidney, brother to the earl of Leicester and to Algernon Sidney.
He was a graceful man, and had lived long in the court, where he had some adventures that
became very public. He was a man of a sweet and caressing temper, had no malice in his
heart, but too great a love of pleasure. He had been sent envoy to Holland in the year
167!J, where he entered into such particular confidences with the prince, that he had the
highest measure of his trust and favour, that any Englishman ever had. This was well
known over England ; so that all who desired to recommend themselves to the prince did it
through his hands. He was so apprehensive of the dangers this might cast him in, that he
travelled almost a year round Italy. But now matters ripened faster ; so all centred in
him. But, because he was lazy, and the business required an active man, who could both
run about, and write over long and full accounts of all matters, I recommended a kinsman
of my own, Johnston, whom I had formed, and knew to be both faithful and diligent, and
very fit for the employment he was now trusted with ^. t
Sidney tried the marquis of Halifax, if he would advise the prince's coming over ; but, as
this matter was opened to him at a great distance, he did not encourage a further freedom.
He looked on the thing as impracticable ; it depended on so many accidents, that he thought
it was a rash and desperate project, that ventured all upon such a dangerous issue, as might
turn on seas and winds. It was next opened to the earl of Danby : and he not only went
in heartily to it himself, but drew in the bishop of London (Dr. Compton) to join in it. By
their advice it was proposed to the earl of Nottingham, who had great credit w'ith the whole
church party ; for he was a man possessed with their notions, and was grave and virtuous
in the course of his life. He had some knowledge of the law, and of the records of parlia-
* diaries Talbot, afterwards duke of Shrewsbury, His death is said to have been caused by his wife, Adel-
embraced the protestant religion, with many other distin- leida, daughter of the marquis de Pailiotti, an Italian,
guished persons, at the time of the popish plot. With who proved a domestic tyrant, and the plague of his life,
his religion he changed his politics, and this godson of Lord Dartmouth says, that if queen Mary had outlived
Charles the Second then became the opponent of arbitrary the king (William) she would certainly have married the
power. He lent William the Third 40,0007., who in duke, and that she was always agitated extremely when
return made him a privy councillor, a lord justice, prin- he came into her presence. A very full memoir of this
ipal secretary of state, adding a dukedom and the garter, nobleman, and of the political changes in which he was
~'ie king used to describe him as " the only man of engaged, will be found in archdeacon Coxe's " Shrewsbury
loin the Whigs and Tories both spoke well." At the Correspondence."
ne of queen Anne's death he was lord lieutenant of Ire- -f- This was Edward Russel, so distinguished afterwards
id, lord high treasurer, and lord chamberlain ; important as the victor at La Hogue, and better known as the earl
iploymenta that never were before united in the same of Orford. He will be mentioned in future pages,
possession. George the First continued to employ him J He was a son of lord Wariston, before mentioned,
in many high offices. He died, aged fifty-eight, in 1718. Afterwards he became secretary of state for Scotland.
m THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
ment, and was a copious speaker, but too florid and tedious. He was much admired by
many. He had stood at a great distance from the court all this reign ; for, though his name
was still among the privy councillors, yet he never went to the board. He upon the first
proposition entertained it, and agreed to it ; but at their next meeting he said, he had con-
sidered better of that matter: his conscience was so restrained in those points, that he could
not "o further with them in it : he said, he had talked with some divines, and named Tillot-
son and Stillingfleet, in general of the thing ; and they were not satisfied with it ; (though
they protested to me afterwards, that they remembered no such thing.) He confessed he
should not have suffered them to go so far writh him in such a secret, till he had examined it
better : they had now, according to Italian notions, a right to murder him ; but, though his
principles restrained him, so that he could not go on with them, his affections would make
him to wish well to them, and be so far a criminal as concealment could make him one.
The earl of Devonshire was spoken to ; and he went into it with great resolution. It was
next proposed to three of the chief officers of the army, Trelawny, Kirk, and the lord
Churchill. These went all into it : and Trelawny engaged his brother, the bishop of Bristol,
into it.
But, having now named the lord Churchill *, who is likely to be mentioned often by me
in the sequel of this work, I will say a little more of him. He was a man of a noble and
graceful appearance, bred up in the court with nc literature ; but he had a solid and clear
understanding, with a constant presence of mind. He knew the arts of living in a court
beyond any man in it. He caressed all people with a soft and obliging deportment, and was
always ready to do good offices. He had no fortune to set up on : this put him on all the
methods of acquiring one. And that went so far into him, that he did not shake it off when
he was in a much higher elevation : nor was his expense suited enough to his posts ; but,
when allowances are made for that, it must be acknowledged, that he is one of the greatest
men the age has produced. He was in high favour with the king ; but his lady •)• was much
more in princess Anne's favour. She had an aecendant over her in every thing. She was a
woman of little knowledge, but of a clear apprehension, and a true judgment, a warm nnd
hearty friend, violent and sudden in her resolutions, and impetuous in her way of speaking.
She was thought proud and insolent on her favour, though she used none of the common arts
of a court to maintain it ; for she did not beset the princess, nor flatter her. She stayed
much at home, and looked very carefully after the education of her children. Having thus
opened both their characters, I will now give an account of this lord's engagements in this
matter ; for which he has been so severely censured, as guilty both of ingratitude and
treachery, to a very kind, and liberal, marter. He never discovered any of the king's secrets ;
nor did he ever push him on to any violent proceedings : so that he was in no contrivance
to ruin, or betray, him. On the contrary, whensoever he spoke to the king of his affairs,
which he did but seldom, because he could not fall in with the king's notions, he always
suggested moderate counsels. The earl of Gal way told me, that when he came over with the
first compliment upon the king's coming to the crown, he said then to him, that, if the king
was ever prevailed on to alter our religion, he would serve him no longer, but withdraw from
him; so early was this resolution fixed in him. When he saw how the king was set, he
could not be contented to see all ruined by him. He wTas also very doubtful as to the pre-
tended birth. So he resolved, when the prince should come over, to go in to him ; but to
betray no post, nor do any thing more than the withdrawing himself, with such officers as he
could trust with such a secret. He also undertook, that prince George and the princess
Anne would leave the court, and come to the prince, as soon as was possible.
With these invitations, and letters, the earl of Shrewsbury, and Russel, came over in
September ; and soon after them came Sidney with Johnston. And they brought over a
* This was afterwards the celebrated duke of Marl- removed, she should herself become priine f;iv<>' .n>-
borough. she obtained her removal by the aid of bishop Comptoi
-f* Subsequently so celebrated as the court favourite, who suggested at the council that it was dangerous t«>r »
Sarah, duchess of Marlborough. This intriguing peeress papist to be so intimate with the princess Earl of Dart-
was introduced to queen Anne by Mrs. Cornwallis, a mouth in Oxford ed. of this work,
papist, and rinding that if her introductress could bo
OF KING JAMES II. 487
full scheme of advices, together with the heads of a declaration, all which were chiefly penned
by lord Danby. He, and the earl of Devonshire, and the lord Lumley, undertook for the
north : and they all dispersed themselves into their several countries, and among their friends.
The thing was in the hands of many thousands, who yet were so true to one another, that
none of them made any discovery, no not by their rashness ; though they were so confident,
that they did not use so discreet a conduct as was necessary. Matters went on in Holland
with great secrecy till September. Then it was known, that many arms were bespoken ;
and, though those were bargained for in the name of the king of Sweden, and of some of
the princes of Germany, yet there was ground enough for suspicion. All those that were
trusted proved both faithful, and discreet. And here an eminent difference appeared between
the hearty concurrence of those who went into a design upon principles of religion, and
honour, and the forced compliance of mercenary soldiers, or corrupt ministers, which is
neither cordial nor secret. France took the alarm first, and gave it to the court of England.
D'Avaux, the French ambassador, could no more give the court of France those advertise-
ments that he was wont to send of all that passed in Holland. He had great allowances
for entertaining agents, and spies, every where. But Louvois, who hated him, suggested that
there was no more need of these ; so they were stopped : and the ambassador was not sorry,
that the court felt their error so sensibly. The king published the advertisements he had
from France a little too rashly ; for all people were much animated when they heard it from
such a hand. The king soon saw his error ; and, to correct it, he said on many occasions,
that whatever the designs of the Dutch might be, he was sure they were not against him.
It was given out sometimes, that they were against France, and then that they were against
Denmark : yet the king shewed he was not without his fears ; for he ordered fourteen more
ships to be put to sea, with many fire-ships. He recalled Strickland, and gave the command
to the lord Dartmouth ; who was indeed one of the worthiest men of his court : he loved
him, and had been long in his service, and in his confidence ; but he was much against all
the conduct of his affairs : yet he resolved to stick to him at all hazards. The seamen came
in slowly ; and a heavy backwardness appeared in every thing.
A new and unlooked-for accident gave the king a very sensible trouble. It was resolved,
as was told before, to model the army, and to begin with recruits from Ireland. Upon
which the English army would have become insensibly an Irish one. The king made the
first trial on the duke of Berwick's regiment, which being already under an illegal colonel, it
might be supposed they were ready to submit to every thing. Five Irishmen were ordered
to be put into every company of that regiment, which then lay at Portsmouth ; but Beau-
mont, the lieutenant-colonel, and five of the captains, refused to receive them. They said,
they had raised their men upon the duke of Monmouth<)s invasion, by which their zeal for
the king's service did evidently appear. If the king would order any recruits, they doubted
not, but that they should be able to make them : but they found it would give such an uni-
versal discontent, if they should receive the Irish among them, that it would put them out
of a capacity of serving the king any more. But as the order was positive, so the duke of
Berwick was sent down to see it obeyed. Upon which they desired leave to lay down their
commissions. The king was provoked by this to such a degree, that he could not govern his
passion. The officers were put in arrest, and brought before a council of war, where they
were broken with reproach, and declared incapable to serve the king any more. But upon
this occasion, the whole officers of the army declared so great an unwillingness to mix with
those of another nation and religion, that, as no more attempts were made of this kind, so.it
was believed that this fixed the king in a point, that was then under debate.
The king of France, when he gave the king the advertisements of the preparations in Hol-
land, offered him such a force as he should call for. Twelve, or fifteen, thousand were named,
or as many more as he should desire. It was proposed, that they should land at Portsmouth,
ind that they should have that place to keep the communication with France open, and in
their hands. All the priests were for this ; so were most of the popish lords. The earl of
Sunderland was the only man in credit that opposed it. He said, the offer of an army of
forty thousand men might be a real strength ; but then it would depend on the orders that
;ume from France : they might perhaps master England ; but they would become the king's
488 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
masters at the same time ; so that lie must govern under such orders as they should give ;
and thus he would quickly become only a viceroy to the king of France : any army less than
that would lose the king the affections of his people, and drive his own army to desertion, if
not to mutiny.
The king did not think matters were yet so near a crisis ; so he did neither entertain the
proposition, nor let it fall quite to the ground. There was a treaty set on foot, and the king
was to have an hundred merchant ships, ready for the transportation of such forces as he
should desire, which it was promised should be ready when called for. It is certain, that the
French ambassador, then at London, who knew the court better than he did the nation, did
believe, that the king wrould have been able to have made a greater division of the nation,
than it proved afterwards he was able to do. He believed it would have gone to a civil war ;
and that then the king would have been forced to have taken assistance from France on any
terms ; and so he encouraged the kino; of France to go on with his designs that winter, and
he believed he might come in good time next year to the king's assistance. These advices
proved fatal to the king, and to Barillon himself; for, when he was sent over to France, he
was so ill looked on, that it was believed it had an ill effect on his health ; for he died soon
after.
Albeville came over fully persuaded that the Dutch designed the expedition against
England, but played the minister so, that he took pains to infuse into all people that they
designed no such thing ; which made him to be generally laughed at. He was soon sent
back ; and, in a memorial he gave into the States, he asked, what was the design of those
great and surprising preparations at such a season. The States, according to their slow forms,
let this lie long before them, without giving it an answer.
But the court of France made a greater step. The French ambassador in a memorial told
the States, that his master understood their design was against England, and in that case he
signified to them, that there was such a strait alliance between him and the king of
England, that he would look on every thing done against England, as an invasion of his own
crown. This put the king and his ministers much out of countenance : for, upon some sur-
mises of an alliance with France, they had very positively denied there was any such thing.
Albeville did continue to deny it at the Hague, even after the memorial was put in. The
king did likewise deny it to the Dutch ambassador at London. And the blame of the put-
ting it into the memorial was cast on Skelton, the king's envoy at Paris, who was disowned
in it, and upon his coming over was put in the Tower for it. This was a short disgrace ; for
he was soon after made lieutenant of the Tower. His rash folly might have procured the
order from the court of France, to own this alliance : he thought it would terrify the States,
and so he pressed this officiously, which they easily granted. That related only to the own-
ing it in so public a manner. But this did clearly prove, that such an alliance was made ;
otherwise no instances, how pressing soever, would have prevailed with the court of France
to have owned it in so solemn a manner : for what ambassadors say in their master's name,
when they are not immediately disowned, passes for authentic : so that it was a vain cavil
that some made afterwards, when they asked, how was this alliance proved ? The memorial
was a full proof of it ; and the shew of a disgrace on Skelton did not at all weaken that
proof.
But I was more confirmed of this matter by what sir William Trumball, then the English
ambassador at Constantinople, told me at his return to England. He was the most eminent
of all our civilians, and was by much the best pleader in those courts, and was a learned, a
diligent, and a virtuous man. He was sent envoy to Paris upon the lord Preston's being
recalled. He was there when the edict that repealed the edict of Nantes was passed, and
saw the violence of the persecution, and acted a great and worthy part in harbouring many,
in covering their effects, and in conveying over their jewels and plate to England ; which dis-
gusted the court of France, and was not very acceptable to the court of England, though it
was not then thought fit to disown or recall him for it *. He had orders to put in memo-
* Sir William Trumball, the friend of Dryden and excellence. Straitened in his means when commencing
the early patron of Pope, is another instance that poverty life, he laboured with a diligence in his profession as a
is ever an excitement favourable to the development of civilian that insured success. He was sent from the
OF KING JAMES II. 489
rials, complaining of the invasion of the principality of Orange ; which he did in so high a
strain, that the last of them was like a denunciation of war. From thence he was sent to
Turkey. And, about this time, he was surprised one morning by a visit that the French
ambassador made him, without those ceremonies that pass between ambassadors. He told
him, there was no ceremony to be between them any more, for their masters were nowr one.
And he shewed him Monsieur de Croissy's letter, which was written in cipher. The deci-
phering he read to him, importing, that now an alliance was concluded between the two
kings. So, this matter was as evidently proved, as a thing of such a nature could possibly be.
The conduct of France at that time with relation to the States was very unaccountable,
and proved as favourable to the prince of Orange's designs, as if he had directed it. All the
manufacture of Holland, both linen and woollen, was prohibited in France. The importa-
tion of herrings was also prohibited, except they were cured with French salt. This was
contrary to the treaty of commerce. The manufacture began to suffer much ; and this was"
sensible to those who were concerned in the herring trade. So the States prohibited the
importing of French wine, or brandy, till the trade should be set free again on both sides.
There was nothing that the prince had more reason to apprehend, than that the French should
have given the States some satisfaction in the point of trade, and offered some assurances
with relation to the territory of Cologne. Many of the towns of Holland might have been
wrought on by some temper in these things ; great bodies being easily deceived, and not
easily drawn into wars, which interrupt that trade which they subsist by. But the height
the court of France was then in, made them despise all the world. They seemed rather to
wish for a war, than to fear it. This disposed the States to an unanimous concurrence in the
great resolutions that were now agreed on, of raising ten thousand men more, and of accept-
ing thirteen thousand Germans, for whom the prince had, as was formerly mentioned, agreed
with some of the princes of the empire. Amsterdam was at first cold in the matter ; but
they consented with the rest. Reports were given out that the French would settle a regu-
lation of commerce, and that they would abandon the cardinal, and leave the affairs of
Cologne to be settled by the laws of the empire. Expedients were also spoken of for accom-
modating the matter, by prince Clement's being admitted coadjutor, and by his having some
of the strong places put in his hands. This was only given out to amuse.
But while these things were discoursed of at the Hague, the world was surprised with a
manifesto set out, in the king of France's name, against the emperor. In it the emperor's
ill designs against France were set forth. It also complained of the elector Palatine's injus-
tice to the duchess of Orleans, in not giving her the succession that fell to her by her brother's
death, which consisted in some lands, cannon, furniture, and other moveable goods. It also
liarged him with the disturbances in Cologne, he having intended first to gain that to one
of his own sons, and then engaging the Bavarian prince into it; whose elder brother having
tto children, he hoped, by bringing him into an ecclesiastical state, to make the succession of
Bavaria fall into his own family. It charged the emperor, likewise, with a design to force
the electors to choose his son king of the Romans; and that the elector Palatine was press-
I1 ing him to make peace with the Turks, in order to the turning his arms against France. By
their means a great alliance was projected among many protestant princes to disturb cardinal
Furstemberg in the possession of Cologne, to which he was postulated by the majority of the
chapter. And this might turn to the prejudice of the catholic religion in that territory.
1 pon all these considerations, the king of France, seeing that his enemies could not enter into
prance by any other way but by that of Philipsburg, resolved to possess himself of it, and
then to demolish it. He resolved also to take Kaisarslauter from the Palatine, and to keep
Bt, till the duchess of Orleans had justice done her in her pretensions ; and he also resolved
it" support the cardinal in his possession of Cologne. But, to balance this, he offered to the
i house of Bavaria, that prince Clement should be chosen coadjutor. He offered also to raise
j'" irt of France to that of Turkey in 1G87. William the literature, continued there until his death, which occurred
1 iird continued him in this appointment, and then made in 1716, when he was seventy- eight. His letters are to
1 'i a commissioner of the navy, privy councillor, and he found among those of Pope and others. He also
retary of state. He represented Oxford university in wrote a life of archhishopDolben. — Gen. Bfog. Dictionary;
foment during 1695. He retired from puhlic life to Nohle's Continuation of Grainger.
••••$t Humtted, in Berkshire, and, devotiug his leisure to
490 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
jFribourg, and to restore Kaisarslautcr, as soon as the elector Palatine should pay the duchess
of Orleans the just value of her pretensions. He demanded, that the truce between him and
the empire should be turned into a peace. He proposed that the king of England and the
republic of Venice should be the mediators of this peace. And he concluded all, declaring
that he would not bind himself to stand to the conditions now offered by him, unless they
were accepted before January.
I have given a full abstract of this manifesto : for upon it did the great war begin, which
lasted till the peace of Ryswick. And, upon the grounds laid down in this manifesto, it will
evidently appear whether the war was a just one or not. This declaration was much cen-
sured, both for the matter and for the style. It had not the air of greatness which became
crowned heads. The duchess of Orleans's pretensions to old furniture was a strange rise to
a war ; especially when it was not alleged that these had been demanded in the forms of
law, and that justice had been denied, which was a course necessarily to be observed in
things of that nature. The judging of the secret intentions of the elector palatine with
relation to the house of Bavaria was absurd. And the complaints of designs to bring the
emperor to a peace with the Turks, that so he might make war on France, and of the
emperor's design to force an election of a king of the Romans, was the entering into the
secrets of those thoughts which were only known to God. Such conjectures, so remote and
uncertain, and that could not be proved, were a strange ground of war. If this was once
admitted, all treaties of peace were vain things, and wrere no more to be reckoned or relied
on. The reason given of the intention to take Philipsburg. because it was the most proper
place by which France could be invaded, was a throwing off all regards to the common
decencies observed by princes. All fortified places on frontiers are intended both for resist-
ance, and for magazines ; and are of both sides conveniences for entering into the neigh-
bouring territory, as there is occasion for it. So here was a pretence set up, of beginning a
war, that puts an end to all the securities of peace.
The business of Cologne was judged by the pope, according to the laws of the empire :
and his sentence was final : nor could the postulation of the majority of the chapter be valid,
unless two-thirds joined in it. The cardinal was commended in the manifesto for his care
in preserving the peace of Europe. This was ridiculous to all, who knew that he had been
for many years the great incendiary, who had betrayed the empire, chiefly in the year 1672.
The charge that the emperor's agent had laid on him before the chapter was also complained
of, as an infraction of the amnesty stipulated by the peace of Nimeguen. He was not
indeed to be called to an account, in order to be punished for anything done before that
peace. But that did not bind up the emperor from endeavouring to exclude him from so
great a dignity, which was likely to prove fatal to the empire. These were some of the
censures that passed on this manifesto ; which was indeed looked on, by all who had consi-
dered the rights of peace and the laws of war, as one of the most avowed and solemn decla-
rations that ever was made of the perfidiousness of that court. And it was thought to be
some degrees beyond that in the year 1672, in which that king's glory was pretended as the
chief motive of that war. For, in that, particulars were not reckoned up : so it might be
supposed he had met with affronts, which he did not think consistent with his great-
ness to be mentioned. But here all that could be thought on, even the hangings of Heidel-
berg, were enumerated : and all together amounted to this, that the king of France thought
himself tied by no peace ; but that, when he suspected his neighbours were intending to
make war upon him, he might upon such a suspicion begin a war on his part.
This manifesto against the emperor was followed by another against the pope, written in
the form a letter to cardinal D'Estrees, to be given by him to the pope. In it he reckoned
all the partiality that the pope had shown during his whole pontificate, both against France
and in favour of the house of Austria. He mentioned the business of the regale ; liis refusing
the bulls to the bishops nominated by him ; the dispute about the franchises, of which his ;
ambassadors had been long in possession ; the denying audience, not only to his ambassador, i
but to a gentleman whom he had sent to Rome without a character, and with a letter ,
written in his own hand. In conclusion, he complained of the pope's breaking the canons
of the church, in granting bulls in favour of prince Clement, and in denying just:ce to car-
OF KING JAMES II. 491
<linal Furstemberg, For all these reasons the king was resolved to separate the character of
the most holy father from that of a temporal prince : and therefore he intended to seize on
Avignon, as likewise on Castro, until the pope should satisfy the pretensions of the duke of
Parma. lie complained of the pope's not concurring with him in the concerns of the church
for the extirpation of heresy : in which the pope's behaviour gave great scandal both to the
old catholics, and to the new converts. It also gave the prince of Orange the boldness to go
and invade the king of England, under the pretence of supporting the protestant religion,
but indeed to destroy the catholic religion, and to overturn the government : upon which
his emissaries and the writers in Holland gave out that the birth of the prince of Wales was
an imposture.
This was the first public mention that was made of the imposture of that birth : for the
author of a -book, written to that purpose, was punished for it in Holland. It was strange
to see the disputes about the franchises made a pretence for a war : for certainly all sovereign
princes can make such regulations as they think fit in those matters. If they cut ambas-
sadors short in any privilege, their ambassadors are to expect the same treatment from other
princes : and as long as the sacredness of an ambassador's person, and of his family, was still
preserved, which was all that was a part of the law of nations, princes may certainly limit
the extent of their other privileges, and may refuse any ambassadors who will not submit to
their regulation. The number of an ambassador's retinue is not a thing that can be well
defined : but if an ambassador comes with an army about him, instead of a retinue, he may
be denied admittance. And if he forces it, as Lavardin had done, it was certainly an act of
hostility : and, instead of having a right to the character of an ambassador, he might well
be considered and treated as an enemy.
The pope had observed the canons in rejecting cardinal Furstemberg's defective postula-
tion. And, whatever might be brought from ancient canons, the practice of that church for
many ages, allowed of the dispensations that the pope granted to prince Clement. It was
looked on by all people as a strange reverse of things, to see the king of France, after all his
cruelty to the protestants, now go to make war on the pope ; and on the other hand, to see
the whole protestant body concurring to support the authority of the pope's bulls in the
business of Cologne ; and to defend the two houses of Austria and Bavaria, by whom they
were laid so low but threescore years before this. The French, by the war that they had
now begun, had sent their troops towards Germany and the Upper Rhine ; and so had ren-
dered their sending an army over to England impracticable : nor could they send such a
force into the bishopric of Cologne, as could any ways alarm the States. So that the inva-
sion of Germany made the designs, that the prince of Orange was engaged in, both prac-
ticable and safe.
Marshal Schomberg came at this time into the country 01 Cleves. He was a German by
birth : so when the persecution was begun in France, he desired leave to return into his own
country. That was denied him. All the favour he could obtain was leave to go to Portugal.
And so cruel is the spirit of popery, that, though he had preserved that kingdom from falling
inder the yoke of Castile, yet now that he came thither for refuge, the inquisition repre-
sented that matter of giving harbour to a heretic so odiously to the king, that he was forced
<> send him away. He came from thence first to England, and then he passed through
Holland, where he entered into a particular confidence writh the prince of Orange. And
g invited by the old elector of Brandenburg, he went to Berlin : where he was made
governor of Prussia, and set at the head of all the elector's armies. The son treated him
now with the same regard that the father had for him : and sent him to Cleves, to command
•he troops that were sent from the empire to the defence of Cologne. The cardinal offered
i neutrality to the town of Cologne. But they chose rather to accept a garrison that Schom-
)< rg sent them : by which not only that town was secured, but a stop was put to any
rogress the French could make, till they could get that great town into their hands. By
jliese means the States were safe on all hands for this winter : and this gave the prince of
) range great quiet in prosecuting his designs upon England. He had often said, that he
ould never give occasion to any of his enemies to say that he had carried away the best
e of the States, and had left them exposed to any impressions that might be made on
492 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
them in his absence. He had now reason to conclude that he had no other risk to run in his
intended expedition, hut that of the seas and the weather. The seas were then very boisterous :
and the season of the year was so far spent, that he saw he was to have a campaign in
winter. But all other things were now well secured by this unexpected conduct of the French.
There was a fleet now set to sea of about fifty sail. Most of them were third or fourth
rates, commanded by Dutch officers. But Herbert, as representing the prince's person, was
to command in chief, as lieutenant-general-admiral. This was not very easy to the States,
nor indeed to the prince himself ; who thought it an absurd thing to set a stranger at the
head of their fleet. Nothing less would content Herbert. And it was said, that nothing
would probably make the English fleet come over and join with the prince, so much as the
seeing one that had lately commanded them at the head of the Dutch fleet. There was a
transport fleet hired for carrying over the army. And this grew to be about five hundred
vessels : for, though the horse and dragoons in pay were not four thousand, yet the horses
for officers and volunteers, and for artillery and baggage, were above seven thousand. There
were arms provided for twenty thousand more. And, as things were thus made ready,
The declaration that the prince was to publish came to be considered. A great many
draughts were sent from England by different hands. All these were put in the pensioner
Fagel's hands, who upon that made a long and heavy draught, founded on the grounds of
the civil law, and of the law of nations. That was brought to me to be put in English. I
saw he was fond of his own draught : and the prince left that matter wholly to him : yet I
got it to be much shortened, though it was still too long. It set forth at first a long recital
of all the violations of the laws of England, both with relation to religion, to the civil
government, and to the administration of justice, which have been all opened in the series of
the history. It set forth next all remedies that had been tried in a gentler way; all which
had been ineffectual. Petitioning by the greatest persons, and in the most private manner,
was made a crime. Endeavours were used to pack a parliament, and to pre-engage both
the votes of the electors and the votes of such as upon the election should be returned to sit
in parliament. The writs were to be addressed to unlawful officers, who were disabled by
law to execute them : so that no legal parliament could now be brought together. In con-
clusion, the reasons of suspecting the queen's pretended delivery were set forth in general
terms. Upon these grounds the prince, seeing how little hope was left of succeeding in any
other method, and being sensible of the ruin both of the protestant religion, and of the con-
stitution of England and Ireland, that was imminent, and being earnestly invited by men of !
all ranks, and in particular by many of the peers, both spiritual and temporal, he resolved, I
according to the obligation he lay under, both on the princess's account and on his own, to
go over into England, and to see for proper and effectual remedies for redressing such growing
evils, in a parliament that should be lawfully chosen, and should sit in full freedom, accord-
ing to the ancient custom and constitution of England, with which he would concur in ah1
things that might tend to the peace and happiness of the nation. And he promised in parti-
cular, that he would preserve the church and the established religion, and that he would
endeavour to unite all such as divided from the tfes church to it, by the best means that could
be thought on, and that he would suffer such as would live peaceably to enjoy all due freedom
in their consciences, 'and that he would refer the enquiry into the queen's delivery to a par-
liament, and acquiesce in its decision. This the prince signed and sealed on the tenth of
October. With this the prince ordered letters to be written in his name, inviting both the
soldiers, seamen, and others to come and join with him, in order to the securing their religion,
laws, and liberties. Another short paper was drawn by me concerning the measures of
obedience, justifying the design, and answering the objections that might be made to it. Of
all these, many thousand copies were printed, to be dispersed at our landing.
The prince desired me to go along with him as his chaplain, to which I very readily
agreed : for, being fully satisfied in my conscience that the undertaking was lawful, and just,
and having had a considerable hand in advising the whole progress of it, I thought it would
have been an unbecoming fear in me to have taken care of my own person, when the prince
was venturing his, and the whole was now to be put to hazard. It is true I, being a Scotch-
man by birth, had reason to expect that, if I had fallen into the enemies' hands, I should
OF KING JAMP;S II. 493
ve been sent to Scotland, and put to the torture there. And, having this in prospect, I
took care to know no particulars of any of those who corresponded with the prince. So that
knowing nothing against any, even torture itself could not have drawn from me that, by
which any person could be hurt. There was another declaration prepared for Scotland.
But I had no other share in that, but that I corrected it in several places, chiefly in that
which related to the church : for the Scots at the Hague, who were all presbyterians, had
drawn it so, that, by many passages in it, the prince by an implication declared in favour of
presbytery. He did not see what the consequences of those were till I explained them. So
he ordered them to be altered. And by the declaration that matter was still entire.
As Sidney brought over letters from the persons formerly mentioned, both inviting the
prince to come over to save and rescue the nation from ruin, and assuring him that they
wrote that which was the universal sense of all the wise and good men in the nation : so
they also sent over with him a scheme of advices. They advised his having a great fleet,
but a small army : they thought it should not exceed six or seven thousand men. They
apprehended, that an ill-use might be made of it, if he brought over too great an army of
foreigners, to infuse into people a jealousy that he designed a conquest : they advised his
landing in the North, either in Burlington Bay, or a little below Hull : Yorkshire abounded
horse : and the gentry were generally well affected, even to zeal, for the design : the
ountry was plentiful, and the roads were good till within fifty miles of London. The earl
' Danby was earnest for this, hoping to have had a share in the whole management, by the
terest he believed he had in that country. It was confessed, that the western counties
ere well affected : but it was said, that the miscarriage of Monmouth's invasion, and the
xecutions which followed it, had so dispirited them, that it could not be expected they
ould be forward to join the prince : above all things they pressed dispatch, and all possible
aste : the king had then but eighteen ships riding in the Downs : but a much greater fleet
as almost ready to come out : they only wranted seamen, who came in very slowly.
When these things were laid before the prince, he said, he could by no means resolve to
ome over with so small a force : could not believe what they suggested, concerning the
dng's army's being disposed to come over to him : nor did he reckon, so much as they did,
i the people of the country's coming in to him : he said he could trust to neither of
lese : he could not undertake so great a design, the miscarriage of which would be the ruin
)ih of England and Holland, without such a force as he had reason to believe would be
iperior to the king's own, though his whole army should stick to him. Some proposed,
tat the prince would divide his force, and land himself with the greatest part in the North,
id send a detachment to the West, under marshal Schomberg. They pressed the prince
earnestly to bring him over with him, both because of the great reputation he was in,
id because they thought it was a security to the prince's person, and to the whole design,
have another general with him, to whom all would submit in case of any dismal accident :
r it seemed too much to have all depend on a single/life : and they thought that would be
ie safer, if their enemies saw another person capabre of the command, in case they should
tve a design upon the prince's person. With this the prince complied easily, and obtained
10 elector's consent to carry him over with him. But he rejected the motion of dividing
s fleet and army. He said, such a divided force might be fatal : for if the king should send
s chief strength against the detachment, and have the advantage, it might lose the whole
ismess ; since a misfortune in any one part might be the ruin of the whole.
When these advices were proposed to Herbert, and the other seamen, they opposed the
nding in the north vehemently. They said, no seamen had been consulted in that : the
rth coast was not fit for a fleet to ride in during an east wind, which it was to be expected
winter might blow so fresh, that it would not be possible to preserve the fleet ; and if the
(1t was left there, the channel was open for such forces as might be sent from France : the
annel was the safer sea for the fleet to ride in, as well as to cut off the assistance from
•ance. Yet the advices for this were so positive, and so often repeated from England, that
' prince was resolved to have split the matter, and to have landed in the North, and then
have sent the fleet to lie in the channel.
494 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The prince continued still to cover his design, and to look towards Cologne. He ordered
a review of his army, and an encampment for two months at Nimeguen. A train of artil-
lery* was also ordered. By these orders the officers saw a necessity of furnishing themselves
for so lono- a time. The main point remained, how "money should be found for so chargeable
an expedition. The French ambassador had his eye upon this : and reckoned that, when-
soever anything relating to it should be moved, it would be then easy to raise an opposition,
or at least to create a delay. But Fagel's great foresight did prevent this. In the July
before, it was represented to the States, that now by reason of the neighbourhood of Cologne,
and the war that was likely to arise there, it was necessary to repair their places, both on the
Rhine and the Issel, which were in a very bad condition. This was agreed to : and the
charge was estimated at four millions of guilders. So the States created a fund for the
interest of that money, and ordered it to be taken up by a loan. It was all brought in in
four days. About the end of September a message was delivered to the States from the
elector of Brandenburg, by which he undertook to send an army into his country of Cleves,
and to secure the States from all danger on that side for this winter.
Upon this, it was proposed to lend the prince the four millions. And this passed easily
in the States, without any opposition, to the amazement of all that saw it : for it had never
been known that so great and so dangerous an expedition in such a season had been so easily
agreed to, without so much as one disagreeing vote, either at the Hague, or in any of the
towns of Holland. All people went so cordially into it, that it was not necessary to employ
much time in satisfying them, both of the lawfulness and of the necessity of the undertaking.
Fagel had sent for all the eminent ministers of the chief towns of Holland : and, as he had a
vehemence as well as a tenderness in speaking, he convinced them evidently, that both their
religion and their country were in such imminent danger, that nothing but this expedition
could save them : they saw the persecution in France : and in that they might see what
was to be expected from that religion : they saw the violence with which the king of Eng-
land was driving matters in his country, which, if not stopped, would soon prevail. He sent
them thus full of zeal to dispose the people to a hearty approbation and concurrence in this
design. The ministers in Holland are so watched over by the States, that they have no
more authority when they meet in a body, in a synod, or in a classis, than the States think
fit to allow them. But I was never in any place, where I thought the clergy had generally
so much credit with the people, as they have there : and they employed it all upon this occa-
sion very diligently, and to good purpose. Those who had no regard to religion, yet saw
a war begun in the empire by the French. And the publication of the alliance between
France and England, by the French ambassador, made them conclude that England would
join with France. They reckoned they could not stand before such an united force, and that
therefore it was necessary to take England out of the hands of a prince, who was such a
firm ally to France. All the English that lived in Holland, especially the merchants that
were settled in Amsterdam, where the opposition was likely to be strongest, had such posi-
tive advices of the disposition that the nation, and even the army were in ; that, as this
undertaking was considered as the only probable means of their preservation, it seemed so
well concerted, that little doubt was made of success, except what arose from the season ;
which was not only far spent, but the wTinds were both so contrary, and so stormy, for many
weeks, that a forcible stop seemed put to it by the hand of Heaven.
Herbert went to sea with the Dutch fleet, and was ordered to stand over to the Downs,
and to look on the English fleet, to try if any would come over, of which some hopes were
given ; or to engage them, while they were then not above eighteen or twenty ships strong.
But the contrary winds made this not only impracticable, but gave great reason to fear that
a great part of the fleet would be either lost, or disabled. These continued for above a fort-
night, and gave us at the Hague a melancholy prospect. Herbert also found that the fleet
was neither so strong, nor so well manned, as he had expected.
All the English that were scattered about the provinces, or in Germany, came to the
Hague. Among these there was one Wildman, who, from being an agitator in Cromwell's
army, had been a constant meddler on all occasions in everything that looked like sedition,
OF KING JAMES II. 495
and seemed inclined to oppose everything that was uppermost. He brought his usual ill-
humour along with him, having a peculiar talent in possessing others by a sort of contagion
with jealousy and discontent. To these the prince ordered his declaration to be shown.
Wildman took great exceptions to it, writh which he possessed many to such a degree, that
they began to say they would not engage upon those grounds. 'Wildman had drawn one,
in which he had laid down a scheme of the government of England, and then had set forth
many particulars in which it had been violated, carrying these a great way into king Charles's
reign ; all which he supported by many authorities from law books. He objected to the
prince's insisting so much on the dispensing power, and on what had been done to the
bishops. He said, there was certainly a dispensing power in the crown, practised for some
ages : very few patents passed in which there was not a "non obstante" to one or more acts
of parliament : this power had been too far stretched of late : but the stretching of a power
that was in the crown, could not be a just ground of war : the king had a right to bring any
man to a trial : the bishops had a fair trial, and were acquitted, and discharged upon it : in
all which there was nothing done contrary to law. All this seemed mysterious, when a
known republican was become an advocate for prerogative. His design in this was deep and
spiteful. He saw that, as the declaration was drawn, the church party would come in, and
be well received by the prince : so he, who designed to separate the prince and them at the
greatest distance from one another, studied to make the prince declare against those
grievances, in which many of them were concerned, and which some among thorn had pro-
moted. The earl of Macclesfield, with the lord Mordaunt, and many others, joined with
Lira in this. But the earl of Shrewsbury, together with Sidney, Russel, and some others,
were as positive in their opinion that the prince ought not to look so far back as into king
Charles's reign : this would disgust many of the nobility and gentry, and almost all the
clergy : so they thought the declaration was to be so conceived, as to draw in the body of
the whole nation : they were all alarmed with the dispensing power : and it would seem
very strange to see an invasion, in which this was not set out as the main ground of it .
every man could distinguish between the dispensing with a special act in a particular case,
and a total dispensing with laws to secure the nation and tiie religion : the ill designs of the
court, as well as the affections of the nation, had appeared so evidently in the bishops' trial,
that if no notice was taken of it, it would be made use of to possess all people with an opinion
of the prince's ill-will to them. Russel said, that any reflections made on king Charles's reign
would not carry over all the high church party, but all the army, entirely to the king.
Wildman's declaration was much objected to. The prince could not enter into a discussion
of the law and government of England : that was to be left to the parliament : the prince
could only set forth the present and public grievances as they were transmitted to him by
those upon whose invitation he was going over. This was not without some difficulty over-
come, by altering some few expressions in the first draught, and leaving out some circum-
stances. So the declaration was printed over again, with some amendments.
In the beginning of October, the troops marched from Nimeguen were put on board in the
Zuyder sea, where they lay above ten days before they could get out of the Texel. Never
was so great a design executed in so short a time. A transport fleet of five hundred vessels
was hired in three days' time. All things, as soon as they were ordered, were got to be so
quickly ready, that we were amazed at the dispatch. It is true, some things were wanting,
j .'Did some things had been forgotten. But when the greatness of the equipage was consi-
;<lored, together with the secrecy with which it was to be conducted till the whole design was
|t<> be avowed, it seemed much more strange that so little was wanting, or that so few things
Iliad been forgotten. Bentinck, Dykvelt, Herbert, and Van Hulst, were for two months
constantly at the Hague, giving all necessary orders with so little noise that nothing broke
cut all that while. Even in lesser matters favourable circumstances concurred to cover the
I design. Bentinck used to be constantly with the prince, being the person that was most
[entirely trusted and constantly employed by him : so that his absence from him, being so
-xtraordinary a thing, might have given some umbrage. But all the summer his lady was
1 very ill, that she was looked on every day as one that could not live three days to an end :
> that this was a very just excuse for his attendance at the Hague.
49G THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
I wnitcd on the princess a few days before we left the Hague. She seemed to have a
great load on her spirits, but to have no scruple as to the lawfulness of the design. After
much other discourse, I said, that if we got safe to England, I made no great doubt of our
success in all other things. I only begged her pardon to tell her, that if there should happen
to be at any time any disjointing between the prince and her, that would ruin all. She
answered me, that I needed fear no such thing : if any person should attempt that, she would
treat them so, as to discourage all others from venturing on it for the future. She was very
solemn and serious, and prayed God earnestly to bless and direct us.
On the sixteenth of October, 0. S., the wind, that had stood so long in the west, came
into the east. So orders were sent to all to haste to Helvoet-Sluys. That morning the
prince went into the assembly of the States-general, to take leave of them. He said to them,
he was extremely sensible of the kindness they had all shown him upon many occasions:
he took God to witness, he had served them faithfully ever since they had trusted him with
the government, and that he had never any end before his eyes but the good of the country :
he had pursued it always : and if at any time he erred in his judgment, yet his heart was
ever set on procuring their safety and prosperity. He took God to witness, he went to
England with no other intentions, but those he had set out in his declaration : he did not
know how God might dispose of him : to his providence he committed himself: whatsoever
might become of him, he committed to them the care of their country, and recommended
the princess to them in a most particular manner : he assured them, she loved their country
perfectly, and equally with her own : he hoped that, whatever might happen to him, they
would still protect her, and use her as she well deserved ; and so he took leave. It was a
sad, but a kind parting. Some of every province offered at an answer to what the prince had
said : but they all melted into tears and passion ; so that their speeches were much broken,
very short, and extremely tender. Only the prince himself continued firm in his usual
gravity and phlegm. When he came to Helvoct-Sluys, the transport fleet had consumed so
much of their provisions, that three days of the good wind were lost before all were supplied
anew.
At last, on the nineteenth of October, the prince went aboard, and the whole fleet sailed
out that night. But the next day the wind turned into the north, and settled in the north-
west. At night a great storm rose. We wrought against it all that night, and the next
day. But it was in vain to struggle any longer. And so vast a fleet run no small hazard,
being obliged to keep together, and yet not to come too near one another. On the twenty-
first in the afternoon the signal was given to go in again : and on the twenty-second the far
greater part got safely into port. Many ships were at first wanting, and were believed to
be lost. But after a few clays all came in. There was not one ship lost ; nor so much as
any one man, except one that was blown from tire shrouds into the sea. Some ships were
so shattered, that as soon as they came in, and all was taken out of them, they immediately
sunk down. Only five hundred horses died from want of air. Men are upon such oc-
casions apt to flatter themselves upon the points of Providence. In France and England, as
it was believed that our loss was much greater than it proved to be, so they triumphed not
a little, as if God had fought against us, and defeated the whole design. We on our part,
who found ourselves delivered out of so great a storm and so vast a clanger, looked on it as
a mark of God's great care of us, who, though he had not changed the course of the winds
and seas in our favour, yet had preserved us while we were in such apparent danger, beyond
what could have been imagined. The States were not at all discouraged with this hard
beginning, but gave the necessary orders for supplying us with every thing that we needed.
The princess behaved herself at the Hague suitably to what was expected from her. She
ordered prayers four times a day, and assisted at them with great devotion. She spoke tc
nobody of a flairs, but was calm, and silent. The States ordered some of their body to give
her an account of all their proceedings. She indeed answered little : but in that little she
gave them cause often to admire her judgment.
In England the court saw now, that it was in vain to dissemble, or disguise, their fears
any more. Great consultations were held there. The earl of Melfort, and all the papists,
proposed the seizing on all suspected persons, and the sending them to Portsmouth. The carl
OF KING JAMES II. 4?7
of Sunderland opposed this vehemently. He said, it would not be possible to seize on many
at the same time ; and the seizing on a few would alarm all the rest : it would drive them
into the prince, and furnish them with a pretence for it : he proposed rather, that the king
would do such popular things, as might give some content, and lay that fermentation with which
the nation wras then, as it were, distracted. This was at that time complied with : but all
the popish party continued upon this to charge lord Sunderland, as one that was in the
king's counsels only to betray them ; that had before diverted the offer of assistance from
France, and now the securing those who were the most likely to join and assist the prince.
By their importunities the king was at last so prevailed on, that he turned him out of all
his places ; and lord Preston was made secretary of state. The fleet was now put out, and
was so strong that, if they had met the Dutch fleet, probably they would have been too
hard for them, especially considering the great transport fleet that they were to cover. All
the forces that were in Scotland were ordered into England ; and that kingdom was left in
the hands of their militia. Several regiments came likewise from Ireland. So that the
king's army was then about thirty thousand strong. But, in order to lay the heat that was
raised in the nation, the king sent for the bishops ; and set out the injustice of this unna-
tural invasion that the prince was designing : he assured them of his affections to the church
of England ; and protested, he had never intended to carry things further than to an equal
liberty of conscience : he desired, they would declare their abhorrence of this invasion, and
that they would offer him their advice, what was fit for him to do. They declined the
point of abhorrence, and advised the present summoning a parliament; and that in the
mean while the ecclesiastical commission might be broken, the proceedings against the
bishop of London and Magdalen college might be reversed, and that the law might be again
put in its channel. This they delivered with great gravity, and W7ith a courage that recom-
mended them to the whole nation. There was an order sent them from the king afterwards,
requiring them to compose an office for the present occasion. The prayers were so well
drawn, that even those who wished for the prince might have joined in them. The church
party did now show their approbation of the prince's expedition in such terms, that many
were surprised at it, both then, and since that time. They spoke openly in favour of it.
They expressed their grief to see the wind so cross. They wished for an east wind, which,
on that occasion, was called the protestant wrind. They spoke with great scorn of all that
the court was then doing to regain the hearts of the nation. And indeed the proceedings of
the court that way were so cold, and so forced, that few were likely to be deceived by them,
but those who had a mind to be deceived. The writs for a parliament were often ordered
to be made ready for the seal, and were as often stopped. Some were sealed, and given out :
but they were quickly called in again. The old charters were ordered to be restored again.
Jeffreys himself carried back the charter of the city of London, and put on the appearances
of joy and heartiness when he gave it to them. All men saw through that affectation : for
he had raised himself chiefly upon the advising, or promoting, that matter of the surrender,
and the forfeiture of the charters. An order was also sent to the bishop of Winchester, to
put the president of Magdalen college again in possession. Yet, that order not being
executed when the news was brought that the prince and his fleet were blown back, it was
countermanded ; which plainly showed what it was that drove the court into so much
compliance, and how long it was likely to last.
The matter of the greatest concern, and that could not be dropped, but was to be sup-
ported, was the birth of the prince of Wales. And therefore the court thought it necessary,
now in an after-game, to offer some satisfaction in that point. So a great meeting was
• •'tiled, not only of all the privy councillors and judges, but of all the nobility then in town.
To these the king complained of the great injury that was done both him and the queen, by
the prince of Orange, who accused them of so black an imposture : he said, he believed there
^ ere few princes then alive, who had been born in the presence of more witnesses than were
al his son's birth : he had therefore called them together, that they might hear the proof of
t-iat matter. It was first proved that the queen was delivered abed, while many were in the
" om ; and that they saw the child soon after he was taken from the queen by the midwife.
pit in this the midwife was the single witness; for none of the ladies had felt the child ia
K K
488 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the queen s belly. The countess of Sunderland did indeed depose, that the queen called to
her to give her her hand, that she might feel how the child lay; to which she added,
" which I did ;" but did not say, whether she felt the child, or not : and she told the duchess
of Hamilton, from whom I had it, that when she put her hand into the bed, the queen held
it, and let it go no lower than her breasts. So that really she felt nothing. And this
deposition, brought to make a show, was an evidence against the matter, rather than for
it ; and was a violent presumption of an imposture, and of an artifice to cover it. Many
ladies deposed that they had often seen the marks of milk on the queen's linen, near her
breasts. Two or three deposed, that they saw it running out at the nipple. All these
deposed, that they saw milk before the pretended delivery. But none of them deposed
concerning milk after the delivery ; though nature sends it then in greater abundance : and
the queen had it always in such a plenty, that some weeks passed after her delivery before
she was quite freed from it. The ladies did not name the time in which they saw the milk,
except one, who named the month of May. But, if the particulars mentioned before, that
happened on Easter Monday, are reflected on, and if it appears probable by these that the queen
miscarried at that time ; then all that the ladies mentioned of milk in her breasts, particularly
she that fixed it to the month of May, might have followed upon that miscarriage, and be no
proof concerning the late birth. Mrs. Pierce, the laundress, deposed that she took linen from the
queen's body once, which carried the marks of a delivery. But she spoke only to one time.
That was a main circumstance ; and, if it had been true, it must have been often done, and was
capable of a more copious proof, since there is occasion for such things to be often looked on,
and well considered. The lady Went worth was the single witness that deposed that she
had felt the child move in the queen's belly. She was a bed-chamber woman, as well as a
single witness ; and she fixed it on no time. If it was very early, she might have been
mistaken : or if it was before Easter Monday, it might be true, and yet have no relation to
this birth. This was the substance of this evidence, which was ordered to be enrolled and
printed. But when it was published, it had a quite contrary effect to what the court
expected from it. The presumption of law before this was all in favour of the birth, since
the parents owned the child : so that the proof lay on the other side, and ought to be
offered by those who called it in question. But, now that this proof was brought, which
was so apparently defective, it did not lessen but increase the jealousy with which the
nation was possessed : for all people concluded that, if the thing had been true, it must have
been easy to have brought a much more copious proof than was now published to the world.
It was much observed, that princess Anne was not present. She indeed excused herself:
she thought she was breeding ; and all motion was forbidden her. None believed that to
be the true reason ; for it was thought that the going from one apartment of the court to
another could not hurt her. So it was looked on as a colour that showed she did not believe
the thing ; and that therefore she would not, by her being present, seem to give any credit
to it.
This was the state of affairs in England, while we lay at Helvoet-Sluys, where we conti- i
nued till the first of November. Here Wildman create-d a new disturbance. He plainly
had a show of courage, but was, at least, then a coward. He possessed some of the English j
with an opinion, that the design was now irrecoverably lost. This was entertained by
many, who were willing to hearken to any proposition, that set danger at a distance from
themselves. They were still magnifying the English fleet, and undervaluing the Dutch.
They went so far in this, that they proposed to the prince, that Herbert should be ordered
to go over to the coast of England, and either fight the English fleet, or force them in : and
in that case the transport fleet might venture over ; which otherwise they thought could
not be safely done. This some urged with such earnestness, that nothing but the prince's
authority, and Schomberg's credit, could have withstood it. The prince told them, the i
season was now so far spent, that the losing of more time was the losing the whole design : ;
fleets might lie long in view of one another, before it could be possible for them to come to j
an engagement, though both sides equally desired it ; but much longer, if any one of them '
avoided it ; it was not possible to keep the army, especially the horse, long at sea : and it ,
was no easy matter to take them all out, and to ship them again : after the wind had stood !
OF KING JAMES II. 499
so long in the west, there was reason to hope it would turn to the east : and when that
should come, no time was to be lost : for it would sometimes blow so fresh in a few days as
to freeze up the river; so that it would not be possible to get out all the winter long. With
these things he rather silenced than quieted them. All this while the men-of-war were still
riding at sea, it being a continued storm for some weeks. The prince sent out several advice
boats with orders to them to come in. But they could not come up to them. On the
twenty-seventh of October there was for six hours together a most dreadful storm : so that
there were few among us, that did not conclude, that the best part of the fleet, and by
consequence that the whole design, was lost. Many that have passed for heroes, yet showed
then the agonies of fear in their looks and whole deportment. The prince still retained his
usual calmness, and the same tranquillity of spirit, that I had observed in him in his happiest
days. On the twenty-eighth it calmed a little, and our fleet came all in, to our great joy.
The rudder of one third-rate was broken, and that was all the hurt that the storm had done.
At last the much-longed-for east wind came. And so hard a thing it was to set so vast a
body in motion, that two days of this wind were lost before all could be quite ready.
On the first of November, 0. S., we sailed out with the evening tide, but made little way
that night, that so our fleet might come out and move in order. We tried next day till
noon if it was possible to sail northward, but the wind was so strong and full in the east,
that we could not move that way. About noon the signal was given to steer westward.
This wind not only diverted us from that unhappy oourse, but it kept the English fleet in
the river : so that it was not possible for them to come out, though they were come down
as far as to the Gunfleet. By this means we had the sea open to us, with a fair wind and
a safe navigation. On the third we passed between Dover and Calais, and- before night
carne in sight of the Isle of Wight. The next day, being the day in which the prince \vas
both born and married, he fancied if he could land that day it would look auspicious to the
army, and animate the soldiers. But we all who considered that the day following, being
Gunpowder-treason day, our landing that day might have a good effect on the minds of the
English nation, were better pleased to see that we could land no sooner. Torbay was
thought the best place for our great fleet to lie in : and it was resolved to land the army
where it could be best done near it ; reckoning, that being at such a distance from London,
we could provide ourselves with horses, and put everything in order before the king could
march his army towards us, and that we should lie some time at Exeter for the refreshing
our men. I was in the ship, with the prince's other domestics, that went in the van of the
whole fleet. At noon on the fourth, Russel came on board us, with the best of all the
English pilots that they had brought over. He gave him the steering of the ship, and
ordered him to be sure to sail so that next morning we should be short of Dartmouth : for it
was intended that some of the ships should land there, and that the rest should sail into
Torbay. The pilot thought he could not be mistaken in measuring our course ; and believed
that he certainly kept within orders, till the morning shewed us we were past Torbay and
Dartmouth. The wind, though it had abated much of its first violence, yet was still full in
the east. So now it seemed necessary for us to sail on to Plymouth, which must have
( ngaged us in a long and tedious campaign in winter, through a very ill country. Nor were
we sure to be received at Plymouth. The earl of Bath, who was governor, had sent by
Hussel a promise to the prince to come and join him : yet it was not likely that he would
he so forward as to receive us at our first coming. The delays he made afterwards, pretend-
ing that he was managing the garrison, whereas he was indeed staying till he saw how the
1 matter was likely to be decided, showed us how fatal it had proved, if we had been forced
to sail on to Plymouth. But while Russel was in no small disorder, after he saw the pilot's
error, (upon which he bid me go to my prayers, for all was lost,) and as he was ordering the
l>oat to be cleared to go aboard the prince, on a sudden, to all our wonder, it calmed a little.
I And then the wind turned into the south : and a soft and happy gale of wind carried in the
k'hole fleet in four hours' time into Torbay. Immediately as many landed as conveniently
>uld. As soon as the prince and marshal Schomberg got to shore, they were furnished
ith such horses as the village of Broxholme could afford ; and rode up to view the grounds,
hich they found as convenient as could be imagined for the foot in that season. It was
K K 2
500 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
not a cold niglit : otherwise the soldiers, who had been kept w£,rm aboard, might have
suffered much by it. As soon as I landed, I made what haste I could to the place where
the prince was, who took me heartily by the hand, and asked me if I would not now believe
predestination. I told him I would never forget that providence of God which had appeared
so signally on this occasion. He was more cheerful than ordinary. Yet he returned soon
to his usual gravity. The prince sent for all the fishermen of the place, and asked them
which was the properest place for landing his horse, which all apprehended would be a
tedious business, and might hold some days. But next morning he was shown a place, a
quarter of a mile below the village, where the ships could be brought very near the land,
against a good shore, and the horses would not be put to swim above twenty yards. This
proved to be so happy for our landing, though we came to it by mere accident, that if we
had ordered the whole island round to be sounded, we could not have found a more proper
place for it. There was a dead calm all that morning : and in three hours' time all our
horse were landed, with as much baggage as was necessary till we got to Exeter. The
artillery and heavy baggage were left aboard, and ordered to Topsham, the seaport to Exeter
All that belonged to us was so soon and so happily landed, that, by the next day at noon
we were in full march, and marched four miles that night. We had from thence twenty
miles to Exeter, and we resolved to make haste thither. But, as we were now happily
landed and inarching, we saw new and unthought-of characters of a favourable providence
of God watching over us. We had no sooner got thus disengaged from our fleet, than a
new and great storm blew from the west, from which our fleet, being covered by the land, '
could receive no prejudice ; but the king's fleet had got out as the wind calmed, and, in
pursuit of us, was come • a,s far as the Isle of Wight, when this contrary wind turned upon
them. They tried what they could to pursue us ; but they were so shattered by some days
of this storm, that they were forced to go into Portsmouth, and were no more fit for service
that year. This was a greater happiness than we were then aware of : for the lord Dartmouth
assured me some time after, that whatever stories we had heard and believed, either of
officers or seamen, he was confident they would all have fought very heartily. But now,
by the immediate hand of Heaven, we were masters of the sea without a blow. I never
found a disposition to superstition in my temper : I was rather inclined to be philosophical
upon all occasions. Yet I must confess that this strange ordering of the winds and seasons,
just to change as our affairs required it, could not but make deep impressions on me, as well
as on all that observed it. Those famous verses of Claudian seemed to be more applicable to
the prince, than to him they were made on ;
i
0 nimium dilecte Deo, cui militat aether,
Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti !
Heaven's favourite, for whom the skies do fight,
And all the winds conspire to guide thee right !
The prince made haste to Exeter, where he stayed ten aays, both for refreshing his troops :
and for giving the country time to show their affections. Both the clergy and magistrates
of Exeter were very fearful and very backward. .The bishop and the dean ran away. And
the clergy stood off, though they were sent for and very gently spoken to by the prince.
The truth was, the doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance had been carried so far,
and preached so much, that clergymen either could not all on the sudden get out of that
entanglement, into which they had by long thinking and speaking all one way involved
themselves, or they were ashamed to make so quick a turn. Yet care was taken to protect
them and their houses everywhere : so that no sort of violence nor rudeness was offered to ;
any of them. The prince gave me full authority to do this : and I took so particular a care !
of it, that we heard of no complaints. The army was kept under such an exact discipline, |
that everything was paid for where it was demanded ; though the soldiers were con- j
tented with such moderate entertainment that the people generally asked but little for what
they did eat. We stayed a week at Exeter before any of the gentlemen of the country about i
came in to the prince. Every day some persons of condition came from other parts. The |
I
OF KING JAMES II. 501
first were the lord Colchester, the eldest son of the earl of Rivers, and the lord "Wharton,
Mr. Russel, the lord Russel's brother, and the earl of Abington.
The king came down to Salisbury, and sent his troops twenty miles further. Of these,
three regiments of horse and dragoons were drawn on by their officers, the lord Cornbury
and colonel Langston, on design to come over to the prince. Advice was sent to the prince
of this. But because these officers were not sure of their subalterns, the prince ordered a
body of his men to advance and assist them in case any resistance was made. They were
within twenty miles of Exeter, and within two miles of the body that the prince had sent
to join them, when a whisper ran about among them that they were betrayed. Lord Corn-
bury had not the presence of mind that so critical a thing required *. So they fell in con-
fusion, and many rode back. Yet one regiment came over in a body, and with them about
a hundred of the other two. This gave us great courage, and showed us that we had not beer,
deceived in what was told us of the inclinations of the king's army. Yet, on the other hand,
those who studied to support the king's spirits by flatteries told him that in this he saw he
might trust his army, since those who intended to carry over those regiments were forced to
manage it with so much artifice, and durst not discover their design either to officers or
soldiers ; and that, as soon as they perceived it, the greater part of them had turned back.
The king wanted support, for his spirits sunk extremely. His blood was in such fermenta-
tion, that he was bleeding much at the nose, which returned often upon him every day-j-.
He sent many spies over to us. They all took his money, and came and joined themselves
to the prince, none of them returning to him. So that he had no intelligence brought him
of what the prince was doing but what common reports furnished, which magnified our
numbers, and made him think we were coming near him, while we were still at Exeter. He
heard that the city of London was very unquiet. News was brought him that the earls of
Devonshire and Danby, and the lord Lumley, were drawing great bodies together, and that
both York and Newcastle had declared for the prince. The lord Delamere had raised a regi-
ment in Cheshire. And the body of the nation did everywhere discover their inclinations
for the prince so evidently, that the king saw he had nothing to trust to but his army.
And the ill disposition among them was so apparent, that he reckoned he could not depend
on them. So that he lost both heart and head at once. But that which gave him the last
and most confounding stroke was, that the lord Churchill and the duke of Grafton left hirn,
and came and joined the prince at Axminster, twenty miles on that side of Exeter. After
this he could not know on whom he could depend. The duke of Grafton was one of king
Charles's sons, by the duchess of Cleveland. He had been some time at sea, and was a
gallant but rough man. He had more spirit than any one of the king's sons. He made an
answer to the king about this time that was much talked of. The king took notice of some-
what in his behaviour that looked factious ; and he said he was sure he could not pretend to
act upon principles of conscience ; for he had been so ill bred that as he knew little of reli-
gion so he regarded it less. But he answered the king, that though he had little conscience,
yet he was of a party that had a great deal. Soon after that, prince George, the duke of
Ormond, and the lord Drumlanrig, the duke of Queensberry's eldest son, left him, and came
over to the prince, and joined him, when he was come as far as the earl of BristoFs house,
at Sherburn. When the news came to London, the princess was so struck with the appre-
hensions of the king's displeasure, and of the ill effects that it might have, that she said to
the lady Churchill that she could not bear the thoughts of it, and would leap out at window
rather than venture on it. The bishop of London was then lodged very secretly in Suffolk
Street. So the lady Churchill, who knew where he was, went to him, and concerted with
him the method of the princess's withdrawing from the court. The princess went sooner to
bed than ordinary. And about midnight she went down a back-stairs from her closet,
attended only by the lady Churchill, in such haste that they carried nothing with them.
* This was the eldest son of the earl of Clarendon. f This is mentioned in the Clarendon Correspondence,
His father's sorrow at this defection is touchingly expressed ii. 206. He was relieved by the lancet four times the
in his "Diary." He immediately had an audience of same week. — Sir Patrick Hume's Diary; Rose's Obser-
James the Second, who received him kindly. — Clarendon vations in Fox's History of James the Second.
Correspondence.
502 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
They were waited for by the bishop of London, who carried them fo the earl of Dorset's,
whose lady furnished them with everything. And so they went northward, as far as
Northampton , where that earl attended on them with all respect, and quickly brought a
body of horse to serve for a guard to the princess. And in a little while a small army was
formed about her, who chose to be commanded by the bishop of London : of which he too
easily accepted*.
These things put the king in an inexpressible confusion. He saw himself now forsaken,
not only by those whom he had trusted and favoured most, but even by his own children.
And the army was in such distraction that there was not any one body that seemed entirely
united and firm to him. A foolish ballad was made at that time, treating the papists, and
chiefly the Irish, in a very ridiculous manner, which had a burden said to be Irish words,
" lero lero lilibulero," that made an impression on the army that cannot be well imagined
by those who saw it not. The whole army, and at last all people both in city and country,
were singing it perpetually. And perhaps never had so slight a thing so great an effect.
"While the prince stayed at Exeter, the rabble of the people came in to him in great
numbers. So that he could have raised many regiments of foot if there had been any occa-
sion for them. But what he understood of the temper the king's army was in, made him
judge it was not necessary to arm greater numbers. After he had stayed eight days at
Exeter, Seymour came in with several other gentlemen of quality and estate. As soon as
he had been with the prince, he sent to seek for me. When I came to him, he asked me
why we had not an association signed by all that came to us, since, till we had that done,
we were as a rope of sand : men might leave us when they pleased, and we had them under
no tie : whereas, if they signed an association, they would reckon themselves bound to stick
to us. I answered, it was because we had not a man of his authority and credit to offer and
support such an advice. I went from him to the prince, who approved of the motion ; as
did also the earl of Shrewsbury, and all that were with us. So I was ordered to draw it.
It was, in few words, an engagement to stick together in pursuing the ends of the prince's
declaration ; and that, if any attempt should be made on his person, it should be revenged
on all by whom, or from whom, any such attempt should be made. This was agreed to by
all about the prince. So it was engrossed in parchment, and signed by all those that came
in to him. The prince put Devonshire and Exeter under Seymour's government, who was
recorder of Exeter. And he advanced with his army, leaving a small garrison there with
his heavy artillery under colonel Gibson, whom he made deputy-governor as to the military
part.
At Crookhorn, Dr. Finch, son of the earl of "Winchelsea, and warden of All-Souls college
in Oxford, was sent to the prince from some of the heads of colleges, assuring him that they
would declare for him, and inviting him to come thither, telling him that their plate should j
be at his service, if he needed it. This was a sudden turn from those principles that they j
* The princess Anne left the Cockpit, where she then of Marlborough ; Clarendon Correspondence ; Colley
lodged, on the night of November the 25th. The earl of Gibber's Apology for his Life ; Dalrymple's Memoirs.) j
Clarendon says that he heard the rumour next morning, Prince George, the duke of Ormond, lord Drumlanrie, '
and the report was that some one had earned her away, and Mr. H. Boyle, had deserted James at Andover, on
nobody knew whither. The duchess of Marlborough the 24th. They had supped with the king the same
(then lady Churchill) managed the escape for her ; and evening, and left his quarters as soon as he had retired
ihe narrative she has given coincides closely with that to bed. Prince George left a letter for James (see this
given by Burnet. After stating the preliminary arrange- in Rennet's Hist, of England), excusing himself, and
naents she made with the bishop of London, she adds, blaming this unhappy monarch. When the prince heard
<c The princess went to bed at the usual time, to prevent of any one's defection from the king, he had been accus-
suspicion. I came to her soon after, and, by the back tomed to exclaim, " Est-il possible ?" The only remark
stairs which went down from her closet, Iter royal high- James made upon the prince's desertion was, " Is Est-il
ness, lady Fitzharding, and I, with one servant, walked to possible gone too ? " In king James's " Memoirs "
the coach, where we found the bishop and the earl of said, " ne was more troubled at the unnaturalness of the
Dorset. They conducted us that night to the bishop's action than the want of his service ; for the loss of a
house in the City, and the next day to my lord Dorset's, good trooper would have been of more consequence."
at Copt Hall. From thence we went to the earl of But on the monarch's return to London, and finding bi
Northampton's, and from thence to Nottingham, where daughter had also fled, he burst into tears, emphatically
the country gathered round the princess ; nor did she saying, " God help me ! my own children have forsaken
think herself safe till she saw that she was surrounded by me." — Clarendon Correspondence, ii. 208.
tae prince of Orange's friends." — (Account of the Duchess
OF KING JAMES II.
503
had carried so high a few years before. The prince had designed to have secured Bristol
and Gloucester, and so to have gone to Oxford, the whole west being then in his hands, if
there had been any appearance of a stand to be made against him by the king and his army ;
for, the king being so much superior to him in horse, it was not advisable to march through
the great plains of Dorsetshire and Wiltshire. But the king's precipitate return to London
put an end to this precaution. The earl of Bath had prevailed with the garrison of Plymouth,
and they declared for the prince. So now all behind him was safe. "When he came to
Sherburn, all Dorsetshire came in a body and joined him. He resolved to make all the haste
he could to London, where things were in a high fermentation.
A bold man ventured to draw and publish another declaration in the prince's name. It
was penned with great spirit : and it had as great an effect. It set forth the desperate
designs of the papists, and the extreme danger the nation was in by their means, and
required all persons immediately to fall on such papists as were in any employments, and to
turn them out, and to secure all strong places, and to do everything else that was in their
power in order to execute the laws, and to bring all things again into their proper channels.
This set all men at work : for no doubt was made that it was truly the prince's declaration.
But he knew nothing of it. And it was never known who was the author of so bold a
thing. No person ever claimed the merit of it : for though it had an amazing effect, yet, it
seems, he that contrived it apprehended that the prince would not be well pleased with the
author of such an imposture in his name. The king was under such a consternation, that he
neither knew what to resolve on, nor whom to trust. This pretended declaration put the
City in such a flame, that it was carried to the lord mayor, and he was required to execute
it. The apprentices got together, and were falling upon all mass-houses, and committing
many irregular things. Yet their fury was so well governed, and so little resisted, that no
other mischief was done ; no blood was shed.
The king now sent for all the lords in town, that were known to be firm protestants.
And, upon speaking to some of them in private, they advised him to call a general meeting
of all the privy councillors and peers, to ask their advice what was fit to be done. All agreed
in one opinion that H was fit to send commissioners to the prince to treat with him. This
went much against the king^s own inclinations : yet the dejection he was in, and the des-
perate state of his affairs, forced him to consent to it. So the marquis of Halifax, the earl
of Nottingham, and the lord Godolphin, were ordered to go to the prince, and to ask him
what it was that he demanded. The earl of Clarendon reflected the most, on the king's
former conduct, of any in that assembly, not without some indecent and insolent words,
f'lich were generally condemned. He expected, as was said, to be one of the commissioners,
d upon his not being named he came and met the prince near Salisbury. Yet he suggested
many peevish and peculiar things when he came, that some suspected all this was but col-
lusion, and that he was sent to raise a faction among those that were about the prince. The
lords sent to the prince to know where they should wait on him, and he named Hungerford.
When they came thither and had delivered their message, the prince called all the peers and
others of chief note about him, and advised Avith them what answers should be made. A
day was taken to consider of an answer. The marquis of Halifax sent for me. But the
* At this meeting (November 27th), the lord chan-
cellor Jeffreys, Godolphin, Falconberg, &c. recommended
the calling a parliament. Lord Clarendon, in his " Diary,"
says, " I spake with great freedom, laying open most of
the late miscarriages, and particularly the raising a regi-
ment of Roman catholics at this very time under the com-
mand of the earl of Stafford, to be a guard to the king's
person ; into which all the French tradesmen in town of
that religion were received, and none were to be admitted
but papists. I pressed this so earnestly, that the king
called out and said it was not true ; there were no direc-
tions for admitting none but papists ; but I went on, say-
ing I had been so informed, &c. My motion was for a
parliament, and sending commissioners to treat with the
pnnce of Orange." Lords Halifax and Nottingham sup-
ported these propositions, but more mildly. In conclu-
sion, the king said, " My lords, I have heard you all :
you have spoken with great freedom, and I do not take it
ill of any of you. t may tell you I will call a parlia .
ment ; but for the other things you propose, they are ot
great importance, and you will not wonder that I take one
night's time to consider of them.'' Lord Godolphin pre-
vented any of the popish peers being present at this
council. The king complained much of the defection ot
his army, yet thought many would adhere to him. He
said he considered the bleeding at his nose a great provi-
dence ; for, if it had not occurred on the day he intended
to review the troops at Westminster, he believed, on good
reasons, that lord Churchill had intended to deliver him
up to the prince of Orange. This is supported by many
statements in Macphersou's " Original Papers," i, 280
Clarendon Correspondence.
504 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
prince said, though he would suspect nothing from our meeting, others might. So I did not
speak with him in private, but in the hearing of others. Yet he took occasion to ask me, so
as nobody observed it, " If we had a mind to have the king in our hands ?" I said, " By
no means ; for we would not hurt his person." He asked next, " What if he had a rnind to
go away?" I said, " Nothing was so much to be wished for." This I told the prince.
And he approved of both my answers. The prince ordered the earls of Oxford, Shrewsbury,
and Clarendon, to treat with the lords the king had sent. And they delivered the prince's
answer to them on Sunday the eighth of December*.
He desired a parliament might be presently called, that no men should continue in any
employment who were not qualified by law, and had not taken the tests ; that the Tower of
London might be put in the keeping of the City ; that the fleet, and all the strong places of
the kingdom, might be put in the hands of protestants ; that a proportion of the revenue
might be set off for the pay of the prince's army ; and that during the sitting of the parlia-
ment, the armies of both sides might not come within twenty miles of London ; but, that
the prince might come on to London, and have the same number of his guards about him
that the king kept about his person. The lords seemed to be very well satisfied with this
answer. They sent it up by an express, and went back next day to London.
But now strange counsels were suggested to the king and queen. The priests, and all
the violent papists, saw a treaty was now opened. They knew that they must be the sacri-
fice. The whole design of popery must be given up, without any hope of being able in an
age to think of bringing it on again. Severe laws would be made against them. And all
those who intended to stick to the king, and to preserve him, would go into those laws with
a particular zeal : so that they, and their hopes, must be now given up and sacrificed for
ever. They infused all this into the queen. They said she would certainly be impeached,
and witnesses would be set up against her and her son : the king's mother had been
impeached in the long parliament : and she was to look for nothing but violence. So the
queen took up a sudden resolution of going to France with the child. The midwife, together
with all who were assisting at the birth, were also carried over, or so disposed of, that it
could never be learned what became of them afterwards. The queen prevailed with the
king, not only to consent to this, but to promise to go quickly after her. He was only to
stay a day or two after her, in hope that the shadow of authority that was still left in him
might keep things so quiet, that she might have an undisturbed passage. So she went to
Portsmouth. And from thence, in a man of war, she went over to France : the king resolv-
ing to follow her in disguise. Care was also taken to send all the priests away. The king
stayed long enough to get the prince's answerf . And when he had read it, he said he did
not expect so good terms. He ordered the lord chancellor to come to him next morning.
But he had called secretly for the great seal. And the next morning, being the tenth of
December, about three in the morning, he went away in disguise with sir Edward Hales,
whose servant he seemed to be. They passed the river, and flung the great seal into it ;
which was some months after found by a fisherman, near Fox Hall J. The king went down
to a miserable fisher-boat that Hales had provided for carrying them over to France.
Thus a great king, who had a good army and a strong fleet, did choose rather to abandon
* The time of this nobleman's going over to the prince intention en cela est d'avoir aupr£s de lui le grand sceau,
of Orange, his interview with the latter, &c. are very pour 1'ernporter au besoin. Par les loix d'Anglctcrre on
interestingly told by him in his " Diary." — Clarendon ne peut rien 'faire sans le grand sceau ; et avec le grand
Correspondence. sceau, le roi peut empecher beaucoup de choses que ses
t The despatches of the French ambassador, M. Baril- ennemis voudroient faire. On croit par ce moyen jeter du
Ion, confirm the statements made by Burnet. He says, trouble et de la division dans le gouvernement qu'il faudra
that James only consented to send commissioners to the etablir." — (Mazure's Hist, de la Revolution, iii. 220.)
prince, because, by so doing, time would be gained to At all events the chancellor, Jeffreys, did not throw it
enable the queen and himself to prepare for their flight. — into the river ; for James, iu conversation with Barillon,
Mazure's Histoire de la Revolution. said, " The meeting of a parliament cannot be authorised
J Whether the great seal was found as stated by without writs under the great seal, and they have been
Burnet, seems very doubtful. Barillon says, that father issued for fifteen counties only ; the others are burned ;
Peters, who left a day or two before the king, had taken the great seal is missing ; the chancellor had placed it
precautions to have the great seal at his command, that in my hands eight days before I went away. They cannot |
he might take it with him. Barillon* s words are — " Son make another without rue." — Ibid.
OF KING JAMES II. 505
all, than either to expose himself to any danger with that part of the army that was still
firm to him, or to stay and see the issue of a parliament. Some attributed this mean and
unaccountable resolution to a want of courage. Others thought it was the effect of an ill
conscience, and of some black thing under which he could not now support himself. And
they who censured it the most moderately, said that it showed that his priests had more
regard to themselves than to him ; and that he considered their interest more than his own ;
and that he chose rather to wander abroad with them, and to try \vhat he could do by a
French force to subdue his people, than to stay at home, and be shut up within the bounds
of law, and be brought under an incapacity of doing more mischief ; which they saw was
necessary to quiet those fears and jealousies, for which his bad government had given so
much occasion. It seemed very unaccountable, since he was resolved to go, that he did not
choose rather to go in one of his yachts, or frigates, than to expose himself in so dangerous
and ignominious a manner. It was not possible to put a good construction on any part of
the dishonourable scene which he then acted.
With this his reign ended : for this was a plain deserting his people, and the exposing the
nation to the pillage of an army, which he had ordered the earl of Feversham to disband.
And the doing this without paying them, was the letting so many armed men loose upon
the nation : who might have done much mischief, if the execution of those orders that he
left behind him had not been stopped. I shall continue the recital of all that passed in this
interregnum, till the throne, which he now left empty, was filled.
He was not gone far, when some fishermen of Feversham, who were watching for such
priests, and other delinquents, as they fancied were making their escape, came up to him.
And they, knowing sir Edward Hales, took both the king and him, and brought them to
Feversham. The king told them who he wTas. And that flying about brought a vast
crowd together, to look on that astonishing instance of the uncertainty of all worldly great-
ness ; when he who had ruled three kingdoms, and might have been the arbiter of all
Europe, was now in such mean hands, and so low an equipage. The people of the town were
extremely disordered with this unlooked-for accident ; and, though for a while they kept him
as a prisoner, yet they quickly changed that into as much respect as they could possibly pay
him. Here was an accident that seemed of no great consequence ; yet all the strugglings
which that party have made ever since that time to this day, which from him were called
afterwards the Jacobites, did rise out of this : for, if he had got clear away, by all that could
be judged, he would not have had a party left : all would have agreed, that here was a
desertion, and that therefore the nation was free, and at liberty to secure itself. But what
followed upon this gave them a colour to say, that he was forced away, and driven out.
Till now, he scarce had a party, but among the papists : but from this incident a party grew
up, that has been long very active for his interests. As soon as it was known at London
that the king was gone, the apprentices and the rabble, who had been a little quieted when
they saw a treaty on foot between the king and the prince, now broke out again upon all
I suspected houses, where they believed there were either priests, or papists. They made great
havoc of many places, not sparing the houses of ambassadors : but none were killed, no
houses burnt, nor were any robberies committed. Never was so much fury seen under so
| much management. Jeffreys, finding the king was gone, saw what reason he had to look to
himself ; and, apprehending that he was now exposed to the rage of the people, whom he had
| provoked with so particular a brutality, he had disguised himself to make his escape. But
he fell into the hands of some who knew him. He was insulted by them with as much
scorn, and rudeness as they could invent. And, after many hours' tossing him about, he was
carried to the lord mayor, whom they charged to commit him to the Tower, which the lord
| Lucas had then seized, and in it had declared for the prince. The lord mayor was so struck
with the terror ef this rude populace, and with the disgrace of a man who had made all
people tremble before him, that he fell into fits upon it, of which he died soon after.
To prevent the further growth of such disorders, he called a meeting of the privy council-
lors and peers, who met at Guildhall. The archbishop of Canterbury was there. They gave
a strict charge for keeping the peace, and agreed to send an invitation to the prince, desiring
I him to corne and take the government of the nation into his hands, till a parliament should
fiOG THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
meet to bring all matters to a just and full settlement. This they all signed, and sent it to
the prince by the earl of Pembroke, the viscount Weymouth, the bishop of Ely, and the lord
Culpepper. The prince went on from Hungerford to Newbury, and from thence to Abing-
ton, resolving to have gone to Oxford to receive the compliments of the University, and to
meet the princess Anne who was coming thither. At Abington he was surprised with the
news of the strange catastrophe of affairs now at London, the king's desertion, and the dis-
orders which the city and neighbourhood of London were falling into. One came from
London, and brought him the news, which he knew not well how to believe, till he had an
express sent him from the lords, who had been with him from the king. Upon this the
prince saw how necessary it was to make all possible haste io London. So he sent to
Oxford, to excuse his not coming thither, and to offer the association to them, which was
signed by almost all the heads, and the chief men of the university ; even by those, who,
being disappointed in the preferments they aspired to, became afterwards his most implacable
enemies.
Hitherto the expedition had been prosperous, beyond all that could have been expected.
There had been but two small engagements, during this unseasonable campaign ; one was at
Winkington, in Dorsetshire, where an advanced party of the prince's met one of the king's
that was thrice their number : yet they drove them before them into a much greater body,
where they were overpowered with numbers. Some were killed on both sides ; but there
were more prisoners taken of the prince's men : yet, though the loss was of his side, the
courage that his men shewed in so great an inequality as to number, made us reckon that we
gained more than we lost on that occasion. Another action happened at Reading, where the
king had a considerable body, who, as some of the prince's men advanced, fell into a great
disorder, and ran away. One of the prince's officers was shot : he was a papist ; and the
prince in consideration of his religion was willing to leave him behind him in Holland ; but
he very earnestly begged he might come over with his company; and he wTas the only officer
that was killed in the whole expedition.
Upon the news of the king's desertion, it was proposed that the prince should go on with
all possible haste to London ; but that was not advisable : for the king's army lay so scat-
tered through the road all the way to London, that it was not fit for him to advance faster,
than as his troops marched before him ; otherwise, any resolute officer might have seized or
killed him. Though, if it had not been for that danger, a great deal of mischief, that fol-
lowed, would have been prevented by his speedy advance : for now began that turn, to
which all the difficulties, that did afterwards disorder our affairs, may be justly imputed.
Two gentlemen of Kent came to Windsor the morning after the prince came thither ; they
were addressed to me. And they told me of the accident at Feversham, and desired to
know the prince's pleasure upon it. I was affected with this dismal reverse of the fortune
of a great prince, more than I think fit to express. I went immediately to Bentinck, and
wrakened him, and got him to go in to the prince, and let him know what had happened,
that some order might be presently given for the security of the king's person, and for taking
him out of the hands of a rude multitude, who said they would obey no orders but such as
came from the prince. The prince ordered Zuylestein to go immediately to Feversham,
and to see the king safe, and at full liberty to go whithersoever he pleased. But, as soon
as the news of the king's being at Feversham came to London, all the indignation that
people had formerly conceived against him, was turned to pity and compassion. The privy
council met upon it. Some moved, that he should be sent for; others said, he was king, and
might send for his guards and coaches, as he pleased ; but it became not them to send for
him. It was left to his general, the earl of Feversham, to do what he thought best. So he
went for him with his coaches and guards. And, as he came back through the city, he was
welcomed with expressions of joy by great numbers : so slight and unstable a thing is a
multitude, and so soon altered. At his coming to Whitehall, he had a great court about
him *. Even the papists crept out of their lurking holes, and appeared at court with much
* This is all more fully stated, and confirmed by lord Clarendon in his " Diary." James returned to "Whiu-uaa
on the 16th of December. — Clarendon Correspondence.
OF KING JAMES II. 507
assurance. The king himself began to take heart ; and both at Fevers!) am, and now at
Whitehall, he talked in his ordinary high strain, justifying all he had done ; only he spoke a
little doubtfully of the business of Magdalen college. But when he came to reflect on the
state of his affairs, he saw it was so broken, that nothing was now left to deliberate upon.
So he sent the earl of Feversham to Windsor, without demanding any passport ; and ordered
him to desire the prince to come to St. Jameses, to consult with him of the best way for
settling the nation.
When the news of what had passed at London came to Windsor, the prince thought the
privy council had not used him well, who, after they had sent to him to take the govern-
ment upon him, had made this step without consulting him. Now the scene was altered,
and new counsels were to be taken. The prince heard the opinions, not only of those who
had come along with him, but of such of the nobility as were now come to him, among whom
the marquis of Halifax was one. All agreed that it was not convenient that the king should
?tay at Whitehall. Neither the king, nor the prince, nor the city, could have been safe, if
they had been both near one another. Tumults would probably have arisen out of it. The
guards, and the officious flatterers of the two courts, would have been unquiet neighbours.
It was thought necessary to stick to the point of the king's deserting his people, and not to
give up that, by entering upon any treaty with him. And since the earl of Feversham, who
had commanded the army against the prince, was come without a passport, he was for some
days put in arrest.
It was a tender point how to dispose of the king's person *. Some proposed rougher
methods : the keeping him a prisoner, at least till the nation was settled, and till Ireland
was secured. It was thought, his being kept in custody, would be such a tie on all his
party, as would oblige them to submit, and be quiet. Ireland was in great danger ; and his
restraint might oblige the earl of Tyrconnell to deliver up the government, and to disarm the
papists, which would preserve that kingdom, and the protestants in it. But, because it
might raise too much compassion, and perhaps some disorder, if the king should be kept in
restraint within the kingdom, therefore the sending him to Breda was proposed. The earl
of Clarendon pressed this vehemently, on the account of the Irish protestants, as the king
himself told me : for those that gave their opinions in this matter did it secretly, and in con-
fidence to the prince. The prince said, he- could not deny but that this might be good and
wise advice ; but it was that to which he could not hearken : he was so far satisfied with
the grounds of this expedition, that he could act against the king in a fair and open war ;
but for his person, now that he had him in his power, he could not put such a hardship on
him, as to make him a prisoner ; and he knew the princess's temper so well, that he was sure
she would never bear it : nor did he know what disputes it might raise, or what effect it
might have upon the parliament that was to be called. He was firmly resolved never to
suffer any thing to be done against his person : he saw it was necessary to send him out ot
London ; and he would order a guard to attend upon him, who should only defend and pro-
tect his person, but not restrain him in any sort-.
A resolution was taken of sending the lords Halifax, Shrewsbury, and Delamere, to Lon-
don, who were first to order the English guards that were about the court to be drawn off,
and sent to quarters out of town ; and, when that was done, the count of Solms with the
Dutch guards was to come and take all the posts about the court. This was obeyed with-
out any resistance, or disorder, but not without much murmuring. It was midnight before
all was settled ; and then these lords sent to the earl of Middleton, to desire him to let the
king know, that they had a message to deliver to him from the prince. He went in to the
king, and sent them word from him, that they might come with it immediately. They came,
and found him a-bed. They told him, the necessity of affairs required, that the prince should
come presently to London ; and he thought it would conduce to the safety of the king'g
person, and the quiet of the town, that he should retire to some house out of town : and they
proposed Ham. The king seemed much dejected, and asked, if it must be done immediately.
* Barillon, in one of his letters, relates a conversation From this and a statement in sir John Reresby's" Memoirs,"
with the king, shewing that he was perfectly aware how it seems rational to conclude that representations were
much his stay in England would embarrass his enemies, afterwards made which frightened him into flight.
508 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
They told him, he might take his rest first ; and they added, that he should be attended by
a guard, who should only guard his person, but should give him no sort of disturbance.
Having said this, they withdrew. The earl of Middleton came quickly- after them, and asked
them, if it would not do as well, if the king should go to Rochester ; for since the prince was
not pleased with his coming up from Kent, it might be perhaps acceptable to him, if he should
go thither again. It was very visible, that this was proposed in order to a second escape.
They promised to send word immediately to the prince of Orange, who lay that night at
Sion, within eight miles of London. He very readily consented to it. And the king went
next day to Rochester, having ordered all that which is called the moving wardrobe to be
sent before him, the count of Solms ordering every thing to be done, as the king desired. A
guard went with him that left him at full liberty, and paid him rather more respect than
his own guards had done of late. Most of that body, as it happened, were papists. So
when he went to mass, they went in, and assisted very reverently. And, when they were
asked, how they could serve in an expedition that was intended to destroy their own religion,
one of them answered, " His soul was God's, but his sword was the prince of Orange's."
The king was so much delighted with this answer, that he repeated it to all that came about
him *. On the same day the prince came to St. James's. It happened to be a very rainy
day; and yet great numbers came to see him. But, after they had stood long in the wet,
he disappointed them ; for, he who neither loved shews nor shoutings, went through the
park. And even this trifle helped to set people's spirits on the fret.
The revolution was thus brought about, with the universal applause of the whole nation ;
only these last steps began to raise a fermentation. It was said, here was an unnatural
thing, to waken the king out of his sleep, in his own palace, and to order him to go out of it,
when he was ready to submit to every thing. Some said, he was now a prisoner, and remem-
bered the saying of king Charles the First, that the prisons and the graves of princes lay not
far distant from one another : the person of the king was now struck at, as well as his
government ; and this . specious undertaking would now appear to be only a disguised, and
designed, usurpation. These things began to work on great numbers. And the posting
the Dutch guards, where the English guards had been, gave a general disgust to the whole
English army. They indeed hated the Dutch besides, on the account of the good order and
strict discipline they were kept under ; which made them to be as much beloved by the
nation, as they were hated by the soldiery. The nation had never known such an inoffen-
sive march of an army ; and the peace and order of the suburbs, and the freedom of markets
in and about London, was so carefully maintained, that in no time fewer disorders had been
committed than were heard of this winter.
None of the papists or Jacobites were insulted in any sort. The prince had ordered me,
as we came along, to take care of the papists, and to secure them from all violence. When
he came to London, he renewed these orders, which I executed with so much zeal and care,
that I saw all the complaints that were brought me fully redressed. When we came to
London I procured passports for all that desired to go beyond sea. Two of the popish
bishops were put in Newgate. I went thither in the prince's name. I told them, the prince
wTould not take upon him yet to give orders about prisoners ; as soon as he did that, they
should feel the effects of it. But in the mean while I ordered them to be well used, and to
be taken care of, and that their friends might be admitted to come to them. So truly did I
pursue the principle of moderation, even towards those from whom nothing of that sort was
to be expected t.
* Lord Clarendon, in bis "Diary" at the date Dcccm- appointed to attend him. Higgons says, "the very
her 18, says, "I was told the three lords came to White- moment" the king left Whitehall, his daughter entered
hall last night after the king was in bed. The English it : this is a misrepresentation ; lord Clarendon says they
guards being first removed, and the Dutch in possession did not come to London until the next day.
ot their posts, the lords were quickly admitted to the king; f The French ambassador, Barillon, was zealously
and when they had delivered their message, the king told active in promoting disunion among the English peers ; but
them, he had rather return to Rochester than to Ham ; William put an end to his activity by having him out of
whereupon the lords went back to Sion, and brought the England in twenty-four hours. He asked in vain for a
king word by nine this morning, that his majesty might go drhiy, and was sent at the appointed tin.ic to Dover undci
to Rochester if he pleased ; and about eleven the king a Dutch escort. — Echard's History of the Revolution,
took a barge and went down the river ; Dutch guards being '218.
OF KING JAMES II. £09
Now that the prince was come, all the bodies about the town came to welcome him. The
Sishops came the next day : only the archbishop of Canterbury, though he had once agreed
to it, yet would not come. The clergy of London came next. The city, and a great many
other bodies, came likewise, and expressed a great deal of joy for the deliverance wrought
for them by the prince's means. Old serjeant Maynard came with the men of the law. He
was then near ninety, and yet he said the liveliest thing that wTas heard of on that occasion.
The prince took notice of his great age, and said, that he believed he had outlived all the men
of the law of his time : he answered, " he should have out-lived the law itself, if his high-
ness had not come over."
The first thing to be done after the compliments were over, was to consider how the nation
was to be settled. The lawyers were generally of opinion, that the prince ought to declare
himself king, as Henry the Seventh had done. This, they said, would put an end to all
•disputes, which might otherwise grow very perplexing and tedious : and, they said, he might
call a parliament which would be a legal assembly, if summoned by the king in fact, though
his title was not yet recognized. This was plainly contrary to his declaration, by which the
settlement of the nation was referred to a parliament ; such a step wTould make all that the
prince had hitherto done, pass for an aspiring ambition, only to raise himself; and it would
disgust those who had been hitherto the best affected to his designs ; and make them less
concerned in the quarrel, if, instead of staying till the nation should offer him the crown, he
would assume it as a conquest. These reasons determined the prince against that propo-
sition. He called all the peers, and the members of the three last parliaments, that were in
town, together with some of the citizens of London. When these met, it was told them,
that, in the present distraction, the prince desired their advice about the best methods of
settling the nation. It was agreed in both these houses, such as they were, to make an
address to the prince, desiring him to take the administration of the government into his
hands in the interim. The next proposition passed not so unanimously ; for, it being moved,
that the prince should be likewise desired to write missive letters to the same effect, and for
the same persons to whom writs were issued out for calling a parliament, that so there might
be an assembly of men in the form of a parliament, though without writs under the great
seal, such as that was that had called home king Charles the Second : the earl of Notting-
ham objected to this, that such a convention of the States could be no legal assembly, unless
summoned by the king's writ. Therefore he moved, that an address might be made to the
king, to order the writs to be issued out. Few were of his mind. The matter was carried
the other way ; and orders were given for those letters to be sent round the nation.
The king continued a week at Rochester. And both he himself, and every body else,
saw that he was at full liberty, and that the guard about him put him under no sort of
restraint. Many that were zealous for his interests went to him, and pressed him to stay,
and to see the issue of things : a party would appear for him ; good terms would be got for
him ; and things would be brought to a reasonable agreement. He was much distracted
between his own inclinations, and the importunities of his friends. The queen, hearing what
had happened, wrote a most vehement letter to him, pressing his coming over, remembering
him of his promise, which she charged on him in a very earnest, if not in an imperious strain.
This letter was intercepted. I had an account of it from one that read it; The prince
ordered it to be conveyed to the king ; and that determined him. So he gave secret orders
to prepare a vessel for him ; and drew a paper, which he left on his table *, reproaching the
nation for their forsaking him. He declared, that though he was going to seek for foreign
aid, to restore him to his throne, yet he would not make use of it to overthrow either the
religion established, or the laws of the land. Arid so he left Rochester very secretly, on the
last day of this memorable year, and got safe over to France.
But, before I enter into the next year, I will give some account of the affairs of Scotland.
There was no force left there, but a very small one, scarcely able to defend "the castle of Edin-
burgh, of which the duke of Gordon was governor. He was a papist ; but had neither the
spirit, nor the courage, which such a post required at that time. As soon as the news came
* Directed to lord Middlcton. He went away without informing some of his best friends. — Clarendon Corres-
pondence, ii. 234,
510 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
to Scotland of the king's desertion, the rabble got together there, as they had done in London.
They broke into all popish chapels, and into the church of Holy Rood House, which had
been adorned at a great charge to be a royal chapel, particularly for the order of St. Andrew
and the Thistle, which the king had resolved to set up in Scotland in imitation of the order
of the garter in England. They defaced it quite, and seized on some that were thought
great delinquents, in particular on the earl of Perth, who had disguised himself, and had got
aboard a small vessel : but he was seized on, and put in prison. The whole kingdom, except
only the castle of Edinburgh, declared for the prince, and received his declaration for that
kingdom with great joy. This was done in the north very unanimously, by the episcopal,
as well as by the presbyterian party. But in the western counties, the presbyterians, who
had suffered much in a course of many years, thought that the time was now come, not only
to procure themselves ease and liberty, but to revenge themselves upon others. They gene-
rally broke in upon the episcopal clergy with great insolence and much cruelty. They
carried them about the parishes in a inock procession : they tore their gowns, and drove them
from their churches and houses. Nor did they treat those of them, who had appeared very
zealously against popery, with any distinction. The bishops of that kingdom had written a
very indecent letter to the king, upon the news of the prince's being blown back by the
storm, full of injurious expressions towards the prince, expressing their abhorrence of his
design : and, in conclusion, they wished that the king might have the necks of his enemies.
This was sent up as a pattern to the English bishops, and was printed in the Gazette. But
they did not think fit to copy after it in England. The episcopal party in Scotland saw
themselves under a great cloud ; so they resolved all to adhere to the earl of Dundee, who
had served some years in Holland, and was both an able officer, and a man of good parts,
and of some very valuable virtues ; but, as he was proud and ambitious, so he had taken up
a most violent hatred of the whole presbyterian party, and had executed all the severest
orders against them with great rigour ; even to the shooting many on the highway, that
refused the oath required of them. The presbyterians looked on him as their most implacable
enemy ; and the episcopal party trusted most entirely to him. Upon the prince's coming to
London, the duke of Hamilton called a meeting of all the men of quality of the Scotch
nation then in town ; and these made an address to the prince with relation to Scotland,
almost in the same terms in which the English address was conceived. And now the admi-
nistration of the government of the whole isle of Britain was put in the prince's hands.
The prospect from Ireland was more dreadful. Tyrconnell gave out new commissions for
levying thirty thousand men. And reports were spread about that island, that a general
massacre of the protestants was fixed to be in November. Upon which the protestants
began to run together for their common defence, both in Munster and in Ulster. They had
no great strength in Munster. They had been disarmed, and had no store of ammunition
for the few arms that were left them. So they despaired of being able to defend themselves,
and came over to England in great numbers, and full of dismal apprehensions for those they
had left behind them. They moved earnestly, that a speedy assistance might be sent to
them. In Ulster the protestants had more strength ; but they wanted a head. The lords
of Grenard and Mountjoy, who were the chief military men among them, in whom they
confided most, kept still such measures with Tyrconnell, that they would not take the con-
duct of them. Two towns, that had both very little defence about them, and a very small
store of provisions within them, were by the rashness, or boldness, of some brave young men
secured : so that they refused to receive a popish garrison, or to submit to Tyrconneirs orders.
These were London-Derry, and Inniskilling. Both of them were advantageously situated.
Tyrconnell sent troops into the north to reduce the country. Upon which great numbers
fled into those places, and brought in provisions to them. And so they resolved to defend
themselves, writh a firmness of courage that cannot be enough admired ; for when they were
abandoned, both by the gentry and the military men, those two small unfurnished and unfor-
tified places, resolved to stand to their own defence, and at all perils to stay till supplies
should come to them from England. I will not enlarge more upon the affairs of that king-
dom ; both because I had no occasion to be well informed of them, and because Dr. King,
now archbishop of Dublin, wrote a copious history of the government of Ireland during this
OF KING JAMES II.
reign, which is so well received, and so universally acknowledged to be as truly as it is finely
written, that I refer my reader to the account of those matters, which is fully and faithfully
given by that learned and zealous prelate *.
And now I enter upon the year 1689 : in. which the two first things to be considered,
before the convention could be brought together, were, the settling the English army, and
the affairs of Ireland. As for the army, some of the bodies, those chiefly that were full of
papists, and of men ill affected, were to be broken. And, in order to that, a loan was set on
foot in the city, for raising the money that was to pay their arrears at their disbanding, and
for carrying on the pay of the English and Dutch armies till the convention should meet, and
settle the nation. This was the great distinction of those who were well affected to the
prince : for, whereas those who were ill affected to him refused to join in the loan, pretending
there was no certainty of their being repaid ; the others did not doubt but the convention
would pay all that was advanced in so great an exigence ; and so they subscribed liberally,
as the occasion required.
As for the affairs of Ireland, there was a great variety of opinions among them. Some
thought that Ireland would certainly follow the fate of England. This was managed by an
artifice of Tyrconnell's, who, what by deceiving, what by threatening the most eminent pro-
testants in Dublin, got them to write over to London, and give assurances that he would
deliver up Ireland, if he might have good terms for himself, and for the Irish. The earl of
Clarendon was much depended on by the protestants of Ireland, who made all their applica-
tions to the prince by him. Those, who were employed by Tyrconnell to deceive the prince,
made their applications by sir William Temple, who had a long and well-established credit
with him. They said, Tyrconnell would never lay down the government of Ireland, unless
he was sure that the earl of Clarendon was not to succeed : he knew his peevishness and
spite, and that he would take severe revenges for what injuries he thought had been done to
himself, if he had them in his power ; and therefore he would not treat till he was assured of
that. Upon this the prince did avoid the speaking to the earl of Clarendon of those matters.
And then he, who had possessed himself in his expectation of that post, seeing the prince
thus shut him out of the hopes of it, became a most violent opposer of the new settlement.
He reconciled himself to king James ; and has been, ever since, one of the hottest promoters
of his interest of any in the nation. Temple entered into a management with Tyrconnell's
agents, who, it is very probable, if things had not taken a great turn in England, would have
come to a composition. Others thought that the leaving Ireland in that dangerous state,
might be a mean to bring the convention to a more speedy settlement of England ; and that
therefore the prince ought not to make too much haste to relieve Ireland. This advice was
generally believed to be given by the marquis of Halifax ; and it was like him. The prince
did not seem to apprehend enough the consequences of the revolt of Ireland ; and was
much blamed for his slowness in not preventing it in time.
The truth was, he did not know whom to trust. A general discontent, next to mutiny,
began to spread itself through the whole English army. The turn that they were now
making from him was almost as quick as that which they had made to him. He could not
trust them. Probably, if he had sent any of them over, they would have joined with Tyr-
connell. Nor could he well send over any of his Dutch troops. It was to them that he
chiefly trusted for maintaining the quiet of England. Probably the English army would
have become more insolent, if the Dutch force had been considerably diminished ; and the
king's magazines were so exhausted, that till new stores were provided, there was very little
ammunition to spare. The raising new troops was a work of time. There was no ship of
war in those seas, to secure the transport. And to send a small company of officers with
some ammunition, which was all that could be done on the sudden, seemed to be an exposing
them to the enemy. These considerations made him more easy to entertain a proposition
that was made to him, as was believed, by the Temples ; (for sir William had both a brother
and a son that made then a considerable figure ;) which was, to send over lieutenant-general
Hamilton, one of the officers that belonged to Ireland. He was a papist, but was believed
* This work is archbishop King's " State of the Protestants in Ireland under the late King James."
512 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
to be a man of honour; and he had certainly great credit with the earl of Tyrconncll. lie
had served in France with great reputation, and had a great interest in all the Irish, and was
now in the prince's hands ; and had heen together with a body of Irish soldiers, whom the
prince kept for some time as prisoners in the Isle of Wight ; whom he gave afterwards to the
emperor, though, as they passed through Germany, they deserted in great numbers, and got
into France. Hamilton was a sort of prisoner of war. So he undertook to go over to Ire-
land, and to prevail with the earl of Tyrconnell to deliver up the government ; and promised,
that he would either bring him to it, or that he would come back, and give an account of his
negociation. This step had a very ill effect ; for before Hamilton came to Dublin, the earl
of Tyrconnell was in such despair, looking on all as lost, that he seemed to be very near a
full resolution of entering on a treaty, to get the best terms that he could. But Hamilton's
coming changed him quite. He represented to him, that things were turning fast in England
in favour of the king ; so that, if he stood firm, all would come round again. He saw that
he must study to manage this so dextrously, as to gain as much time as he could, that so the
prince might not make too much haste before a fleet and supplies might come from France.
So several letters were written over by the same management, giving assurances that the
earl of Tyrconnell was fully resolved to treat and submit. And, to carry this further, two
commissioners were sent from the council-board to France. The one was a zealous protestant,
the other was a papist. Their instructions were, to represent to the king the necessity of
Ireland's submitting to England. The earl of Tyrconnell pretended, that in honour he could
do no less than disengage himself to his master before he laid down the government. Yet he
seemed resolved not to stay for an answer, or a consent ; but that as soon as this message was
delivered, he would submit upon good conditions : and for these, he knew, he would have
all that he asked. With this management he gained his point, which was much time.
And he now fancied, that the honour of restoring the king would belong chiefly to himself.
Thus Hamilton, by breaking his own faith, secured the earl of Tyrconnell to the king ; and
this gave the beginning to the war of Ireland. Mountjoy, the protestant lord that was sent
to France, instead of being heard to deliver his message, was clapped up in the Bastille ;
which, since he was sent in the name of a kingdom, was thought a very dishonourable thing,
and contrary to the law of nations. Those who had advised the sending over Hamilton
were now much out of countenance ; and the earl of Clarendon was a loud declaimer against
it. It was believed, that it had a terrible effect on sir William Temple's son, who had raised
in the prince a high opinion of Hamilton's honour. Soon after that, he, who had no other
visible cause of melancholy besides this, went in a boat on the Thames, near the bridge, where
the river runs most impetuously, and leaped into the river and was drowned *.
The sitting of the convention was now very near. And all men were forming their
schemes, and fortifying their party all they could. The elections were managed fairly all
England over. The prince did in no sort interpose in any recommendation, directly or indi-
rectly. Three parties were formed about the town : the one was for calling back the king,
and treating with him for such securities to our religion and laws, as might put them out of
the danger for the future of a dispensing or arbitrary power. These were all of the high
church party, who had carried the point of submission and non-resistance so far, that they
thought nothing less than this could consist with their duty and their oaths. When it was
objected to them, that, according to those notions that they had been possessed with, they
ought to be for calling the king back without conditions : when he came, they might indeed
offer him their petitions, which he might grant or reject as he pleased ; but that the offering
him conditions before he was recalled, was contrary to their former doctrine of unconditional
allegiance. They were at such a stand upon this objection, that it was plain, they spoke of
conditions, either in compliance with the humour of the nation ; or that, with relation to their ;
particular interest, nature was so strong in them, that it was too hard for their principle,
» Sir John Reresby says that Mr. Temple was well whereby some misfortunes have befallen the king's service, j
married, steady, and accomplished. He had lately been is the cause of my putting myself to this sudden end ; I
appointed secretary of war by king William. When he wish him success in all his undertakings, and a better :
drowned himself, he left a note in the boat to this effect : servant." — Reresby's Memoirs and Clarendou Covrcepond-
" My folly in undertaking what I could not perform, encc.
OF KING JAMES II. 613
When tliis notion was tossed and talked of about the town, so few went into it, that the
party which supported it went over to the scheme of a second party : which wTas, that king
James had, by his ill administration of the government, brought himself into an incapacity of
holding the exercise of the sovereign authority any more in his own hand ; but, as in the
case of lunatics, the right still remained in him : only the guardianship, or the exercise, of it
was to be lodged with a prince regent : so that the right of sovereignty should be owTned to
remain still in the king, and that the exercise of it should be vested in the prince of Orange,
as prince regent. A third party was for setting king James quite aside, and for setting the
prince on the throne.
When the convention was opened on the twenty-fourth of January, the archbishop came
not to take his place among them. He resolved neither to act for, nor against, the king's
interest; which, considering his high post, was thought very unbecoming. For if he
thought, as by his behaviour afterwards it seems he did, that the nation \vas running into
treason, rebellion, and perjury, it was a strange thing to see one, who was at the head of the
church, sit silent all the while that this was in debate, and not once so much as declare his
opinion by speaking, voting, or protesting, not to mention the other ecclesiastical methods
that certainly became his character. But he was a poor spirited and fearful man, and acted
a very mean part in all this great transaction. The bishops' bench was very full, as were
also the benches of the temporal lords. The earls of Nottingham, Clarendon, and Rochester,
were the men that managed the debates in favour of a regent, in opposition to those who
were for setting up another king.
They thought this would save the nation, and yet secure the honour of the church of
England and the sacredness of the crown. It was urged that if, upon any pretence what-
soever, the nation might throw off their king, then the crown must become precarious, and
the power of judging the king must be in the people. This must end in a commonwealth.
A great deal was brought from both the laws and history of England to prove that, not only
the person, but the authority, of the king was sacred. The law had indeed provided a
remedy of a regency for the infancy of our kings. So, if a king should fail into such errors
in his conduct, as showed that he was as little capable of holding the government as an
infant was, then the estates of the kingdom might, upon this parity of the case, seek to the
remedy provided for an infant, and lodge the power with a regent. But the right was to
remain, and to go on in a lineal succession : for, if that was once put ever so little out of its
order, the crown would in a little time become elective ; which might rend the nation in
pieces by a diversity of elections, and by the different factions that would adhere to the
person whom they had elected. They did not deny but that great objections lay against the
methods that they proposed. But affairs were brought into so desperate a state by king
James's conduct, that it was not possible to propose a remedy that might not be justly ex-
cepted to. But they thought their expedient would take in the greatest, as well as the best,
part of the nation : whereas all other expedients gratified a republican party, composed of
the dissenters, and of men of no religion, who hoped now to see the church ruined, and the
government set upon such a bottom, as that we should have only a titular king : who, as
he had his power from the people, so should be accountable to them for the exercise of it,
and should forfeit it at their pleasure. The much greater part of the house of lords was for
this, and stuck long to it ; and so was about a third part of the house of commons. The
greatest part of the clergy declared themselves for it.
But of those who agreed in this expedient it was visible there were two different parties.
Some intended to bring king James back, and went into this as the most probable way fcr
laying the nation asleep, and for overcoming the present aversion that all people had to him.
That being once done, they reckoned it would be no hard thing, with the help of some time,
to compass the other. Others seemed to mean more sincerely. They said they could not
vote nor argue, but according to their own principles, as long as the matter was yet entire ;
but they owned that they had taken up another principle, both from the law and from the
history of England : which was, that they would obey and pay allegiance to the king for
the time being. They thought a king thus de facto had a right to their obedience, and that
tlu-y were bound to adhere to him, and to defend him, even in opposition to him with
L L
5U THE HISTORY OF THE REiGN
whom they thought the right did still remain. The earl of Nottingham was the person
that owned this doctrine the most during these debates. He said to myself, that though he
could not argue, nor vote, but according to the scheme and principles he had concerning our
laws and constitution, yet he should not be sorry to see his side out- voted ; and that, though
he could not agree to the making a king as things stood, yet if he found one made he would
be more faithful to him, than those that made him could be, according to their own
principles.
The third party was made up of those who thought that there was an original contract
between the kings and the people of England : by which the kings were bound to defend
their people, and to govern them according to law ; in lieu of which the people were bound
to obey and serve the king, The proof of this appeared in the ancient forms of coronations
still observed : by which the people were asked if they would have that person before them
to be their king ; and, upon their shouts of consent, the coronation was gone about. But,
before the king was crowned, he was asked if he would not defend and protect his people,
and govern them according to law : and, upon his promising and swearing this, he was
crowned ; and then homage was done him. And, though of late the coronation has been
considered rather as a solemn instalment, than that which gave the king his authority, so
that it was become a maxim in law that the king never died, and that the new king was
crowned in the right of his succession, yet these forms, that were still continued, showed
what the government was originally. Many things were brought to support this from the
British and Saxon times. It was urged that William the Conqueror was received upon
his promising to keep the laws of Edward the Confessor, which was plainly the original
contract between him and the nation. This was often renewed by his successors. Edward
the Second and Richard the Second were deposed for breaking these laws ; and these depo-
sitions were still good in law, since they were not reversed, nor was the right of deposing
them ever renounced or disowned. Many things were alleged, from what had passed during
the barons' wars, for confirming all this. Upon which I will add one particular circum-
stance, that the original of king John's magna charta, with his great seal to it, was then
given to me by a gentleman that found it among his father's papers, but did not know how
he came by it : and it is still in my hands. It was said in this argument, what did all the
limitations of the regal power signify, if upon a king's breaking through them all the people
had not a right to maintain their laws and to preserve their constitution ? It was indeed
confessed that this might have ill consequences, and might be carried too far. But the deny-
ing this right in any case whatsoever, did plainly destroy all liberty, and establish tyranny.
The present alteration proposed would be no precedent but to the like case. And it was fit
that a precedent should be made for such occasions, if those of Edward the Second and
Richard the Second were not acknowledged to be good ones. It was said that if king
James had only broken some laws, and done some illegal acts, it might be justly urged, that
it was not reasonable on account of these to carry severities too far. But he had broken
through the laws in many public and avowed instances : he had set up an open treaty with
Rome : he had shaken the whole settlement of Ireland, and had put that island, and the
English and protestants that were there, in the power of the Irish : the dispensing power
took away not only those laws to which it was applied, but all other laws whatsoever by
the precedent it had set, and by the consequences that followed upon it : by the ecclesiastical
commission he had invaded the liberty of the church, and subjected the clergy to mere will
and pleasure : and all was concluded by his deserting his people, and flying to a foreign
power, rather than stay and submit to the determinations of a free parliament. Upon all
which it was inferred, that he had abdicated the government, and had left the throne vacant :
which therefore ought now to be filled, that so the nation might be preserved, and the regal
government continued in it.
As to the proposition for a prince regent, it was argued that this was as much against
monarchy, or rather more, than what they moved for. If a king's ill government did give
the people a right in any case to take his power from him, and to lodge it with another,
owning that the right to it still remained with him, this might have every whit as bad con-
sequences as the other seemed to have : for recourse might be had to this violent remedv too
OF KING JAMES II. 515
often and too rashly. By this proposition of a regent, here were to be upon the matter two
kings at the same time : one with the title, and another with the power, of a king. This
was both more illegal and more unsafe than the method they proposed. The law of England
had settled the point of the subject's security in obeying the king in possession, in the
statute made by Henry the Seventh. So every man knew he was safe under a king, and
so would act with zeal and courage. But all such as should act under a prince regent,
created by this convention, were upon a bottom that had not the necessary forms of law for
it. All that was done by them would be thought null and void in law : so that no man
could be safe that acted under it. If the oaths to king James were thought to be still
binding, the subjects were by these not only bound to maintain his title to the crown, but
all his prerogatives and powers. And therefore it seemed absurd to continue a government
in his name, and to take oaths still to him, when yet all the power was taken out of his
hands. This would be an odious thing, both before God and the whole world, and would
cast a reproach on us at present, and bring certain ruin for the future on any such mixed
and unnatural sort of government. Therefore, if the oaths were still binding, the nation
was still bound by them, not by halves, but in their whole extent. It was said that, if the
government should be carried on in king James's name, but in other hands, the body of the
nation would consider him as the person that was truly their king. And if any should plot,
or act, for him, they could not be proceeded against for high treason, as conspiring against
the king's person or government ; when it would be visible that they were only designing
to preserve his person, and to restore him to his government. To proceed against any, or to
take their lives for such practices, would be to add murder to perjury. And it was not to
be supposed that juries would find such men guilty of treason. In the weakness of infancy,
a prince regent was in law the same person with the king, who had not yet a will ; and it
was to be presumed the prince regent's will was the king's will. But that could not be
applied to the present case, where the king and the regent must be presumed to be in a per-
petual struggle : the one to recover his power, the other to preserve his authority. These
things seemed to be so plainly made out in the debate that it was generally thought that no
man could resist such force of argument, but those who intended to bring back king James.
And it was believed that those of his party, who were looked on as men of conscience, had
secret orders from him to act upon this pretence ; since otherwise they offered to act clearly
in contradiction to their own oaths and principles.
But those who were for continuing the government, and only for changing the persons,
were not at all of a mind. Some among them had very different views and ends from the
rest. These intended to take advantage from the present conjuncture, to depress the crown,
to render it as much precarious and elective as they could, and to raise the power of the
people upon the ruin of monarchy. Among those, some went so far as to say that the whole
government was dissolved. But this appeared a bold and dangerous assertion : for that
might have been carried so far as to infer from it that all men's properties, honours, rights,
and franchises, were dissolved. Therefore it was thought safer to say that king James had
dissolved the tie that was between him and the nation. Others avoided going into new
speculations, or schemes of government. They thought it was enough to say that in extreme
cases all obligations did cease ; and that in our present circumstances the extremity of affairs, by
reason of the late ill government, and by king James's flying over to the enemy of the nation,
rather than submit to reasonable terms, had put the people of England on the necessity of
securing themselves upon a legal bottom. It was said, that though the vow of marriage
i was made for term of life, and without conditions expressed, yet a breach in the tie itself sets
the innocent party at liberty. So a king, who had his power both given him and defined
by the law, and was bound to govern by law, when he set himself to break all laws, and in
conclusion deserted his people, did, by so doing, set them at liberty to put themselves in a
egal and safe state. There was no need of fearing ill consequences from this. Houses were
polled down or blown up in a fire, and yet men found themselves safe in their houses. In
extreme dangers the common sense of mankind would justify extreme remedies; though
there was no special provision that directed to them, or allowed of them. Therefore, they
LL 2
6iC> THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
said, a nation's securing itself against a king, who was subverting the government, did
not expose monarchy, nor raise a popular authority, as some did tragically represent the
matter.
There were also great disputes about the original contract : some denying there was any
such thing, and asking where it was kept and how it could be come at. To this others
answered that it was implied in a legal government : though in a long tract of time, and in
dark ages, there was not such an explicit proof of it to be found. Yet many hints from
law-books and histories were brought to show that the nation had always submitted and
obeyed in consideration of their laws, which were still stipulated to them.
There were also many debates on the word " abdicate ;" for the commons came soon to a
resolution, that king James, by breaking the original contract, and by withdrawing himself,
had abdicated the government ; and that the throne was thereby become vacant. They sent
this vote to the lords, and prayed their concurrence. Upon which many debates and con-
ferences arose. At last it came to a free conference, in which, according to the sense of the
whole nation, the commons had clearly the advantage on their side. The lords had some
more colour for opposing the word " abdicate," since that was often taken in a sense that
imported the full purpose and consent of him that abdicated, which could not be pretended
in this case. But there were good authorities brought, by which it appeared that when a
person did a thing upon which his leaving any office ought to follow, he was said to abdicate.
But this was a critical dispute, and it scarcely became the greatness of that assembly, or the
importance of the matter.
It was a more important debate, whether, supposing king James had abdicated, the throne
could be declared vacant. It was urged that, by the law, the king did never die, but that
with the last breath of the dying king, the regal authority went to the next heir. So it
was said, that supposing king James had abdicated, the throne was (ipso facto} filled in that
instant by the next heir. This seemed to be proved by the heirs of the king being sworn
to in the oath of allegiance ; which oath was not only made personally to the king, but like-
wise to his heirs and successors. Those who insisted on the abdication, said, that if the king
dissolved the tie between him and his subjects to himself, he dissolved their tie likewise to
his posterity. An heir was one that came in the room of a person that was dead ; it being
a maxim that no man can be the heir of a living man. If therefore the king had fallen
from his own right, as no heir of his could pretend to any inheritance from him as long as
he was alive, so they could succeed to nothing, but to that which was vested in him at the
time of his death. And, as in the case of attainder, every right that a man was divested of
before his death was, as it were, annihilated in him, and by consequence could not pass to
his heirs by his death, not being then in himself : so if a king did set his people free from
any tie to himself, they must be supposed to be put in a state, in which they might secure
themselves ; and therefore could not be bound to receive one who they had reason to believe
would study to dissolve and revenge all they had done. If the principle of self preservation
did justify a nation in securing itself from a violent invasion, and a total subversion, then it
must have its full scope to give a real, and not a seeming and fraudulent, security. They
did acknowledge that upon the grounds of natural equity, and for securing the nation in
after times, it was fit to go as near the lineal succession as might be : yet they could not
yield that point, that they were strictly bound to it.
It was proposed that the birth of the pretended prince might be examined into. Some
pressed this, not so much from an opinion that they were bound to assert his right if it
should appear that he was born of the queen, as because they thought it would justify the
nation, and more particularly the prince ami the two princesses, if an imposture in that
matter could have been proved. And it would have gone far to satisfy many of the weaker
sort, as to all the proceeding against king James. Upon which I was ordered to gather
together all the presumptive proofs that were formerly mentioned, which were all ready
to have been made out. It is true, these did not amount to a full and legal proof;
yet they seemed to be such violent presumptions, that, when they were all laid together,
they were more convincing than plain and downright evidence : for that was liable to the
OF KING HMES II. 517
suspicion of subornation ; whereas the other seemed to carry on them very convincing cha-
racters of truth and certainty. But when this matter was in private debated, some observed
that, as king James, by going about to prove the truth of the birth, and yet doing it so
defectively, had really made it more suspicious than it was before ; so, if there was no clear
and positive proof made of an imposture, the pretending to examine into it, and then the
not being able to make it out, beyond the possibility of contradiction, would really give more
credit to the thing than it then had, and, instead of weakening it, would strengthen the pre-
tension of his birth.
"When this debate was proposed in the house of lords, it was rejected with indignation.
He was now sent out of England to be bred up in France, an enemy both to the nation and
to the established religion : it was impossible for the people of England to know whether
he was the same person that had been carried over or not. If he should die, another might
be put in his room, in such a manner that the nation could not be assured concerning him.
The English nation ought not to send into another country, for witnesses to prove that he
was their prince., much less receive one upon the testimony of such as were not only aliens,
but ought to be presumed enemies. It was also known that all the persons, who had been
the confidents in that matter, were conveyed away ; so it was impossible to come at them,
by whose means only the truth of that birth could be found out. But while these things
were fairly debated by some, there were others who had deeper and darker designs in this
matter.
They thought it would be a good security for the nation, to have a dormant title to the
crown lie as it were neglected, to oblige our princes to govern well, while they would appre-
hend the danger of a revolt to a pretender still in their eye. Wildman thought it was a
deep piece of policy to let this lie in the dark and undecided. Nor did they think it an
ill precedent that they should so neglect the right of succession, as not so much as to enquire
into this matter. Upon all these considerations no further enquiry was made into it. It is
true, this put a plausible objection in the mouth of all king James's party : here, they said,
an infant was condemned, and denied his right, without either proof or enquiry. This still
takes with many in the present age. And, that it may not take more in the next, I have
used more than ordinary care to gather together all the particulars that were then laid before
me as to that matter.
The next thing in debate was who should fill the throne. The marquis of Halifax
intended, by his zeal for the prince's interest, to atone for his backwardness in not coming
early into it : and, that he might get before lord Danby, who was in great credit with the
prince, he moved, that the crown should be given to the prince, and to the two princesses
after him. Many of the republican party approved of this ; for by it they gained another
point : the people in this case would plainly elect a king, without any critical regard to the
order of succession. How far the prince himself entertained this I cannot tell. But I saw
it made a great impression on Bentinck. He spoke of it to me, as asking my opinion about
it, but so that I plainly saw what was his own, for he gave me all the arguments that were
offered for it ; as, that it was most natural that the sovereign power should be only in one
person : that a man's wife ought only to be his wife : that it was a suitable return to the
prince for what he had done for the nation : that a divided sovereignty was liable to great
inconveniences : and, though there was less to be apprehended from the princess of anything
of that kind than from any woman alive, yet all mortals were frail, and might at some time
or other of their lives be wrought on.
To all this I answered, with some vehemence, that this was a very ill return for the steps
the princess had made to the prince three years ago : it would be thought both unjust and
ungrateful ; it would meet with great opposition, and give a general ill impression of the
prince, as insatiable and jealous in his ambition : there was an ill humour already spreading
itself through the nation, and through the clergy ; it was not necessary to increase this,
which such a step, as was now proposed, would do out of measure : it would engage the one
sex generally against the prince ; and in time they might feel the effects of that very sen-
sibly ; and, for my own part, I should think myself bound to oppose it all I could, consider-
ing what had passed in Holland on that head. We talked over the whole thing for many
518 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
hours, till it was pretty far in the morning. I saw he was well instructed in the argument ;
and he himself was possessed with it. So next morning I came to him, and desired my
conge. I would oppose nothing in which the prince seemed to be concerned, as long as I
was his servant : and therefore I desired to be disengaged, that I might be free to oppose
this proposition, with all the strength and credit I had. He answered me, that I might
desire that, when I saw a step made ; but till then he wished me to stay where I was. I
heard no more of this, in wrhich the marquis of Halifax was single among the peers ; for I
did not find there was any one of them of his mind, unless it was the lord Culpepper, who
was a vicious and corrupt man, but made a figure in the debates that were now in the
house of lords, and died about the end of them. Some moved, that the princess of Orange
might be put on the throne ; and that it might be left to her to give the prince such a share
either of dignity or power as she should propose when she was declared queen. The agents
of princess Anne began to go about, and to oppose any proposition for the prince to her pre-
judice ; but she thought fit to disown them. Dr. Doughty, one of her chaplains, spoke to
me in her room on the subject ; but she said to myself, that she knew nothing of it.
The proposition, in which all that were for the filling the throne agreed at last, was, that
both the prince and princess should be made conjunct sovereigns ; but, for the preventing
of any distractions, that the administration should be singly in the prince. The princess
continued all the while in Holland, being shut in there, during the east winds, by the freez-
ing of the rivers, and by contrary winds after the thaw came : so that she came not to
England till all the debates were over. The prince's enemies gave it out, that she was kept
there by order, on design that she might not come over to England to claim her right. So
parties began to be formed, some for the prince, and others for the princess. Upon this the
earl of Danby sent one over to the princess, and gave her an account of the present state of
that debate ; and desired to know her own sense of the matter ; for, if she desired it, he
did not doubt but he should be able to carry it, for setting her alone on the throne. She
made him a very sharp answer : she said, she was the prince's wife, and would never be
other, than what she should be in conjunction with him, and under him ; and that she would
take it extremely unkindly, if any, under a pretence of their care of her, would set up a
divided interest between her and the prince. And, not content with this, she sent both lord
Danby's letter, and her answer, to the prince. Her sending it thus to him was the most
effectual discouragement possible, to any attempt for the future to create a misunderstand-
ing or jealousy between them. The prince bore this with his usual phlegm : for he did not
expostulate with the earl of Danby upon it, but continued still to employ, and to trust him ;
and afterwards he advanced him, first to be a marquis, and then to be a duke.
During all these debates, and the great heat with which they were managed, the prince's ,
own behaviour was very mysterious. He stayed at St. James's : he went little abroad :
access to him was not very easy. He heard all that was said to him, but seldom made any
answers. He did not affect to be affable, or popular ; nor would he take any pains to gaii .
any one person over to his party. He said, he came over, being invited, to save the nation *
he had now brought together a free and true representative of the kingdom : he left i«
therefore to them to do what they thought best for the good of the kingdom ; and, whei;
things were once settled, he should be well satisfied to go back to Holland again. Those
who did not know him well, and who imagined that a crowrn had charms, which human
nature was not strong enough to resist, looked on all this as an affectation, and as a disguised
threatening, which imported, that he would leave the nation to perish, unless his method of
settling it was followed. After a reservedness, that had continued so close for several weeks,
that nobody could certainly tell what he desired, he called for the marquis of Halifax, and
the earls of Shrewsbury and Danby, and some others, to explain himself more distinctly
to them.
He told them, he had been till then silent, because he would not say, or do, any thing
that might seem in any sort to take from any person the full freedom of deliberating and
voting in matters of such importance : he was resolved neither to court nor threaten any one ;
and therefore he had declined to give out his own thoughts. Some were for putting tlio
government in the hands of a regent ; he would say nothing against it, if it was thought
OF KING JAMES II 510
best mean for settling their affairs ; only he thought it necessary to tell them, that he
would not be the regent ; so. if they continued in that design, they must look out for some
other person to be put in that post : he himself saw what the consequences of it were likely
to prove ; so he would not accept of it : others were for putting the princess singly on the
throne, and that he should reign by her courtesy : he said, no man could esteem a woman
more than he did the princess ; but he was so made, that he could not think of holding any
thing by apron-strings ; nor could he think it reasonable to have any share in the govern-
ment, unless it was put in his person, and that for term of life : if they did think it fit to
settle it otherwise, he would not oppose them in it ; but he would go back to Holland, and
meddle no more in their affairs. He assured them, that whatsoever others might think of a
crown, it was no such thing in his eyes, but that he could live very well, and be well pleased
without it. In the end, he said, that he could not resolve to accept of a dignity, so as to
hold it only for the life of another ; yet he thought that the issue of princess Anne should
be preferred in the succession, to any issue that he might have by any other wife than the
princess. All this he delivered to them in so cold and unconcerned a manner, that those
who judged of others by the dispositions that they felt in themselves, looked on it all as arti-
fice and contrivance.
This was presently told about, as it was not intended to be kept secret ; and it helped not
a little to bring the debates at Westminster to a speedy determination. Some were still in
doubt with relation to the princess. In some it was conscience ; for they thought the equi-
table right was in her. Others might be moved by interests, since if she should think herself
wronged, and ill used in this matter, she, who was likely to outlive the prince, being so much
younger and healthier than he was, might have it in her power to take her revenges on all
that should concur in such a design. Upon this, I, who knew her sense of the matter very
perfectly by what had passed in Holland, as was formerly told, was in a great difficulty.
I had promised her never to speak of that matter, but by her order ; but I presumed, in
such a case I was to take orders from the prince. So I asked him what he would order me
to do. He said, he would give me no orders in that matter, but left me to do as I pleased.
I looked on this as the allowing me to let the princess's resolution in that be known, by
which many, who stood formerly in suspense, were fully satisfied. Those to whom I gave
the account of that matter were indeed amazed at it ; and concluded, that the princess was
either a very good, or a very weak woman. An indifferency for power and rule seemed so
extraordinary a thing, that it was thought a certain character of an excess of goodness, or
simplicity. At her coming to England, she not only justified me, but approved of my pub-
lishing that matter ; and spoke particularly of it to her sister princess Anne. There were
other differences in the form of the settlement. The republican party were at first for
deposing king James by a formal sentence, and for giving the crown to the prince and
princess by as formal an election. But that was overruled in the beginning. I have not
pursued the relation of the debates, according to the order in which they passed, which will
be found in the journal of both houses during the convention ; but, having had a great share
myself in the private managing of those debates, particularly with many of the clergy, and
with the men of the most scrupulous and tender consciences, I have given a very full account
of all the reasonings on both sides, as that by which the reader may form and guide his own
judgment of the whole affair. Many protests passed in the house of lords, in the progress of
the debate. The party for a regency was for some time most prevailing ; and then the pro-
tests were made by the lords that were for the new settlement. The house was very full ;
about a hundred and twenty were present ; and things were so near an equality, that it was
at last carried by a very small majority, of two or three, to agree with the commons in voting
the abdication, and the vacancy of the throne ; against which a great protest was made ;
as also against the final vote, by which the prince and princess of Orange were desired to
accept of the crown, and declared to be king and queen ; which went very hardly *. The
* For particulars relating to this interesting period, see The following succinct account of the proceedings in
Parliamentary History ; Evelyn's Diary ; Clarendon Cor parliament, after the king's departure, is extracted from
tespondence; Dalrymple's Memoirs; Reresby's Memoirs, the Harleian MSS. 1218. 37. D. pp. 132, 280. They
&c. &c. coincide with all the authorities here referred to. —
520
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
poor bishop of Durham, who had absconded for some time, and was waiting for a ship to get
beyond sea, fearing public affronts, and had offered to compound by resigning his bishopric,
was now prevailed on to come, and by voting the new settlement, to merit at least a pardon
On the llth of Deceinher, 1688, king James the
Second was going privately by water from Whitehall to
Graveseno1, in order to depart beyond' sea. The lords
spiritual and temporal in and near the city of London, its
lord mayor and aldermen, in consequence met the same
dav at Guildhall, to consult about the means of securing
the laws, liberties, and religion of the country, and pre-
serving the peace and tranquillity of the City. They
first demanded the governor of the Tower to surrender it,
which he did, and they appointed another governor until
further orders. They then put forth a declaration, shew-
ing their readiness to concur with his royal highness
the prince of Orange, in attaining a free parliament, which
•will secure the laws, liberties, and property of all, and
uphold the protestant religion ; and also to desire him to
hasten to England, and in the mean time they declare
their resolution to preserve the peace of the country as
much as possible, and to keep under the popish party.
This declaration, by the hands of three temporal and one
spiritual peers, was the same day despatched to the prince
of Orange. The lords continued to meet daily in the
council chamber, at. Whitehall, and issued orders to all
officers, " being protestants," to do their utmost to pre-
serve the peace. On the 12th, this declaration was pub-
lished, and on the same day they committed lord Jeffreys
to the Tower. On the 13th, they summoned all pro-
testant soldiers to their respective regiments; and the
same day, news being bi'ought that the king had been
stopped at Faversham, they sent four peers to his majesty,
to intreat and persuade him to return to Whitehall, with
further directions, that if he refused, to attend his majesty
on board any ship he might command, for the transporting
his majesty withersoever he pleased.
On the 21st, the lords assembled in council at St.
James's, by desire of the prince of Orange, who came to
them, and in a short speech requested them to advise of
the best means of obtaining a free parliament, preserving
tho protestant religion, and restoring and settling the
rights and liberties of the kingdom. After mutual com-
pliments, the lords selected the following lawyers to advise
with them, viz. sir John Holt, sir Robert Atkins, sergeant
Maynard, Mr. Pollexfen, and Mr. Bradbury.
On the 22nd, they chose a chairman and secretary, pro
tempore. There being present sixty-two peers, they
issued an order for the departure, or confinement, of the
papists of the neighbourhood of London.
On the 24th, lords Salisbury and Peterborough were
sent by them to the Tower, and sundry popish priests and
Jesuits to Newgate. They then petitioned the prince of
Orange to take upon him the management of affairs, and
of the public revenue, until the meeting of the conven-
tion on the 22nd of the following January ; and that he
would issue circular letters, subscribed by himself, for the
election of members to serve in that convention; and
which, in other words, was to be a regularly elected house
of commons, the writs to be directed to such returning
officers as were protestant. On the same day, the prince
published an order, because the necessity of affairs required
speedy advice, summoning all such persons as had served
as knights, citizens, or burgesses, in any of the parliaments
held in the reign of Charles the Second, to attend on the
26th inst., at St. James's ; and that the lord mayor,
aldermen, and fifty of the common council of the city of
London, to be there at the same time. On the 25th,
the lords dissolved themselves, and resolved not to meet
again until the convention.
On the 26th, various members of the parliaments in
the reign of Charles the Second, and the mayor, aldermen,
and common council of the city, attended at St. James's,
and the prince told them he sought their advice upon the
best mode of obtaining a free parliament, &c. They then
adjourned to the house of commons at Westminster, and
chose a chairman. They then voted an address of thanks
to the prince, and of request that he would take upon
himself the government of public affairs, and direct an
election of members to serve in parliament to be duly
made.
On the 27th, the prince gave a favourable reply to these
concordant addresses of the peers and commons; and on
the 29th, the writs were issued.
The convention parliament met on the 22nd of January,
and, upon motion in the house of commons, it was deter-
mined, nem. con., that on the following Monday they
would take into consideration the condition and state of
the nation. Accordingly, on the 28th, the house resolved
itself into a committee of the whole house, for the above
purpose, and the following resolution agreed upon :
"Resolved — That king James the Second, having en-
deavoured to subvert tho constitution of the kingdom, by
breaking the original contract between the king and peo-
ple, and, by the advice of the Jesuits and other wicked
persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and hav-
ing withdrawn himself out of this kingdom, has abdicated
the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant."
This resolution was immediately carried up to the
house of lords, for their concnrrence.
On Sunday, the 2nd of February, the lords informed
the commons of their assent to the above resolution, with
these amendments, " Instead of the word abdicated, read
deserted ; and leave out the words, and that the throne
is thereby vacant"
On the 4th, the commons met and refused their assent
to these amendments, because, said they, " the word
deserted doth not fully express the conclusion necessarily
inferred from the premises to which your lordships have
agreed. For your lordships have agreed that king James
the Second has endeavoured to subvert the constitution
of the kingdom, &c. ; now the word deserted respects
only the withdrawing, but the word abdicated respects
the whole. If then," they continued, " king James the
Second has abdicated, or even only deserted, the govern-
ment, the throne is thereby vacant. 2ndly. The com-
mons conceive they need not prove to your lordships that
as to any other person the throne is also vacant ; your
lordships, as they conceive, having already admitted it,
by your addressing to the prince of Orange, on the 25th
of December last, to take upon himself the administration
of public affairs, both civil and military, &c. till the meet-
ing of this convention ; by your lordships renewing the
same address to his highness since you met ; and by ap-
pointing days of public thanksgiving to be observed
throughout the whole kingdom."
Having thus concluded, the commons sought and ob-
tained a conference of the lords upon the subject of the
amendments ; but the lords persisted in them, because
the word abdication is a word unknown to the common
law, and of doubfful interpretation — and because it im-
plies a voluntary, express act of renunciation which is not
in this case. Moreover, though they applied to the prince
of Orange, as stated, yet no other inference can thence be
drawn, but only that the exercise of the government by
king James the Second is ceased ; and though the lords
were, and are, willing to secure the nation against his
return, yet they do not, neither can, agree that there i« :
OF KING JAMES II.
521
for ail that he had done ; which, all things considered, was thought very indecent in him,
yot not unbecoming the rest of his life and character.
But, before matters were brought to a full conclusion, an enumeration was made of the
chief heads of king James's ill government. And in opposition to these, the rights and
liberties of the people of England were stated. Some officious people studied to hinder this
at that time. They thought they had already lost three weeks in their debates ; and the
doing this, with the exactness that was necessary, would take up more time ; or it would be
done too much in a hurry, for matters of so nice a nature. And therefore it was moved,
that this should be done more at leisure after the settlement. But that was not hearkened
such an abdication, or such a vacancy in the throne, as
thereby to render the crown elective ; for, by the consti-
tution of the government, the monarchy is hereditary and
not elective, arid no act of the king alone can bar or
destroy the right of the heir to the crown ; therefore, if
the throne be vacant of king James the Second, allegiance
is due to such person as the right of succession belongs to.
It was then moved in the house that the amendments
of the lords be agreed to. The first was negatived
without a division, and the second was negatived by 282
to 151.
A free conference was then desired by the commons,
and was granted by the lords ; the managers of which, on
the part of the first, were sir Robert Howard, Mr. Pol-
iexfen, Mr. Paul Foley, sir John Holt, lord Falkland,
sir George Treby, Mr. Sommers, Mr. Garroway, Mr.
Boscawen, Mr. Thomas Littleton, Mr. Palmer, Mr.
Hampden, sir Henry Capel, sir Thomas Lee, Mr. Sache-
verel, major Wyldman, colonel Birch, Mr. Eyres, sir
Richard Temple, sir Henry Goodrich, Mr. Waller, sir
John Guise.
The conference met on the 6th of February.
On the part of the commons it was urged, that though
there was no express resignation in word or writing, yet
there were overt acts quite as significant ; and though the
common law has no notice of such a word as abdication,
it was merely because the necessity for it was not contem-
plated. Again, the word deserted is of as doubtful meaning
in our common law as the word abdicated. But the word
abdicated is of well understood meaning, it signifies to
renounce, throw off, disown, or relinquish anything or
person, so as to have no further to do with it. In sup-
port of these opinions were quoted Grotius de Jure Belli
et Pacis, b. ii. c. 4, s. 4. (t Venit enim hoc non ex jure
Civili sed ex jure Naturali, quod quisque potest abdicare
et ex naturali presumptione quae voluisse quis creditur
quod sufficienter significavit : " and then he goes on,
" recusari hereditos non tantum verbis sed etiam potest et
quovis indicio voluntatis."
Calvin, in his Lexicon Juridicum, says, "Generum abdi-
cat qui sponsam repudiat :" he that divorces his wife, abdi-
cates his son-in-law. Brisonius, in his Commentaries,
says, " abdicare se magistratum est idem quod abire peni-
tus magistrate"
Again, Grotius de Jure Belli et Pacis, b. i. c. 4, s. 9,
says, abdicare means, " manifesto habere pro redelicto."
On the other hand, " deserted," by all authorities,
means merely a leaving, a leave withdrawing, a temporary
quitting, a negligence which leaves the party at liberty to
return to it again ; which neither the lords nor commons
intended to be the case in the present instance.
With respect to the objection to declaring the throne
vacant, Mr. Hampden made this question in answer,
" If the throne is not vacant, will your lordships inform
us who fills it ?"
The whole object of the lords, as intended by their
amendments, was, after much discussion, cleared of all
ambiguity by this enquiry by the earl of Nottingham :
" What is meant by the commons by voting the throne to
be vacant ? Do you mean it is so vacant as to null the
succession in the hereditary line, and so all the heirs to be
cut off? which, we say, will make the throne elective :"
and, as he afterwards added, " Do you, gentlemen of the
house of commons, mean by abdication a renouncing for
himself, or for himself and heirs?'' To which many able
replies were made and rejoindered upon : but none was so
conclusive to the point as that of sir Robert Howard.
" I would ask, he said, this question of any noble lord
that is here : Had there been an heir to whom the crown
had quietly descended in the line of succession, and this
heir certainly known, would your lordships have assem-
bled without his calling? Would you have either admi-
nistered the government yourselves, or have advised the
prince of Orange to take it upon him ? I doubt," he con-
tinued, " you had been all guilty of high treason by the
laws of England, if a known successor was in possession
of the throne, as he must be if the throne was not vacant."
" We all know," proceeded the same intelligent man,
" the monarchy is hereditary, but how to find out the suc-
cessor in the line? You think it will be a difficult thing
to go upon the examination who is heir. I confess there
are difficulties on all sides ; but, it not being clear, must
we remain thus? Use what words you will, fill it up, or
nominate, or elect ; it is the thing we are to take care of,
and it is high time it was done. My lords, there is no
such consequence to be drawn from this vote as an inten-
tion or a likelihood of the altering the course of our
government so as to make it elective ; there have been
precedents of exclusions of the next heir, yet the throne
hath all along descended in an hereditary succession, and
the main constitution hath been preserved. My lords,
you have already limited the succession, and have cut off
some that might have a lineal right, for you have con-
curred with us in the vote that it is inconsistent with our
religion and laws to have a papist to reign over us. Must
we not then come to an election if the next heir be a
papist ? Nay, suppose there was no protestant heir to be
found, would not your lordships then break the line ?"
Thomas Lee added, " It is plain your lordships were sen-
sible we were without a government by your desiring the
prince to take the administration ; and in calling this con-
vention that power has been exercised which should be in
all States, to make provision in all times and upon occasions
for extraordinary cases and necessities." Mr. Sergeant
Maynard added, " If we look but into the law of nature,
which is above all human laws, we have enough to justify
us in what we are now about, to provide for ourselves and
the public weal in such an exigence as this."
Mr. Paul Foley said, if the whole royal line should fail,
who would have the government but the lords and com-
mons ? They being the only remaining apparent parts of
the government, are alone fit to supply the defect by pro«
viding a successor. Eventually the conference ended
without any conclusion ; but, on the following day, the
house of lords informed the commons that they agreed to
the vote of the latter, sent up on the ,28th of January
last, without any alteraticn.
522 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
to. It was therefore thought necessary to frame this instrument so, that it should be like a
new magna charta. In the stating these grievances and rights, the dispensing power came
to be discussed ; and then the power of the crown to grant a non-olstante to some statutes was
objected. Upon opening this, the debate was found to be so intricate, that it was let fall at
that time only for dispatch ; but afterwards an act passed condemning it singly ; and the
power of granting a non-olstante was for the future taken away : yet king James's party
took great advantage from this, and said, that though the main clamour of the nation was
against the dispensing power, yet when the convention brought things to a settlement that
did not appear to be so clear a point as had been pretended : and it was not so much as
mentioned in this instrument of government ; so that, by the confession of his enemies, it
appeared to be no unlawful power ; nor was it declared contrary to the liberties of the people
of England. Whereas, its not being mentioned then, was only upon the opposition that was
made, that so more time might not be lost, nor this instrument be clogged with disputable
points.
The last debate was, concerning the oaths that should be taken to the king and queen.
Many arguments were taken during the debate, from the oaths in the form in which the alle-
giance was sworn to the crown, to shew that in a new settlement these could not be taken.
And to this it was always answered, that care should be taken, when other things were
settled, to adjust these oaths, so that they should agree to the new settlement. In the oaths,
as they were formerly conceived, a previous title seemed to be asserted, when the king was
sworn to, " as rightful and lawful king." It was therefore said, that these words could not
be said of a king who had not a precedent right, but was set up by the nation. So it was
moved, that the oaths should be reduced to the ancient simplicity, of swearing to bear faith
and true allegiance to the king and queen. This was agreed to. And upon this began the
notion of a king de facto, but not de jure. It was said, that according to the common law,
as well as the statute in king Henry the Seventh's reign, the subjects might securely obey
any king that was in possession, whether his title was good, or not. This seemed to be a
doctrine necessary for the peace and quiet of mankind, that so the subjects may be safe in
every government that bringeth them under a superior force, and that will crush them, if they
do not give a security for the protection that they enjoy under it. The lawyers had been
always of that opinion, that the people were not bound to examine the titles of their princes,
but were to submit to him that was in possession. It was therefore judged just and reason-
able, in the beginning of a new government, to make the oaths as general and comprehen-
sive as might be ; for it was thought, that those who once took the oaths to the government,
would be after that faithful and true to it. This tenderness, which was shewed at this time,
to a sort of people that had shewed very little tenderness to men of weak, or ill informed,
consciences, was afterwards much abused by a new explanation, or rather a gross equivoca-
tion, as to the signification of the words in which the oath was conceived. The true mean-
ing of the words, and the express sense of the imposers was, that, whether men were satisfied,
or not, with the putting the king and queen on the throne, yet, now they were on it, they
would be true to them, and defend them. But the sense that many put on them was, that
they were only to obey them as usurpers, during their usurpation, and that therefore, as long
as they continued in quiet possession, they were bound to bear them, and to submit to them ;
but that it was still lawful for them to assist king James, if he should come to recover his
crown, and that they might act and talk all they could, or durst, in his favour, as being still
their king de jure. This was contrary to the plain meaning of the words ; " faith, and true
allegiance ;" and was contrary to the express declaration in the act that enjoined them. Yet
it became too visible, that many in the nation, and particularly among the clergy, took the
oath in this sonse, to the great reproach of their profession. The prevarication of too many
in so sacred a matter contributed not a little to fortify the growing atheism of the present age.
The truth was, the greatest part of the clergy had entangled themselves so far with those
strange conceits of the divine right of monarchy, and the unlawfulness of resistance in any
case ; and they had so engaged themselves, by asserting these things so often and so publicly,
that they did not know how to disengage themselves in honour, or conscience.
A notion was started, which by its agreement with their other principles had a great effect
OF KING JAMES II. 523
among them, and brought off the greatest number of those who came in honestly to the new
government. This was chiefly managed by Dr. Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, now translated
to "Worcester. It was laid thus : the prince had a just cause of making war on the king ;
in that most of them agreed. In a just war, in which an appeal is made to God, success is
considered as the decision of Heaven. So the prince's success against king James gave him
the right of conquest over him ; and by it all his rights were transferred to the prince. His
success was indeed no conquest of the nation, which had neither wronged him, nor resisted
him. So that, with relation to the people of England, the prince was no conqueror, but a
preserver, and a deliverer, well received, and gratefully acknowledged. Yet with relation
to king James, and all the right that was before vested in him, he was, as they thought, a
conqueror. By this notion they explained those passages of scripture, that speak of God's
disposing of kingdoms, and of pulling down one and setting up another; and also our
Saviour's arguing from the inscription on the coin, that they ought to render to Cgesar the
things that were Cassar's ; and St. Paul's charging the Romans to obey the powers that then
were, who were the emperors that were originally the invaders of public liberty which they
had subdued, and had forced the people and senate of Rome by subsequent acts to confirm
an authority that was so ill begun. This might have been made use of more justly, if the
prince had assumed the kingship to himself, upon king James's withdrawing ; but did not
seem to belong to the present case. Yet this had the most universal effect on the far greater
part of the clergy.
And now I have stated all the most material parts of these debates, with the fulness that
I thought became one of the most important transactions that is in our whole history, and
by much the most important of our time.
All things were now made ready for filling the throne ; and the very night before it was
to be done the princess arrived safely. It had been given out, that she was not well pleased
with the late transaction, both with relation to her father and to the present settlement.
Upon which the prince wrote to her, that it was necessary she should appear at first so cheer-
ful, that nobody might be discouraged by her looks, or be led to apprehend that she was
uneasy, by reason of what had been done. This made her put on a great air of gaiety when
she came to Whitehall, and, as may be imagined, had great crowds of all sorts coming to
wait on her. I confess, I was one of those that censured this in my thoughts. I thought a
little more seriousness had done as well, when she came into her father's palace, and was to
be set on his throne next day. I had never seen the least indecency in any part of her
deportment before ; which made this appear to me so extraordinary, that some days after I
took the liberty to ask her, how it came that what she saw in so sad a revolution, as to her
father's person, made not a greater impression on her. She took this freedom with her usual
goodness ; and she assured me, she felt the sense of it very lively upon her thoughts. But
she told me, that the letters which had been written to her had obliged her to put on a cheer-
fulness, in which she might perhaps go too far, because she was obeying directions, and acting
a part which was not very natural to her *. This was on the 12th of February, being
* It may be reasonably granted that we ought to sacri- who were with her in her late progress took notice, that
fice our private wishes to our conviction of the interests of when the news came of the king being gone, she seemed
Our country, but whilst we submit to the sacrifice, there is not at all moved, but called for cards, and was as merry
no reason why we should conceal that we possess the as she used to be : to which she replied, they did her
natural feelings of man, or shew any neglect of that decent wrong to make such reflections upon her actions ; that it
deportment which ought to be suggested by our suffering, was true she did call for cards, because she used to play,
Neither of the princesses shewed this natural deportment and she never loved to do any thing that looked like an
for their father's misfortunes. affected restraint. I answered, that I was sorry her royal
Lord Clarendon says, " I asked the princess Anne if highness should think, that shewing a trouble for the king,
elie thought her father could justly be deposed ? To which her father's misfortune, should be interpreted by any as an
she said, those were too great points for her to meddle affected constraint ; that I was afraid, such her behaviour
with ; that she was very sorry the king had brought things rendered her much less in the opinion of the world, even
to the pass they were at ; but she was afraid it would not with her father's enemies, than she ought to be.''—
bo safe for him ever to return again. I asked her what Singer's Clarendon Corr. ii. 249.
she meant, by that? To which she replied, ' Nathing.' Of queen Mary, when she first arrived at the palace
I then told her, I hoped her royal highness would not be from which her father had been compelled to retreat,
offended if I took the liberty to tell her that many good Evelyn remarks, " She came into Whitehall laughing
people were extremely troubled to find she seemed no and jolly as to a wedding, so as to seem quite transported,
more conctrned for her father's misfortune; that people She rose early the next morning, and in her undress, as it
524 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN, &c.
Shrove-Tuesday. The thirteenth was the day set for the two houses to come with the offer
of the crown. So here ends the Interregnum.
And thus I have given the fullest and most particular account that I could gather of all
that passed during this weak, unactive, violent, and superstitious reign ; in which all regard
to the affairs of Europe seemed to be laid aside, and nothing was thought on but the spiteful
humours of a revengeful Italian lady, and the ill laid, and worse managed, projects of some
hot meddling priests, whose learning and politics were of a piece, the one exposing them to
contempt, and the other to ruin ; involving in it a prince, who, if it had not been for his
being delivered up to such counsels, might have made a better figure in history. But they
managed both themselves and him so ill, that a reign, whose rise was bright and prosperous,
was soon set in darkness and disgrace. But I break off here, lest I should seem to aggravate
misfortunes, and load the unfortunate too much.
was reported, before her women were up, went about serious and silent, and seems to treat all persons alike
from room to room to see the convenience of the house; gravely, and to be very intent on affairs." — (Evelyn's
lay in the same apartment where the queen lay, and Diary, ii. 6.) The duchess of Marlborough confirms this
within a night or two, sat down to play at basset, as the statement; she says Mary " wanted bowels," and ani.
queen, her predecessor, used to do. This carriage was madverted upon her behaviour when she first arrived at
censured by many. She seems to be of a good nature, Whitehall, as being " very strange and unbecoming." —
and that she takes nothing to heart; whilst the prince, Account of the Duchess of Marlborough's Conduct, p. 15.
her husband, has a thoughtful countenance, is wonderful
525
BOOK V.
OF THE REIGN OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY.
NOW begin, on the first day of May, 1705, to prosecute this
work ; and have before me a reign, that drew upon it an universal
expectation of great things to follow, from such auspicious begin-
nings ; and from so general a joy as was spread over these nations,
and all the neighbouring kingdoms and states ; of whom some
had apprehended a general depression, if not the total ruin, of
the protestant religion ; and all of them saw such a progress made
by the French in the design of enslaving the rest of Europe, that
the check which the revolution in England seemed to promise,
put a new life in those, who before were sunk in despair. It
seemed to be a double- bottomed monarchy, where there were two joint sovereigns ; but
those who knew the queen's temper and principles, had no apprehensions of divided counsels
or of a distracted government.
That which gave the most melancholy prospect, was the ill state of the king's health,
whose stay so long at St. James's without exercise, or hunting, which was so much used by him
that it was become necessary, had brought him under such a weakness, as was likely to have
very ill effects ; and the face he forced himself to set upon it, that it might not appear too
much, made an impression on his temper. He was apt to be peevish ; it put him under a
necessity of being much in his closet, and of being silent and reserved ; which, agreeing so
well with his natural disposition, made him go off from what all his friends had advised, and
he had promised them he would set about, of being more visible, open, and communicative.
The nation had been so much accustomed to this, in the two former reigns, that many studied
to persuade him, it would be necessary for his affairs to change his way, that he might be
more accessible, and freer in his discourse. He seemed resolved on it ; but he said, his ill
health made it impossible for him to execute it : and so he went on in his former way, or
rather he grew more retired, and was not easily come at, nor spoken to. And in a very few
•lays, after he was set on the throne, he went out to Hampton-court ; and from that palace
he came into town only on council days : so that the face of a court, and the rendezvous,
usual in the public rooms, was now quite broken, This gave an early and general disgust.
The gaiety and the diversions of a court disappeared ; and, though the queen set herself to
make up what was wanting in the king, by a great vivacity and cheerfulness, *yet when it
appeared that she meddled not in business, so that few found their account in making their
( ourt to her, though she gave a wonderful content to all that came near her, yet few came.
The king found the air of Hampton-court agreed so well with him, that he resolved to
live the greatest part of the year there : but that palace was so very old built, and so irre-
liiilar, that a design was formed of raising new buildings there for the king and the queen's
apartments. This shewed a resolution to live at a distance from London ; and the entering
so soon on so expensive a building, afforded matter of censure to those who were disposed
« nough to entertain it. And this spread a universal discontent in the city of London : and
these small and almost indiscernible beginnings and seeds of ill humour, have ever since gone
<>n in a very visible increase and progress.
The first thing the king did, was, to choose a ministry, and to settle a council. The ean
of Shrewsbury was declared secretary of state, and had the greatest share of the king's con-
fidence. No exception could be made to the choice, except on account of his youth ; but ho
526 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
applied himself to business with great diligence, and maintained lire candour and temper
with more reservedness than was expected from one of his age. It was for some time under
consideration who should be the other secretary ; at last the earl of Nottingham was pitched
on. He had opposed the settlement with great earnestness, in his copious way of speaking ;
but he had always said, that, though he would not make a king, yet upon his principles, he
could obey him better than those who were so much set on makmg one *. The high church
party did apprehend that the opposition they had given the king's advancement, and the zeal
that others had shewed for it, would alienate him from them, and throw him into other
hands, from whom no good was to be expected for them : and they looked for severe revenges
for the hardships they had put on these in the end of king Charles's reign. This grew daily
upon that party, and made them begin to look back toward king James. So, not to provoke
so great a body too much, it was thought advisable to employ the earl of Nottingham. The
great increase of chancery business had made many apprehend it was too much to be trusted
to one person ; so it was resolved to put the chancery in commission ; and the earl of Not-
tingham was proposed to be the first in the commission, but he refused it. So Maynard,
Keck, and Rawlinson, three eminent lawyers, were made the three commissioners of the
great seal. And soon after that, the earl of Nottingham was appointed secretary of state.
This gave as much satisfaction to all the high party, as it begot jealousies and distrust in
others. The one hoped for protection and favour by his means : they reckoned he would
infuse all the prerogative notions into the king, and give him such a jealousy of every step
that the others should make in prejudice of these, that from thence the king would see cause
to suspect all the shew of kindness that they might put on to him, when at the same time
they were undermining some of those prerogatives, for which the earl of Nottingham seemed
to be so zealous. This had a great effect on the king, who being ignorant of our constitu-
tion, and naturally cautious, saw cause enough to dislike the heat he found among those who
expressed much zeal for him, but who seemed, at the same time, to have with it a great
mixture of republican principles. They, on the other hand, were much offended at the
employing the earl of Nottingham. And he gave them daily cause to be more displeased at
it ; for he set himself with a most eager partiality against the whole party, and against all
the motions made by them ; and he studied to possess the king with a very bad opinion of
them. And, \vhereas secretaries of state have a particular allowance for such spies, as they
employ to procure intelligence, how exact soever he might be in procuring foreign intelli-
gence, he spared no cost nor pains to have an account of all that passed in the city, and in
other angry cabals : and he furnished the king very copiously that way ; which made a deep
impression on him, and had very bad effects. The earl of Danby was made marquis of Car-
marthen, and president of the council ; and lord Halifax had the privy seal f • The last of
* Daniel Finch, earl of Nottingnam, and afterwards of 103OOOJ. from the East-India company. He opposed, and
Winchelsea, was one of the most conscientious men that was affected even to weeping, by the abjuration of the son
ever assisted in the council of an English monarch. He of James the Second; yet be submitted to queen Anne's
was born about the year 1647. Very early in life at government, and was re-appointed to the secretaryship.
Christ Church, Oxford, and the Inner Temple, he was Both houses of parliament passed votes of approbation
proportionately young when introduced to state affairs ; dis- upon him at the time. In 1704 we shall find he resigned,
tinguished as a parliamentary orator, he soon acquired the but at the accession of George the First, was made a lord-
notice of James the Second, who made him a privy coun- justice, and lord-president of the council. In 1715, his
cillor and first commissioner of the admiralty. Every humanity deprived him of his office, for he was dismissed
act of his life was consistent. He signed the order for because he pleaded for the peers, who attempted to restore
proclaiming James the Second ; but opposed the abroga- the Stuarts. The earl was a firm supporter of the pro-
tion of the test act, and maintained the cause of the seven testant faith. The university of Oxford, in full convoca-
bishops. His opinions relative to the revolution have tion, unanimously thanked him for his " Defence of the i
been already noticed ; William the Third appreciated his Christian Faith, contained in his lordship's answer to !
integrity, and would have made him lord chancellor, an Mr. Winston's letter to him, concerning the eternity !
office his father had so ably filled ; this he declined, but of the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost.' He died on
accepted the office of a state secretary. The impotent the first day of 1730. According to Noble, he had, by j
pardon issued by James in 1 692, excepted the earl from his second wife, thirty children Noble's Continuation j
those who v/ere forgiven. When jealousies and intrigues of Grainger; Birch's Lives; Wood's Athenae Oxon. ; '
induced him to resign, and his character and conduct were Clarendon Correspondence.
examined, it arose resplendent from the scrutiny; not a t A clear insight into the character of this self-inte- j
charge of peculation could be discovered, but, on the con- rested nobleman may be found in Sir John Reresby 8 •.
trary, it was proved that he had rejected a douceur of " Memoirs.1'
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 627
cso had gone into all the steps that had been made for the king, with great zeal, and by
that means was hated by the high party, whom for distinction sake I will hereafter call
Tories, and the other Whigs ; terms that I have spoken much against, and have ever hated :
but to avoid making always a longer description, I must use them ; they being now become
as common as if they had been words of our language. Lord Halifax soon saw that his
friendship with the Whigs was not likely to last long ; his opposing the exclusion stuck still
deeply with them ; and the business of the quo warranto's, and the delivering up of charters,
was cast on him : the slowness of relieving Ireland was also charged on him ; he had f jr
some time great credit with the king, though his mercurial wit was not well suited with the
king's phlegm. Lord Carmarthen could not bear the equality, or rather the preference that
seemed to be given to lord Halifax ; and therefore set on the storm that quickly broke out
upon him.
Lord Mordaunt was made earl of Monmouth, and first commissioner of the treasury ; and
lord Delamere, made earl of Warrington *, was chancellor of the exchequer : lord Godolphin
was likewise brought into the treasury, to the great grief of the other two, who soon saw, that
the king considered him more than them both. For, as he understood treasury business well,
so his calm and cold way suited the king's temper. The earls of Monmouth and Warrington,
though both most violent Whigs, became great enemies ; the former was generous, and gave
the inferior places freely ; but sought out the men who were most noted for republican prin-
ciples, for them all : and the other, they said, sold every thing that was in his power. The
privy council was composed chiefly of Whigs.
Nothing gave a more general satisfaction than the naming of the judges ; the king ordered
every privy councillor to bring a list of twelve : and, out of these, twelve very learned and
worthy judges were chosen. This nomination was generally well received over the nation.
The first of these was sir John Holt, made lord chief justice of England, then a young man
for so high a post, who maintained it all his time with a high reputation for capacity, integ-
rity, courage, and great dispatch. So that, since the lord chief justice Hale's time, that
bench has not been so well filled, as it was by him.
The king's chief personal favour lay between Bentjnck and Sidney : the former was made
earl of Portland and groom of the stole, and continued for ten years to be entirely trusted by
the king, and served him with great fidelity and obsequiousness ; but he could never bring
himself to be acceptable to the English nation f. The other was made first, lord Sidney,
* He was not made earl of Warrington till after his healthy boy was recommended to be placed with him m
removal from the office of chancellor of the exchequer. bed. Young Bentinck immediately volunteered to un-
Henry Booth, lord Delamere, was a son of the dergo this dangerous office ; the desired effect was pro-
loyal but unfortunate sir George Booth, who took up duced, but he was infected, and nearly died of the disorder,
arms in favour of Charles the Second, during the protec- The esteem thus gained was secured and strengthened in
torate. He was born in 1651, at the family residence in after-life by the ability, integrity, and prudence, exhibited
Cheshire, which county he represented zealously in par- by Bentinck. He came with the prince when he married
liainent ; promoting the exclusion bill, for which, we have the princess Mary ; he was the ambassador to warn James
seen in previous pages, he was brought into trouble during the Second of Monmouth's invasion. In Holland, he
the reign of James the Second. At the revolution, besides held a superior office in the prince's household, and the
the chancellorship of the exchequer, he was appointed to command of the 1st regiment of guards. He shewed ex-
the lord lieutenancy of Cheshire. At Whittington, in tretne intelligence in holding communication with the
Derbyshire, a farm house is shewn, where he and the earls English protest-ants previous to the revolution, as well as
of Devonshire and Danby are said to have met, and con- in the arrangements preliminary to this constitutional
suited how they might assist the cause ot the prince of effort; and when it was completed, he received the offices
Orange. One room is still called by the peasantry there of groom of the stole, keeper of the privy-purse, and a
" the plotting parlour." — (Dr. Akenside's Ode addressed privy councillor ; and, being naturalised, was raised to the
to the earl of Huntingdon.) He published several tracts ; peerage as earl of Portland, knight of the garter, and lieu-
one, entitled " The late Lord Russel's Case, with obser- tenant-general of the forces. For a long time he con-
vations," throws light upon the history of the period. He tinued first favourite, and was employed upon the most deli-
died in 1694. — Kippis's Biog. Britannica; Grainger. cate embassies, &c. During one of these, at Paris, he was
t William Bentinck, descended from a noble family in shewn, in the royal palace, Le Brun's series of paintings,
Gruelderland, was born about the year 1649. He was illustrative of Louis the Fourteenth's victories, and was
liberally educated, and then placed as page of honour to asked whether William's were to be seen in his residence.
! the prince of Orange. Whilst holding this situation, he "No," replied Bentinck, u the monuments of my master's
| acted with a devoted heroism for the benefit of the prince, actions are to be seen everywhere but in his palace." Natu-
that secured to him his highness's perpetual friendship rally of a reserved temper, and consequently suspected of
und favour. The prince was ill of the small pox, and pride ; ignorant of our customs and language ; and viewed
the pustules not freely rising, to promote the eruption a with jealousy as a foreigner ; he did not want enemies, and
628 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
and then earl of Rumney, and was put in several great posts. He was made secretary of
state, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and master of the ordnance ; but he was so set on pleasure,
that he was not able to follow business with a due application. The earls of Devonshire
and Dorset had the white staffs : the first was lord steward, and the other was lord cham-
berlain ; and they being both whigs, the household was made up of such, except where there
were buyers for places, which were set to sale ; and though the king seemed to discourage
that, yet he did not encourage propositions that were made for the detecting those practices.
Thus was the court, the ministry, and the council composed. The admiralty was put in
commission, and Herbert, made earl of Torrington, was first in the commission. He tried
to dictate to the board ; and when he found that did not pass upon them, he left it, and
studied all he could to disparage their conduct , and it was thought he hoped to have been
advanced to that high trust alone.
The first thing proposed to be done was to turn the convention into a parliament, accord-
ing to the precedent set in the year 1660. This was opposed by all the tories. They said
writs were indispensable to the being of a parliament. And though the like was done at
the restoration, yet it was said that the convention was then called when there was no king
nor great seal in England ; and it was called by the consent of the lawful king, and was
done upon a true and visible, and not on a pretended, necessity ; and they added, that after
all, even then the convention was not looked on as a legal parliament : its acts were ratified
in a subsequent parliament, and from thence they had their authority. So it was moved
that the convention should be dissolved, and a new parliament summoned; for in the joy
which accompanied the revolution, men well affected to it were generally chosen ; and it
was thought that the damp, which was now spread into many parts of the nation, would
occasion great changes in a new election. On the other hand, the necessity of affairs was
so pressing, that no time was to be lost ; a delay of forty days might be the total loss of
Ireland, and stop all our preparations at sea ; nor was it advisable, in so critical a time, to
put the nation into the ferment, which a new election would occasion. And it was reason-
able to expect that those who had set the king on the throne would be more zealous to
maintain him there than any new set of men could possibly be ; and those who submitted
to a king, de facto, must likewise submit to a parliament, de facto. So the bill passed ;
and a day was set for the call of both houses, and for requiring the members to take the
oaths.
Eight bishops absented themselves ; who were Sancroft of Canterbury, Thomas of Wor-
cester, Lake of Chichester, Turner of Ely, Lloyd of Norwich, Ken of Bath and Wells,
Frampton of Gloucester, and White of Peterborough. But, in the meanwhile, that they
might recommend themselves by a show of moderation, some of them moved the house of
lords, before they withdrew from it, for a bill of toleration, and another of comprehension ;
and these were drawn and offered by the earl of Nottingham : and, as he said to me, they
wore the same that he had prepared for the house of commons in king Charles's time, during
the debates of the exclusion ; but then things of that kind were looked on as artifices to lay
the heat of that time, and to render the church party more popular. After those motions
were made, the bishops that were in the house withdrew ; Sancroft, Thomas, and Lake,
never came ; the two last died soon after. Ken was a man of a warm imagination ; and, at
the time of the king's first landing, he declared heartily for him, and advised all the gentle-
men that he saw to go and join with him. But, during the debates in the convention, lie
went with great heat into the notion of a prince regent. And now, upon the call of the
house, he withdrew into his diocese. He changed his mind again, and wrote a paper, per-
suading the clergy to take the oaths, which he showed to Dr. Whitby, who read it, as the
doctor has told me often. His chaplain, Dr. Eyre, did also tell me that he came with him
to London, where at first he owned he was resolved to go to the house of lords, and to take
these succeeded in supplanting him in the kind's favour could only shew his regard by pressing to his breast Ben-
by Arnold van Keppel, afterwards earl of Albemarle. tinck's hand. The earl then withdrew into private life,
Bentinck, however, never lost William's highest esteem ; where he was distinguished for his benevolence and libe-
on his deathbed he sent for his old supporter; but the rality. He died in 3709. — Biog. Britannica ; Shrews- i
power of speech was gone when he arrived, and the prince bury Correspondence ; Noble's continuation of Grainger.
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 529
the oaths. But the first day after he came to town, he was prevailed on to change his mind ;
and he has continued ever since in a very warm opposition to the government. Sancroft
went on in his inactive state, still refusing the oaths, but neither acting nor speaking, except
in great confidence, to any against their taking them. These bishops did one thing very
inconsistent with their other actions, and that could not be easily reconciled to the rules of
good conscience. All presentations are directed to bishops, or to their chancellors ; but, by a
general agreement in the year 1660, the bishops resolved to except out of the patents, that
they gave their chancellors, the power of giving institution into cures, which before that, the
chancellors were empowered to give in the bishop's absence. Now the bishops were bound
to see that the clergy, before they gave them institution, took the oaths to the government.
In order therefore to decline the doing this, and yet avoid the actions of quare impedit, that
they would be liable to, if they did not admit the clerks presented to them, they gave new
patents to their chancellors, empowering them to give institution ; which they knew could
not be done but by tendering the oaths. So they gave authority to laymen to admit men to
benefices, and to do that which they thought unlawful, as was the swearing to an usurper
against the lawful king. Thus it appeared, how far the engagement of interest and parties
can run men into contradictions.
Upon the bishops refusing the oaths, a bill was brought into the house of commons,
requiring all persons to take them by a prefixed day, under several forfeitures and penalties.
The clergy that took them not were to fall under suspension for six months, and at the end
of those they were to be deprived. This was followed with a particular eagerness by some,
who w^ere known enemies to the church : and it was then generally believed, that a great
part of the clergy would refuse the oaths. So they hoped to have an advantage against the
church by this means. Hambden persuaded the king to add a period to a speech he made,
concerning the affairs of Ireland, in which he proposed the admitting all protestants to serve
in that war. This was understood to be intended for taking off the sacramental test, which
was necessary by the law to qualify men for employments, and was looked on as the chief
security the church of England had, as it excluded dissenters from all employments. And it
was tried, if a bargain could be made, for excusing the clergy from the oaths, provided the
dissenters might be excused from the sacrament. The king put this into his speech, without
communicating it to the ministry, and it had a very ill effect. It was not only rejected by
a great majority in both houses, but it very much heightened the prejudices against the king,
as bearing no great affection to the church of England, when he proposed the opening such
a door, which they believed would be fatal to them. The rejecting this made the act
imposing the oaths to be driven on with the more zeal. This was in debate when I came
into the house of lords ; for Ward, bishop of Salisbury, died this winter : many spoke to the
king in my favour, without my knowledge. The king made them no answer ; but a few
days after he was set on the throne, he of his own motion named me to that see ; and he did
it in terms more obliging than usually fell from him. "When I waited on the queen, she
said, she hoped I would now put in practice those notions with which I had taken the liberty
often to entertain her. All the forms of the conge-d'elire, and my election, were carried on
with dispatch. But a great difficulty was in view. Sancroft would not see me ; and he
refused to consecrate me ; so, by law, when the mandate was brought to him, upon not
obeying it, he must have been sued in a premunire ; and for some days he seemed deter-
mined to venture that ; but, as the danger came near, he prevented it, by granting a com-
mission to all the bishops of his province, or to any three of them, in conjunction with the
bishop of London, to exercise his metropolitical authority during pleasure. Thus lie did
authorise others to consecrate me, while yet he seemed to think it an unlawful act. This
was so mean, that he himself was ashamed of it afterwards ; but he took an odd way to
overthrow it, for he sent for his original warrant ; and so took it out of the office, and got it
into his own hands.
I happened to come into the house of lords, when two great debates were managed with
much heat in it. The one wras about the toleration and comprehension, and the other was
about the imposing the oaths on the clergy. And I was engaged, at my first coming there,
to bear a large share in both.
M M
530 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
That which was long insisted on, in the house of lords, was, that instead of the clause
positively enacting, that the clergy should be obliged to take the oaths, the king might be
empowered to tender them, and then the refusal was to be punished according to the clause,
as it stood in the act. It was thought such a power would oblige them to their good
behaviour, and be an effectual restraint upon them : they would be kept quiet at least by it ;
whereas, if they came under deprivation, or the apprehensions of it, that Would make them
desperate, and set them on to undermine the government. It was said, that the clergy, by
the offices of the church, did solemnly own their allegiance to God, in the sight of all their
people ; that no oath could lay deeper engagements on them than those acts of religious
worship did ; and if they should either pass over those offices, or perform them, otherwise
than as the law required, there was a clear method, pursuant to the act of uniformity, to pro-
ceed severely against them. It was also said, that in many different changes of government,
oaths had not proved so effectual a security as was imagined ; distinctions were found out,
and senses were put on words, by which they were interpreted so, as to signify but little,
when a government came to need strength from them ; and it ill became those who had
formerly complained of these impositions, to urge this with so much vehemence. On the
other hand, it was urged, that no man ought to be trusted by a government, chiefly in so
sacred a concern, who would not give security to it ; especially, since the oath was brought
to such low and general terms. The expedient that was proposed would put a hardship
upon the king, which was always to be carefully avoided. The day prefixed wras at the dis-
tance of some months ; so that men had time sufficient given them to study the point : and,
if in that time they could not satisfy themselves, as to the lawfulness of acknowledging the
government, it was not fit that they should continue in the highest posts of the church. An
exception of twelve was proposed, who should be subject to the law, upon refusing the oaths
when required to it by the king ; but that was rejected ; and all the mitigation that was
obtained was a power to the king to reserve a third part of the profits of any twelve bene-
fices he should name, to the incumbents who should be deprived by virtue of this act ; and
so it passed. I was the chief manager of the debate in favour of the clergy, both in the house
of lords, and at the conferences with the commons ; but, seeing it could not be carried, I
acquiesced the more easily ; because, though in the beginning of these debates I was assured,
that those who seemed resolved not to take the oaths, yet prayed for the king in their chapels ;
yet I found afterwards this was not true, for they named no king, nor queen, and so it was
easy to guess whom they meant by such an indefinite designation. I also heard many things,
that made me conclude they were endeavouring to raise all the opposition to the government
possible.
The bill of toleration passed easily. It excused dissenters from all penalties for their not
coming to church, and for going to their separate meetings. There was an exception of
Socinians ; but a provision was put in it, in favour of quakers ; and, though the rest were
required to take the oaths to the government, they were excused upon making in lieu thereof
a solemn declaration. They were to take out warrants for the houses they met in ; and the
justices of peace were required to grant them. Some proposed that the act should only be
temporary, as a necessary restraint upon the dissenters, that they might demean themselves
so as to merit the continuance of it, when the term of years now offered should end. But
this was rejected ; there was now an universal inclination to pass the act ; but it could not
be expected that the nation would be in the same good disposition towards them at another
time. I shewed so much zeal for this act, as very much sunk my credit, which had arisen
from the approbation I had gained, for opposing that which enacted the taking the oaths.
As for the act of comprehension, some progress was made in it ; but a proviso was offered,
that, in imitation of the acts passed in king Henry the Eighth's and king Edward the ;
Sixth's time, a number of persons, both of the clergy and laity, might be empowered to pre-
pare such a reformation of things, relating to the church, as might be offered to king and j
parliament, in order to the healing our divisions, and the correcting what might be amiss, or j
defective, in our constitution. This was pressed with great earnestness by many of the
temporal lords. I at that time did imagine, that the clergy would have come into such a j
design with zeal and unanimity ; and I feared this would be looked on by them as taking j
OF KING \VILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. &31
the matter out of their hands ; and for that reason I argued so warmly against this, that it
was carried by a small majority to let it fall. But I was convinced soon after, that I had
taken wrong measures, and that the method proposed by these lords was the only one likely
to prove effectual ; but this did not so recommend me to the clergy as to balance the censure
I came under, for moving, in another proviso of that bill, that the subscription, instead of
assent and consent, should only be to submit with a promise of conformity. There was a
proviso likewise, in the bill, for dispensing with kneeling at the sacrament, and being bap-
tized with the sign of the cross, to such as, after conference upon those heads, should
solemnly protest they were not satisfied as to the lawfulness of them. That concerning
kneeling, occasioned a vehement debate ; for the posture being the chief exception that the
dissenters had, the giving up this was thought to be the opening a way for them to come
into employments : yet it was carried in the house of lords. And I declared myself zealous
for it : for, since it was acknowledged that the posture was not essential in itself, and that
scruples, how ill grounded soever, were raised upon it, it seemed reasonable to leave the
matter as indifferent in its practice as it was in its nature.
Those who had moved for this bill, and afterwards brought it into the house, acted a very
disingenuous part ; for, while they studied to recommend themselves by this shew of mode-
ration, they set on their friends to oppose it ; and such as were very sincerely and cordially
for it, were represented as the enemies of the church, who intended to subvert it. When the
bill was sent down to the house of commons, it was laid on the table ; and, instead of pro-
ceeding in it, they made an address to the king, for summoning a convocation of the clergy
to attend, according to custom, on the session of parliament. The party that was now
beginning to be formed against the government, pretended great zeal for the church, and
declared their apprehensions that it was in danger, which was imputed by many to the earl
of Nottingham's management. These, as they went heavily into the toleration, so they were
much offended with the bill of comprehension, as containing matters relating to the church,
in which the representative body of the clergy had not been so much as advised with.
Nor was this bill supported by those who seemed most favourable to the dissenters ; they
set it up for a maxim, that it was fit to keep up a strong faction both in church and state ;
and they thought it was not agreeable to that, to suffer so great a body as the presbyterians
to be made more easy, or more inclinable to unite to the church ; they also thought that the
toleration would be best maintained when great numbers should need it, and be concerned
to preserve it ; so this good design being zealously opposed, and but faintly promoted, it fell
to the ground.
The clergy Jbegan now to shew an implacable hatred to the nonconformists, and seemed to
wish for an occasion to renew old severities against them ; but wise and good men did very
much applaud the quieting the nation by the toleration. It seemed to be suitable, both to
the spirit of the Christian religion, and to the interest of the nation. It was thought very
unreasonable, that, while we were complaining of the cruelty of the church of Rome, we
should fall into such practices among ourselves ; chiefly, while we were engaging in a war,
in the progress of which we would need the united strength of the whole nation.
This bill gave the king great content. He in his own opinion always thought, that con-
science was God's province, and that it ought not to be imposed on ; and his experience in
Holland made him look on toleration as one of the wisest measures of government : he was
much troubled to see eo much ill humour spreading among the clergy, and by their means
over a great part of the nation. He was so true to his principle herein, that he restrained
the heat of some who were proposing severe acts against papists. He made them apprehend
the advantage which that would give the French, to alienate all the papists of Europe from
us ; who from thence might hope to set on foot a new catholic league, and make the war a
quarrel of religion ; which might have very bad effects. Nor could he pretend to protect
the protestants in many places of Germany, and in Hungary, unless he could cover the
papists in England from all severities on the account of their religion. This was so carefully
infused into many, and so well understood by them, that the papists have enjoyed the
real effects of the toleration, though they were not comprehended within the statute that
enacted it
M M 2
5f>2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
While domestic matters were raising great heats at home, we saw the necessity of makino-
vigorous preparations for the war abroad, and in Ireland. The king laid before both houses
the alliances., formerly made by the crown of England, with the States, and with the Empire,
together with the new ones that were now proposed, which made a rupture with France
necessary. So, by the advices of both houses, war was declared against France ; and the
necessary supplies, both for the quota that the king was to furnish, and for the reduction of
Ireland, were provided.
The next care was a revenue for the support of the government ; by a long course and the
practice of some ages, the customs had been granted to our kings for life; so the king
expected that the like regard should be shewn for him ; but men's minds were much divided
in that matter. Some Whigs, who by a long opposition, and jealousy of the government,
had wrought themselves into such republican principles, that they could not easily come off
from them, set it up as a maxim not to grant any revenue, but from year to year, or at most,
for a short term of years. This, the.y thought, would render the crowrn precarious, and oblige
our kings to such a popular method of government, as should merit the constant renewal of
that grant. And they hoped, that so uncertain/ a tenure might more easily bring about an
entire change of government. For, by the denying the revenue at any time (except upon
intolerable conditions) they thought that might be easily effected, since it would render our
kings so feeble, that they would not be able to maintain their authority. The Tories
observing this, made great use of it, to beget in the king jealousies of his friends, with too
much colour, and too great success. They resolved to reconcile themselves to the king by
granting it, but at present only to look on, till the Whigs, who now carried every thing to
which they set their full strength, should have refused it.
The king, as he had come through the western countries, from his first landing, had been
in many places moved to discharge the chimney-money, and had promised to recommend it
to the parliament. He had done that so effectually, that an act passed discharging it ;
though it was so much opposed by the Tories, that it ran a great hazard in the house of
lords. Those who opposed it, pretended, that it was the only sure fund that could never fail
in war, so that money would be freely advanced upon it : they said, a few regulations would
take away any grievance that might arise from it ; but it was thought they were not willing
that such an act should pass as would render the king acceptable to the body of the nation *.
It was also thought that the prospect they then had of a speedy revolution, in favour of
king James, made some of them unwilling to pass an act that seemed to lay an obligation
on him, either to maintain it, or by resuming his revenue, to raise the hatred of the nation
higher against him. When the settling the king's revenue was brought under consideration,
it was found there were anticipations and charges upon it, from which it seemed reasonable
to clear it. So many persons were concerned in this, and the season of the year was so
far advanced, that it was pretended they had not time to examine that matter with due care ;
and therefore, by a provisional act, they granted the king the revenue for one year ; and
many intended never to carry the grant but from year to year. This touched the king very
sensibly. And many discourses that passed among four Whigs in their cabals, were com-
municated to him by the earl of Nottingham, by which he concluded he was in the hand of
persons that did not intend to use him well.
A bill was prepared concerning the militia, which upon the matter, and in consequence of
many clauses in it, took it in a great measure both from the crown, and out of the lords
lieutenants ; who, being generally peers, a bill that lessened their authority so much, was
* This tax is as old as the time of the Conquest ; for shillings annually upon every hearth in all houses paying
in Domesday-book, fumage, or smoke-money, is men- church and poor-rates. This was popularly known as
tioned as a payment made by every house that had a hearth, or chimney- money. It was repealed, as men-
chimney. This, in the reign of Edward the Third, had tioned in the text, by statute 1 William and Mary, st. i,
extended into fuage, or fovage, hearth-silver, being a c. 10, being declared in the preamble, " not only a great
shilling for every fire. This was levied upon the inhabit- oppression to the poorer sort, but a badge of slavery upon
ants of Aquitaine by the Black Prince. — (Rot. Parl. 25 the whole people, exposing every man's house to be
Edward in. Froissart. c. 141.) The first parliamentary entered into and searched at pleas>are, by persons unknown
levy of this tax was by statute 13 and 14 Charles 2, c. 10, to him."
which gave to the king an hereditary revenue of two
:
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. .533
not likely to pass in the house of lords; so it was let lie on the table. By this likewise,
which was chiefly promoted hy the Whigs, the king came to think, that those who had raised
him to the throne, intended to depress his prerogative as much as they had exalted his per-
son. He seemed to grow tender and jealous upon these points, the importance of every one
of them being much aggravated by the earl of Nottingham, who had furnished him with a
scheme of all the points of the prerogative, and of their dependence one upon another ; and
he seemed so possessed with this, that many of those who had formerly most of his confi-
dence, found a coldness growing upon him, which increased their disgust, and made them
apprehend they should again see a reign full of prerogative maxims. One thing the house
of commons granted, which was very acceptable to the king ; they gave the States about
600,000^. for the charge they had been at in the fleet and army, which they furnished the
king with at the revolution.
They could not be brought to another point, though often and much pressed to it by the
king. He thought nothing would settle the minds of the nation so much as an act of indem-
nity, with proper exceptions of some criminals that should be left to justice. Jeffreys was
in the Tower ; Wright, who had been lord chief justice, and some of the judges, were in New-
gate ; Graham and Burton, who had been the wicked solicitors in the former reigns, were in
prison ; but the hottest of the Whigs would not set this on. They thought it best to keep
many under the lash ; they intended severe revenges for the blood that had been shed, and
for the many unjust things that had been done in the end of king Charles's reign ; they saw,
that the clogging the indemnity, with many comprehensive exceptions, would create king
James a great party ; so they did not think it proper to offer at that ; yet they resolved to
keep them still in their power till a better opportunity for falling on them should offer itself:
therefore they proceeded so slowly in that matter, that the bill could not be brought to a
ripeness during this session. It is true the great mildness of the king's temper, and the gen-
tleness of his government, which was indeed rather liable to censure, as being too remiss, set
peopled minds much at ease ; and, if it gave too much boldness to those who began to set up
an open opposition to him, yet it gained upon the greater part of the nation, who saw none
of those moving spectacles that had been so common in former reigns ; and all promised
themselves happy days under so merciful a prince. But angry men put a wicked construc-
tion on the earnestness the king shewed for an act of indemnity : they said, he intended to
make use of a set of prerogative men, as soon as legally he could ; and therefore he desired
the instruments of king James's illegal government might be once secured, that so he might
employ them. The earls of Monmouth and Warrington were infusing jealousies of the king
into their party with the same industry that the earl of Nottingham was, at the same time
instilling into the king jealousies of them ; and both acted with too much success, which put
matters much out of joint; for though the earls of Shrewsbury and Devonshire did all they
could to stop the progress and effects of those suspicions with which the Whigs were pos-
sessed, yet they had not credit enough to do it. The earl of Shrewsbury, though he had
more of the king's favour, yet he had not strength to resist the earl of Nottingham's pompous
and tragical declamations *.
There was a bill of great importance sent up by the commons to the lords, that was not
finished this session ; it was a bill, declaring the rights and liberties of England, and the
succession to the crown, as had been agreed by both houses of parliament, to the king and
queen and their issue ; and after them, to the princess Anne and her issue ; and after these,
to the king and his issue. A clause was inserted, disabling all papists from succeeding to
1 the crown ; to which the lords added, " or such as should marry papists." To this I pro-
i posed an additional clause, absolving the subjects, in that case, from their allegiance. This
, was seconded by the earl of Shrewsbury ; and it passed without any opposition, or debate ;
which amazed us all, considering the importance of it. But the king ordered me to propose
1 he naming the duchess of Hanover, and her posterity, next in the succession. He signified
his pleasure in this also to the ministers; but he ordered me to begin the motion in the
house, because I had already set it on foot. And the duke of Hanover had now other
* The representations of the earl of Shrewsbury to divert the king from his leaning to the Tories, are told in the
:f:rst pages of Coxe's " Shrewsbury Correspondence."
634 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
thoughts of the matter, and was separating himself from the interests of France. The lords
agreed to the proposition without any opposition ; so it was sent down to the commons.
There were great debates there upon it. Hambden pressed it vehemently ; but Wildman,
and all the republican party, opposed it. Their secret reason seemed to be, a design to
extinguish monarchy, and therefore to substitute none beyond the three that were named,
that so the succession might quickly come to an end. But it not being decent to own this,
all that they pretended was, that there being many in the lineal succession, after the three
that were named, who were then of the church of Rome, the leaving to them a possibility
to succeed, upon their turning protestants, might have a good effect on them, and dispose
them to hearken to instruction ; all which would be defeated by a declaration in favour of
the duchess.
To this it was answered, in a free conference, that for that very reason it was fit to make
this declaration ; since nothing could bring us into a more certain danger than a pretended
conversion of a false convert, who might by such a disguise ascend the throne, and so worl
our ruin by secret artifices. Both houses adhered, after the free conference : so the bill fell
for that time : but it was resolved to take it up at the opening of the next session. And
the king thought it was not then convenient to renew the motion of the duchess of Hanover,
of which he ordered rne to write her a particular account. It was fit once to have the bil
passed that enacted the perpetual exclusion of all papists ; for that, upon the matter, brougl
the succession to their door. And if any in the line, before her, should pretend to chan£
as it was not very likely to happen, so it would not be easily believed. So it was resolve
to carry this matter no further at this time. The bill passed without any opposition, in tl
beginning of the next session, which I mention here, that I might end this matter all at
once *. The present session was drawn to a great length, and was not ended till August ;
and then it broke up with a great deal of ill humour.
One accident happened this summer, of a pretty extraordinary nature, that deserves to be
remembered. A fisherman, between Lambeth and Yauxhall, was drawing a net pretty
close to the channel, and a great weight was, not without some difficulty, drawn to the
shore, which, when taken up, was found to be the great seal of England. King James had
Called for it from the lord Jeffreys, the night before he went away, as intending to make a
R3cret use of it, for pardons or grants. But it seems, when he went away, he thought either
that the bulk or weight of it made it inconvenient to be carried off, or that it was to be
hereafter of no more use to him ; and therefore, that it might not be made use of against
him, he threw it into the Thames. The fisherman was well rewarded when he brought the
great seal to the king ; and by his order it was broken.
But now I must look over to the affairs of Ireland, and to king James's motions. Upon
his coming to the court of France, he was received with great shews of tenderness and
respect ; the French king assuring him, that, as they had both the same interests, so he
would never give over the war, till he had restored him to his throne. The only prospect
he now had was to keep up his party in Ireland and Scotland. The message from Tyrcon-
nel, for speedy supplies, was very pressing ; and his party in Scotland sent one Lindsay over
* This "immortal bill," as Burke denominates it, is has a right to petition the king. 5, That a standing army,
in our code of laws, 1 William and Mary, sess. 2. c. 2. without consent of parliament, cannot be raised or main-
It embodies the declaration of rights presented by both tained. 6. That protestant subjects may have arms for
houses of the convention to the prince and princess of their defence, suitable to their condition. 7. The election
Orange, and accepted by them with the crown. It is of members of parliament ought to be free. 8. That free-
extraordinary that the clause enacting that the kings and dom of speech in parliament cannot be questioned out of
queens of England should take the test oath upon their parliament. 9. That neither excessive bail, fines, or
accession to the crown, and that if any such king or queen punishment ought to be inflicted. 10. That jurors should
embraced the Roman catholic religion, or married a Roman be duly empannelled. 1 1 . That all grants or promises of
catholic, their subjects should be absolved of their alle- fines and forfeitures before the party is convicted, are void,
giance, passed without any debate. The bill of rights 12. That parliaments ought to be held frequently. Con-
having declared the illegal conduct of James the Second, eluding with a declaration that the lords and commoni
and his abdication of the throne, enacts, 1. that the king, " do claim, demand, and insist upon all and singular the
without the consent of parliament, shall not suspend the premises as their undoubted rights and liberties " The
operation of any law. 2. That creating new courts of declaration of rights is known to have been chiefly drawn
law is illegal. 3. That levying money by the king, un- up by Mr. Somers, afterwards lord chancellor and known
sanctioned by parliament, is illegal. 4. That the subject as " the great lord Somers."
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY 605
to him. to offer him their service, and to ask what assistance they might depend upon. The
French ministry was at this time much divided. Louvois had the greatest credit, and was
very successful in all his counsels ; so that he was most considered ; but Seignelay was
believed to have more personal favour, and to be more entirely united to madam Maintenon.
These two were in a high competition for favour, and hated one another. Seignelay had the
marine, as the other had the army, for his province ; so, king James having the most
dependence on the marine, and looking on the secretary for that post as the most powerful
favourite, made his chief application to him ; which set Louvois to cross, and retard, every
thing that was proposed for his service : so that matters for him went on slowly, and very
defectively. There was another circumstance in king James's affairs that did him much hurt.
Lauzun, whose adventures will be found in the French history, had come over to king James,
and offered him his service, and had attended on the queen when she went over to France.
He had obtained a promise of king James, that he should have the command of such forces as the
king of France would assist him wTith. Louvois hated Lauzun ; nor did the king of France like
to employ him ; so Louvois sent to king James, desiring him to ask of the king of France,
Souvray, a son of his, whom he was breeding to serve in war, to command the French troops.
But king James had so engaged himself to Lauzun, that he thought he could not in honour
depart from it. And ever after that, we were told, that Louvois studied, by all the ways he
could think of, to disparage him, and all the propositions he made : yet he got about 5,000
Frenchmen to be sent over with him to Ireland, but no great supplies in money. Promises
were sent the Scots of great assistance that should be sent them from Ireland : they were
encouraged to make all possible opposition in the convention ; and, as soon as the season of
the year would admit of it, they were ordered to gather together in the Highlands, and to
keep themselves in safe places there till further orders should be sent them. With these,
and with a small supply in money, of about five or six thousand pounds, for buying ammu-
nition and arms, Lindsay was sent back. I had such a character given me of him, that I
entertained good thoughts of him. So, upon his return, he came first to me, and pretended
he had gone over on private affairs, being deeply engaged in debt for the earl of Melfort,
whose secretary he had been. I understood from him, that king Junes had left Paris to go
for Ireland ; so I sent him to the earl of Shrewsbury's office ; but there was a secret manage-
ment with one of the under secretaries there for king James ; so he was not only dismissed,
but got a pass warrant from Dr. Wynne, to go to Scotland. I had given the earl of Shrews-
bury such a character of the man, that he did more easily believe him ; but he knew nothing
of the pass warrant. So, my easiness to think well of people, was the chief occasion of the
mischief that followed, on his not being clapped up, and more narrowly examined. Upon
king James's landing in Ireland, he marched his army from Kinsale to Ulster ; and, when it
was all together, it consisted of 30,000 foot, and 8,000 horse. It is true the Irish were now
as insolent as they were undisciplined ; and they began to think they must be masters of all
the king's counsels. A jealousy arose between them and the French ; they were soon on
very bad terms, and scarcely ever agreed in their advices : all king James's party, in the isle
of Britain, pressed his settling the affairs of Ireland the best he could, and his bringing over
the French, and such of the Irish, as he could best govern, and depend on ; and advised him
to land in the north of England, or in the west of Scotland.
But the first thing that was to be done was to reduce Londonderry. In order to this,
two different advices were offered. The one was, to march with a great force, and to take
it immediately ; for the town was not capable of resisting, if vigorously attacked. The
other was, to block it up so, that it should be forced in a little time to surrender ; and to
turn to other more vigorous designs. But, whereas either of these advices might have been
pursued with advantage, a third advice was offered ; but I know not by whom, which was
the only bad one, that could be proposed ; and yet, by a sort of fatality, which hung over
that king, it was followed by him ; and that was, to press the town by a slow siege, which,
as was given out, would bring the Irish into the methods of war, and would accustom them
to fatigue and discipline. And this being resolved on, king James sent a small body before
it, which was often changed ; and by these he continued the siege above two months, in
which the poor inhabitants formed themselves into great order, and came to generous resolu-
630 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
tions of enduring the last extremities. They made some sallies, in which the Irish always
ran away, and left their officers ; so that many of their best officers wrere killed. Those
within suffered little, but by hunger, which destroyed nearly two-thirds of their number.
One convoy, with two regiments, and provisions, was sent to their relief; but they looked on
the service as desperate, being deceived by Lundy, who was the governor of the place, and
had undertaken to betray it to king James ; but he finding them jealous of him, came to
the convoy, and persuaded them that nothing could be done ; so they came back, and Lundy
with them. Yet the poor inhabitants, though thus forsaken, resolved still to hold out ; and
sent over such an account of the state they were in, that a second and greater convoy was
sent, with about 5,000 men, commanded by Kirk, who, after he came in sight, made not that
haste to relieve them that was necessary, considering the misery they were in. They had a
river that came up to their town ; but the Irish had laid a boom and chains across it, and
had planted batteries for defending it : yet a ship sailing up with wind and tide broke
through ; and so the town was relieved, and the siege raised in great confusion *.
Iiiiskillen had the same fate : the inhabitants entered into resolutions of suffering any
thing, rather than fall into the hands of the Irish ; a considerable force was sent against
them ; but through their courage, and the cowardice of the Irish, they held out.
All this while an army was preparing in England, to be sent over for the reduction of
Ireland, commanded by Schomberg, who was made a duke in England, and to wrhom the
parliament gave 100,000 pounds for the services he had done. The levies were carried on in
England with great zeal ; and the bodies were quickly full. But, though both officers and
soldiers shewed much courage and affection to the service, yet they were raw, without expe-
rience, and without skill. Schomberg had a quick and happy passage, with about 10,000
men. He landed at Belfast, and brought the forces that lay in Ulster together. His army,
when strongest, was not above 14,000 men; and he had not above 2,000 horse. He
marched on to Dundalk, and there posted himself. King James came to Ardee, within fivre
or six miles of him, being above thrice his number. Schomberg had not the supplies from
England that had been promised him : much treachery, or ravenousness, appeared in many
who were employed ; and he, finding his numbers so unequal to the Irish, resolved to lie on
the defensive. He lay there six weeks in a very rainy season : his men, for want of due
care and good management, contracted such diseases, that he lost almost the one-half of his
army. Some blamed him for not putting things more to hazard : it was said, that he
measured the Irish by their numbers, and not by their want of sense and courage. Such
complaints were sent of this to the king, that he wrote twice to him, pressing him to put
somewhat to the venture ; but he saw the enemy was well posted, and well provided ; and
he knew they had several good officers among them. If he had pushed matters, and had
met with a misfortune, his whole army, and consequently all Ireland, would have been lost ;
for he could not have made a regular retreat. The sure game was to preserve his army ;
and that would save Ulster, and keep matters entire for another year. This was censured
by some ; but better judges thought the managing this campaign as he did, was one of the
greatest parts of his life. The Irish made some poor attempts to beat up his quarters ; but
even where they surprised his men, and were much superior in number, they were so shame-
fully beat back, that this increased the contempt the English naturally had for them. In
the end of October, all went into winter quarters.
* I know not for what reason Burnet omitted to appointed governor. The siege commenced on the 20(h
notice the chief instrument in persuading the inhabitants of April ; the town was miserably fortified, and the
of Londonderry to such a gallant defence, Dr. George besieging army large ; yet it was defended for one hundred
Walker. This divine was a native of the county of and five days, and eventually relieved. For his bravery,
Tyrone. As soon as he was ordained he obtained the Walker received the thanks of the house of commons;
rectory of Donoughmore, where he raised a regiment when and the university of Oxford made him a doctor in divi-
James the Second landed. He threw himself and his nity. He was afterwards nominated to the bishopric of
men into Londonderry as soon as he understood that the Deny, but accompanying William the Third, was killed
ex-king had determined to besiege it. Colonel Lundy, at the battle of the Boyne in July 1690. His " True
the governor, either a traitor, or a coward, or both, shut Account of the Siege of Londonderry," is a highly inte-
himself up in his chamber, and would not interfere in the resting work. — Ware's Works, by Harris ; Grey's Purlia-
defence, and was consequently turned oat of the town by mentary Debates.
Mr. Walker ; who, in conjunction with Major Baker, was
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 537
Our operations on the sea were not very prosperous. Herbert was sent with a fleet to cut
off the communication between France and Ireland. The French had sent over a fleet with
a great transport of stores and ammunition. They had landed their loading, and were
returning back. As they came out of Bantry Bay Herbert engaged them. The wind was
against him, so that it was not possible for the greatest part of the fleet to come up and
enter into action ; and so those who were engaged were forced to retire with some disadvan-
tage. But the French did not pursue him. He came back to Portsmouth, in order to refit
some of his ships ; and went out again, and lay before Brest till the end of summer. But
the French fleet did not come out any more all that summer ; so that ours lay some months
at sea to no purpose. But if we lost few of our seamen in the engagement, we lost a great
many by reason of the bad victualling. Some excused this because it was so late in the year
before funds were made for it ; while others imputed it to base practices, and worse designs.
So affairs had everywhere a very melancholy face.
I now turn to give an account of the proceedings in Scotland. A convention of the states
was summoned there in the same manner as in England. Duke Hamilton was chosen pre-
sident. And a letter being offered to them from king James, by Lindsay, they would not
receive nor read it ; but went on to state the several violations of their constitution and
laws made by King James. Upon these it was moved that a judgment should be given,
declaring that he had forfeited his right to the crown. Upon this, three parties were
formed : one was composed of all the bishops and some of the nobility, who opposed these
proceedings against the king, as contrary to their laws and oaths ; others thought that their
oaths were only to the king as having the executive power to support him in that ; but
that, if he set himself to invade and assume the legislature, he renounced his former autho-
rity by subverting that upon which it was founded. So they were for proceeding to a
declaratory judgment : a third party was formed of those who agreed with the former in
their conclusion, but not in coming to so speedy a determination. They thought it was the
interest of Scotland to be brought under the laws of England, and to be united to the par-
liament of England ; and that this was the properest time for doing that to the best advan-
tage, since England would be obliged by the present state of affairs to receive them upon
good terms. They were therefore willing to proceed against king James ; but they thought
it not reasonable to make too much haste in a new settlement ; and were for maintaining
the government in an interregnum till the union should be perfected, or at least put in a
probable way. This was specious, and many went into it ; but, since it tended to the
putting a stop to a full settlement, all that favoured king James joined in it ; for by this
more time was gained. To this project it was objected that the union of the two kingdoms
must be a work of time ; since many difficulties would arise in any treaty about it ; whereas
the present circumstances were critical, and required a speedy decision, and quick provision
to be made for their security ; since, if they continued in such a neutral state, they would
have many enemies and no friends : and the zeal that was now working among them for
)resdytery must raise a greater aversion than ordinary in the body that was for the church
)f England to any such treaty with them.
While much heat was occasioned by this debate, great numbers came armed from the
western counties, on pretence to 0.2 rend the convention ; for the duke of Gordon was still in
the castle of Edinburgh, and could have done them much harm, though he lay there in a
very inoffensive state. He thought the best thing he could do was to preserve that place
ong for king James ; since to provoke the convention would have drawn a siege and ruin
ipon him with too much precipitation, while there was not a force in the field ready to come
md assist him. So it was said there was no need of such armed companies, and that they
svere come to over-awe and force the convention.
The earl of Dundee had been at London, and had fixed a correspondence both with Eng-
and and France ; though he had employed me to carry messages from him to the king, to
enow what security he might expect, if he should go and live in Scotland without owning
uis government. The king said, if he would live peaceably, and at home, he would protect
um. To this he answered, that, unless he were forced to it, he would live quietly. But ho
went down with other resolutions ; and a)l the party resolved to submit to his command.
£33 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Upon his coming to Edinburgh, he pretended he was in danger from those armed multitudes,
and so he left the convention ; and went up and down the Highlands, and sent his agents
about to bring together what force they could gather. This set on the conclusion of the
debates of the convention.
They passed the judgment of forfeiture on king James. And on the llth of April, the
day in which the king and queen were crowned with the ordinary solemnities at West-
minster, they declared William and Mary king and queen of Scotland. But with this, as
they ordered the coronation oath to be tendered to them, so they drew up a claim of rights,
which they pretended were the fundamental, and unalterable, laws of the kingdom. By
one of these it was declared, that the reformation in Scotland having been begun by a parity
among the clergy, all prelacy in that church was a great and insupportable grievance to that
kingdom. It was an absurd thing to put this in a claim of rights ; for which not only they
had no law, but which was contrary to many laws then in being ; so that, though they
might have offered it as a grievance, there was no colour for pretending it was a national
right. But they had a notion among them that every article, that should be put in the
claim of rights, became an unalterable law, and a condition upon which the crown was to
be held ; whereas grievances were such things as were submitted to the king and parliament
to be redressed, or not, as they should see cause ; but the bishops, and those who adhered
to them, having left the convention, the presbyterians had a majority of voices to carry
everything as they pleased, how unreasonable soever. And upon this, the abolishing epis-
copacy in Scotland was made a necessary article of the new settlement.
Soon after the king came to St. James's, the episcopal party there had sent up the dean
of Glasgow, whom they ordered to come to me ; and I introduced him to the then prince.
He was sent to know what his intentions were with relation to them. He answered, he
would do all he could to preserve them, granting a full toleration to the presbyterians ; but
this was in case they concurred in the new settlement of that kingdom ; for if they opposed
that, and if, by a great majority in parliament, resolutions should be taken against them,
the king could not make a war for them ; but yet he would do all that was in his power to
maintain such of them as should live peaceably in their functions. This he ordered me like-
wise to write back, in answer to what some bishops and others had written to me upon that
subject. But the earl of Dundee, when he went down, possessed them with such an opinion
of another speedy revolution, that would be brought about in favour of king James, t t
they resolved to adhere firmly to his interests. So they declaring in a body with so much
zeal, in opposition to the new settlement, it was not possible for the king to preserve that
government there ; all those who expressed their zeal for him, being equally zealous against
that order.
Among those who appeared in this convention none distinguished himself more than sir
James Montgomery, a gentleman of good parts, but of a most unbridled heat, and of a rest-
less ambition : he bore the greatest share in the whole debate, and promised himself a great
post in the new government. Duke Hamilton presided with great discretion and courage ;
so that the bringing the settlement so soon to a calm conclusion was chiefly owing to him.
A petition of grievances, relating to the lords of the articles, the judges, the coin, and several
other matters, was also settled ; and three commissioners were sent, one from every state,
to the king and queen, with the tender of the crown, with which they were also to tender
them the coronation oath and the claim of rights. And when the oath was taken, they were
next to offer the petition for the redress of grievances. The three commissioners were, the
earl of Argyle for the lords, sir James Montgomery for the knights, or, as they call them,
for the barons, and sir John Dalrymple for the boroughs. When the king and queen took
the oaths, the king explained one word in the oath, by which he was bound " to repress
heresies," that he did not by this bind himself to persecute any for their conscience. And
now he was king of Scotland, as well as of England and Ireland.
The first thing to be done was to form a ministry in Scotland, and a council, and to send
instructions for turning the convention into a parliament, in which the duke of Hamilton
was to represent the king as his commissioner. Before the king had left the Hague, Fagel
had so effectually recommended Dalrymple, the father, to him, that he was resolved to rely i
KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 539
chiefly on him for advice. And though he had heard great complaints of him, as indeed
there was some ground for them, yet, since his son was sent one of the three upon so
great a deputation, he concluded from thence that the family was not so much hated as he
had been informed : so he continued still to be advised by him. The episcopal party were
afraid of Montgomery's being made secretary, from whom they expected nothing but extreme
severities ; so they set themselves to divert that, and the lord Melvill, who had married the
duchess of Monmouth's sister, and had continued from 1660 firm to presbytery, and had been
of late forced to leave the kingdom, was looked on as an easy man, who would have credit
enough to restrain the fury of that party. So he was made sole secretary of state, which
proved a very unhappy step ; for, as he was by his principles bigoted to presbytery, and
ready to sacrifice every thing to their humours, so he proved to be in all respects a narrow-
hearted man, who minded his own interest more than either that of the king or of his
country. This choice gave a great distaste, and that was followed by a ministry, in the
framing of which he had the chief hand, who were weak and passionate men. All offices
were split into commissions, that many might have some share ; but it rendered them all
contemptible. And though Montgomery had a considerable post offered him, yet his missing
that he aimed at stuck deep, and began to work in him an aversion to the king, which broke
out afterwards into much fury and plotting against him. Nor did duke Hamilton think that
he was considered in the new model of the ministry, as he deserved, and might justly have
expected.
The parliament there was opened with much ill humour ; and they resolved to carry the
redress of grievances very far. Lord Melvill hoped to have gained the presbyterian party,
by sending instructions to duke Hamilton to open the session with an act in favour of pres-
bytery ; but the majority resolved to begin with their temporal concerns. So the first
grievance, to which a redress was desired, was the power of the lords of the articles : that
relating so immediately to the parliament itself. The king consented to a proper regulation,
as that the number should be enlarged and changed as often as the parliament should desire
it, and that the parliament might bring matters before them, though they were rejected by
the lords of the articles. This answered all the just complaints that had been made of that
part of the constitution ; but the king thought it was the interest of the crown to preserve it
thus regulated ; yet it was pretended that, if the name and shadow of that were still kept
up, the parliament would in some time be insensibly brought under all those restraints that
were now to be provided against. So they moved to take it quite away. Duke Hamilton
wrote long letters both to the king and to the lord Melvill, giving a full account of the pro-
gress of an ill humour that was got among them, and of the ill consequence it was likely to
have ; but he had no answer from the king ; and lord Melvill wrote him back dark and
doubtful orders : so he took little care how matters went, and was not ill pleased to see them,
go wrong. The revenue was settled on the king for life ; and they raised the money which
was necessary for maintaining a small force in that kingdom, though the greatest part of an
army of six thousand men was paid by England. But even the presbyterians began to carry
their demands high ; they proposed to have the king's supremacy and the right of patronage
taken away ; and they asked so high an authority to their government, that duke Hamilton,
though of hirns If indifferent as to those matters, yet would not agree to them. He thought
these broke in too much on their temporal concerns, and would establish a tyranny in pres-
bytery that could not be easily borne. He wrote to me very fully on that head, and I took
the liberty to speak sometimes to the king on those subjects ; my design being chiefly to
shelter the episcopal clergy, and to keep the change that was now to be made on such a
foot, that a door might still be kept open ; but lord Melvill had possessed the king with a
notion, that it was necessary for his service that the presbyterians should know that I did
not at all meddle in those matters, otherwise they would take up a jealousy of every thing
that was done ; and that this might make them carry their demands mu jh further ; so I was
shut out from all meddling in those matters ; and yet I was then and still continued to De
much loaded with this prejudice, that I did not study to hinder those changes that were then
made in Scotland. And all the king's enemies in England continued still to charge him for
the alterations then made in Scotland : though it was not possible, had ho been ever so
540 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
zealous for episcopacy, to have preserved it at that time ; and I could do no more than I did,
both for the order itself, and for all those who adhered to it there. A new debate was set on
foot in that parliament concerning the judges. By the law there, when the king names a
judge, he ought to be examined by other judges, whether he is qualified as the law directs ;
but, in the year 1661, because the bench was to be filled with a new set of judges, so that
there was none to examine the rest, the nomination the king then made was read in parlia-
ment, and, no objection being made to any of them, they did upon that sit and act as judges.
It was expected that the same method should be followed at this time. But, instead of
that, the king continued such a number of the former judges as was sufficient to examine
those who were now to be advanced ; so that was ordered to be done. Upon this, those
who opposed every thing pretended that the nomination ought to be made in parliament ;
and they had prepared objections against every one that was upon the list ; intending by
this to put a public affront on one of the first and most important actions of the king's
government. Duke Hamilton had a positive instruction sent him not to suffer this matter
to be brought into parliament ; yet he saw the party was so set and so strong that they had
a clear majority ; nor did he himself very much approve of the nomination, chiefly that of
old Dalrymple, soon after made lord Stair, to be president. So he discontinued the par-
liament.
But while those animosities were thus fomented, the earl of Dundee had got together a
considerable body of gentlemen, with some thousands of Highlanders. He sent several mes-
sengers over to Ireland, pressing king James to come either to the north of England, or to
Scotland. But at the same time he desired that he would not bring the lord Melfort over
with him, or employ him more in Scotch business ; and that he would be contented with
the exercise of his own religion. It may be easily supposed that all this went against the
grain with king James ; and that the lord Melfort disparaged all the earl of Dundee's under-
takings. In this he was much supported by the French near that king, who had it given
them in charge (as a main instruction) to keep him up to a high owning of his religion, and
of all those who were of it ; and not to suffer him to enter into any treaty, or conditions,
with his protestant subjects, by which the papists should in any sort suffer, or be so much
as discouraged. The Irish were willing enough to cross the seas to England, but would not
consent to the going over to Scotland. So the earl of Dundee was furnished with some small
store of arms and ammunition, and had kind promises, encouraging him and all that joined
with him.
Mackay, a general officer that had served long in Holland with great reputation, and who
was the most pious man that I ever knew in a military way, was sent down to command
the army in Scotland. He was one of the best officers of the age, when he had nothing to
do but to obey and execute orders ; for he was both diligent, obliging, and brave ; but he
was not so fitted for command. His piety made him too apt to mistrust his own sense, and
to be too tender, or rather fearful, in anything where there might be a needless effusion of
blood. He followed the earl of Dundee's motion, who was less encumbered with cannon and
other baggage, and so marched quicker than it was possible for him to follow : his men were
for the most part new levied, and without experience ; but he had some old bodies on whom
he depended. The heads of the clans among the Highlanders promised to join him ; but most
of them went to viscount Dundee. At last, after many marches and motions, they came
to an engagement at Killicranky, some few miles above Dunkeld. The ground was narrow,
and lord Dundee had the advantage. He broke through Mackay's army, and they ran for
it ; and probably, if the earl of Dundee had outlived that day, the victory might have been
pursued far ; but a random shot put an end to his life, and to the whole design ; for Mackay
rallied his men and made such a stand, that the other side fell into great disorder, and could
never be formed again into a considerable body. A fort was soon after built at Innerlochy,
which was called Fort William, and served to cut off the communication between the
northern and southern Highlanders*.
* Lord Clarendon says that he had it from sir George Dundee was alive, all Scotland would have joined him.
Mackenzie, that, if James the Second had placed himself But the earl of Mel fort's advice and influence ruined hi*
ttt the head of the Scotch Highlanders, while the earl of cause. — (Clarendon Correspondence.) John Graham,
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 54i
During all these public disorders that happened in so many different places, the trade
suffered considerably; for the French, not setting out a fleet any more, sent out so many
cruisers and privateers into our seas, that England thereby suffered great losses ; there not
being at that time a sufficient number of frigates to convoy and secure the merchantmen.
"We seemed to be masters at sea, and yet were great losers there.
Affiiirs went much better on the Rhine. The imperial army, commanded by the Duke of
Lorrain, took Mentz, which the French had entered after they took Philipsburg ; the siege
was slow and long, but prosperous in its conclusion ; and by this means Franconia, which
before lay exposed, was now covered. The elector of Brandenburg came down with an army,
and cleared the archbishopric of Cologne, which was before possessed by French garrisons.
Keizerwart and Bonn held him some time ; but the rest were soon taken. So now the
Rhine was open all up to Mentz. Nothing passed in Flanders, where prince Waldeck com-
manded : and the campaign ended without any misfortunes on that side.
I now return to the affairs of England during the recess. The clergy generally took the
oaths, though with too many reservations and distinctions, which laid them open to severe
censures, as if they had taken them against their conscience. The king was suspected by
them by reason of the favour shewn to dissenters, but chiefly for his abolishing episcopacy
in Scotland, and his consenting to the setting up presbytery there. This gave some credit
to the reports that were with great industry infused into many of them of the king's coldness
at best, if not his aversion, to the church of England. The leading men in both universities,
chiefly Oxford, were possessed with this ; and it began to have very ill effects over all Eng-
land. Those who did not carry this so far as to think, as some said they did, that the church
was to be pulled down, yet said a latitudinarian party was likely to prevail and to engross
all preferments. These were thought less bigoted to outward ceremonies ; so now it was
generally spread about that men zealous for the church would be neglected, and that those
who were more indifferent in such matters would be preferred. Many of the latter har^
managed the controversies with the .curch of Rome with so muuL harness and with that
•success, that the papists, to revenge themselves, arid to blast those whom they considered as
their most formidable enemies, had cast aspersions on them as Socinians, and as men that
denied all mysteries. And now some angry men at Oxford, who apprehended that those
divines were likely to be most considered in this reign, took up the same method of calumny,
and began to treat them as Socinians. The earl of Clarendon and some of the bishops, who
had already incurred the suspension for not taking the oaths to the government, took much
ill-natured pains to spread these slanders. Six bishoprics happened to fall within this year :
[ Salisbury, Chester, Bangor, Worcester, Chichester, and Bristol ; so that the king named
six bishops within six months. And the persons promoted to these sees were generally men
of those principles. The proceedings in Scotland cast a great load on the king ; he could
not hinder the change of the government of that church without putting all his affairs in
preat disorder. The episcopal party went almost universally into king James's interests ;
so that the presbyterians were the only party that the king had in that kingdom. The
Iking did indeed assure us, and myself in particular, that he would restrain and moderate the
(violence of the presbyterians. Lord Melvill did also promise the same thing very solemnly;
and at first he seemed much set upon it. But when he saw so great a party formed against
irnself ; and, since many of the presbyterians inclined to favour them, and to set themselves
M flu opposition to the court, he thought it was the king's interest, or at least his own, to
ngage that party entirely ; and he found nothing could do that so effectually as to abandon
lie ministers of the episcopal persuasion to their fury. He set up the earl of Crawford as
ic head of his party, who was passionate in his temper, and was out of measure zealous in
i;s principles: he was chosen to be the president of the parliament. He received and
ucouraged all the complaints that were made of the episcopal ministers ; the convention,
hen they had passed the votes declaring the king and queen, ordered a proclamation to be
; count Dundee, was a frank, talented, noble-minded, well" — and immediately after expired. He died July
iiin. After he had received his death wound at Killi- 27th, 1689. — Dalrymple's Memoirs ; Memoirs of Vis-
j! Ltiky, he asked how the victory was inclining? and,
"ing told " All is well" — "Then," he replied, " T am
count Dundee, the Highland Clans, and the Glcncoe
Massacre.
542 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
read the next Sunday in all the churches of Edinburgh, and in all the other churches in
the kingdom by a certain prefixed day ; but which was so near at hand that it was scarcely
possible to lay proclamations all round the nation within the time ; and it was absolutely
impossible for the clergy to meet together, and come to any resolution among themselves.
For the most part the proclamations were not brought to the ministers till the morning of
the Sunday in which they were ordered to be read ; so this having the face of a great change
of principles, many could not on the sudden resolve to submit to it ; some had not the pro-
clamations brought to them till the day was past; many of these read it the Sunday
following. Some of those who did not think fit to read the proclamation, yet obeyed it ;
and continued, after that, to pray for the king and queen. Complaints were brought to the
council of all those who had not read, nor obeyed, the proclamation ; and they were in a
summary way deprived of their benefices. In the executing this, lord Crawford shewed
much eagerness and violence. Those who did not read the proclamation on the day
appointed had no favour, though they did it afterwards. And upon any word that fell from
them, either in their extemporary prayers or sermons, that shewed disaffection to the govern-
ment, they were also deprived. All these things were published up and down England, and
much aggravated ; and raised the aversion that the church had to the presbyterians so high,
that they began to repent their having granted a toleration to a party that, where they pre-
vailed, showed so much fury against those of the episcopal persuasion. So that such of us
as had laboured to excuse the change that the king was forced to consent to, and had pro-
mised in his name great moderation towards our friends in that kingdom, were much out of
countenance, when we saw the violence with which matters were carried there. These
things concurred to give the clergy such ill impressions of the king that we had little reason
to look for success in a design that was then preparing for the convocation, for whom a
summons was issued out to meet during the next session of parliament.
It was told in the history of the former reign that the clergy did then express an inclina-
tion to come to a temper with relation to the presbyterians, and such other dissenters as
could be brought into a comprehension with the church ; the bishops had mentioned it in
their petition to king James, for which they were tried ; and his present majesty had pro-
mised to endeavour an union between the church and the dissenters, in that declaration that
he brought over with him ; but it seemed necessary to prepare and digest that matter care-
fully, before it should be offered to the convocation. Things of such a nature ought to be
judged of by a large number of men, but must be prepared by a smaller number well
chosen ; yet it was thought a due respect to the church to leave the matter wholly in the
hands of the clergy. So, by a special commission under the great seal, ten bishops and
twenty divines were empowered to meet, and prepare such alterations in the Book of
Common Prayer and Canons as might be fit to lay before the convocation. This was
become necessary, since by the submission which the clergy in convocation made to king
Henry the Eighth, which was confirmed in parliament, they bound themselves not to attempt
any new canons without obtaining the king's leave first, and that under the pains of a pre-
munire. It was looked on, therefore, as the properest way, to obtain the king's leave to
have a scheme of the whole matter put in order by a number of bishops and divines ; great
care was taken to name these so impartially, that no exceptions" could lie against any of
them ; they upon this sat closely to it for several weeks ; they had before them all the
exceptions that either the puritans before the war, or the nonconformists since the restora-
tion, had made to any part of the church service ; they had also many propositions and
advices that had been offered, at several times, by many of our bishops and divines upon
those heads ; matters were well considered and freely and calmly debated ; and all was
digested into an entire corre'ction of every thing that seemed liable to any just objection.
We had some very rigid, as well as some very learned, men among us ; though the most
rigid either never came to our meetings, or they soon withdrew from us, declaring themselves ,
dissatisfied with every thing of that nature : some telling us plainly that they were against
all alterations whatsoever. They thought too much was already done for the dissenters in
the toleration that was granted them ; but that they would do nothing to make that still
easier, They said further that the altering the customs and constitution of our church,
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 513
to gratify a peevish and obstinate party, was likely to have no other effect on them but to
make them more insolent : as if the church, by offering these alterations, seemed to confess
that she had been hitherto in the wrong. They thought this attempt would divide us
among ourselves, and make our people lose their esteem for the liturgy, if it appeared that
it wanted correction. They also excepted to the manner of preparing matters by a special
commission, as limiting the convocation, and imposing upon it ; and to load this with a word of
an ill sound, they called this a new ecclesiastical commission. But, in answer to all this, it
was said, that if by a few corrections or explanations we offered all just satisfaction to the chiet
objections of the dissenters, we had reason to hope that this would bring over many of them,
at least of the people, if not of the teachers among them ; or, if the prejudices of education
wrought too strongly upon the present age, yet, if some more sensible objections were put
out of the way, we might well hope that it would have a great effect on the next generation.
If these condescensions were made so as to own, in the way of offering them, that the non-
conformists had been in the right, that might turn to the reproach of the church ; but, such
offers being made only in regard to their weakness, the reproach fell on them : as the honour
accrued to the church, who showed herself a true mother by her care to preserve her
children. It was not offered that the ordinary posture of receiving the sacrament kneeling
should be changed : that was still to be the received and favoured posture ; only such as
declared they could not overcome their scruples in that matter were to be admitted to it in
another posture. Ritual matters were of their own nature indifferent, and had been always
declared to be so ; all the necessity of them arose only from the authority in church and
state that had enacted them. Therefore it was an unreasonable stiffness to deny any abate-
ment, or yielding in such matters, in order to the healing the wounds of our church. Great
alterations had been made in such things in all the ages of the church. Even the church of
Rome was still making some alterations in her rituals. And changes had been made among
ourselves, often since the reformation, in king Edward's, queen Elizabeth's, king James's,
and king Charles the Second's reigns. These were always made upon some great turn :
critical times being the most proper for designs of that kind. The toleration now granted
seemed to render it more necessary than formerly to make the terms of communion with the
church as large as might be, that so we might draw over to us the greater number from
those who might now leave us more safely ; and therefore we were to use the more care in
order to gaining of them. And, as for the manner of preparing these overtures, the king's
supremacy signified little if he could not appoint a select number to consider of such
matters as he might think fit to lay before the convocation. This did no way break in
upon their full freedom of debate ; it being free to them to reject, as well as to accept of,
the propositions that should be offered to them. But while men were arguing this matter
on both sides, the party that was now at work for king James took hold of this occasion to
inflame men's minds. It was said the church was to be pulled down, and presbytery was
to be set up : that all this now in debate was only intended to divide and distract the
church, and to render it by that means both weaker and more ridiculous, while it went off
from its former grounds in offering such concessions. The universities took fire upon this,
and began to declare against it, and against all that promoted it, as men that intended to
undermine the church. Severe reflections were cast on the king, as being in an interest
contrary to the church ; for the church was as the word, given out by the Jacobite party,
under which they thought they might more safely shelter themselves. Great canvassings
were every where in the elections of convocation men ; a thing not known in former times ;
so that it was soon very visible that we were not in a temper cool or calm enough to
encourage the further prosecuting such a design.
When the convocation was opened, the king sent them a message by the earl of Notting-
ham, assuring them of his constant favour and protection, and desiring them to consider
such things, as by his order should be laid before them, with due care and an impartial zeal
for the peace and good of the church. But the lower house of convocation expressed a reso-
lution not to enter into any debates with relation to alterations; so that they would take
no notice of the second part of the king's message ; and it was not without difficulty carried
to make a decent address to the king, thanking him for his promise of protection. But
544 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
because in the draught which the bishops sent them they acknowledged the protection that
the protestant religion in general, and the church of England in particular, had received from
him, the lower house thought that this imported their owning some common union with the
foreign protestants ; so they would not agree to it. There was at this time but a small
number of bishops in the upper house of convocation, and they had not their metropolitan
with them ; so they had not strength nor authority to set things forward. Therefore they
advised the king to suffer the session to be discontinued. And thus, seeing they were in
no disposition to enter upon business, they were kept from doing mischief by prorogations
for a course of ten years. This was in reality a favour to them ; for, ever since the year
1662, the convocation had indeed continued to sit, but to do no business ; so that they were
kept at no small charge in town to do nothing, but only to meet and read a Latin litany.
It was therefore an ease to be freed from such an attendance to no purpose. The ill recep-
tion that the clergy gave the king's message raised a great and just outcry against them ;
since all the promises made in king James's time were now so entirely forgotten.
But there was a very happy direction of the providence of God observed in this matter.
The Jacobite clergy, who were then under suspension, were designing to make a schism in
the church, whensoever they should be turned out and their places should be filled up by
others. They saw it would not be easy to make a separation upon a private and personal
account, they therefore wished to be furnished with more specious pretences ; and, if we
had made alterations in the Rubric and other parts of the Common Prayer, they would have
pretended that they still stuck to the ancient church of England, in opposition to those who
were altering it and setting up new models ; and, as I do firmly believe that there is a wise
providence that watches upon human affairs and directs them, chiefly those that relate to
religion ; so I have with great pleasure observed this in many instances relating to the revo-
lution. And upon this occasion I could not but see that the Jacobites among us, who wished
and hoped that we should have made those alterations which they reckoned would have been
of great advantage for serving their ends, were the instruments of raising such a clamour
against them, as prevented their being made. For by all the judgments we could afterwards
make, if we had carried a majority in the convocation for alterations, they would have done
us more hurt than good.
I now turn to a more important, as well as a more troublesome, scene. In winter a
session of parliament met full of jealousy and ill humour. The ill conduct of affairs was
imputed chiefly to the lord Halifax ; so the first attack was made on him. The duke of
Bolton made a motion in the house of lords for a committee to examine who had the chief
hand in the severities and executions in the end of king Charleses reign, and in the quo
warrantos, and the delivering up the charters ; the enquiry lasted some weeks, and gave
occasion to much heat ; but nothing appeared that could be proved, upon which votes or
addresses could have been grounded ; yet the lord Halifax having during that time concurred
with the ministry in council, he saw it was necessary for him to withdraw now from the
ministers, and quit the court. And soon after he reconciled himself to the Tories and became
wholly theirs ; he opposed every thing that looked favourably towards the government, and
did upon all occasions serve the Jacobites, and protect the whole party. But the Whigs
began to lose much of the king's good opinion by the heat that they showed in both houses
against their enemies, and by the coldness that appeared in every thing that related to the
public, as well as to the king in his own particular. He expressed an earnest desire to have
the revenue of the crown settled on him for life. He said he was not a king till that was
done, without that the title of a king was only a pageant. And he spoke of this with more
than ordinary vehemence ; so that sometimes he said he would not stay and hold an empty
name, unless that was done ; he said once to myself he understood the good of a common-
wealth, as well as of a kingly government : and it was not easy to determine which was
best ; but he was sure the worst of all governments was that of a king without treasure
and without power. But a jealousy was now infused into many, that he would grow arbi-
trary in his government, if he once had the revenue ; and would strain for a high stretch
of prerogative as soon as he was out of difficulties and necessities. Those of the Whigs who ,
had lived some years at Amsterdam, had got together a great many stories, that went about <
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 545
the City, of his sullenness and imperious way of dictating ; the Scotch, who were now come
up to give an account of the proceedings in parliament, set about many things that
heightened their apprehensions. One Simpson, a Scotch presbyterian, was recommended
to the earl of Portland as a man whom he might trust, who would bring him good intelli-
gence ; so he was often admitted, and was entertained as a good spy ; but he was in a secret
confidence with one Nevill Payne, the most active and dexterous of all king James's agents,
who had indeed lost the reputation of an honest man entirely, and yet had such arts of
management that even those who knew what he was were willing to employ him. Simpson
and he were in a close league together, and he discovered so much of their most secret
intelligence to Simpson, that he might carry it to the earl of Portland, as made him pass
for the best spy the court had. When he had gained great credit, he made use of it to
infuse into the earl of Portland jealousies of the king's best friends ; arid as the earl of Port-
land hearkened too attentively to these, so by other hands it was conveyed to some of
them, that the court was now become jealous of them, and was seeking evidence against
them.
Sir James Montgomery was easily possessed with these reports, and he and some others,
by Payne's management, fell a treating with king James's party in England ; they demanded
an assurance for the settlement of presbytery in Scotland, and to have the chief posts of the
government shared among them. Princes in exile are apt to grant every thing that is asked
of them : for they know that if they are restored they will have everything in their power ;
upon this they entered into a close treaty for the way of bringing all this about. At first
they only asked money for furnishing themselves with arms and ammunition ; but after-
wards they insisted on demanding three thousand men to be sent over from Dunkirk ;
because, by duke Schomberg's being posted in Ulster, their communication with Ireland
was cut off. In order to the carrying on this design, they reconciled themselves to the duke
of Queensbury, and the other lords of the episcopal party ; and on both sides it was given
out that this union of those who were formerly such violent enemies, was only to secure and
strengthen their interest in parliament, the episcopal party pretending, that since the king
was not able to protect them, they, who saw themselves marked out for destruction, were to
be excused for joining with those who could secure them. Simpson brought an account of
all this to the earl of Portland, and was pressed by him to find out witnesses to prove it
against Montgomery : he carried this to them, and told them that the whole business was
discovered, and that great rewards were offered to such as would merit them by swearing
against them. With this they alarmed many of their party, who did not know what was
at bottom, and thought that nothing was designed but an opposition to lord Melvill and
lord Stair ; and they were possessed with a fear that a new bloody scene of sham plots and
suborned witnesses was to be opened. And when it began to be whispered about that they
were in treaty with king James, that appeared to be so little credible, that it began to be
said by some discontented men, what could be expected from a government that was so soon
contriving the ruin of its best friends ? Some feared that the king himself might too easily
receive such reports ; and that the common practices of ministers, who study to make their
masters believe that all their own enemies are likewise his, were likely to prevail in this
reign as much as they had formerly done. Montgomery came to have great credit with
some of the whigs in England, particularly with the earl of Monmouth and the duke of
Bolton ; and he employed it all to persuade them not to trust the king, and to animate them
against the earl of Portland ; this wrought so much, that many were disposed to think they
could have good terms from king James ; and that he was now so convinced of former errors,
I that they might safely trust him. The earl of Monmouth let this out to myself twice, but
i n a strain that looked like one who was afraid of it, and who endeavoured to prevent it ;
! 'nit he set forth the reasons for it with great advantage, and those against it very faintly.
Matters were trusted to Montgomery and Payne ; and Ferguson was taken into it, as a
j 'nan that naturally loved to embroil things. So a design was managed, first to alienate tho
i (>ity of London so entirely from the king, that no loans might be advanced on the money
j bills ; which, without credit upon them, could not answer the end for which they were
| given. It was set about that king James would give a full indemnity for all that was
N N
54<> THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
past ; and that, for the future, he would separate himself entirely from the French interest,
and be contented with a secret connivance at those of his own religion. It was said he waa
weary of the insolence of the French court, and saw his error in trusting to it so much as he
had done. This corrupted party had gone so far, that they seemed to fancy that the
restoring him would be not only safe but happy to the nation. I confess it was long before
I could let myself think that the matter was gone so far ; but I was at last convinced of it.
I received a letter from an unknown hand, with a direction how to answer it : the sub-
stance of it was, that he could discover a plot deeply laid against the king, if he might be
assured not to be made a witness, and to have his friends, who were in it, pardoned. By
the king's order, I promised the first; but an indefinite promise of pardon was too much to
ask ; he might, as to that, trust to the king's mercy. Upon this he came to me, and I
found he was Montgomery's brother. He told me a treaty was settled with king James,
articles were agreed on, and an invitation was subscribed, by the whole cabal, to king
James, to come over, which was to be sent to the court of France ; both because the com-
munication was easier and less watched when it went through Flanders than with Ireland,
and to let the court see how strong a party he had, and by that means to obtain the supplies
and force that was desired. He said he saw the writing and some hands to it ; but he knew
many more were to sign it ; and he undertook to put me in a method to seize on the original
paper. The king could not easily believe the matter had gone so far ; yet he ordered the
earl of Shrewsbury to receive such advices as I should bring him, and immediately to do
what was proper; so, a few days after this, Montgomery told me one "Williamson was that
day gone to Dover with the original invitation ; I found the earl of Shrewsbury inclined
enough to suspect Williamson. He had for some days solicited a pass for Flanders, and had
got some persons, of whom it was not proper to show a suspicion, to answer for him. So
one was sent post after him, with orders to seize him in his bed, and to take his clothes and
portmanteau from him, which were strictly examined ; but nothing was found. Yet upon
the news of this the party was grievously affrighted, but soon recovered themselves ; the
true secret of which was afterwards discovered. Simpson was, it seems, to go over with
Williamson ; but first to ride to some houses that were in the way to Dover ; whereas the
other went directly in the stage-coach. It was thought safest for Simpson to carry these
papers ; for there were many different invitations, as they would not trust their hands to
one common paper. Simpson came to the house at Dover, where Williamson was in the
messenger's hands ; thereupon he went away immediately to Deal, and hired a boat, and
got safe to France with his letters. Montgomery finding that nothing was discovered by
the way which he had directed me to, upon that fancied he would be despised by us, and
perhaps suspected by his own side, and went over soon after and turned papist : but I know
not what became of him afterwards. The fear of this discovery soon went off; Simpson
came back with large assurances ; and 12,000/. were sent to the Scotch, who undertook to do
great matters. All pretended discoveries were laughed at, and looked on as the fictions of
the court ; and upon this the city of London was generally possessed with a very ill opinion
of the king. The house of commons granted the supplies that were demanded for the reduc-
tion of Ireland, and for the quota to which the king was obliged by his alliances ; and they
continued the gift of the revenue for another year. But one great error was committed by
the court in accepting remote funds ; whereby the interest of the money then advanced on
a fund, payable at the distance of some years, did not only eat up a great deal of the sum,
but seemed so doubtful, that great premiums were to be offered to those who advanced
money upon a security, which was thought very contingent ; since few believed that tne
government would last so long. So here was a shew of great supplies, which yet brought
not in the half of what they were estimated a>.
The tories seeing the whigs grow sullen, and that they would make no advances of money,
began to treat with the court, and promised great advances, if the parliament might be
dissolved and a new one be summoned. Those propositions carne to lie known ; so the
house of commons prepared a bill, by which they hoped to have made sure of all future
parliaments : in it they declared that corporations could not be forfeited, nor their charters
surrendered ; arid they enacted, that all mayors and recorders who had been concerned in
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. *N7
ic private delivering up of charters, without the consent of the whole body, and who had
done that in a clandestine manner before the judgment that was given against the charter
of London, should be turned out of all corporations, and he incapable of bearing office in
them for six years. This was opposed in the house of commons by the whole strength of
the tory party ; for they saw the carrying it was the total ruin of their interest through the
whole kingdom. They said a great deal against the declaratory part ; but whatsoever might
be in that, they said, since the thing had been so universal, it seemed hard to punish it with
such severity ; it was said that, by this means, the party for the church would be disgraced,
and that the corporations would be cast into the hands of dissenters. And now both parties
made their court to the king : the whigs promised every thing that he desired, if he would
help them to get this bill passed ; and the tories were not wanting in their promises, if the
bill should be stopped and the parliament dissolved. The bill was carried in the house of
commons by a great majority ; when it was brought up to the lords, the first point in debate
was upon the declaratory part, whether a corporation could be forfeited or surrendered ?
Holt and two other judges were for the affirmative, but all the rest were for the negative.
No precedents for the affirmative were brought higher than the reign of king Henry the
Eighth, in which the abbeys were surrendered; which was at that time so great a point of // &Q
state, that the authority of these precedents seemed not clear enough for regular times. The '
house was so equally divided, that it went for the bill only by one voice ; after which, little
doubt was made of the passing the act. But now the appplicatioris of the tories were much
quickened ; they made the king all possible promises : and the promoters of the bill saw
themselves exposed to the corporations, which were to feel the effects of this bill so sensibly,
that they made as great promises on their part. The matter was now at a critical issue :
the passing the bill put the king and the nation in the hands of the whigs; as the rejecting
it, and dissolving the parliament upon it, was such a trusting to the tories, and such a
breaking with the whigs, that the king was long in suspense what to do.
He was once very near a desperate resolution : he thought he could not trust the tories,
and he resolved he would not trust the whigs ; so he fancied the tories would be true to the
queen, and confide in her, though they would not in him. He therefore resolved to go over
to Holland, and leave the government in the queen's hands ; so he called the marquis of
Carmarthen, with the earl of Shrewsbury and some few more, and told them he had a
convoy ready, and was resolved to leave all in the queen's hands; since he did not see how
he could extricate himself out of the difficulties into which the animosities of parties had
brought him : they pressed him vehemently to lay aside all such desperate resolutions, and
to comply with the present necessity. Much passion appeared among them : the debate was
so warm, that many tears were shed ; in conclusion, the king resolved to change his first
design into another better resolution of going over in person to put an end to the war in
Ireland. This was told me some time after by the earl of Shrewsbury ; but the queen knew
nothing of it till she had it from me : so reserved was the king to her, even in a matter that
concerned her so nearly. The king's design of going to Ireland came to be seen by the pre-
parations that were ordered ; but a great party was formed in both houses to oppose it.
Some did really apprehend the air of Ireland would be fatal to so weak a constitution ; and
the Jacobites had no mind that king James should be so much pressed as he would probably
•>e if the king went against him in person. It was by concert proposed in both houses on
the same day to prepare an address to the king against this voyage ; so the king, to prevent
that, came the next day and prorogued the parliament ; and that was soon after followed
by a dissolution. ,
This session had not raised all the money that was demanded for the following campaign,
I '•o it was necessary to issue out writs immediately for a new parliament. There was a great
struggle all England over in elections ; but the corporation bill did so highly provoke all
those whom it was to have disgraced, that the tories were by far the greater number in the
i e\v parliament. One thing was a part of the bargain that the tories had made, that the
lieutenancy of London should be changed ; for, upon the king's coming to the crown, he had
Liven a commission, out of which they were all excluded; which was such a mortification
tu them, that they said they could not live in the City with credit., unless some of them were
NN 2
518 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
again brought into that commission. The king recommended it to the bishop of London, to
prepare a list of those who were known to be churchmen, but of the more moderate, and of
such as were liable to no just exception ; that so the two parties in the city might be kept
in a balance. The bishop brought a list of the most violent tories in the City, who had been
engaged in some of the worst things that passed in the end of king Charles's reign. A com-
mittee of council was appointed to examine the list ; but it was so named that they approved
of it. This was done to the great grief of the whigs, who said that the king was now
putting himself in his enemies' hands ; and that the arms of the City were now put under a
set of officers, who, if there was a possibility of doing it without hazard, would certainly
use them for king James. This matter was managed by the marquis of Carmarthen and
the earl of Nottingham ; but opposed by the earl of Shrewsbury, who was much troubled
at the ill conduct of the whigs, but much more at this great change in the king's government.
The elections of parliament went generally for men who would probably have declared for
king James, if they could have known how to manage matters for him. The king made a
change in the ministry to give them some satisfaction ; the earls of Monmouth and War-
rington were both dismissed ; other lesser changes were made in inferior places ; so that
whig and tory were now pretty equally mixed ; and both studied to court the king, by
making advances upon the money bills.
The first great debate arose in the house of lords, upon a bill that was brought in acknow-
ledging the king and queen to be their rightful and lawful sovereigns, and declaring all the
acts of the last parliament to be good and valid. The first part passed with little contra-
diction, though some excepted to the words rightful and lawful as not at all necessary. But
the second article bore a long and warm debate. The tories offered to enact that these
should be all good laws for the time to come, but opposed the doing it in the declaratory
way. They said it was one of the fundamentals of our constitution that no assembly should
be called a parliament, unless it was called and choseri upon the king's writ. On the other
hand, it was said, that whatsoever tended to the calling the authority of that parliament in
question, tended likewise to the weakening of the present government, and brought the
king's title into question. A real necessity upon such extraordinary occasions must supersede
forms of law : otherwise the present government was under the same nullity. Forms were
only rules for peaceable times ; but, in such a juncture, when all that had a right to come,
either in person, or by their representatives, were summoned and freely elected ; and when,
by the king's consent, the convention was turned to a parliament, the essentials, both with
relation to king and people, were still maintained in the constitution of that parliament.
After a long debate, the act passed in the house of lords, with this temper, declaring and
enacting that the acts of that parliament were, and are, good and valid ; many lords pro-
testing against it : at the head of whom was the earl of Nottingham, notwithstanding his
great office at court. It was expected that great and long debates should have been made
in the house of commons upon this act. But, to the wonder of all people, it passed in two
days in that house, without any debate or opposition. The truth was, the tories had resolved
to commit the bill ; and, in order to that, some trifling exceptions were made to some words
that might want correction ; for bills are not committed unless some amendments are offered ;
and, when it was committed, it was then resolved to oppose it, But one of them discovered
this too early, for he questioned the legality of the convention, since it was not summoned
by writ. Somers, then solicitor general, answered this with great spirit : he said, if that
was not a legal parliament, they who were then met, and had taken the oaths enacted by
that parliament, were guilty of high treason : the laws repealed by it were still in force, so
they must presently return to king James : all the money levied, collected, and paid, by
virtue of the acts of that parliament, made every one that was concerned in it highly
criminal. This he spoke with much zeal, and such an ascendant of authority, that none
was prepared to answer it ; so the bill passed without any more opposition. This was a
great service^ done in a very critical time, and contributed not a little to raise Somers s
character.
The speaker of the house of commons, sir John Trevor, was a bold and dexterous mtai,
and knew the most effectual ways of recommending himself to every government. He had
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 549
been in great favour in king James's time, and was made master of the rolls by him ; and,
if lord Jefferies had stuck at anything, he was looked on as the man likeliest to have had
the great seal. He now got himself to be chosen speaker, and was made first commissioner
of the great seal. Being a tory in principle, he undertook to manage that party, provided
he was furnished with such sums of money as might purchase some votes ; and by him
began the practice of buying off men, in which hitherto the king had kept to stricter rules *.
I took the liberty once to complain to the king of this method. He said, he hated it as
much as any man could do ; but he saw it was not possible, considering the corruption of
the age, to avoid it, unless he would endanger the whole.
The house of commons gave the king the customs for five years, which they said made it
a surer fund for borrowing money upon, than if they had given it for life : the one was sub-
ject to accidents, but the other was more certain. They also continued the other branches
of the revenue for the same number of years. It was much pressed to have it settled for
life ; but it was taken up as a general maxim, that a revenue for a certain and short term
was the best security that the nation could have for frequent parliaments. The king did
not like this. He said to myself, why should they entertain a jealousy of him, who came
to save their religion and liberties, when they trusted king James so much, wrho intended
to destroy both ? I answered, they were not jealous of him, but of those who might succeed
him ; and if he would accept of the gift for a term of years, and settle the precedent, he
would be reckoned the deliverer of succeeding ages, as well as of the present ; and it was
certain that king James would never have run into those counsels that ruined him, if he had
obtained the revenue only for a short term ; wrhich probably would have been done, if
Argyle's and Monmouth's invasions had not so overawed the house, that it would then have
looked like being in a conspiracy with them to have opposed the king's demand. I saw
the king was not pleased, though he was persuaded to accept of the grant thus made him.
The commons granted a poll bill, with some other supplies, which they thought would
answer all the occasions of that year ; but as what they gave did not quite come up to what
was demanded, so when the supply was raised, it came far short of what they estimated
it at. So that there were great deficiencies to be taken care of in every session of parlia-
ment, which ran up every year, and made a great noise, as if the nation was through mis-
management running into a great arrear. An act passed in this session, putting the admi-
nistration in the queen, during the king's absence out of the kingdom, but with this proviso,
that the orders which the king sent should always take place. In all this debate the queen
seemed to take no notice of the matter, nor of those who had appeared for it, or against it.
* Sir John Trevor was a native of Denbighshire. His of the house over which he presided, he actually had to
mother was aunt to lord chancellor Jeffreys ; and he is put the question against himself, and had to announce the
suspected to have been more intimate with his cousin's gratifying vote that " Sir John Trevor was guilty of cor-
wife than either her husband or morality approved. Like rupt bribery." He never sat again as speaker ; yet he
Jeffreys, his career commenced humbly ; he was clerk to was never impeached, which enabled some wit to observe
a relative, a lawyer in the Temple, and became an adept of him, as he squinted miserably, that "Justice was blind,
in " the knavish part of the law," which rendered him btu Bribery only squints." Tillotson and he were not
of singular service to the gamesters whose society he fre- friends ; meeting that prelate near the house of lords, ho
(juented. The two cousins appear to have been equally audibly muttered, " I hate a fanatic in lawn sleeves." " I
able, and equally corrupt. Trevor was knighted by hate a knave in any sleeves," retorted the bishop. Trevor
Charles the Second in 1671 ; was made solicitor- was notoriously penurious, of which the following is an
general and master of the rolls on the death of instance. One day, when taking his wine, the footman
sir John Churchill ; and a pnvy councillor in 1688. ushered a relative into the room. "You rascal," said
Jeffreys, at length, appears to have become jealous of Trevor to the servant, "how dare you bring my cousin
Trevor's distinction ; but the latter not only baffled his Roderic Lloyd, esq., prothonotary of North Wales,
efforts to humble him, but would probably have sup- marshal to baron Price, and so forth, and so forth, up my
planted the chancellor, if James had not abdicated the back stairs? Take my cousin, Roderic Lloyd, esq.,
throne. Even then Trevor remained in favour; the prothonotary of North Wales, marshal to baron Price,
mastership of the rolls was indeed taken from him for a and so forth, and so forth — take him instantly back down
short time, but he was continued speaker of the house of my back stairs, and bring him up my front stairs"
commons; and presided as chief commissioner of the great Remonstrance was vain ; but, whilst the grande entrze
*cal until Somers was elevated to the chancellorship, was being effected, Trevor removed the wine and glasses.
The most painful disgrace that ever fell upon him was for He died at his house in Clement's Lane, during the year
Accepting 1000/. from the city of London, to patronise 1717 York's Royal Tribes of Wales ; North's Life of
'• bill to satisfy the orphanage debts. After sitting for six L. K. Guildford ; Woolrych's Life of Jeffreys.
Hours, and listening to the vituperation of the membeis
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The house of commons, to the great grief of the whigs, made an address to the king, thanking
him for the alterations he had made in the lieutenancy of London.
But the greatest debate in this session was concerning an abjuration of king James : some of
tlie tories were at first for it, as were all the whigs ; the clergy were excepted out of it, to
soften the opposition that might be made. But still the main body of the tories declared
they would never take any such oath ; so they opposed every step that was made in it, with
a great copiousness of long and vehement arguing. They insisted much on this, that when
the government ~~?-s settled, oaths were made to be the ties of the subject to it, and that all
new impositions wer a breach made on that which might be called the original contract of
the present settlement : things of that kind ought to be fixed and certain, and not mutable
and endless : by the same reason that the abjuration was now proposed, another oath might
be prepared every year ; and every party that prevailed in parliament would bring in some
discriminating oath, or test, such as could only be taken by those of their own side : and
thus the largeness and equality of government would be lost and contracted into a faction.
On the other side, it was said, that this was only intended to be a security to the govern-
ment during the war ; for in such a time it saemed necessary, that all who were employed
by the government should give it all possible security : it was apparent that the compre-
hensive words in the oaths of allegiance had given occasion to much equivocation ; many
who had taken them having declared, which some had done in print, that they considered
themselves as bound by the oaths, only while the king continued in peaceable possession,
but not to assist or support his title if it was attacked or shaken : it was therefore necessary
that men in public trusts should be brought under stricter ties. The abjuration was debated
in both houses at the same time. I concurred with those that were for it. The whigs
pressed the king to set it forward : they said, every one who took it would look on himself
as im pardonable, and so would serve him with the more zeal and fidelity ; whereas those
that thought the right to the crown was still in king James, might perhaps serve faithfully
us long as the government stood firm ; but as they kept still measures with the other side,
to whom they knew they would be always welcome, so they would never act with that life
and zeal which the present state of affairs required. At the same time, the tories were as
earnest in pressing the king to stop the further progress of those debates: much time was
already lost in them ; and it was evident that much more must be lost, if it was intended to
carry it on ; since so many branches of this bill, and incidents that arose upon the subject of
it, would give occasion to much heat and wrangling : and it was a doubt, whether it would
be carried, after all the time that must be bestowed on it, or not : those who opposed it
would grow sullen, and oppose every thing else that was moved for the king's service : and,
if it should be carried, it would put the king again into the hands of the whigs, who would
immediately return to their old practices against the prerogative ; and it would drive many
into king James's party, who might otherwise stick firm to the king, or at least be neutrals.
These reasons prevailed with the king to order an intimation to be given in the house of
commons, that he desired they would let that debate fall, and go to other matters that were
more pressing.
This gave a new disgust to the whigs, but was very acceptable to the tories ; and it
quickened the advances of money upon the funds that were given : it had indeed a very ill
effect abroad : for both friends and enemies looked on it as a sign of a great decline in the
king's interest with his people : and the king's interposing to stop further debates in the
matter, was represented as an artifice only to save the affront of its being rejected. The
earl of Shrewsbury was at the head of those who pressed the abjuration most ; so, upon this
change of counsels, he thought he could not serve the king longer with reputation or suc-
cess. He saw the whigs, by using the king ill, were driving him into the tories ; and he
thought these would serve the king with more zeal, if he left his post. The credit that the
marquis of Carmarthen had gained was not easy to him ; so he resolved to deliver up the
seals. I was the first person to whom he discovered this ; and he had them in his hands
when he told me of it ; yet I prevailed with him not to go that night : he was in some heat.
I had no mind that the king should be surprised by a thing of that kind ; and I was afraid
thai the earl of Shrewsbury might have said such things to him, as should have provoked
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 551
him too much : so I sent the king word of it. It troubled him more than I thought a thing
of that sort could have done : he loved the carl of Shrewsbury, and apprehended that his
leaving his service at this time might alienate the whigs more entirely from him : for now
they who thought him before of too cold a temper, when they saw how firm he was, came
to consider and trust him more than ever. The king sent Tillotson, and all those who had
most credit with the earl, to divert him from his resolution ; but all was to no purpose.
The agitation of mind that this gave him threw him into a fever, which almost cost him his
life. The king pressed him to keep the seals till his return from Ireland, though he should
not act as secretary; but he could not be prevailed on*. The debate for the abjuration
lasted longer in the house of lords : it had some variation from that which was proposed in
the house of commons ; and was properly an oath of a special fidelity to the king, in opposi-
tion to king James : the tories offered, in bar to this, a negative engagement against assisting
king James, or any of his instruments, knowing them to be such, with severe penalties on
such as should refuse it. In opposition to this, it was said, this was only an expedient to
secure all king James's party, whatever should happen ; since it left them the entire merit
of being still in his interests, and only restrained them from putting any thing to hazard for
him. The house was so near an equality in every division, that what was gained in one
day was lost in the next : and by the heat and length of those debates, the session continued
till June. A bill projected by the tories passed, relating to the city of London, which was
intended to change the hands that then governed it : but through the haste or weakness of
those who drew it, the court of aldermen was not comprehended in it : so, by this act, the
government of the city was fixed in their hands : and they were generally whigs. Many
discoveries were made of the practices from St. Germain's and Ireland ; but few were taken
up upon them : and those were too inconsiderable to know more than that many were pro-
vided with arms and ammunition, and that a method was projected for bringing men
together upon a call. And indeed things seemed to be in a very ill disposition towards a
fatal turn.
The king was making all possible haste to open the campaign, as soon as things could be
ready for it, in Ireland. The day before he set out he called me into his closet. He seemed
to have a great weight upon his spirits, from the state of his affairs, which was then very
cloudy. He said, for his own part, he trusted in God, and would either go through with
his business, or perish in it : he only pitied the poor queen, repeating that twice with great
tenderness, and wished that those who loved him would wait much on her, and assist her :
he lamented much the factions and the heats that were among us, and that the bishops and
clergy, instead of allaying them, did rather foment and inflame them : but he was pleased
to make an exception of myself : he said, the going to a campaign was naturally no unplea-
sant thing to him : he was sure he understood that better than how to govern England : he
added, that though he had no doubt nor mistrust of the cause he went on, yet the going
against king James, in person, was hard upon him, since it would be a vast trouble, both to
himself and to the queen, if he should be either killed or taken prisoner : he desired my
prayers, and dismissed me, very deeply affected with all he had said.
I had a particular occasion to know how tender he was of king James's person, having
learned an instance of it from the first hand : a proposition was made to the king, that a
third-rate ship, well manned by a faithful crew, and commanded by one who had been well
with king James, but was such a one as the king might trust, should sail to Dublin, and
declare for king James. The person who told me this, offered to be the man that should
carry the message to king James (for he was well known to him), to invite him to come on
board ; which he seemed to be sure he would accept of ; and, when he was aboard, they
should sail away with him, and land him either in Spain or Italy, as the king should desire ;
and should have twenty thousand pounds to give him, when he should be set ashore. The
I king thought it was a well formed design, and likely enough to succeed, but would not
hearken to it. He said he would have no hand in treachery : and king James would cer-
* It would seem that the reason of the earl of Shrews- him retain office, he scut the seals to the king by the
: i'un's resignation was the disapproval of the bill for hands of lord Portland, June 3, 1690.— Cox's Shrews.
ibjuring the Stuarts. No persuasions availing to make bury CVrresDondcnce.
552 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
tainly carry some of his guards and of his court aboard with him : and probably they would
make some opposition : and in the struggle some accident might happen to king Jameses
person ; in which he would have no hand. I acquainted the queen with this : and I saw
in her a great tenderness for her father's person : and she was much touched with the answer
the king had made.
He had a quick passage to Ireland, where matters had been kept in the state they were
in all this winter : Charlemont was reduced, which was the only place in Ulster that was
then left in king James's hands. The king had a great army ; there were about thirty-six
thousand men, all in good plight, full of heart and zeal. He lost no time, but advanced in
six days from Belfast, where he landed, to the river of Boyne, near Drogheda. King James
had abandoned the passes between Newry and Dundalk, which are so strait for some miles,
that it had been easy to have disputed every inch of ground. King James and his court
were so much lifted up with the news of the debates in parliament, and of the distractions of
the city of London, that they flattered themselves with false hopes that the king durst not
leave England, nor venture over to Ireland. He had been six days come before king James
knew anything of it. Upon that, he immediately passed the Boyne, and lay on the south
side of it. His army consisted of twenty-six thousand men ; his horse were good ; and he
had five thousand French foot, for whom he had sent over in exchange five thousand Irish
foot. He held some councils of war to consider what was fit to be done ; whether he should
make a stand there, and put all to the decision of a battle ; or, if he should march off and
abandon that river, arid, by consequence, all the country on to Dublin.
All his officers, both French and Irish, who disagreed almost in all their advices, yet
agreed in this, that though they had there a very advantageous post to maintain, yet their
army being so much inferior, both in number and in every thing else, they would put too
much to hazard, if they should venture on a battle. They therefore proposed the strength-
ening their garrisons, and marching off to the Shannon with the horse and a small body of
foot, till they should see how matters went at sea ; for the French king had sent them
assurances that he would not only set out a great fleet, but that as soon as the squadron that
lay in the Irish seas, to guard the transport fleet and to secure the king's passage over,
should sail into the channel to join our grand fleet, he would then send into the Irish seas a
fleet of small frigates and privateers, to destroy the king's transports. This would have been
fatal, if it had taken effect : and the executing of it seemed easy and certain. It would
have shut up the king within Ireland, till a new transport fleet could have been brought
thither, which would have been the work of some months : so that England might have
been lost before he could have passed the seas with his army. And the destruction of his
transports must have ruined his army ; for his stores, both of bread and ammunition, were
still on board ; and they sailed along the coast as he advanced on his march ; nor was there
in all that coast a safe port to cover and secure them. The king indeed reckoned that by
the time the squadron, which lay in the Irish seas, should be able to join the rest of the fleet,
they would have advanced as far as the chops of the channel, where they would guard both
England and Ireland : but things went far otherwise.
The queen was now in the administration. It was a new scene to her : she had for above
sixteen months made so little figure in business, that those, who imagined that every woman
of sense loved to be meddling, concluded that she had a small proportion of it, because she
lived so abstracted from all affairs. Her behaviour was indeed very exemplary : she was
exactly regular both in her public and private devotions : she was much in her closet, and
read a great deal : she was often busy at wTork, and seemed to employ her time and thoughts
in any thing, rather than matters of state : her conversation was lively and obliging : every
thing in her was easy and natural : she wTas singular in great charities to the poor ; of whom,
as there are always great numbers about courts, so the crowds of persons of quality that had
fled over from Ireland drew from her liberal supplies : all this was nothing to the public.
If the king talked with her of affairs, it was in so private a way, that few seemed to believe
it. The earl of Shrewsbury told me that the king had upon many occasions said to liim.
that though he could not hit on the right way of pleasing England, he was confident she
would; and that we should all be very happy under her. The king named a cabiudU
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 5/55
council of eight persons, on whose advice she was chiefly to rely : four of them were tories
and four were whigs ; yet the marquis of Caermarthen and the earl of Nottingham, being of
the first sort, who took most upon them and seemed to have the greatest credit, the whigs
were not satisfied with the nomination. The queen balanced all things with an extraordi-
nary temper ; and became universally beloved and admired by all about her.
Our concerns at sea were then the chief thing to be looked to : an unhappy compliment of
sending a fleet to convoy a queen to Spain proved almost fatal to us. They were so long
delayed by contrary winds, that a design of blocking up Toulon was lost by it. The great
ships that lay there had got out before our fleet could reach the place. Our squadron
returned back, and went into Plymouth to refit there ; and it was joined by that which
came from the Irish seas. These two squadrons consisted of above thirty ships of the line.
The earl of Torrington, that had the chief command, was a man of pleasure, and did not
make the haste that was necessary to go about and join them ; nor did the Dutch fleet come
over so soon as was promised ; so that our main fleet lay long at Spithead. The French
understood that our fleets lay thus divided, and saw the advantage of getting between them :
so they came into the channel with so fair a wind, that they were near the Isle of Wio-ht
before our fleet had any advice of their being within the channel. The earl of Torrington
had no advice- boats out to bring him news ; and though notice thereof was sent post over-land
as soon as the French came within the channel, yet their fleet sailed as fast as the post could
ride ; but then the wind turned upon them, otherwise they would in all probability have
surprised us. But after this first advantage, the winds were always contrary to them and
favourable to us. So that the French officers in Ireland had reason to look for that fleet of
smaller vessels, which was promised to be sent to destroy the king's transport ships. And
for these reasons all king James's officers were against bringing the war to so speedy a
decision.
In opposition to all their opinions, king James himself was positive that they must stay
and defend the Boyne : if they marched off and abandoned Dublin, they would so lose their
reputation, that the people would leave them and capitulate ; it would also dispirit all their
friends in England : therefore he resolved to maintain the post he was in, and seemed not a
little pleased to think that he should have one fair battle for his crown. He spoke of this
with so much seeming pleasure, that many about him apprehended that he wTas weary of
the struggle, and even of life, and longed to see an end of it at any rate : and they were
ufraid that he would play the hero a little too much. He had all the advantages he could
'lesire: the river was deep, and rose very high with the tide: there was a morass to be
passed after the passing the river, and then a rising ground.
On the last of June, the king came to the banks of the river ; and as he was riding along,
and making a long stop in one place to observe the grounds, the enemy did not lose their
(Opportunity, but brought down two pieces of cannon, and, with the first firing, a ball passed
ii'long the king's shoulder, tore off some of his clothes and about a hand-breadth of the skin,
< ut of which about a spoonful of blood came; and that was all the harm it did him. It
•cannot be imagined how much terror this struck into all that were about him ; he himself
k'tid it was nothing ; yet he was prevailed on to alight till it was washed and a plaister put
upon it; and immediately he mounted his horse again, and rode about all the posts of his
In my. It was indeed necessary to show himself every wrhere, to take off the apprehensions
'with which such an unusual accident filled his soldiers. He continued that day nineteen
ours on horseback ; but, upon his first alighting from his horse, a deserter had gone over
> the enemy with the news, which was carried quickly into France, where it was taken for
ranted that he could not outlive such a wound ; so it ran over that kingdom that he was
1 «id. And upon it there weje more public rejoicings than had been usual upon their
loatest victories ; which gave that court afterwards a vast confusion, when they knew that
(1 was still alive ; and saw that they had raised in their own people a high opinion of him
I'V this inhuman joy, when they believed him dead.
But to return to the action of the Boyne. The king sent a great body of cavalry to pass
3 river higher, while he resolved to pass it in the face of the enemy ; and the duke of
654 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Scliomberg was to pass it in a third place, a little below him. I will not enter into the
particulars of that day's action, but leave that to military men*.
It was a complete victory ; and those who were the least disposed to flattery, said, it was
almost wholly due to the king's courage and conduct ; and, though he was a little stiff by
reason of his wound, yet he was forced to quit his horse in the morass, and to go through it
on foot : but he came up in time to ride almost into every body of his army : he charged in
many different places, and nothing stood before him. The Irish horse made some resistance,
but the foot threw down their arris, and ran away. The most amazing circumstance was,
that king James stayed all the while with his guards, at a safe distance, and never came
into the places of danger or of action ; and, wrhen he saw his army was every where giving
ground, was the first that ran for it, and reached Dublin before the action was quite over ;
for it was dark before the king forsook the pursuit of the Irish. His horse and dragoons
were so weary, with the fatigue of a long action in a hot day, that they could not pursue
far ; nor was their camp furnished with necessary refreshments till next morning ; for the
king had marched faster than the waggons could possibly follow. The army of the Irish
were so entirely forsaken by their officers, that the king thought they would have dispersed
themselves, and submitted ; and that the following them would have been a mere butchery,
which was a thing he had always abhorred. The only allay to this victory was the loss of
the duke of Scliomberg ; he passed the river in his station, and was driving the Irish before
him, when a party of desperate men set upon him, as he was riding very carelessly, with a
small number about him. They charged, and in the disorder of that action he was shot ;
but it could not be known by whom ; for most of all the party was cut off. Thus that great
man, like another Epaminondas, fell on the day in which his side triumphed f-
King James came to Dublin, under a very indecent consternation : he said all was lost ;
he had an army in England that could have fought, but would not ; and now he had an
army that would have fought, but could not. This was not very gratefully, nor decently
spoken by him, who was among the first that fled. Next morning he left Dublin : he said,
too much blood had been already shed ; it seemed God was with their enemies ; the prince
of Orange was a merciful man ; so he ordered those he left behind him to set the prisoners
at liberty, and to submit to the prince : he rode that day from Dublin to Duncannou Fort ;
but, though the place was considerably strong, he would not trust to that, but lay aboard a
French ship that anchored there, and had been provided, by his own special directions to
sir Patrick Trant. His courage sunk with his affairs to a degree that amazed those who
had known the former parts of his life. The Irish army was forsaken by their officers for ;
two days ; if there had been a hot pursuit, it would have put an end to the war of Ireland ; j
but the king thought his first care ought to be to secure Dublin ; and king James's officers, j
as they abandoned it, went back to the army, only in hopes of a good capitulation. Dublin j
was thus forsaken, and no harm done, which was much apprehended ; but the fear the Irish j
were in was such, that they durst not venture on any thing which must have drawn !
severe revenges after it. So the protestants there, being now the masters, they declared
for the king. Drogheda did also capitulate.
But, to balance this great success, the king had, the very day after the battle at the Boyne,
the news of a battle fought in Flanders, between prince Walcleck and the marshal Luxem-
bourg, in which the former was defeated. The cavalry did at the first charge run, but the
foot made an amazing stand. The French had the honour of a victory, and took many
prisoners, with the artillery ; yet the stand the infantry made was such, that they lost more
than they got by the day ; nor were they able to draw any advantage from it. This was the
battle of Fleurus, that, in the consequence of it, proved the means of preserving England.
* The battle of the Boyne was fought on the 1st of William the Second. Becoming unpopular with the Dutch, j
July. on the death of this prince, he entered into the service of
f- Frederic Schomherg, duke of Scliomberg, marquis of Lewis tho Fourteenth, in whose army he served with
Harwich, earl of Brentford, &o., was born in 1<>'08. His entire devotion. At this period he is first mentioned in thi
father was count Schomberg ; his mother a daughter of work, and the most prominent features of his life havej
lord Dudley. A German and a calvinist, he sought em- been noticed. — Birch's Lives,
ployment as a military adventurer in Holland, under
OF KING WILLIAM Ar^D QUEEN MARY. 555
On the day before the battle of the Boyne, the two fleets came to a great engagement at
sea. The squadron that lay at Plymouth could not come up to join the great fleet, the wind
being contrary ; so it was under debate, what was fittest to be done : the earl of Torrington
thought he was not strong enough, and advised his coming in, till some more ships, that
were fitting out, should be ready ; some began to call his courage in question, and imputed
this to fear ; they thought this would too much exalt our enemies, and discourage our allies,
if we left the French to triumph at sea, and to be the masters of our coast and trade ; for our
merchants' richest ships were coming home ; so that the leaving them in such a superiority
would be both very unbecoming, and very mischievous to us. The queen ordered Russel to
advise, both with the navy board, and with all that understood sea affairs ; and, upon a view
of the strength of both fleets, they were of opinion, that though the French were superior
in number, yet our fleet was so equal in strength to them, that it was reasonable to send
orders to our admiral to venture on an engagement ; yet the orders were not so positive, but
that a great deal was left to a council of war. The two fleets engaged near Beach y, in Sussex ;
the Dutch led the van ; and, to shew their courage, they advanced too far out of the liner
and fought, in the beginning, with some advantage, the French flying before them ; and
, our blue squadron engaged bravely ; but the earl of Torrington kept in his line, and con-
I tinued to fight at a distance : the French, seeing the Dutch came out so far before the line,
fell on them furiously, both in front and flank, which the earl of Torrington neglected for
some time ; and, when he endeavoured to come a little nearer, the calm was such, that he
could not come up. The Dutch suffered much, and their whole fleet had perished, if their
admiral, Calembourg, had not ordered them to drop their anchors, while their sails were all
up : this was not observed by the French ; so they were carried by the tide, while the
others lay still ; and thus in a few minutes the Dutch were out of danger. They lost many
men, and sunk some of their ships, which had suffered the most, that they might not fall into
the enemy's hands. It was now necessary to order the fleet to come in with all possible
haste : both the Dutch and the blue squadron complained much of the earl of Torrington ;
and it was a general opinion that if the whole fleet had come up to a close fight, we must
have beat the French : and, considering how far they were from Brest, and that our squadron
at Plymouth lay between them and home, a victory might have had great consequences.
Our fleet was now in a bad condition, and broken into factions ; and if the French had not
lost the night's tide, but had followed us close, they might have destroyed many of our ships.
Both the admirals were almost equally blamed ; ours for not fighting, and the French for
not pursuing his victory.
Our fleet came in safe ; and all possible diligence was used in refitting it ; the earl of Tor-
rington was sent to the Tower, and three of our best sea officers had the joint command of
the fleet ; but it was a month before they could set out ; and, in all that time, the French
were masters of the sea, and our coasts were open to them. If they had followed the first.
( onsternation, and had fallen to the burning our sea towns, they might have done us much
mischief, and put our affairs in great disorder; for we had not above seven thousand men
then in England. The militia was raised, and suspected persons were put in prison ; in this
lelancholy conjuncture, though the harvest drew on, so that it was not convenient for people
to be long absent from their labour, yet the nation expressed more zeal and affection to the
government than was expected. And the Jacobites, all England over, kept out of the way,
md were afraid of being fallen upon by the rabble. "We had no great losses at sea ; for
nost of our merchantmen came safe into Plymouth ; the French stood over, for some time,
) their own coast ; and we had many false alarms of their shipping troops, in order to a
icscent. But they had suffered so much in the battle at Fleurus, and the Dutch used such
liligence in putting their army in a condition to take the field again, and the elector of
1 !raiidcnburgh, bringing his troops to act in conjunction with theirs, gave the French so much
vork, that they were forced, for all their victory, to lie upon the defensive, and were not able
(> spare so many men as were necessary for an invasion. The Dutch did indeed send posi-
ve orders to prince Waldeck, not to hazard another engagement till the fleet should be
.;ain at sea: this restrained the elector, who, in conjunction with the Dutch, was much
iperior to Luxembourg; and afterwards, when the Dutch superseded those orders, the
556 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
elector did not think fit to hazard his army. Such is the fate of confederate armies, when
they are under a different direction ; that, when the one is willing, or at least seems to be so,
the other stands off. The French riding so long, so quietly in our seas, was far from what
might have been expected, after such an advantage : we understood afterwards, that they
were still waiting, when the Jacobites should, according to their promises, have begun a
rising in England ; but they excused their failing in that, because their leaders were generally
clapped up.
That party began to boast, all England over, that it was visible that the French meant no
harm to the nation, but only to bring back king James ; since now, though our coasts lay
open to them, they did us no harm. And this might have made some impression, if the
French had not effectually refuted it. Their fleet lay for some days in Torbay ; their
equipages were weakened ; and by a vessel that carried a packet from Tourville to the court
of France, which was taken, it appeared that they were then in so bad a condition, that if
our fleet (which upon this was hastened out all that was possible) could have overtaken
them, we should have got a great victory very cheap. But before they sailed, they made a
descent on a miserable village, called Teignmouth, that happened to belong to a papist :
they burnt it, and a few fisher-boats that belonged to it ; but the inhabitants got away ;
and, as a body of militia was marching thither, the French made great haste back to their
ships. The French published this in their gazettes, with much pomp, as if it had been a
great trading town, that had many ships, with some men of war in port. This both ren-
dered them ridiculous, and served to raise the hatred of the nation against them ; for every
town on the coast saw what they must expect if the French should prevail.
In all this time of fear and disorder, the queen shewed an extraordinary firmness ; for
though she was full of dismal thoughts, yet she put on her ordinary cheerfulness when she
appeared in public, and shewed no indecent concern ; I saw her all that while once a week,
for I stayed that summer at Windsor : her behaviour was, in all respects, heroical ; she
apprehended the greatness of our danger ; but she committed herself to God, and was
resolved to expose herself, if occasion should require it : for she told me, she would give me j
leave to wait on her if she was forced to make a campaign in England, while the kin^ was I
in Ireland.
Whilst the misfortunes in Flanders, and at sea, were putting us in no small agitation, the i
news first of the king's preservation from the cannon ball, and then of the victory, gained
the day after, put another face on our affairs : the earl of Nottingham told me, that when
he carried the news to the queen, and acquainted her in a few words that the king was well, 1
that he had gained an entire victory, and that the late king had escaped ; he observed her j
looks, and found that the last article made her joy complete, which seemed in some suspense, |
till she understood that. The queen and council upon this sent to the king, pressing him [
to come over with all possible haste ; since, as England was of more importance, so the I
state of affairs required his presence here : for it was hoped the reduction of Ireland would !
be now easily brought about. The king, as he received the news of the battle of Fleurus, !
the day after the victory at the Boyne ; so on the day in which he entered Dublin, he had
the news of the misfortune at sea, to temper the joy, that his own successes might give him :
he had taken all the earl of Tyrconners papers in the camp ; and he found all king James's
papers left behind him in Dublin ; by these he understood the design the French had of
burning his transport fleet, which was therefore first to be taken care of; and since the
French were now masters at sea, he saw nothing that could hinder the execution of that
design.
Among the earl of TyrconnelV papers there was one letter written to queen Mary at
St. Germain's, the night before the battle ; but it was not sent. In it, he said, he looked on
all as lost, and ended it thus : " I have now no hope in any thing but in Jones's business."1
The marquis, of Caermarthen told ine that some weeks before the king went to Ireland, he;
had received an advertisement, that one named Jones, an Irishman, who had served so long(
in Franco and Holland, that he spoke both languages well, was to be sent over to nnmlri'
the king. And sir Robert Southwell told me, that he, as secretary of state for Ireland, ha
looked into all Tyrconnel's papers, and the copies of the letters he wrote to queen Man
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 557
which he had still in his possession ; and he gave me the copies of two of them. In one of
these he writes, that Jones was come ; that his proposition was more probable, and likelier
to succeed than any yet made : his demands were high, but he added, " if any thing can
he high for such a service." In another he writes, that Jones had been with the king, who
did not like the thing at first ; but he added, we have now to satisfy him both in con-
science and honour, that every thing is done that Jones desires. Southwell further told me,
that Deagle, the attorney- general, had furnished him with money, and a poniard of a par-
ticular composition ; and that they sought long for a bible, bound without a common prayer
book, which he was to carry in his pocket, that so he might pass, if seized on, for a dissenter.
Some persons of great quality waited on him to the boat that was to carry him over ; he
was for some time delayed in Dublin ; and the king had passed over to Ireland before he
could reach him : we could never hear of him more ; so it is likely he went away with his
money. A paper was drawn of all this matter, and designed to be published ; but, upon
second thoughts, the king and queen had that tenderness for king James, that they stopped
the publishing to the world so shameful a practice. The king said, upon this, to myself,
that God had preserved him out of many dangers, and he trusted he would still preserve
him ; he was sure he was not capable of retaliating in that way. The escape of a cannon-
ball, that touched him, was so signal, that it swallowed up lesser ones : yet, in the battle
at the Boyne, a musket- ball struck the heel of his boot, and recoiling, killed a horse near
him ; and one of his own men, mistaking him for an enemy, came up to shoot him ; but he
gently put by his pistol, and only said, " Do not you know your friends ?"
At Dublin he published a proclamation of grace, offering to all the inferior sort of the
Irish, their lives and personal estates, reserving the consideration of the real estates of the
better sort to a parliament, and indemnifying them only for their lives ; it was hoped that
the fulness of the pardon of the commons might have separated them from the gentry ; and
that by this means, they would be so forsaken, that they would accept of such terms as
should be offered them. The king had intended to have made the pardon more comprehen-
-ive ; hoping, by that, to bring the war soon to an end : but the English in Ireland opposed
this. They thought the present opportunity was not to be let go, of breaking the great
Irish families, upon whom the inferior sort would always depend. And, in compliance with
them, the indemnity, now offered, was so limited, that it had no effect; for the priests, who
ogverned the Irish with a very blind and absolute authority, prevailed with them to try
• heir fortunes still. The news of the victory the French had at sea was so magnified among
: 'hem, that they made the people believe that they would make such a descent upon England,
is must oblige the king to abandon Ireland. The king was pressed to pursue the Irish,
vho had retired to Athlone and Limerick, and were now joined by their officers, and so
Brought again into some order : but the main concern was, to put the transport fleet in a
-afe station. And that could not be had till the king was master of Waterford and
Dnncannon Fort, which commanded the entrance into the river; both these places capitu-
i ited, and the transports were brought thither. But they were not now so much in danger,
•is the king had reason to apprehend; for king James, when he sailed away from Dun-
annon, was forced by contrary winds to go into the road of Kinsale, where he found some
I 'reach frigates that were already come to burn our fleet : he told them it was now too late,
11 was lost in Ireland. So he carried them back to convoy him over to France, where he
ud but a cold reception ; for the miscarriage of affairs in Ireland was imputed both to his
I1 'I conduct and his want of courage. He fell under much contempt of the people of France ;
uly that king continued still to behave himself decently towards him.
The king sent his army towards the Shannon ; and he himself came to Dublin, intending,
'' he was advised, to go over to England; but he found there letters of another strain :
1 lings were in so good a posture, and so quiet in England, that they were no more in any
ipprehension of a descent; so the king went back to his army, and marched towards
niifrick. Upon this Lauzun, who commanded the French, left the town, and sent his
i-'iuipage to France, which perished in the Shannon. It was hoped that Limerick, seeing
itself thus abandoned, would have followed the example of other towns, and have capitu-
ted. Upon that confidence the king marched towards it, though his army was now much
553 THE HISTORY OF THE HE1GN
diminished : he had left many garrisons in several places, and had sent some of his host
bodies over to England; so that he had not now above 20,000 men together. Limerick
lies on both sides of the Shannon, and on an island, that the river makes there : the Irish
were yet in great numbers in Connaught ; so that, unless they had been shut up on that
side, it was easy to send in a constant supply both of men and provisions : nor did it seem
advisable to undertake the siege of a place so situated with so small an army, especially in
that season, in which it used to rain long ; and by that means, both the Shannon would
swell, and the ground, which was the best soil of Ireland, would be apt to become deep,
and scarce practicable for carriages. Yet the cowardice of the Irish, the consternation they
were in, and their being abandoned by the French, made the king resolve to sit down
before it. Their out-works might have been defended for some time ; but they abandoned
these in so much disorder, that it was from hence believed they would not hold out long.
They also abandoned the posts which they had on the other side of the Shannon : upon
which the king passed the river, which was then very low, and viewed those posts;
but he had not men to maintain them ; so he continued to press the town on the Mun-
ster side.
He sent for some more ammunition, and some great guns ; they had only a guard of two
troops of horse to convoy them, who despised the Irish so much, and thought they were at
such distance, that they set their horses to grass, and went to bed. Sarsfield, one of the
best officers of the Irish, heard that the king rode about very carelessly, and upon that, had
got a small body of resolute men together, on design to seize his person ; but now, hearing
of this convoy, he resolved to cut it off: the king had advertisement of this brought him in
time, and ordered some more troops to be sent to secure the convoy ; they, either through
treachery or carelessness, did not march till it was night, though their orders were for the
morning ; but they came a few hours too late. Sarsfield surprised the party, destroyed the
ammunition, broke the carriages, and burst one of the guns, and so marched off. Lanier,
whom the king had sent with the party, might have overtaken him ; but the general obser-
vation made of him (and of most of those officers who had served king James, and were
now on the king's side) was, that they had a greater mind to make themselves rich by the
continuance of the war of Ireland, than their master great, and safe, by the speedy con-
clusion of it.
By this the king lost a week, and his ammunition was low ; for a great supply that was j
put on ship-board in the river of Thames, before the king left London, still remained there, j
the French being masters of the channel : yet the king pressed the town so hard, that tho
trenches were run up to the counterscarp ; and when they came to lodge there, the Irish j
ran back so fast at a breach that the cannon had made, that a body of the king's men ranj
in after them ; and if they had been seconded, the town had been immediately taken ; but;
none came in time, so they retired : and though the king sent another body, yet they wercj
beaten back with loss. As it now began to rain, the king saw that if he stayed longer!
there, he must leave his great artillery behind him : he went into the trenches every day
and it was thought he exposed himself too much. His tent was pitched within the read
of their cannon ; they shot often over it, and beat down a tent very near it ; so lie wa.>
prevailed on to let it be removed to a greater distance : once, upon receiving a packet fron
England, he sat down in the open field for some hours, reading his letters, while tin
cannon balls were flying round about him. The Irish fired well, and shewed they had soi
courage, when they were behind walls, how little soever they had shewn in the field.
The king lay three weeks before Limerick, but at last the rains forced him to raise the s
they within did not offer to sally out and disorder the retreat : this last action proving
unlucky, had much damped the joy that was raised by the first success of this campaign!
The king expressed a great equality of temper upon the various accidents that happened a
this time. Dr. Hutton, his first physician, who took care to be always near him, told in*
he had observed his behaviour very narrowly upon two very different occasions.
The one was, after the return from the victory at the Boyne, when it was almost mid
night, after he had been seventeen hours in constant fatigue, with all the stiffness that li'i
wound gave him ; he expressed neither joy nor any sort of vanity ; only he looked cheer
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 559
ful ; and when those about him made such compliments, as will be always made to princes,
even though they do not deserve them, he put all that by with such an unaffected neglect,
that it appeared how much soever he might deserve the acknowledgments that were made
him, yet he did not like them. And this was so visible to all about him, that they soon
saw that the way to make their court was, neither to talk of his wound, nor of his behaviour
on that day. As soon as he saw his physician, he ordered him to see that care should be
taken of the wounded men, and he named the prisoners, as well as his own soldiers. And
though he had great reason to be offended with Hamilton, who had been employed to
treat with the earl of Tyrconnel, and was taken prisoner in his sight, and was preserved by
his order ; yet since he saw he was wounded, he gave particular directions to look after
him. Upon the whole matter the king was as grave and silent as he used to be ; and the
joy of a day, that had been both so happy and so glorious to him, did not seem to alter his
temper or deportment in any way.
He told me he was also near him when it was resolved to raise the siege of Limerick ;
and saw the same calm, without the least depression, disorder, or peevishness : from this
he concluded, that either his mind was so happily balanced, that no accident could put it
out of that situation ; or that, if he had commotions within, he had a very extraordinary
command over his temper, in restraining or concealing them.
While he lay before Limerick, he had news from England that our fleet was now
out, and that the French were gone to Brest : so, since we were masters of the sea, the earl
of Marlborough proposed that five thousand men who had lain idle all this summer in
England, should be sent to Ireland ; and with the assistance of such men as the king should
order to join them, they should try to take Cork and Kinsale. The king approved of this
ind ordered the earl to come over with them : and he left orders for about five thousand
more, who were to join him. And so he broke up this campaign and came over to Bristol,
;ind from thence to London. The contrary winds stopped the earl of Marlborough so, that
it was October before he got to Ireland*. He soon took Cork by storm; and four
thousand men, that lay there in garrison, were made prisoners of war. In this action the
hike of Grafton received a shot, of which he died in a few days : he was the more lamented,
ts being the person of all king Charles's children, of whom there was the greatest hope : he
^vas brave, and probably would have become a great man at sea f . From Cork, the earl of
Marlborough marched to Kinsale, where he found the two forts that commanded the port
?o be so much stronger than the plans had represented them to be, that he told me, if he had
,no\vn their true strength, he had never undertaken the expedition in a season so far
clvanced ; yet in a few days the place capitulated. The Irish drew their forces together,
ut durst not venture on raising the siege ; but to divert it, they set the country about,
• hidi was the best built of any in Ireland, all in a flame.
Thus those two important places were reduced in a very bad season, and with very little
>ss ; which cut off the quick communication between France and Ireland. Count Lauzuii,
ith the French troops, lay all this while about Galway, without attempting any thing ;
e sent over to France an account of the desperate state of their affairs, and desired ships
light be sent for the transport of their forces : that was done ; yet the ships came not till
he siege of Limerick was raised : probably, if the court of France had known how much
lie state of affairs was altered, they would have sent contrary orders; but Lauzun was
* The best biography of this great general is by arch- the duke of Grafton performed this unpopular act. lie
"aeon Coxe, entitled " Memoirs of John, duke of Mart- subsequently served James the Second in various capa-
• rough, with his original Correspondence." It contains cities; but upon the arrival of the Prince of Orange, lie,
iirh valuable information relative to this period. together with lord Churchill (afterwards duke of Mnrl-
t Henry Fitzroy was the illegitimate offspring of Bar- borough), were the first to join him ; yet he voted for tho
i'a Viliicis, duchess of Cleveland, by Charles the Second, appointment of a regent. When the parliament had
lo was born in 1663. In 1673 lie had conferred upon declared William and Mary sovereigns, he adhered to
'ii the dukedom of Grafton. He saw a good deal of them, and bore the globe during the coronation ceremony,
val service under sir Charles Bury, vice-admiral of The duke received his death-wound on the 28lh of Seu-
iglaud ; and acted gallantly against the duke of Mon- tcmber, 1690, whilst leading on the grenadiers to tho
>utli. In 1687, the duke of Somerset having, as was breach in the walls of Cork. He is buried at Huston, in
* >ticed in a previous page, declined introducing the pope's Suffolk.— Graingcr's Biog. Hist.
' uicio, the archbishop of Amasia, ut his public audience,
500 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
weary of the service, and was glad to get out of it ; so he sailed away, without staying for
new orders, by which he lost the little reputation that he was beginning to recover at the
court of France. The earl of Tyrconnel went over with him, and gave fuh assurances, that
though the Irish were likely to suffer great hardships next winter, yet they would stand it
out, if they were still supported from France. It had appeared, upon many occasions, that
the French and the Irish soldiers did not agree well together ; therefore he proposed, that
no more soldiers, but only a number of good officers, together with arms, ammunition, and
clothes, might be sent over to them. In the mean while, the Irish formed themselves into
many bodies, which, by a new name, were called rapparees*. These, knowing all the
ways, and the bogs, and other places of retreat in Ireland, and being favoured by the
Irish, that had submitted to the king, robbed and burned houses in many places of the
country ; while the king's army studied their own ease in their quarters more than the
protection of the inhabitants : many of them were suspected of robbing in their turn,
though the rapparees carried the blame of all : between them, the poor inhabitants had a
sad time, and their stock of cattle and corn was almost quite destroyed in many places.
From the affairs of Ireland, I turn next to give an account of what passed in Scotland ;
matters went very happily, as to the military part : when the remnants of the earl of
Dundee's army (to whom many officers, together with ammunition and money, had been
sent from Ireland) began to move towards the low country, to receive those who were
resolved to join with them, and were between two and three thousand strong; they were
fallen upon, and entirely defeated by a Dutch officer, Levingston, that commanded the
forces in Scotland ; about an hundred officers were taken prisoners ; this broke all the
measures that had been taken for king James's interests in Scotland. Upon this, those
who had engaged in Montgomery's plot, looked upon that design as desperate ; yet they
resolved to try what strength they could make in parliament.
Lord Melvill carried down powers, first to offer to duke Hamilton, if he would join in
common measures heartily with him, to be commissioner in parliament, or if he proved
intractable, as indeed he did, to serve in that post himself. He had full instructions for
the settlement of presbytery : for he assured the king, that without that, it would he
impossible to carry any thing ; only the king would not consent to the taking away the
rights of patronage, and the supremacy of the crown ; yet he found these so much insisted
on, that he sent one to the king to Ireland for fuller instructions in those points ; they were
enlarged, but in such general words, that the king did not understand that his instructions
could warrant what lord Melvill did ; for he gave them both up. And the king was so
offended with him for it, that he lost all the credit he had with him ; though the king did I
not think fit to disown him, or to call him to an account, for going beyond his instructions.
The Jacobites persuaded all their party to go to the parliament, and to take the oaths ; !
for many of the nobility stood off, and would not own the king, nor swear to him : great '
pains were taken by Paterson, one of their archbishops, to persuade them to take the oaths,
but on design to break them ; for he thought, by that means, they could have a majority
in parliament ; though some of the laity were too honest to agree to such advices ; hut !
with all these wicked arts they were not able to carry a majority. So, other things failing,
they saw a necessity of desiring a force to be sent over from France ; this appeared so
odious, and so destructive to their country, that some of them refused to concur in it ; j
others were not pleased with the answers king James had sent to the propositions they had
made him. He had indeed granted all that they had asked, upon their own particular
interests, and had promised to settle presbytery ; but he rejected all those demands that
imported a diminution of his prerogative, in as firm a manner as if he had been already
set on the throne again : they proposed, finding his answer so little to their satisfaction, toi
send him a second message.
Upon this the earls of Argyle, Annandale, and Breadalbane, withdrew from theiiu
Annandale came up to the Bath, pretending his ill health : both lord Argyle and Breadai-
bane went to Chester, pretending, as they said afterwards, that they intended to discover
* The marauding rebels were so called, because generally armed with a short pike, which in Irish is calico
" a rupery." — Todd's Johnson's Diet.
OF KING \VILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 561
the whole matter to the king ; but he had passed over to Ireland before they got to
Chester. Montgomery upon this looked on the design as broken; and so he went and
reconciled himself to Melvill, and discovered the whole negotiation to him. Upon which,
the earl of Melvill pressed the king to grant a general indemnity, and gave Montgomery
a pass to go to London ; and he wrote to the queen in his favour. But the king was
resolved to know the bottom of the plot, and particularly how far any of the English
were engaged in it : so Montgomery absconded for some time in London, since he saw no
hopes of pardon, but upon a full discovery. A warrant was sent to the Bath for the earl of
Annandale, of which he had notice given him, and went up privately to London. Mont-
gomery sent Ferguson to him, assuring him that he had discovered nothing, and desiring
him to continue firm and secret : but when he had certain notice that Montgomery had
discovered all the negotiation among the Scotch, he cast himself on the queen's mercy,
asking no other conditions, but that he might not be made an evidence against others. He
himself had not treated with any in England, so as to them he was only a second-hand
witness ; only he informed against Nevil Payne, who had been sent down to Scotland, to
manage matters among them : he was taken there, but would confess nothing. Upon the
earl of Annandale's information, which he gave upon oath, the earl of Nottingham wrote
to the council of Scotland, that he had in his hands a deposition upon oath, containing
matter of high treason against Payne; upon which it was pretended, that, according to
the law of Scotland, he might be put to the torture ; and that was executed with rigour.
He resisted a double question, yet was still kept a prisoner ; and this was much cried out
on, as barbarous and illegal. Montgomery lay hid for some months at London ; but when
he saw he could not have his pardon but by making a full discovery, he chose rather to go
beyond sea : so fatally did ambition and discontent hurry a man to ruin, who seemed capable
of greater things. His art in managing such a design, and his firmness in not discovering
is accomplices, raised his character as much as it ruined his fortune. He continued in
erpetual plots after this, to no purpose : he was once taken, but made his escape ; and at
ast, spleen and vexation put an end to a turbulent life.
The lord Melvill had now a clear majority in parliament by the discovery of the plot ;
ome absented themselves ; and others, to redeem themselves, were compliant in all things :
ic main point by which Melvill designed to fix himself, and his party, was, the abolish-
ng of episcopacy, and the setting up of presbytery. The one was soon done by repealing
1 the laws in favour of episcopacy, and declaring it contrary to the genius and constitu-
on of that church and nation ; for the king would not consent to a plain and simple con-
emnation of it. But it was not so easy to settle presbytery. If they had followed the
attern, set them in the year 1638, all the clergy, in a parity, were to assume the govern-
icnt of the church ; but those being episcopal, they did not think it safe to put the power
f the church in such hands ; therefore it was pretended, that such of the presbyterian
linisters as had been turned out in the year 1662, ought to be considered as the only
>und part of the church : and of these there happened to be then threescore alive ; so the
overnment of the church was lodged with them ; and they were empowered to take to
eir assistance, and to a share in the church government, such as they should think
i : some furious men who had gone into very frantic principles, and all those who
ad been secretly ordained in the presbyterian way, were presently taken in ; this was likely
prove a fatal error at their first setting out : the old men among them, what by reason
f their age, or their experience of former mistakes, were disposed to more moderate counsels ;
ut the taking in such a number of violent men, put it out of their power to pursue
> em ; so these broke out into a most extravagant way of proceeding against such of the
iscopal party as had escaped the rage of the former year. Accusations were raised
ainst them ; some were charged for their doctrine, as guilty of Arminianism ; others
re loaded with more scandalous imputations ; but these were only thrown out to defame
ni. And where they looked for proof, it was in a way more becoming inquisitors than
Iges ; so apt are all parties, in their turns of power, to fall into those very excesses, of
lich they did formerly make such tragical complaints. All other matters were carried, in
parliament of Scotland, as the lord Melvill and the presbyterians desired. In licr, of
o o
562 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the king's supremacy, lie had chimney-money given him ; and a test was imposed on all in
office, or capable of electing, or being elected to serve in parliament, declaring the king and
queen to be their rightful and lawful sovereigns, and renouncing any manner of title pre-
tended to be in king James.
As for affairs abroad, the duke of Savoy came into the alliance ; the French suspected he
was in a secret treaty with the emperor, and so they forced him to declare it, before matters
were ripe for it. They demanded, that he would put Turin and Montmelian in their hands.
This was upon the matter to ask all, and to make him a vassal prince : upon his refusal,
a French army took possession of Savoy ; and marched into Piedmont, before he was ready
to receive them ; for though the imperialists and the Spaniards had made him great
promises, in which they are never wanting, when their affairs require it, yet they failed so
totally in the performance, that if the king and the Dutch, who had promised him nothing,
had not performed every thing effectually, he must have become at once a prey to the
French. The emperor was this year unhappy in Hungary, both by losing Belgrade, and
by some other advantages, which the Turks gained ; yet he was as little inclined to peace,
as he was capable of carrying on the war.
The king at his first coming over from Ireland was so little wearied with that campaign,
that he intended to have gone over to his army in Flanders ; but it was too late ; for they
were going into winter quarters ; so he held the session of parliament early, about the
beginning of October, that so, the funds being settled for the next year, he might have an
interview writh many of the German princes, who intended to meet him at the Hague, that
they might concert measures for the next campaign.
Both houses began with addresses of thanks and congratulation to the king and qnecn,
in which they set forth the sense they had of their pious care of their people, of their
courage and good government, in the highest expressions that could be conceived ; with
promises of standing by them, and assisting them, with every thing that should be found
necessary for the public service : and they were as good as their word ; for the king, having
laid before them the charge of the next year's war, the estimate rising to above four
millions, the vastest sum that ever a king of England had asked of his people, they agreed
to it ; the opposition that was made being very inconsiderable ; and they consented to
the funds proposed, which were thought equal to that which was demanded, though these
proved afterwards to be defective. The administration was so just and gentle, that there
were no grievances to inflame the house, by which the most promising beginnings of some
sessions, in former reigns, had often miscarried.
Some indeed began to complain of a mismanagement of the public money ; but the
ministry put a stop to that, by moving for a bill, empowering such as the parliament should j
name, to examine into all accounts, with all particulars relating to them ; giving them j
authority to bring all persons that they should have occasion for, before them, and to !
tender them an oath, to discover their knowledge of such things as they should ask of them. |
This was like the power of a court of inquisition ; and how unusual soever such a com-
mission was, yet it seemed necessary to grant it, for the bearing down and silencing all j
scandalous reports. When this bill was brought to the lords, it was moved, that since the j
commons had named none but members of their own house, that the lords should add '
«ome of their number : this was done by ballot ; and the earl of Rochester having made
the motion, the greatest number of ballots were for him ; but he refused to submit to
this, with so much firmness, that the other lords, who were named with him, seemed to
think they were in honour boirnd to do the same ; so, since no peer would suffer himself to
be named, the bill passed as it, was sent up. Many complaints were made of the illegal j
comni itments of suspected persons for high treason ; though there was nothing sworn against j
them .• but the danger was so apparent, and the public safety was so much concerned ifl
those imprisonments, that the house of commons made a precedent for securing a ministry1
•that should do the like upon the like necessity, and yet maintained the habeas corpus act ;
they indemnified the ministry for all that had been done contrary to that act.
Great complaints were brought over from Ireland, where the king's army was almost;
as heavy on the country as the Rapparees were : there was a great arrear due to them '
for which r
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 5,33
>r which reason, when the king settled a government in Ireland, of three lords justices, he
did not put the army under their civil authority, but kept them in a military subjection to
their officers ; for, he said, since the army was not regularly paid, it wrould be impossiblt to
keep them from mutiny, if they were put under strict discipline, and punished accordingly.
The under officers, finding that they were only answerable to their superior officers, took
great liberties in their quarters ; and, instead of protecting the country, they oppressed it.
The king had brought over an army of seven thousand Danes, under the command of a very
gallant prince, one of the dukes of Wirtemburg ; but they were cruel friends, and thought
they were masters ; nor were the English troops much better. The Dutch were the least
complained of : Ginkle, who had the chief command, looked strictly to them ; but he did
not think it convenient to put those of other nations under the same severe measures *.
But the pay, due for some months, being now sent over, the orders were changed ; and the
army was made subject to the civil government ; yet it was understood that instructions
were sent to the lords justices to be cautious in the exercise of their authority over them ;
so the country still suffered much by these forces.
The house of commons passed a vote to raise a million of money out of the forfeitures
and confiscations in Ireland ; and in order to that, they passed a bill of attainder of all
those who had been engaged in the rebellion of Ireland, and appropriated the confiscations
to the raising a fund for defraying the expense of the present war ; only they left a power to
the king to grant away a third part of those confiscated estates, to such as had served in the
war ; and to give such articles and capitulations to those who were in arms, as he should
think fit. Upon this bill many petitions were offered, the creditors of some, and the heirs
of others, who had continued faithful to the government, desired provisos for their security.
The commons, seeing that there was no end of petitions, for such provisos, rejected them all ;
imitating in this too much the mock parliament, that king James held in Dublin ; in which
about 3,000 persons were attainted, without proof or process, only because some of them
were gone over to England, and others were absconding, or informed against in Ireland.
But when this bill was brought up to the lords, they thought they were in justice bound
to hear all petitions : upon this, the bill was likely to be clogged with many provisos ; and
the matter must have held long : so the king, to stop this, sent a message to the commons ;
and he spoke to the same purpose, afterwards from the throne, to both houses. He pro-
mised he would give no grants of any confiscated estates, but would keep that matter entire,
to the consideration of another session of parliament ; by which the king intended only to
assure them, that he would give none of those estates to his courtiers or officers ; but he
thought he was still at liberty to pass such acts of grace, or grant such articles to the Irish,
as the state of his affairs should require.
There were no important debates in the house of lords. The earl of Torrington's business
held them long ; the form of his commitment was judged to be illegal ; and the martial
law, to which, by the statute, all who served in the fleet were subject, being lodged in the
lord high admiral, it was doubted whether, the admiralty being now in commission, that
power was lodged with the commissioners. The judges were of opinion that it was ; yet,
since the power of life and death was too sacred a thing to pass only by a construction of
law, it was thought the safest course to pass an act, declaring, that the powers of a lord
high admiral did vest in the commissioners. The secret enemies of the government, who
intended to embroil matters, moved that the earl of Torrington should be impeached in par-
liament ; proceedings in that way being always slow, incidents were also apt to fall in that
might create disputes between the two houses, which did sometimes end in a rupture : but
* This gallant and successful officer is truly designated lantry and conquests in Ireland, the house of commons
by Mr. Noble, "a man of many titles." His names and voted him thanks, and even confirmed the grant of land
honours were Godart de Reede, baron de Reede and Gen- given him by the king. This was the forfeited estate of
l-:el, lord Amorongei1 Middachiez, Liversall, Elst, Stewelt, William Dougan, earl of Liuierick ; hut four years after
llomnen>li, &c., kuight of the royal order of the elephant, the parliament voted this grant of more than 26',000
jviu'ral of the cavalry of the United Provinces, grand acres too extravagant. Disgusted with this treatment, ho
'•oiv.Miandor of the Teutonic order, general of the dukedom left England, entering the service of Holland, where he
'f Guelder, and the county of Zutphen, and baron Agh- again greatly distinguished himself. He died in 1703.—
i :ni, and carl of Athlone, in Ireland. He came into Noble's Continuation of Grainger.
Kngland with William the Third in ICftfl. For his gal-
o o 2
504 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the king was apprehensive of that ; and, though he was much incensed against that lord,
and had reason to believe that a council of war would treat him very favourably, yet he
chose rather to let it go so than to disorder his affairs. The commissioners of the admi-
ralty named a court to try him, who did it with so gross a partiality, that it reflected much
on the justice of the nation : so that, if it had not been for the great interest the king had
in the States, it might have occasioned a breach of the alliance between them and us. He
came off safe as to his person and estate, but much loaded in his reputation ; some charging
him with want of courage, while others imputed his ill conduct to a haughty sullenness of
temper, that made him, since orders were sent him, contrary to the advices he had given, to
resolve indeed to obey them, and fight ; but in such a manner as should cast the blame on
those who had sent him the orders, and give them cause to repent of it.
Another debate was moved in the house of lords (by those who intended to revive the old
impeachment of the marquis of Caermarthen) whether impeachments continued from par-
liament to parliament, or whether they were not extinguished by an act of grace. Some
ancient precedents were brought to favour this, by those who intended to keep them up ;
but in all these, there had been an order of one parliament to continue them on to the next :
so they did not come home to the present case ; and how doubtful soever it was, whether
the king's pardon could be pleaded in bar to an impeachment, yet, since the king had sent
an act of grace, which had passed in the first session of this parliament, it seemed very
unreasonable to offer an impeachment against an act of parliament. All this discovered a
design against that lord, who was believed to have the greatest credit both with the king
and queen, and was again falling under an universal hatre-d. In a house of commons, every
motion against a minister is apt to be well entertained ; some envy him, others are angry
at him ; many hope to share in the spoils of him, or of his friends, that fall with him : and
f a love of change, and a wantonness of mind, makes the attacking a minister a diversion to
the rest. The thing was well laid, and fourteen leading men had undertaken to manage the
matter against him ; in which the earl of Shrewsbury had the chief hand, as he himself told
me ; for he had a very bad opinion of the man, and thought his advices would, in conclusion,
ruin the king and his affairs. But a discovery was at this time made, that was of great
consequence ; and it was managed chiefly by his means, so that put an end to the designs
against him for the present.
The session of parliament was drawing to a conclusion ; and the king was making haste
over to a great congress of many princes, who were coming to meet him at the Hague. The
Jacobites thought this opportunity was not to be lost ; they fancied it would be easy, in the
king's absence, to bring a revolution about ; so they got the lord Preston to come up to
London, and to undertake the journey to France, and to manage this negotiation. They
thought no time was to be lost, and that no great force was to be brought over with king
James; but that a few resolute men, as a guard to his person, would serve the turn, now
that there was so small a force left within the kingdom, and the nation was so incensed at a
burthen of four millions in taxes. By this means, if he surprised us, and managed his
coming over with such secrecy, that he should bring over with himself the first news of it,
they believed this revolution w^ould be more easy, and more sudden than the last. The men
that laid this design were, the earl of Clarendon, the bishop of Ely (Dr. Turner), the lord
Preston, and his brother Mr. Graham, and Penn, the famous quaker. Lord Preston resolved
to go over, and to carry letters from those who had joined with him in the design, to king
James and his queen. The bishop of Ely's letters were written in a very particular style :
he undertook, both for his elder brother and the rest of the family, which was plainly meant
of Saricroft, and the other deprived bishops. In his letter to king Jameses queen, he assured
her of his, and all their zeal for the prince of Wales ; and that they would no more part
with that, than with their hopes of Heaven. Ashton, a servant of that queen's, hired a
vessel to carry them over ; but the owner of the vessel, being a man zealous for the govern-
ment, discovered all he knew ; which was only, that he was to carry some persons over to
France. The notice of this was carried to the marquis of Caermarthen ; and the matter
was so ordered, that lord Preston, Ashton, and a young man (Elliot) were got aboard, and
falling down the river, when the officer sent to take them came, on pretence to search, and
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARir. 6G5
press for seamen ; and drew the three passengers out of the hold, in which they were hid.
Lord Preston left his letters behind him in the hold, together with king James's signet :
Ashton took thorn up, on design to have thrown them into the sea, but they were taken
from him.
Both they and their letters were brought to Whitehall. Lord Preston's mind sunk so
visibly, that it was concluded he would not die, if confessing all he knew could save him.
Ashton was more firm and sullen : Elliot knew nothing. There was among their papers
one that contained the heads of a declaration, with assurances of pardon, and promises to
preserve the protostant religion, and the laws : another paper contained short memorials,
taken by lord Preston, in which many of the nobility were named. The most important of
all was, a relation of a conference between some noblemen and gentlemen, Whigs and
Tories ; by which it appeared, that, upon a conversation on this subject, they all seemed
convinced, that upon this occasion France would not study to conquer, but to oblige
England ; and that king James would be wholly governed by protestants, and follow the
protestant and English interest. The prisoners were quickly brought to their trial ; their
design of going to France, and the treasonable papers found about them, were fully proved ;
some of them were written in lord Preston's, and some in Ashton's hand. They made but
a poor defence ; they said, a similitude of hands was not thought a good proof in Sidney's
case; but this was now only a circumstance : in what hand soever the papers were written,
the crime was always the same, since they were open, not sealed. So they knew the con-
tents of them, and thus were carrying on a negotiation of high treason with the king's
enemies : upon full evidence they were condemned.
Ashton would enter into no treaty with the court ; but prepared himself to die. And he
suffered with great decency and seriousness. He left a paper behind him, in which he
owned his dependence on king James, and his fidelity to him ; he also affirmed, that he was
sure the prince of Wales was born of the queen : he denied that he knew the contents of the
papers that were taken with him. This made some conclude that his paper was penned by
some other person, and too hastily copied over by himself, without making due reflections
on this part of it ; for I compared this paper, which he gave the sheriff, and which was
written in his own hand, with those found about him ; and it was visible, both were written
in the same hand.
Lord Preston went backward and forward ; he had no mind to die, and yet was not willing
to tell all he knew : he acted a weak part in all respects. When he was heated by the
importunities of his friends, who were violently engaged against the government, and after
he had dined well, he resolved he would die heroically ; but by next morning that heat went
off; and when he saw death in full view, his heart failed him. The scheme he carried over
was so foolish, so ill concerted, and so few engaged in it, that those who knew the whole
secret concluded, that if he had got safe to the court of France, the project would have been
so despised, that he must have been suspected, as sent over to draw king James into a snare,
and bring him into the king's hands. The earl of Clarendon was seized, and put in the
Tower ; but the bishop of Ely, Graham, and Penn, absconded. After some months, the
king, in regard to the earl of Clarendon's relation to the queen, would proceed to no extremi-
ties against him, but gave him leave to live, confined to his house in the country *.
The king had suffered the deprived bishops to continue, now above a year, at their sees ;
they all the while neglected the concerns of the church, doing nothing, but living privately
in their palaces. I had, by the queen's order, moved both the earl of Rochester, and sir
John Trevor, who had great credit with them, to try whether, in case an act could be
obtained, to excuse them from taking the oaths, they would go on, and do their functions in
ordinations, institutions, and confirmations ; and assist at the public worship, as formerly :
but they would give no answer; only they said, they would live quietly, that is, keep them-
selves close, till a proper time should encourage them to act more openly. So all the
thoughts of this kind were, upon that, laid aside. One of the most considerable men of the
party, Dr. Sherlock, upon king James's going out of Ireland, thought that this gave the
* These particulars arc completely verified by the " Diaries" of Mr. Evelyn and lord Clarendon.
5GT> THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
present government a thorough settlement ; and in that case, he thought it lawful to take
the oaths ; and upon that, not only took them himself, but publicly justified what he had
done : upon which he was most severely libelled by those from whom he withdrew *. The
discovery of the bishop of Ely's correspondence, and engagement in the name of the rest,
gave the king a great advantage in filling those vacant sees ; which he resolved to do upon
his return from the congress, to which he went over in January.
In his way he ran a very great hazard ; when he got within the Maese, so that it was
thought two hours' rowing would bring him to land, being weary of the sea, he went into
an open boat with some of his lords : but by mists and storms, he was tossed up and down
above sixteen hours, before he got safe to land. Yet neither he, nor any of those who were
with him, were the worse for all this cold and wet weather. And, when the seamen seemed
very apprehensive of their danger, the king said in a very intrepid manner, " What ! are you
afraid to die in my company ?" He soon settled some points at which the States had stuck
long ; and they created the funds for that year. The electors of Bavaria and Brandenburg,
the dukes of Zell and Wolfenbuttel, with the landgrave of Hesse, and a great many other
German princes, came to this interview, and entered into consultations concerning the opera-
tions of the next campaign. The duke of Savoy's affairs were then very low ; but the king
took care of him, and furnished, as well as procured him such supplies, that his affairs had
quickly a more promising face. Things were concerted among the princes themselves, and
were kept so secret, that they did not trust them to their ministers ; at least the king did
not communicate them to the earl of Nottingham, as he protested solemnly to me, when he
came back. The princes shewed to the king all the respects that any of their rank ever
paid to any crowned head t and they lived together in such an easy freedom, that points of
ceremony occasioned no disputes among them ; though those are often, upon less solemn
interviews, the subjects of much quarrelling, and interrupt more important debates.
During this congress, pope Alexander the Eighth, Ottoboni, died. He had succeeded
pope Innocent, and sat in that chair almost a year and a half; he was a Venetian, and
intended to enrich his family as much as he could. The French king renounced his preten-
sions to the franchises ; and he, in return for that, promoted Fourbin and some others,
recommended by that court, to be cardinals ; which was much resented by the emperor.
Yet he would not yield the point of the regale to the court of France ; nor would he grant
the bulls for those whom the king had named to the vacant bishoprics in France who had
signed the formulary, passed in 1682, that declared the pope fallible, and subject to a general
council. When pope Alexander felt himself near death, he passed a bull in due form, by
which he confirmed all pope Innocent's bulls ; and by this he put a new stop to any recon-
ciliation with the court of France. This he did to render his name and family more accept-
able to the Italians, and most particularly to his countrymen, who hated the French as
much as they feared them. Upon his death, the conclave continued shut up for five months,
before they could agree upon an election. The party of the zealots stood long firm to Bar-
barigo, who had the reputation of a saint, and seemed in all things to set cardinal Borromeo
before him as a pattern : they at last were persuaded to consent to the choice of Pignatelli,
a Neapolitan, who, while he was archbishop of Naples, had some disputes with the viceroy,
* Dr. William Sherlock was a native of Southwark, dence," are excellent. He died in 1707. His son,
where he was born about the year 1641. His education afterwards bishop of London, " Sherlock-like," could not
•was conducted at Eton and Peter House, Cambridge, be convinced respecting certain tenets, until decided by
where he took his doctor's degree in 1680. At the revo- the battle of Preston, as that of the Boyne had converted
lutioa he at first refused to take the new oaths of alle- his father.
, and exerted himself to induce others to be equally
s-ss ;r
., , ,. , . .c , Q. n ,, , Which side he would take, till the battle of Preston.
ing the doctor handing his wife along St. Paul s church-
yard, archly observed, " There goes Dr. Sherlock with So said the wits of the day ; and the benchers of the
his reasons for taking the oaths at his finger's ends." He Temple, in commending a loyal sermon of the junior
defended his change of sentiments in a pamphlet entitled Sherlock, preached the Sunday succeeding the battle of
44 The Cure of Resistance to the Supreme Powers." His Preston, said, " it was a pity it had not been delivered
controversial writings are of small estimation ; but some at least the Sunday before." — Noble's Continuation of
practical works, especially his " Discourse on Provi- Grainger ; Gen. Biog. Dictionary.
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 507
concerning the ecclesiastical immunities, which he asserted so highly, that he excommuni-
cated some of the judges, who, as he thought, had invaded them. The Spaniards had seemed
displeased at this ; which recommended him so to the French, that they also concurred to his
elevation. He assumed pope Innocent's name, and seemed resolved to follow his maxims
and steps ; for he did not seek to raise his family, of which the king told me a considerable
instance : one of his nearest kindred was then in the Spanish service, in Flanders, and
hastened to Rome upon his promotion ; he received him kindly enough, but presently dis-
missed him, giving him no other present, if he said true, but some snuff. It is true, the
Spaniards afterwards promoted him ; but the pope took no notice of that.
To return to the Low Countries : the king of France resolved to break off the conferences
at the Hague, by giving the alarm of an early campaign ; Mons was besieged ; and the king
came before it in person. It was thereupon given up, as a lost place ; for the French minis-
ters had laid that down among their chief maxims, that their king was never to undertake
any thing in his own person, but where he was sure of success. The king broke up the con-
gress, and drew a great army very soon together ; and, if the town had held out so long, as
they might well have done, or if the governor of Flanders had performed what he undertook,
of furnishing carriages to the army, the king would either have raised the siege, or forced the
French to a battle. But some priests had been gained by the French, who laboured so
effectually among the townsmen, who were almost as strong as the garrison, that they at
last forced the governor to capitulate. Upon that, both armies went into quarters of refresh-
ment ; and the king came over again to England for a few weeks.
He gave all necessary orders for the campaign in Ireland, in which Ginkle had the chief
command. Russel had the command of the fleet, which was soon ready, and well manned.
The Dutch squadron came over in good time. The proportion of the quota, settled between
England and the States, was, that we were to furnish five, and they three ships of equal
rates and strength.
Affairs in Scotland were now brought to some temper ; many of the lords, who had been
concerned in the late plot, came up, and confessed and discovered all, and took out their
pardon ; they excused themselves, as apprehending that they were exposed to ruin ; and
that they dreaded the tyranny of presbytery, no less than they did popery ; and they pro-
mised that, if the king would so balance matters, that the lord Melvill, and his party, should
not have it in their power to ruin them and their friends, and in particular, that they should
not turn out the ministers of the episcopal persuasion, who were yet in office, nor force pres-
bytcrians on them, they would engage in the king's interests faithfully and with zeal : they
also undertook to quiet the Highlanders, who stood out still, and were robbing the country
in parties ; and they undertook to the king, that, if the episcopal clergy could be assured of
bis protection, they would all acknowledge and serve him. They did not desire that the
king should make any step towards the changing the government, that was settled there ;
they only desired that episcopal ministers might continue to serve in those places that liked
them best ; and that no man should be brought into trouble for his opinion, as to the govern-
ment of the church ; and that such episcopal men as were willing to mix with the presby-
terians in their judicatories, should be admitted, without any severe imposition in point of
opinion.
This looked so fair, and agreed so well with the king's own sense of things, that he very
easily hearkened to it ; and I did believe that it was sincerely meant ; so I promoted it with
great zeal, though we afterwards came to see that all this was an artifice of the Jacobites to
engage the king to disgust the presbyterians ; and by losing them, or at least rendering them
remiss in his service, they reckoned they would be soon masters of that kingdom. For the
party resolved now to come in generally to take the oaths ; but in order to that, they sent
one to king James, to shew the necessity of it, and the service they intended him in it ;
and therefore they asked his leave to take them. That king's answer was more honest ; he
said he could not consent to that which he thought unlawful ; but if any of them took the
oaths on design to serve him, and continued to advance his interests, he promised it should
never be remembered against them. Young Dalrymple was made conjunct secretary of state,
with the lord Melvill ; and he undertook to bring in most of the Jacobites to the king's ser-
668 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
vice ; but they entered, at the same time, into a close correspondence with St. Germains : I
believed nothing of all this at that time, but went in cordially to serve many, who intended
to betray us.
The truth was, the presbyterians, by their violence and other foolish practices, were ren-
dering themselves both odious and contemptible : they had formed a general assembly, in
the end of the former year, in which they did very much expose themselves by the weak-
ness and peevishness of their conduct : little learning or prudence appeared among them ;
poor preaching and wretched haranguing ; partialities to one another, and violence and injus-
tice to those who differed from them, shewed themselves in all their meetings. And these
did so much sink their reputation, that they were weaning the nation most effectually from
all fondness to their government ; but the falsehood of many, who, under a pretence of
moderating matters, were really undermining the king's government, helped in the sequel
to preserve the presbyterians, as much as their own conduct did no\v alienate the king from
them.
The next thing the king did was, to fill the sees vacant by deprivation. He judged right
that it was of great consequence, both to his service and to the interests of religion, to have
Canterbury \vell filled ; for the rest would turn upon that. By the choice he was to make,
all the nation would see, whether he intended to go on with his first design of moderating
matters, and healing our breaches, or if he would go into the passions and humours of a high
party, that seemed to court him as abjectly as they inwardly hated him. Dr. Tillotson had
been now well known to him for two years ; his soft and prudent counsels, and his zeal
for his service, had begotten, both in the king and queen, a high and just opinion of him.
They had both, for above a year, pressed him to come into this post : and he had struggled
against it with great earnestness : as he had no ambition, nor aspiring in his temper, so he
foresaw what a scene of trouble and slander he must enter on, now in the decline of his age.
The prejudices that the Jacobites would possess all people with, for his coming into the
room of one, whom they called a confessor *, and who began now to have the public com-
passion on his side, were well foreseen by him. He also apprehended the continuance of
that heat and aversion, that a violent party had always expressed towards him, though he
had not only avoided to provoke any of them, but had, upon all occasions, done the chief of
them great services, as often as it was in his power. He had large principles, and was free
from superstition ; his zeal had been chiefly against atheism and popery ; but he had never
shewed much sharpness against the dissenters. He had lived in a good correspondence with
many of them ; he had brought several over to the church by the force of reason, and the
softness of persuasion and good usage ; but wras a declared enemy to violence and severities
on those heads. Among other prejudices against him, one related to myself : he and I had
lived, for many years, in a close and strict friendship ; he laid before the king all the ill
effects, that, as he thought, the promoting him would have on his own service ; but all this
had served only to increase the king's esteem of him, and fix him in his purpose.
The bishop of Ely's letters to St. Germains, gave so fair an occasion of filling those sees,
at this time, that the king resolved to lay hold on it ; and Tillotson, with great uneasiness
to himself, submitted to the king's command ; and soon after, the see of York falling void,
Dr. Sharp was promoted to it : so those two sees were filled with the two best preachers
that had sat in them in our time : only Sharp did not know the world so well, and was
not so steady as Tillotson was •[•. Dr. Patrick was advanced to Ely, Dr. Moore was made
* Dr. Bancroft, these interests he obtained, in succession the archdeaconry
•f* Dr. John Sharp was born in 1644, at Bradford, in of Berkshire, a prebend stall of Norwich, the rectory of
Yorkshire. His college education was at Christ's, Cam- St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and the deanery of Norwich. In
bridge. Notwithstanding his talents, it is probable he a former page has been noticed the displeasure he incurred
would not have advanced so rapidly, but from two fortu- during the reign of James the Second. At the revolution
nate connections. He obtained the domestic chaplaincy, he was presented to the deanery of Canterbury, and was
and tutorship of the four sons, of sir Heneage Finch, finally elevated to the see of York, as mentioned in the
eventually lord chancellor; and his father, a dry-salter, ' text above. He died in 1714. Dr. Sharp was devoted
was intimate with Mr. Joshua Tillotson, in the same line to scientific and literary pursuits. At college he was dis-
of business, uncle to the archbishop. This led to an iutro- tinguished for his acquirements in chemistry, botany, &od
duction of the son of the first, to the latter's nephew, and mathematics. During his retirement at Norwich, in James's
they never after ceased to be intimate friends. Through reign, he amused himself with forming a collection of ;
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY.
569
bishop of Norwich, Dr. Cumberland was made bishop of Peterborough, Dr. Fowler was
made bishop of Gloucester, Ironside was promoted to Hereford, Grove to Chichester, and
Hall to Bristol * ; as Hough, the president of Magdalen's, was the year before this, made
bishop of Oxford. So that in two years' time the king had named fifteen bishops ; and they
were generally looked on as the most learned, the wisest, and best men, that were in the
church. It was visible that in all these nominations, and the filling the inferior dignities,
that became void by their promotion, no ambition, nor court favour, had appeared ; men
were not scrambling for preferment, nor using arts, or employing friends to set them forward ;
on the contrary, men were sought for, and brought out of their retirements ; and most of
them very much against their own inclinations : they were men both of moderate principles,
and of calm tempers. This great promotion was such a discovery of the king and queen's
coins, chiefly British. Shakspeare was his favourite au-
thor, and with his writings he was thoroughly acquainted.
He used to recommend young divines to read the scrip-
tures, and then that great dramatist, observing that the
Bible and Shakspeare made him archbishop of York. —
Biog. Britannica. Oxford edition of this work.
* Dr. John Moore was a native of Market Harborough,
Leicestershire. He became a fellow of Clare Hall, Cam-
bridge, was successively rector of various parishes, chaplain
to lord chancellor Nottingham, and to king William and
queen Mary. The bishopric of Norwich was given him,
as stated above ; and, in 1707, he was translated to Ely.
Attending Dr. Bentley's course, he was detained such a
lengthened time in the cold hall of Ely-house, that he
incurred an illness which eventually killed him, in 1714.
Dr. Clai'ke, his domestic chaplain, has given him a very
laudatory character in the preface to his works, which he
collected and published. He was a true bibliomaniac, for
his love of collecting old books was accompanied by one
of its most rabid symptoms, — a proneness to go a step
beyond the sin of coveting. The writer remembers to
have seen a warning given in a letter to a librarian to be
on the look out, " for the bishop of Ely was coming." —
" Cave — adsutn ! " would have been an appropriate motto
for him. George the First bought his library, consisting
of 28,965 printed volumes, and 1790 MSS-, and gave it
to the Cambridge university library. Some disturbances
happening at the same time in Oxford, a troop of horse
was despatched thither by the ministry, which occasioned
'he following excellent epigram, by Dr. Trapp, or Dr.
Warton :
The king observing, with judicious eyes,
The state of both his universities,
To one he sends a regiment; For why ?
That learned body wanted loyalty.
To th' other books he gave, as well discerning
How much that loyal body wanted learning.
To this sir William Browne, the physician, wittily
cplied : —
The king to Oxford sent his troop of horse :
For tories own no argument but force.
With equal care to Cambridge books he sent :
For whigs allow no force, but argument.
I'ientham's Hist, of Ely; Clarke's Preface as quoted;
x oble's Cont. of Grainger.)
Dr. Richard Cumberland, a native of London, and
lucated at St. Paul's school, and Magdalen College, Cam-
ge, was quietly pursuing his antiquarian studies, and
'is duties as a country priest, when he was summoned,
thout any application on his own part, to fill the see of
•((Thorough. Never was there a more laudable, more
'Unified character than his; for Mr. Noble does not exag-
.:> rf.te when, after describing his published works, his exer-
clergyman, and his unostentatious, though muni-
ficent charities, he adds " languages, divinity, history,
physic, mathematics, and indeed every branch of learning
and science were understood by him.. He might, indeed,
be called the patriarch of splendid abilities ; abilities,
guarded by religion and integrity, and adorned with the
choicest flowers of eloquence." He died in 171 8, aged 86 ,
and lies under a tomb he had erected in his own cathedral.
Indefatigable in all his duties and pursuits, even at the last
period of his life, his friends recommended quiet and
relaxation, or that he would wear himself out ; to which
he replied, " I had better wear out, than rust out."
His memoirs are contained in the preface to one of his
works, " Sanchoniatho's Phoenician History," which are
ably epitomised in the " Biographia Britannica."
Dr. Edward Fowler, a native of Westerlcigh, Glouces-
tershire, and educated at Oxford, though he graduated at
Cambridge, was an exemplary, mild-tempered, tolerant
man ; this, which obtained for him a place among those
designated Latitudinarians, and his strenuous opposition to
papacy, obtained for him the above preferment. He died
in 1714, aged eighty- two. — Wood's Athenae Oxon. ; Biog.
Britan.
Dr. Gilbert Ironside was son of the bishop of Bristol,
of the same name. He was born at Winterborne Steple-
don, in Dorsetshire, matriculated, and graduated at Wad-
ham college, Oxford, was nominated bishop of Bristol in
1 689, and accepted this see under a promise that he should
be translated to a better. " Being then about sixty years
of age, he took to him a fair widow to be his wife ;" and
was, on the death of Dr. Herbert Croft, translated to Here-
ford, as mentioned above. He seems to have died in
1712, as Dr. Bisse was translated to the see of Hereford
in that year.— Wood's Athenae Oxon. ; Noble's Cont. of
Grainger, ii. 100.
Of Dr. Robert Grove, little is known to the editor.
He was a fellow of St. John's, Cambridge ; chaplain to
Dr. Henchman ; lecturer and rector of St. Mary Axe.
In 1681, he obtained his doctor's degree. In 1688 was
rector of St. Mary's Undershaft, and present at the sign-
ing the petition to king James by the seven bishops. He
probably died in 1724, as in that year Dr. Waddington
was consecrated bishop of Chichester Wood's Athense
Oxon. ; Clarendon Correspondence : Noble's Cont. of
Grainger.
Dr. John, or Joseph (for authorities differ) Hall was
the son of a vicar of Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire. He
was under the tuition of his uncle, Edmund Hall, at Pem-
broke college, Oxford. Of this college he became the
master in 1664, and retained it forty-five years ; for when
consecrated bishop of Bristol, he was allowed to hold his
mastership and the rectory of St. Aldgates, adjoining his
college, in commendam. He may be said to have spent
his whole time in his college, dying there in 1709, and
though estimable as a scholar and a divine, yet certainly
not sufficiently attentive to his diocese. — Wood's Athena!
Oxon. ; Noble's Cont. of Grainger.
570 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
designs, with relation to the church, that it served much to remove the jealousies that some
other steps the king had made were beginning to raise in the whigs, and very much softened
the ill humour that was spread among them.
As soon as this was over, the king went back to command his army in Flanders.
Both armies were now making haste to take the field. But the French were quicker
than the confederates had yet learned to be. Prince Waldeck had not got above
eighteen thousand men together, when Luxembourg, with an army of forty thousand
men, was marching to have surprised Brussels : «and at the same time Boufflers, with
another army, came up to Liege. Waldeck posted his army so well, that Luxem-
bourg, believing it stronger than indeed it was, did not attempt to break through, in
which it was believed he might have succeeded. The king hastened the rest of the troops
and came himself to the army in good time, not only to cover Brussels, but to send a detach-
ment to the relief of Liege, which had been bombarded for two days. A body of Germans,
as well as that which the king sent to them, came in good time to support those of Liege,
who were beginning to think of capitulating. So Boufflers drew off; and the French kept
themselves so close in their posts all the rest of the campaign, that though the king made
many motions, to try if it was possible to bring them to a battle, yet he could not do it.
Signal preservations of his person did again show that he had a watchful Providence still
guarding him. Once he had stood under a tree for some time, which the enemy observing,
they levelled a cannon so exactly, that the tree was shot down two minutes after the king
was gone from the place. There was one that belonged to the train of artillery who was
corrupted to set fire to the magazine of powder ; and he fired the matches of three bombs:
two of these blew up without doing any mischief, though there were twenty-four more
bombs in the same waggon on which they lay, together with a barrel of powder : the third
bomb was found with the match fired, before it had its effect. If this wicked practice had
succeeded, the confusion that was in all reason to be expected upon such an accident, while
the enemy was not above a league from them, drawn up and looking for the success of it,
must have had terrible effects. It cannot be easily imagined how much mischief might have
followed upon it, in the mere destruction of so many as would have perished immediately,
if the whole magazine had taken fire, as well as in the panic fear with which the rest would
have been struck upon so terrible an accident ; by the surprise of it, the French might have
had an opportunity to have cut off the whole army. This may well be reckoned one of the
miracles of Providence, that so little harm was done, when so much was intended and so near
being done. The twro armies lay along between the Sambre and the Maese ; but no action
followed. When the time came of going into quarters, the king left the armies in prince
Waldeck's hands, who was observed not to march off with that caution that might have been
expected from so old a captain : Luxembourg upon that drew out his horse, with the king's
household, designing to cut off his rear ; and did, upon the first surprise, put them into some
disorder ; but they made so good a stand, that, after a very hot action, the French marched
off, and lost more men on their side than we did. Auverquerque commanded the body that
did this service : and with it the campaign ended in Flanders.
Matters went on at sea with the same caution. Dunkirk was for some time blocked up
by a squadron of ours. The great fleet went to find out the French ; but they had orders
to avoid an engagement : and though for the space of two months Russel did all he could to
come up to them, yet they still kept at a distance, and sailed off in the night : so that
though he was sometimes in view of them, yet he lost it next day. The trading part of
the nation was very apprehensive of the danger the Smyrna fleet might be in, in which the
Dutch and English effects together were valued at four millions ; for though they had a
great convoy, yet the French fleet stood out to intercept them ; but they got safe into |
Kinsalo. The season went over without any action ; and Russel, at the end of it, came i
into Plymouth in a storm : which was much censured, for that road is not safe, and two
considerable ships were lost upon the occasion. Great factions were among the flag officers ; |
and no other service was done by this great equipment, but that our trade was main- '
tained.
But while we had no success, either in Flanders or at sea, we were more happy in Iro-
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 571
land, even beyond expectation. The campaign was opened with the taking of Baltimore,
on which the Irish had wrought much, that Athlone might be covered by it. We took it
in one day, and the garrison had only ammunition for a day more. St. Ruth, one of the
most violent of all the persecutors of the protestants in France, was sent over with two
hundred officers to command the Irish army. This first action reflected much on his con-
duct, who left a thousand men with so slender a provision of ammunition, that they were
all made prisoners of war. From thence Ginkle advanced to Athlone, where St. Ruth was
posted on the other side of the Shannon, with an army in number equal to his : the river
was deep, but fordable in several places : the castle was soon turned to a ruin by the cannon :
but the passing the river in the face of an enemy was no easy thing, the ford being so narrow
that they could not pass above twenty in front : parties were sent out to try other fords,
which probably made the enemy imagine that they never intended to pass the river just
under the town, where the ford was both deep and narrow. Talmash, a general officer,
moved, that two battalions might have guineas apiece to encourage them ; and he offered
to march over at the head of them : which was presently executed by Mack ay with so much
resolution, that many ancient officers said it was the most gallant action they had ever seen.
They passed the river, and went through the breaches into the town, with the loss only of
fifty men, having killed above a thousand of the enemy ; and yet they spared all that asked
quarter. St. Ruth did not upon this occasion act suitably to the reputation he had formerly
acquired ; he retired to Aghrim, where he posted himself to great advantage, and was much
superior to Ginkle in number ; for he had abandoned many small garrisons to increase his
army, which was now twenty-eight thousand strong^; whereas Ginkle had not above twenty
thousand ; so that the attacking him was no advisable thing, if the courage of the English,
and the cowardice of the Irish, had not made a difference so considerable, as neither numbers
nor posts could balance.
St. Ruth had indeed taken the most effectual way possible to infuse courage into the Irish :
he had sent their priests about among them, to animate them by all the methods they could
j think of; and, as the most powerful of all others, they made them swear on the sacrament
(hat they would never forsake their colours. This had a great effect on them ; for as when
Oinkle fell on them they had a great bog before them, and the grounds on both sides were
ery favourable to them : with those advantages they maintained their ground much longer
than they had been accustomed to do. They disputed the matter so obstinately, that for
about two hours the action was very hot, and every battalion and squadron on both sides
had a share in it. But nature will be always too strong for art; the Irish in conclusion
trusted more to their heels than to their hands ; the foot threw down their arms and ran
away. St. Ruth and many more officers were killed, and about eight thousand soldiers
and all their cannon and baggage was taken. So that it was a total defeat ; only the night
avoured a body of horse that got off. From thence Ginkle advanced to Galway, which
apitulated ; so that now Limerick was the only place that stood out. A squadron of ships
sent to shut up the river. In the meanwhile, the lords justices issued out a new pro-
lamation, with an offer of life and estate to such as within a fortnight should come under
he king's protection.
Ginkle pursued his advantages ; and, having reduced all Connaught, he came and sat
lown before Limerick, and bombarded it ; but that had no great effect ; and though most of
he houses were beat down, yet as long as the Connaught side was open, fresh men and pro-
isions were still brought into the place. When the men of war were come up near the
wn, Ginkle sent over a part of his army to the Connaught side, who fell upon some bodies
f the Irish that lay there and broke them, and pursued them so close as they retired to
^merick, that the French governor, D'Usson, fearing that the English would have come in
ith them, drew up the bridge, so that many of them were killed and drowned. This con-
futed very much towards heightening the prejudices that the Irish had against the French.
lie latter were so inconsiderable, that if Sarsfield and some of the Irish had not joined with
••cm, they could not have made their party good. The earl of Tyrconnel had, with a par-
• ular view, studied to divert the French from sending over soldiers into Ireland; for he
1 signed, in case of new misfortunes, to treat with the king, and to preserve himself and
672 THE HlSTUttV OF THE REIGN
his friends ; and now he began to dispose the Irish to think of treating, since they saw that
otherwise their ruin was inevitable. But as soon as this was suspected, all the military
men, who resolved to give themselves up entirely to the French interest, combined against
him. and blasted him as a feeble and false man who was not to be trusted. This was carried
so far that, to avoid affronts, he was advised to leave the army ; and he stayed all this sum-
mer at Limerick, where he died of grief, as was believed ; but, before he died, he advised all
that came to him not to let things go to extremities, but to accept of such terms as could be
got : and his words seemed to weigh more after his death than in his lifetime ; for the Irish
began generally to say, that they must take care of themselves, and not be made sacrifices
to serve the ends of the French*. This was much heightened by the slaughter of the Irish
whom the French governor had shut out and left to perish. They wanted no provisions in
Limerick. And a squadron of French ships stood over to that coast, which was much
stronger than ours that had sailed up to the town. So it was to be feared that they might
come into the river to destroy our ships.
To hinder that, another squadron of English men of war was ordered thither. Yet the
French did not think fit to venture their ships within the Shannon, where they had no places
of shelter ; the misunderstanding that daily grew between the Irish and the French was
great ; and all appearance of relief from France failing, made them resolve to capitulate.
This was very welcome to Ginkle and his army, who began to be in great wants ; for that
country was quite wasted, having been the seat of war for three years ; and all their draught
horses were so wearied out, that their camp was often ill supplied.
When they came to capitulate, the Irish insisted on very high demands ; which were set
on by the French, who hoped they would be rejected : but the king had given Ginkle secret
directions that he should grant all the demands they could make, that would put an end to
that war : so every thing was granted, to the great disappointment of the French, and the
no small grief of some of the English, who hoped this war would have ended in the total
ruin of the Irish interest. During the treaty, a saying of Sarsfield's deserves to be remem-
bered, for it was much talked of all Europe over. He asked some of the English officers
if they had not come to a better opinion of the Irish, by their behaviour during this war ;
and whereas they said it was much the same that it had always been, Sarsfield answered,
as low as we now are, change but kings with us, and we will fight it over again with you.
Those of Limerick treated not only for themselves, but for all the rest of their countrymen
that were yet in arms. They were all indemnified and restored to all that they had enjoyed in
king Charles's time. They were also admitted to all the privileges of subjects, upon their
taking the oaths of allegiance to their majesties, without being bound to take the oath of
supremacy. Not only the French, but as many of the Irish as had a mind to go over to
France, had free liberty and a safe transportation. And upon that about twelve thousand |
of them went over.
And thus ended the war of Ireland : and with that our civil war carne to a final end. I
The articles of capitulation were punctually executed ; and some doubts that arose out of |
some ambiguous words, were explained in favour of the Irish. So earnestly desirous was the
king to have all matters quieted at home, that he might direct his whole force against the |
enemy abroad. The English in Ireland, though none could suffer more by the continuance
of the war than they did, yet were uneasy when they saw that the Irish had obtained such
good conditions ; some of the more violent men among them, who were much exasperated
with the wrongs that had been done them, began to call in question the legality of some of
the articles : but the parliament of England did not think fit to enter upon that discussion ;
nor made they any motions towards the violating the capitulation. Ginkle came over full
of honour after so glorious a campaign, and was made earl of Athlone, and had noble rewards
for the great service he had done ; though, without detracting from him, a large share of all;
that was done was due to some of the general officers, in particular to Rouvigny, made upon
this earl of Gal way, to Mackay, and Tallmash. Old Rouvigny being dead, his son offered]
his service to the king, who unwillingly accepted of it ; because he knew that an estate which!
* For more particulars concerning the public life of Richard Talbot, earl of Tyrconnel, see the Clarendon Corrr*,
pondence. Grainger mentions him.
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 573
his father had in France, and of which he had still the income, would be immediately con-
fiscated ; but he had no regard to that, and heartily engaged in the king's service, and has-
been ever since employed in many eminent posts : in all which he has acquitted himself with
that great reputation, both for capacity, integrity, courage, and application, as well as suc-
cess in most of his undertakings, that he is justly reckoned among the great men of the
age : and to crown all, he is a man of eminent virtues, great piety, and zeal for religion.
The emperor's affairs in Hungary went on successfully this year, under the command of
prince Lewis of Baden ; though he committed an error that was likely to have proved fatal
to him : his stores lay near him in great boats on the Danube, but upon some design he
made a motion off from that river ; of which the grand vizier took the advantage, and got
into his camp between him and his stores ; so that he must either starve, or break through
to come at his provisions. The Turks had not time to fortify themselves in their new camp,
so he attacked them with such fury, that they were quite routed, and lost camp and cannon
and a great part of their army, the grand vizier himself being killed. If the court of Vienna
had really desired a peace, they might have had it upon this victory on very easy terms ;
but they resolved they would be masters of all Transylvania ; and, in order to that, they
undertook the siege of Great AVaradin, which they were forced to turn to a blockade ; so
that it fell not into their hands till the spring following. The emperor was led on by the
prophecies, that assured him of constant conquests, and that he should in conclusion arrive
at Constantinople itself : so that the practices of those whom the French had gained about
him, had but too much matter to work on in himself.
The news of the total reduction of Ireland confirmed him in his resolutions of carrying on
the war in Hungary. It was reckoned that England, being now disengaged at home, would
with the rest of the protestant allies be able to carry on the war with France. And the two
chief passions in the emperor's mind, being his hatred of heresy, and his hatred of France, it
was said, that those about him, who served the interests of that court, persuaded him that
he was to let the war go on between France, and those he esteemed heretics ; since he would
be a gainer, which side soever should lose ; either France would be humbled, or the heretics
be exhausted ; while he should extend his dominions and conquer infidels. The king had
a sort of regard and submission to the emperor, that he had to no other prince whatsoever ;
so that he did not press him, as many desired he should, to accept of a peace with the Turks,
that so he might turn his whole force against France.
Germany was now more entirely united in one common interest than ever. The third
party that the French had formed to obstruct the war, were now gone off from those mea-
sures, and engaged in the general interest of the empire : the two northern kings had some
satisfaction given them in point of trade, that so they might maintain their neutrality : and
they were favourable to the allies, though not engaged with them. The king of Sweden,
whom the French were pressing to offer his mediation for a peace, wrote to the duke of
Hanover, assuring him he would never hearken to that proposition, till he had full assurances
from the French, that they would own the present government of England.
That duke, who had been long in a French management, did now break off all commerce
with that court, and entered into a treaty both with the emperor and with the king. He
>*omiscd great supplies against France and the Turk, if he might be made an elector of the
Tipire : in which the king concurred to press the matter so earnestly at the court of Vienna,
liat they agreed to it, in case he could gain the consent of the other electors; which the
inperors ministers resolved to oppose, underhand, all they could. He quickly gained the
msent of the greater number of the electors ; yet new objections were still made. It was
aid, that if this was granted, another electorate in a popish family ought also to be created,
balance the advantage that this gave the Lutherans ; and they moved that Austria should
: made an electorate. But this was so much opposed, since it gave the emperor two votes
the electoral college, that it was let fall. In conclusion, after a year's negotiation, and a
cat opposition, both by popish and protestant princes, (some of the latter considering more
eir jealousies of the house of Hanover than the interest of their religion,) the investiture
ts given, with the title of elector of Brunswick and great marshal of the empire. The
674 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
French opposed this with all the artifices they could set at work. The matter lay long in an
unsettled state : nor was he now admitted into the college ; it being said that the unanimous
consent of all the electors must be first had.
The affairs of Savoy did riot go on so prosperously as was hoped for : Caraffa, that com-
manded the imperial army, was more intent on raising contributions than on carrying on the
war : he crossed every good motion that was made : Montmelian was lost, which was chiefly
imputed to Caraffa : the young duke of Schomberg, sent thither to command those troops
that the king paid, undertook to relieve the place, and was assured that many protestants in
Dauphiny would come and join him. But Caraffa, and indeed the court of Turin, seemed
to be more afraid of the strength of heresy than of the power of France ; and chose to let
that important place fall into their hands, rather than suffer it to be relieved by those they
did not like. When the duke of Savoy's army went into quarters, Caraffa obliged the
neighbouring princes arid the state of Genoa to contribute to the subsistence of the imperial
army, threatening them otherwise with winter quarters ; so that how ill soever he managed
the duke of Savoy's concerns, he took care of his own. He was recalled upon the complaints
made against him on all hands, and Caprara was sent to command in his room.
The greatest danger lay in Flanders, where the feebleness of the Spanish goveniment did
so exhaust and weaken the whole country, that all the strength of the confederate armies
was scarce able to defend it : the Spaniards had offered to deliver it up to the king, either as
lie was king of England, or as he was stadtholder of the United Provinces. He knew the
bigotry of the people so well, that he was convinced it was not possible to get them to
submit to a protestant government : but he proposed the elector of Bavaria, who seemed to
have much heat, and an ambition of signalising himself in that country, which was then the
chief scene of war : and he could support that government by the troops and treasure that he
might draw out of his electorate : besides^ if he governed that country well, and acquired a
fame in arms, that might give him a prospect of succeeding to the crown of Spain in the
right of his electoress, who, if the house of Bourbon was set aside, was next in that succes-
sion. The Spaniards agreed to this proposal ; but they would not make the first offer of it
to that elector, nor would he ask it ; and it stuck for some time at this : but the court of
Vienna adjusted the matter by making the proposition, which the elector accepted : and that
put a new life into those oppressed and miserable provinces.
This was the general state of affairs when a new session of parliament was opened at |
Westminster, and then it appeared that a party was avowedly formed against the govern-
ment. They durst not own that before, while the war of Ireland continued. But now,
since that was at an end, they began to infuse into all people that there was no need of
keeping up a great land army, and that we ought only to assist our allies with some
auxiliary troops, and increase our force at sea. Many that understood not the state of foreign
affairs were drawn into this conceit, not considering that, if Flanders was lost, Holland must j
submit and take the best terms they could get. And the conjunction of those two great
powers at sea, must presently ruin our trade, and in a little time subdue us entirely. But it
was not easy to bring all people to apprehend this aright ; and those who had ill intentions
would not be beaten out of it, but covered worse designs with this pretence : and this was
still kept up as a prejudice against the king and his government, that he loved to have a i
great army about him ; and that when they were once modelled, he would never part with
them, but govern in an arbitrary way as soon as he had prepared his soldiers to serve
his ends.
Another prejudice had more colour and as bad effects. The king was thought to love thej
Dutch more than the English, to trust more to them, and to admit them to more freedom
with him. He gave too much occasion to a general disgust, which was spread both;
among the English officers and the nobility : he took little pains to gain the affections of the
nation, nor did he constrain himself enough to render his government more acceptable : hei
was shut up all the day long ; and his silence, when he admitted any to an audience, dis-|
tasted them as much as if they had been denied it. The earl of Marlborough thought that
the great services he had done, were not acknowledged, nor rewarded, as they well deserved,'
I.NG WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 575
and began to speak like a man discontented. And the strain of all the nation almost was,
that the English were overlooked, and the Dutch were the only persons favoured or trusted.
This was national : and the English being too apt to despise other nations, and being of
more lively tempers than the Dutch, grew to express a contempt and an aversion for them,
that went almost to a mutiny. It is true the Dutch behaved themselves so well and so
regularly in their quarters, and paid for everything so punctually, whereas the English were
apt to be rude and exa ting; especially those who were all this winter coming over from
Ireland, who had been so long in an enemy's country that they were not easily brought into
order ; so that the common people were generally better pleased with the Dutch soldiers
than with their own countrymen, but it was not the same as to the officers. These seeds of
discontent were carefully managed by the enemies of the government ; and by those means
matters went on heavily in the house of commons. The king was also believed to be so
tender in every point that seemed to relate to his prerogative, that he could not well bear
anything that was a diminution of it : and he was said to have taken a dislike and mistrust
of all those whose notions leaned to public liberty, though those were the persons that were the
firmest to him, and the most zealous for him. The men whose notions of the prerogative
were the highest were suspected to be Jacobites : yet it was observed that many of these
were much courted, and put into employments, in which they showed so little affection to
the government, and so close a correspondence with its professed enemies, that it was gene-
rally believed they intended to betray it. The blame of employing these men was cast on
the earl of Nottingham, who, as the Whigs said, infused into the king jealousies of his best
friends, and inclined him to court some of his bitterest enemies.
The taking off parliament men, who complained of grievances, by places and pensions,
was believed to be now very generally practised. Seymour, who had in a very injurious
manner not only opposed everything, but had reflected on the king's title and conduct,
was this winter brought into the treasury and the cabinet council : yet, though a great
opposition was made and many delays contrived, all the money that was asked was at length
given. Among the bills that were offered to the king at the end of the session, one was to
secure the judges' salaries, and to put it out of the king's power to stop them. The judges
had their commission during their good behaviour ; yet their salaries were not so secured to
them, but that these were at the king's pleasure. But the king put a stop to this, and
refused to pass the bill ; for it was represented to him, by some of the judges themselves, that
it was not fit they should be out of all dependence on the court ; though it did not appear
that there was any hurt in making judges in all respects free and independent. A parlia-
ment was summoned to meet in Ireland, to annul all that had passed in king James's par-
liament ; to confirm anew the act of settlement ; and to do all other things that the broken
state of that impoverished island required ; and to grant such supplies as they could raise,
and as the state of their affairs would permit.
Affairs in Scotland were put in another method : lord Tweedale was made lord chancellor,
and not long after a marquis in that kingdom : lord Melvill was put in a less important
post, and most of his creatures were laid aside : but several of those who had been in Mont-
gomery's plot were brought into the council and ministry. Johnston, who had been sent
envoy to the elector of Brandenburg, was called home and made secretary of state for that
angdom. It began soon to appear in Scotland how ill the king was advised, when he
rought in some of the plotters into the chief posts of that government : as this disgusted the
resbyterians, so it was very visible that those pretended converts came into his service, only
to have it in their power to deliver up that kingdom to king James. They scarcely disguised
their designs ; so that the trusting such men amazed all people. The presbyterians had very
nuch offended the king, and their fury was instrumental in raising great jealousies of him
n England : he well foresaw the ill effects this was likely to have, and therefore he recom-
mended to a general assembly, that met this winter, to receive the episcopal clergy, to
concur with them in the government of the church, upon their desiring to be admitted : and
u case the assembly could not be brought to consent to this, the king ordered it to be dis-
solved, without naming any other time or place of meeting. It was not likely that there
mid be any agreement, where both parties were so much inflamed one against another:
576 THE I1II3TORY Q*' THE REIGN
and those who had the greatest credit with both, studied rather to exasperate than to soften
them. The episcopal party carried it high : they gave it out that the king was now theirs,
and that they were willing to come to a concurrence with presbytery, on design to bring all
about to episcopacy in a little time. The presbyterians, who at all times were stiff and
peevish, were more than ordinarily so at this time : they were jealous of the king ;
their friends were now disgraced, and their bitterest enemies were coming into favour : so
they were surly, and would abate in no point of their government : and upon that the
assembly was dissolved. But they pretended that by law they had a right to an annual
meeting, from which nothing could cut them off; for they said, according to a distinction
much used among them, that the king's power of calling synods and assemblies was cumula-
tive, and not privative : that is, he might call them if he would, and appoint time and place ;
but that, if he did not call them, they might meet by an inherent right that the church had,
which was confirmed by law : therefore they adjourned themselves. This was represented
to the king as a high strain of insolence that invaded the rights of the crown, of which he
was become very sensible. Most of those who came now into his service, made it their busi-
ness to incense him against the presbyterians, in which he was so far engaged, that it did
alienate that party much from him.
There was at this time, a very barbarous massacre committed in Scotland, which showed
both the cruelty and the treachery of some of those who had unhappily insinuated themselves
into the king's confidence. The earl of Bredalbane formed a scheme of quieting all the
Highlanders, if the king would give twelve or fifteen thousand pounds for doing it, which
was remitted down from England : and this was to be divided among the heads of the tribes
or clans of the highlanders. He employed his emissaries among them, and told them the
best service they could do king James, was to lie quiet, and reserve themselves to a better
time : and if they would take the oaths, the king would be contented with that, and they
were to have a share of this sum that was sent down to buy their quiet. But this came to
nothing ; their demands rose high ; they knew this lord had money to distribute among
them ; they believed he intended to keep the best part of it to himself; so they asked more
than he could give. Among the most clamorous and obstinate of these were the Macdonalds
of Glencoe, who were believed guilty of much robbery and many murders, and so had gained
too much by their pilfering war to be easily brought to give it over. The head of that
valley had so particularly provoked lord Bredalbane, that as his scheme was quite defeated
by the opposition that he raised, so he designed a severe revenge. The king had, by a pro-
clamation, offered an indemnity to all the Highlanders that had been in arms against him,
upon their coming in, by a prefixed day, to take the oaths : the day had been twice or thrice
prolonged, and it was at last carried to the end of the year 1691 ; with a positive threaten-
ing of proceeding to military execution against such as should not come into his obedience
by the last day of December.
All were so terrified that they came in ; and even that Macdonald went to the governor
of Fort William, on the last of December, and offered to take the oaths ; but he, being only
a military man, could not, or would not, tender them, and Macdonald was forced to seek for
some of the legal magistrates to tender them to him. The snows were then fallen, so four
or five days passed before he could come to a magistrate : he took the oaths in his presence,
on the fourth or fifth of January, when, by the strictness of law, he could claim no benefit
by it. The matter was signified to the council, and the person had a reprimand for giving
him the oaths when the day was past.
This was kept up from the king : and the earl of Bredalbane came to court to give an
account of his diligence, and to bring back the money, since he could not do the service for j
which he had it. He informed against this Macdonald, as the chief person who had defeated j
that good design : and that he might both gratify his own revenge, and render the king
odious to all the Highlanders, he proposed that orders should be sent for a military execution j
on those of Glencoe. An instruction was drawn by the secretary of state, lord Stair, to be j
both signed and countersigned by the king (that so he might bear no part of the blame, but
that it might lie wholly on the king), that such as had not taken the oaths by the time j
limited should be shut out of the benefit of the indemnity, and be received only upon mercy, j
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 577
But when it was found that this would not authorise what was intended, a second order was
got to be signed and countersigned, that if the Glencoe men could be separated from the rest
of the Highlanders, some examples might be made of them, in order to strike terror into the
rest. The king signed this without any inquiry about it ; for he was too apt to sign papers
in a hurry, without examining the importance of them. This was one effect of his slowness
in dispatching business ; for, as he was apt to suffer things to run on till there was a great
heap of papers laid before him, so then he signed them a little too precipitately. But all
this while the king knew nothing of Macdonald's offering to take the oaths within the time,
nor of his having taken them, soon after it was passed, when he came to a proper magistrate.
As these orders were sent down, the secretary of state wrote many private letters to Living-
ston, who commanded in Scotland, giving him a strict charge and particular directions for
the execution of them : and he ordered the passes in the valley to be kept, describing them
so minutely, that the orders were certainly drawn by one who knew the country well. He
gave also a positive direction that no prisoners should be taken, that so the execution might
be as terrible as was possible. He pressed this upon Levingston with strains of vehemence
that looked as if there was something more than ordinary in it : he indeed grounded it on
his zeal for the king's service, adding, that such rebels and murderers should be made
examples of.
In February a company was sent to Glencoe, who were kindly received and quartered
over the valley ; the inhabitants thinking themselves safe, and looking for no hostilities.
After they had staid a week among them, they took their time in the night and killed about
six-and-thirty of them, the rest taking the alarm and escaping. This raised a mighty outcry,
and was published by the French in their gazettes, and by the Jacobites in their libels, to
cast a reproach on the king's government as cruel and barbarous; though in all other
instances it had appeared that his own inclinations were gentle and mild rather to an excesa.
The king sent orders to enquire into the matter ; but when the letters written upon thie
business were all examined, which I myself read, it appeared that so many were involved in
the matter, that the king's gentleness prevailed on him to a fault ; and he contented himself
with dismissing only the master of Stair from his service. The Highlanders were so inflamed
with this, that they were put in as forward a disposition as the Jacobites could wish for to
have rebelled upon the first favourable opportunity : and indeed the not punishing this with
a due rigour was the greatest blot in this whole reign, and had a very great effect in alien-
ating that nation from the king and his government*.
An incident happened near the end of this session that had very ill effects ; which I unwil-
ingly mention, because it cannot be told without some reflections on the memory of the
jueen, whom I always honoured beyond all the persons I had ever known. The earl of
Nottingham came to the earl of Marlborough with a message from the king, telling him that
lie had no more use for his services, and therefore he demanded all his commissions. What
drew so sudden and so hard a message was not known ; for he had been with the king that
uoming, and had parted with him in the ordinary manner. It seemed some letter was
ntercepted, which gave suspicion : it is certain that he thought he was too little considered,
nid that he had upon many occasions censured the king's conduct, and reflected on the
>utch. But the original cause of his disgrace arose from another consideration : the princess
* A very interesting anecdote, connected with this cruel should proceed till the very moment of execution, when
i. .issacre, is told by colonel Stewart, in his " Sketches of it was directed to supersede the fatal order to fire. The
lio Highlands." He relates that the belief that pun- colonel gave strict orders to the men not to fire till he
!-i ment for cruelty, oppression, or misconduct, in an indi- pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket as the signal.
[i'lual, descended as a curse on his children, to the third When all was prepared , and the clergyman had performed
lii'l fourth generation, was not confined to the common the last sacred rites of religion, tbe colonel pulled the
c <>ple — all ranks were influenced by this belief. The reprieve from his pocket — but with it the white hand-
ue colonel Campbell, of Glenlyon, retained this creed kerchief; at the sight of which twenty bullets pierced
1 ring a thirty years' intercourse with the world, as an the heart of the reprieved victim! The paper dropped
: ccr in the 42nd regiment. He was grandson of the from the colonel's hand, and, striking his forehead, lie
jifd of Glenlyon, who commanded the military at the exclaimed in unutterable agony, " The curse of God and
sacrc of Glencoe. In the year 1771, he was ordered of Glencoe is here." He instantly retired from the ser-
I superintend the execution of a soldier, condemned to vice, and wept over this unfortunate accident till the day
;uh by the sentence of a court martial. A reprieve, in of his death.
«• mean time, arrived, with an order that the ceremony
P P
578 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
thought herself too much neglected by the king, whose cold way towards her was soon
observed : after the king was on the throne, no propositions were made to her of a settle-
ment, nor any advances of money. So she, thinking she was to be kept in a necessitous
dependence on the court, got some to move in the house of commons, in the year 1690, when
they were in the debate concerning the revenue, that she should have assignments suitable to
her dignity. This both king and queen took amiss from her : the queen complained more
particularly that she was then ill, after the lying-in of the duke of Gloucester at Hampton
Court, and that she herself was treating her and the young child with the tenderness of a
mother, and that yet such a motion was made before she had tried, in a private way, what
the king intended to assign her. The princess, on the other hand, said she knew the queen
was a good wife, submissive and obedient to every thing that the king desired ; so she
thought the best way was to have a settlement by act of parliament. On the other hand,
the custom had always been that the royal family (a prince of Wales not excepted) was kept
in a dependence on the king, and had no allowance but from his mere favour and kindness ;
yet in this case, in which the princess was put out of the succession during the king's life, it
seemed reasonable that somewhat more than ordinary should be done in consideration of that.
The act passed, allowing her a settlement of fifty thousand pounds. But upon this a cold-
ness followed, between not only the king, but even the queen, and the princess. And the
blame of this motion was cast on the countess of Marlborough, as most in favour with the
princess : and this had contributed much to alienate the king from her husband, and had
disposed him to receive ill impressions of him.
Upon his disgrace, his lady was forbidden the court. The princess would not submit to
tli is; she thought she ought to be allowed to keep what persons she pleased about herself.
And when the queen insisted on the thing, she retired from the court. There were, no
floubt, ill offices done on all hands, as there were some that pressed the princess to submit to
the queen, as well as others who pressed the queen to pass it over, but without effect : both
had engaged themselves before they had well reflected on the consequences of such a breach :
and the matter went so far, that the queen ordered that no public honours should be shown
the princess, besides many other lesser matters, which I unwillingly reflect on, because I
was much troubled to see the queen carry such a matter so far : and the breach continued to
the end of her life. The enemies of the government tried what could be made of this to
create distractions among us : but the princess gave no encouragement to them. So that
this misunderstanding had no other effect, but that it gave enemies much ill-natured joy and
a secret spiteful diversion*.
The king gave Russel the command of the fleet ; though he had put himself on ill terms
with him, by pressing to know the grounds of the earl of Marlborough's disgrace : he had
not only lived in great friendship with him, but had carried the first messages that had
passed between him and the king when he went over to Holland : he almost upbraided the
king with the earl of Marlborough's services, who, as he said, had set the crown on his head.
Russel also came to be on ill terms with the earl of Nottingham, who, as he thought, sup- 1
ported a faction among the flag officers against him : and he fell indeed into so ill an humour i
on many accounts, that he seemed to be for some time in doubt whether he ought to under- '
take the command of the fleet or not. I tried, at the desire of some of his friends, to soften j
him a little, but without success.
The king went over to Holland in March to prepare for an early campaign. He intimated
somewhat in his speech to the parliament of a descent designed upon France; but we had!
neither men nor money to execute it. And, while we were pleasing ourselves with the I
thoughts of a descent on France, king James was preparing for a real one on England. It
was intended to be made in the end of April : he had about him fourteen thousand English;
and Irish : and marshal Belfonds was to accompany him with about three thousand French.
* A lengthy account of this affair is given in the instanter, and threatening the royal displeasure, &c. ii
duchess of Marlborough's letters, published in 1742, in case of disobedience. Tiiis is followed by Anne's answer
which she terms this " the famous quarrel." It is acconi- dated February 2nd, 1692, remonstrating, and anotl
pained by a long letter from queen Mary to the princess letter closing the correspondence by a positive refusal.
Anne, insisting upon her breaking with the Marlborotighs
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 579
They were to sail from Cherbourg and La Hogue, and some other places in Normandy,
and to land in Sussex, and from thence to march with all haste to London. A transport
fleet was also brought thither : they were to bring over only a small number of horses ; for
their party in England undertook to furnish them with horses at their landing. At the
game time the king of France was to march with a great army into Flanders ; and he
reckoned that the descent in England would either have succeeded, since there was a very
small force left within the kingdom, or at least that it would have obliged the king to come
over with some of his English troops : and in that case, which way soever the war of Eng-
land had ended, he should have mastered Flanders, and so forced the States to submit : and
in case other designs had failed there was one in reserve, managed by the French ministry
and by Luxembourg, of assassinating the king, which would have brought about all their
designs. The French king seemed to think the project was so well laid that it could not
miscarry ; for he said publicly, before he set out, that he was going to make an end of the
war. We in England were all this while very .secure, and did not apprehend we were in
any danger. Both the king and his secretaries were much blamed for taking so little care
to procure intelligence : if the winds had favoured the French, they themselves would have
brought us the first news of their design : they sent over some persons to give their friends
notice but a very few days before they reckoned they should be on our coast : one of these
i was a Scotchman, and brought the first discovery to Johnstoun : orders were presently sent
out to bring together such forces as lay scattered in quarters : and a squadron of our fleet
that was set to sea was ordered to lay on the coast of Normandy ; but the heavens fought
i against them more effectually than we could have done. There was for a whole month
i together such a storm that lay on their coast, that it was not possible for them to come out
f their ports ; nor could marshal D'Estrees come about with the squadron from Toulon, so
oon as was expected. In the beginning of May, about forty of our ships were on the coast
f Normandy, and were endeavouring to destroy their transport ships : upon which, orders
were sent to marshal Tourville to sail to the channel and fight the English fleet. They had
westerly wind to bring them within the channel, but then the wind struck into the east,
nd stood so long there, that it both brought over the Dutch fleet and brought about our
reat ships. By this means our whole fleet was joined : so that Tourville's design of getting
'etween the several squadrons that composed it was lost. The king of France, being then
n Flanders, upon this change of wind, sent orders to Tourville not to fight : yet the vessel
hat carried these was taken, and the duplicate of these orders, that was sent by another con-
eyance, came not to him till the day after the engagement.
On the nineteenth of May, Russel came up with the French, and was almost twice their
i umber ; yet not above the half of his ships could be brought into the action, by reason of
lie winds : Rook, one of his admirals, was thought more in fault. The number of the ships
that engaged was almost equal: our men said that the French neither showed courage nor
lull in the action. The night and a fog separated the two fleets, after an engagement that
Had lasted some hours. The greatest part of the French ships drew near their coasts; but
Uussel not casting anchor, as the French did, was carried out by the tide : so next morning
[e was at some distance from them. A great part of the French fleet sailed westward
PI rough a dangerous sea, called the Race of Alderney: Ashby was sent to pursue them;
nd he followed them some leagues : but then the pilots pretending danger, he came back :
1 twenty-six of them, whom if Ashby had pursued, by all appearance, he had destroyed
ism all, got into St. Male's. Russel came up to the French admiral and the other ships that
id drawn near their coasts. Delaval burnt the Admiral and his two seconds; and Rook
irnt sixteen more before La Hogue*.
* It is said that Louis the Fourteenth, knowing that of Orford in Suffolk, and viscount Barfleur in Normandy.
"liral Russel was avaricious, sent him 20,000/., request- His various services and reverses will be noticed in future
him not to fight on this occasion, but to manoeuvre, pages. He died in 1727. That he was avaricious seems
ler pretence of deliberating, he sent to William the admitted; but he was beloved in private life, and idolised
rd, to know how he was to act. The answer was by his sailors. One of his festivals had an accompani-
nic — " Take the money, and beat them/' William ment quite in the nautical style. He had made a cistern
!-<;d him in 1697 to the peerage, by the title of the earl of punch, composed of four hogsheads of brandy, eight
pp 2
'
680 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
It was believed, that if this success had been pursued with vigour, considering the con-
sternation with which the French were struck upon such an unusual and surprising blow,
that this victory might have been carried much farther than it was. But Russel was pro-
voked by some letters and orders that the earl of Nottingham sent him from the queen, which
he thought were the effects of ignorance : and upon that he fell into a crossness of disposition :
he found fault with every order that was sent him ; but would offer no advices on his part,
And he came soon after to St. Helen's, which was much censured ; for though the disabled
ships must have been sent in, yet there was no such reason for bringing in the rest that were
not touched. Cross winds kept them long in port ; so that a great part of the summer was
spent before he went out again. The French had recovered out of the first disorder which
had quite dispirited them. A descent in France came to be thought on when it was too
late : about seven thousand men were shipped, and it was intended to land them at St.
Malo's ; but the seamen were of opinion that neither there nor any where else a descent was
then practicable. They complained that the earl of Nottingham was ignorant of sea affairs,
and yet that he set on propositions relating to them, without consulting seamen, and sent
orders which could not be obeyed without endangering the whole fleet. So the men who
were thus shipped lay some days on board, to the great reproach of our counsels : but that
we might not appear too ridiculous, both at home and abroad, by landing them again in
England, the king ordered them to be sent over to Flanders, after they had been for some
weeks on shipboard. And so our campaign at sea, that began so gloriously, had a poor
conclusion. The common reflection that was made on our conduct was, that the providence
of God and the valour of our men had given us a victory, of which we knew not what use
to make ; and, which was worse, our merchants complained of great losses this summer ; for
the French having laid up their fleet, let their seamen go and serve in privateers, with which
they watched all the motions of our trade : and so by an odd reverse of things, as we made
no considerable losses, while the French were masters of our sea two years before, so now,
when we triumphed on that element, our merchants suffered the most. The conclusion of
all was Russel complained of the ministry, particularly of the earl of Nottingham ; and they
complained no less of him ; and the merchants complained of the admiralty : but they, in
their own defence, said that we had not ships nor seamen, both to furnish out a great fleet
and at the same time to send out convoys for securing the trade.
In Flanders the design, to which the French trusted most, failed : that was laid for assas-
sinating the king : one Grandval had been in treaty with Louvois about it ; and it was
intended to be executed the former year. He joined with Du Mont to follow the king and
shoot him as he was riding about in his ordinary way, moving slowly, and visiting the posts
of his army. The king of France had lost two ministers one after another. Seignelay died
first, who had no extraordinary genius himself ; but he knew all his father's methods, and j
pursued them so, that he governed himself both by his father's maxims and with hisj
tools. Louvois did not survive him long; he had more fire, and so grew uneasy at the j
authority madame de Maintenon took in things which she could not understand: and was
in conclusion so unacceptable to the king, that once, when he flung his bundle of papers i
down upon the floor before him, upon some provocation, the king lifted up his cane : but1
the lady held him from doing more : yet that affront, as was given out, sunk so deep into!
Louvois' spirits, that he died suddenly a few days after. Some said it was of an apoplexy;
others suspected poison : for a man that knew so many secrets would have been dangerous
if he had outlived his favour. His son, Barbesieux, had the survivance of his place, and
continued in it for some years ; but, as he was young, so he had not a capacity equal to the
post. He found, among his father's papers, a memorandum of this design of Grandval's
so he sent for him, and resolved to pursue it ; in which madame de Maintenon concurred.;
and Luxembourg was trusted with the direction of it. Du Mont retired this winter to Zell.
as one that had forsaken the French service: from some practices and discourses of his i\
hogsheads of water, twenty-five thousand lemons, twenty filled for all comers, and more than six thousand perec
gallons of lime juice, thirteen hundred pounds of sugar, five partook of this Caspian bowl Noble's Continuatior
pounds of grated nutmegs, three hundred toasted biscuits, Grainger,
and a pipe of mountain wine. Persons in a small boat
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 5(51
suspicion arose, of which sir William Colt, the king's envoy there, gave notice : so one Leef-
dale, a Dutch papist, was secretly sent to Paris, as a person that would enter into the design ;
but, in reality, went on purpose to discover it.
Grand val and he came back to Flanders to set about it: but Leefdale brought
/im into a party that seized on him. Both king James and his queen were, as Grandval
said, engaged in the design : one Parker, whom they employed in many black designs,
had concerted the matter with Grandval, as he confessed, and had carried him to king
James, who encouraged him to go on with it, and promised great rewards. When
Grandval saw there was full proof against him, he confessed the whole series of the manage-
ment without staying till he were put to the torture. Mr. Morel, of Berne, a famous
medalist (who had for some years the charge of the French king's cabinet of medals, but
being a protestant, and refusing to change his religion, was kept a close prisoner in the
Bastile for seven years), was let out in April this year. And, before he left Paris, his
curiosity carried him to St. Germain's, to see king James : he happened both to go and come
back in the coach with Grandval ; and while he was there he saw him in private discourse
with king James : Grandval was full of this project, and, according to the French way, he
talked very loosely to Morel, not knowing who he was ; but fancied he was well affected to
tliat court. He said there was a design in hand that would confound all Europe : for the
prince of Orange, so he called the king, would not live a month. This Morel wrote over to
me in too careless a manner ; for he directed his letter with his own hand, which was well
known at court ; yet it came safe to me. The king gave orders that none belonging to him
should go near Grandval, that there might be no colour for saying that the hopes of life had
drawn his confession from him : nor was he strictly interrogated concerning circumstances ;
but was left to tell his story as he pleased himself. He was condemned ; and suffered with
some slight remorse for going into a design to kill a king. His confession was printed. But
how black soever it represented the court of France, no notice was taken of it : nor did any
)f that court offer to disown or disprove it, but let it pass and be forgotten : yet so blind and
violent was their party among us, that they resolved they would believe nothing that either
blemished king James or the French court.
But though this miscarried, the French succeeded in the siege of Namur, a place of great
mportance, that commanded both the Maese and Sambre, and covered both Liege and
Maestricht : the town did soon capitulate, but the citadel held out much longer. The king
arne with a great army to raise the siege : Luxembourg lay in his way with another to
•over it, arid the Mehaigne lay between. The king intended to pass the river and force a
i attle ; but such rains fell the night before he designed to do it, and the river swelled so
much, that he could not pass it for some days: he tried, by another motion, to come and
aise the siege. But the town having capitulated so early, and the citadel laying on the
cher side of the Sambre, he could not come at it : so after a month's siege it was taken.
This was looked on as the greatest action of the French king's life; that, notwithstanding
' depression of such a defeat at sea, he yet supported his measures so as to take that
important place in the view of a great army. The king's conduct was on this occasion much
nsurcd : it was said, he ought to have put much to hazard, rather than suffer such a place
be taken in his sight.
After Namur surrendered, that king went back to Paris in his usual method ; for, accord-
< ,jf to the old Persian luxury, he used to bring the ladies with him, with the music, poems,
ml scenes, for an opera and a ball ; in which he and his actions were to be set out with the
mp of much flattery. When this action was over, his forces lay on the defensive, and
th armies made some motions, watching and waiting on one another.
At Steenkirk, the king thought he had a favourable occasion for attacking the French in
ir camp ; but the ground was found to be narrower and less practicable than the king
1 been made to believe it was. Ten battalions began the attack, and carried a post with
inon, and maintained it long, doing great execution on the enemy ; and if they had been
i ported or brought off it would have proved a brave attempt ; but they were cut in pieces,
the whole action the French lost many more men than the confederates did, for they
e so thick that our fire made great execution. The conduct of this affair was much
582 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
censured. It was said, the ground ought to have been better examined before the attack
was begun, and the men ought to have been better maintained than they were : for many
thought that, if this had been done, we might have had a total victory. Count Solms bore
the blame of the errors committed on this occasion. The English had been sometimes
checked by him, as he was much disgusted with their heat and pride : so they charged all
on him, who had some good qualities ; but did not manage them in an obliging manner.
We lost in this action about five thousand men, and many brave officers. Here Mackay was
killed, being ordered to a post that he saw could not be maintained : he sent his opinion
about it ; but the former orders were confirmed : so he went on, saying only, " The will of
the Lord be done." He was a man of such strict principles, that he would not have screed
in a war that he did not think lawful. He took great care of his soldiers' morals, and forsed
them to be both sober and just in their quarters : he spent all the time that he was master
of in secret prayers, and in reading of the Scriptures. The king often observed that when
he had full leisure for his devotions, he acted with a peculiar exaltation of courage. He had
one very singular quality : in councils of war he delivered his opinion freely, and maintained
it with due zeal ; but how positive soever he was in it, if the council of war overruled, even
though he was not convinced by it, yet to all others he justified it, and executed his part
with the same zeal as if his own opinion had prevailed. After the action at Steenkirk, there
was little done this campaign. A detachment that the king sent from his army, joined with
those bodies that came from England, broke in some way into the French conquests : they
fortified Dixmuyde and Furness, and put the country about them under contribution, and
became very uneasy neighbours to Dunkirk. The command of those places was given to
the count of Horn, who understood well the way to make all possible advantages by contri-
butions ; but he was a man of no great worth, and of as little courage. This disgusted the
English still more ; who said the Dutch were always trusted and preferred, while they were
neglected. They had some colour to censure this choice the following winter ; for, upon the
motion of some French troops, Horn (without studying to amuse the enemy, or to gain
time, upon which much may depend in winter) did immediately abandon Dixmuyde. All
he had to justify himself was a letter from the elector of Bavaria, telling him that he could
send him no relief ; and therefore he ordered him to take care of the garrison, which M7as of
more importance than the place itself. Thus the campaign ended in Flanders ; Namur was
lost ; the reputation of the king's conducting armies was much sunk ; and the English were
generally discontented, and alienated from the Dutch.
Nothing was done on the Rhine. The elector of Saxony had promised to bring an array
thither ; but Shening, his general, who had great power over him, was gained by the French
to break his design. The duke of Saxony complained that the emperor favoured the circles
of Franconia and Swabia so much, that he could have no good quarters assigned him for his
army : and upon this occasion it was said that the emperor drew much money from those
circles, that they might be covered from winter quarters ; and that he applied all that to
carrying on the war in Hungary ; and so left the weight of the war with France to lie very
heavy on the princes of the empire. This contest went on so high, that Shening, who was
thought the ill instrument in it, going for his health to the hot baths in Bohemia, was seized
on by the emperor's orders; upon which great expostulations passed between the courts
of Vienna and Dresden. There were two small armies that acted separately on the Rhine,
under the command of the landgrave of Hesse and the marquis of Bareith : but they were
not able to cover the empire : and another small army, brought together by the duke of Wir-
temberg, for the defence of his country, was totally defeated : not only cannon and baggage,
but the duke himself, fell into the enemy's hands.
But though the emperor did, as it were, abandon the empire to the French, he made no ,'
great progress in Hungary : the Turks lay upon the defensive, and the season was spent in
motions, without either battle or siege. There was still some discourse, but no great proba- ;
1 ility, of peace. Two English ambassadors dying, the one sir Thomas Hussay, soon after his j
arrival at Constantinople, and the other, Mr. Harbord, on his way thither : the lord Paget,
then our ambassador at the emperor's court, was ordered to go thither, to mediate the peace,!
He found the mediation was, in a great measure, spoiled by the Dutch ambassador before
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY 581
Ms arrival ; for he had been prevailed on, by the court of Vienna, to offer the mediation of
the Dutch upon a very high scheme. Caminieck and the Ukrain, and Podolia, with Moldavia
and Valachia, were demanded for Poland : Transylvania, with the person of count Tekeli,
for the emperor ; and Achaia and Livadia, as an antemurale to cover the Morea, for the
Venetians. The court of Vienna, by offering such a project, reckoned the war must go on,
which they desired. The ministers of the Porte, who were gained by the French to carry on
the war, were glad to see so high a project : they were afraid of tumults ; so they spread
this project over the whole empire, to show on what ignominious terms the mediation was
proposed ; and by that they justified their going on with the war. But the lord Paget
offered the king's mediation upon another project ; which was, that every prince was to keep
what he was then possessed of: and Caminieck was only demanded to be razed. If this
had been offered at first, the Ottoman court durst not have refused it ; the people were
become so weary under a long and unprosperous war : but the vizier suppressed this, and
made it still pass among them, that the English pressed the same project that the Dutch had
proposed ; which was the more easily believed there, because how ignorant soever they were
at that court, they knew well what an interest the king of England had in the States. So
the war was still carried on there : and Trumball, who came over to England at this time, told
the king that if, instead of sending embassies, he would send a powerful fleet into the Medi-
terranean, to destroy the French trade and stop the commerce with Turkey, he would
quickly bring that court to other measures, or raise such tumults among them as would set
that empire, and even Constantinople itself, all in a flame.
In Piedmont, the campaign was opened very late, and the French were on the defensive ;
so the duke of Savoy entered into Dauphiny with an army ; and if he had carried on that
attempt with the spirit with which he began it, he had put the affairs of France on that side
into great disorder ; but he was either ill served or betrayed in it : he sat down before
Ambrun, and besieged it in form : so that a place, which be might have carried in three
days, cost him some weeks : and in every step he made it appear there was either a great
feebleness, or much treachery, in his counsels. He made no great progress ; yet the disorder
it threw that and the neighbouring provinces into was very great. He was stopped
by the small-pox, which saved his honour as much as it endangered his person : the
retreat of his army, when his life was in danger, looked like a due caution. He recovered
of the small-pox, but a ferment remained still in his blood, and broke out so often into
feverish relapses, that it was generally thought he was poisoned. Many months passed
before he was out of danger. So the campaign ended there with considerable losses to the
French, but with no great advantage to the duke. The greatest prejudice the French
suffered this year was from the season : they had a very bad harvest and no vintage in the
northern parts. "We in England had great apprehensions of as bad a harvest from a very
<;old and wet summer. Great deluges of rain continued till the very time of reaping. But,
when we were threatened with a famine, it pleased God to send such an extraordinary
change of the season, that we had a very plentiful crop; enough both to serve ourselves
• nd to supply our neighbours, which made us easy at home, and brought in much wealth
tor that corn which we were able to spare.
In the beginning of September there was an earthquake felt in most places in England,
md was at the same time felt in many parts of France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
No harm was done by it, though it continued for three or four minutes. I can write nothing
>f it from my own observation, for it was not sensible in the place where I happened to be at
liat time ; nor can it be determined whether this had any relation to those terrible earth •
|iiakes that happened some months after this in Sicily and Malta, upon which I cannot
nlarge, having seen no other account of them than what was in public gazettes, which
•'presented them as the most dreadful by much of any that are in history : it was estimated
iiat about one hundred thousand persons perished by them in Sicily. It is scarcely to bo
'nagined that the earthquake, which about the same time destroyed the best part of the
iiief town in Jamaica, could have any connection with these in Europe. These were very
xtraordinary things, which made those who studied apocalyptical matters imagine that the
584 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
end of the world drew near. It had been happy for us if such dismal accidents had struck
us with a deeper sense of the judgments of God.
We were indeed brought to more of an outward face of virtue and sobriety : and
the great examples that the king and queen set the nation had made some conside-
rable alterations as to public practices, but we became deeply corrupted in principle •
a disbelief of revealed religion, and a profane mocking at the Christian faith and
the mysteries of it, became avowed and scandalous. The queen, in the king's absence,
gave orders to execute the laws against drunkenness, swearing, and the profanation of
the Lord's day, and sent directions over England to all magistrates to do their duty in
executing them ; to which the king joined his authority upon his return to England. Yet
the reformation of manners, which some zealous men studied to promote, went on but
slowly : many of the inferior magistrates were not only remiss but very faulty themselves :
they did all they could to discourage those who endeavoured to have vice suppressed and
punished : and it must be confessed that the behaviour of many clergymen gave atheists no
small advantage : they had taken the oaths and read the prayers for the present govern-
ment ; they observed the orders for public fasts and thanksgivings ; and yet they showed
in many places their aversion to our establishment but too visibly : so that the offence that
this gave in many parts of the nation was too evident : in some places it broke out in very in-
decent instances, that were brought into courts of law and censured. This made many conclude
that the clergy were a sort of men that would swear and pray even against their consciences
rather than lose their benefices ; and by consequence that they were governed by interest
and not by principle. The Jacobites grew still to be more and more outrageous, while the clergy
seemed to be neutrals in the dispute ; and, which was yet the most extraordinary thing in the
whole matter, the government itself acted with so much remissness, and so few were enquired
after or punished, that those who were employed by the king behaved themselves in many
places as if they had secret instructions to be heavy upon his best friends, and to be gentle
to his enemies. Upon the whole matter, the nation was falling under such a general corrup-
tion, both as to morals and principles, and that was so much spread among all sorts of people,
that it gave us great apprehensions of heavy judgments from Heaven45.
The session of parliament was opened under great disadvantages. The earl of Marl-
borough and some other peers had been put in the Tower upon a false accusation of high
treason, which was evidently proved to be a conspiracy, designed by some profligate crea-
tures, who fancied that forgeries and false-swearing would be as acceptable and as well
rewarded in this reign as they had been formerly. But, till this was detected, the persons
accused were kept in prison, and were now only out upon bail : so it was said to be contrary
to the nature and freedom of parliaments for prisoners to sit in it. It was confessed that in
times of danger, and such was the former summer, it must be trusted to the discretion of a
government, to commit such persons as were suspected : but when the danger was over, by
our victory at sea, those against whom there lay nothing besides suspicions, ought to have
been set at liberty : and this was thought reasonable. There was an association pretended
to be drawn against the government, to which the subscriptions of many lords were set so
dexterously, that the lords themselves said they could not distinguish between their true
subscriptions and those that were forged for them. But the manner of the discovery, with
several other circumstances, carried such marks of imposture, that the lords of the council
ordered a strict prosecution of all concerned in it, which ended in a full conviction of the
forgery: and those who had combined in it were wrhipped and pilloried, which, to the
reproach of our constitution, is the only punishment that our law has yet provided for such
practices. The lords passed some votes, asserting their privileges ; and were offended with
the judges for detaining some in prison, though there was no reason nor colour for their dis-
pleasure. But where the privilege or the dignity of peerage is in question, it is not easy to I
keep the house within bounds.
The debate went off in a bill that indemnified the ministry for those commitments, but |
* In "Poems on State Affairs/' vol. ii., published in 1703, is a satire, by De Foe, entitled, " Reformation of
Manners." — It gives severe characters of some of the public officers of those times, and is altogether well worth/,
perusal.
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 586
limited them for the future by several rules ; all which rules were rejected by the commons
They thought those limitations gave a legal power to commit in cases where they were
observed ; whereas they thought the safer way was to indemnify the ministry, when it was
visible they did not commit any but upon a real danger, and not to set them any rules ;
since, as to the committing of suspected persons, where the danger is real and visible, the
public safety must be first looked to and supersede all particular laws. "When, this was
over, an attempt was made in both houses, for the abjuration of king James : the king him-
self was more set on it than he had been formerly. It was rejected by the house of com-
mons : and though some steps were made in it by the lords, yet the opposition was so great
that it was let fall.
The affairs at sea occasioned much heat in both houses. The earl of Nottingham laid
before the lords, upon an address they had made to the king, all the letters that had passed
between himself and Russel, with all the orders he had sent him : and he aggravated Russel's
errors and neglects very severely. But the house of commons justified Russel and gave him
thanks over and over again ; and remained so fixed in this, that though the lords then com-
municated the papers the earl of Nottingham had laid before them to the commons, they
would not so much as read them, but renewed their first votes that justified Russel's fidelity,
courage, and conduct.
The king was now possessed against him : for he dismissed him from his service, and put
the command of the fleet into the hands of three persons, Killigrew, Delaval, and Shovel :
the two first were thought so inclinable to king James's interests, that it made some
insinuate that the king was in the hands of those who intended to betray him to his enemies ;
for though no exception lay against Shovel, yet it was said, he was only put with the other
two to give some reputation to the commission, and that he was one against two : so that
he could neither hinder nor do any thing. The chief blame of this nomination was thrown
on the earl of Nottingham ; and of those who belonged to his office many stories were raised
and spread about, as if there had been among them, besides a very great remissness in some
of the concerns of the government, an actual betraying of all our secrets and counsels. The
opinion of this was spread both within and without the kingdom, and most of our confede-
rates were possessed with it. He justified not only himself but all his under secretaries ;
both the king and queen continued still to have a good opinion of his fidelity ; but they saw
some defects in his judgment, with a most violent party heat, that appeared upon all occasions
and even in the smallest matters. The bills for the supply went on with a heavy progress in
the house of commons ; those who could not oppose them yet showed their ill humour in
delaying them, and clogging them with unacceptable clauses all they could. And they
continued that wasteful method of raising money upon remote funds, by which there lay
a heavy discount on tallies ; so that above a fourth part was, in some of them, to be
discounted : the parties of whig aud tory appeared almost in every debate, and in every
question.
The ill humour prevailed most in the house of lords, where a strong opposition was made
to every thing that was proposed for the government. They passed many votes, and made
many addresses to the king, which were chiefly designed to load the administration and to
alienate the king from the Dutch. The commons began with great complaints of the
Admiralty : and then they had the conduct in Flanders, particularly in the action at Steen-
kirk, before them : and they voted some heads of an address relating to those matters : but
by a secret management they let the whole thing fall, after they had passed those angry
votes. Any thing that the lords could do was of less moment when it was not likely to be
seconded by the commons ; yet they showed much ill humour..
This was chiefly managed by the marquis of Halifax and the earl of Mulgrave ; and they
drew in the earl of Shrewsbury, who was very ill pleased with the credit that some had
with the king, and lived in a particular friendship with the earl of Marlborough, and
thought that he was both ungratefully and unjustly persecuted. These lords had all the
jacobites ready to assist them in every thing that could embroil matters ; a great many
whigs, who were discontented and jealous of the ministry, joined with them : they knew
that all their murmuring would signify little, unless they could stop a money bill : and,
580 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
since it was settled in the house of commons as a maxim, that the lords could not make any
alterations in money-bills, when the bill for four shillings in the pound land-tax came up,
they put their strength to carry a clause, that the peers should tax themselves. And
though, in the way in which this clause was drawn up, it could not be defended, yet they
did all that was possible to put a stop to the bill ; and with unusual vehemence pressed for
a delay, till a committee should be appointed to examine precedents. This the earl of Mul-
grave pressed for many hours, with a force of argument and eloquence beyond any thing
that I had ever heard in that house. He insisted much upon the dignity of peerage ; and
made this, which was now proposed, to be so main a part of that dignity, that he exhausted
all the topics of rhetoric, to convince the lords, that, if they yielded to this, they divested
themselves of their true greatness ; and nothing would remain but the name and shadow of
a peer, which was but a pageant. But after all the pomp and heat of his oratory, the lords
considered the safety of the nation more than the shadow of a privilege ; and so they passed
the bill.
These lords also set on foot a proposition that had never been offered, but when the nation
was ready to break out into civil wars ; and that was, that a committee of lords and com-
mons should be appointed to confer together, concerning the state of the nation ; this once
begun would have grown in a very short time to have been a council of state ; and they
would soon have brought all affairs under thi'ir inspection ; but this was so strongly opposed,
that it was soon let fall.
When the party that was set against the court saw they could carry nothing in either
house of parliament, then they turned their whole strength against the present parliament, to
force a dissolution ; and in order to that, they first loaded it with a name of an ill sound ;
and, whereas king Charles's long parliament was called the pensioner parliament, they called
this the officers parliament ; because many that had commands in the army were of it :
and the word that they gave out among the people was, that we were to be governed by
a standing army, and a standing parliament. They tried to carry a bill that rendered all
members of the house of commons incapable of places of trust or profit ; so that every member
that accepted a place should be expelled the house, and be incapable of being chosen again to
sit in the current parliament. The truth was, it came to be observed, that some got credit
by opposing the government ; and that to silence them, they were preferred : and then they
changed their note, and were as ready to flatter as before to find fault. This gave a specious
colour to those who charged the court with designs of corrupting members, or, at least, of
stopping their mouths by places and pensions. When this bill was set on, it went through
the house of commons with little or no difficulty : those who were in places had not strength
and credit to make great opposition to it, they being the persons concerned, and looked on as
parties : and those who had no places, had not the courage to oppose it ; for in them it would
have looked as an art to recommend themselves to one. So the bill passed in the house of
commons ; but it was rejected by the lords, since it seemed to establish an opposition between
the crown and the people, as if those who were employed by the one could not be trusted by
the other.
When this failed, another attempt was made in the house of lords ; in a bill that was
offered, enacting, That a session of parliament should be held every year, and a new parlia-
ment be summoned every third year, and that the present parliament should be dissolved
within a limited time. The statutes for annual parliaments in king Edward the First, and
king Edward the Third's time, are well known; but it is a question whether the supposition
" if need be" falls upon the whole act, or only upon those words, " or oftener :" it is cer-
tain these acts were never observed, and the non-observance of them was never complained
of as a grievance. Nor did the famous act in king Charles the First's time, carry the neces-
sity of holding a session further than to once in three years. Anciently, considering the
haste and hurry in which parliaments sat, an annual parliament might be no great incon-
venience to the nation ; but by reason of the slow methods of sessions now, an annual par-
liament in times of peace would become a very insupportable grievance. A parliament of
a long continuance seemed to be very dangerous, either to the crown, or to the nation ; if the
conjuncture, and their proceedings, gave them much credit, they might grow very uneasy t<
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY 587
the crown, as happened in king Charles the First's time ; or in another situation of affairs,
they might be so practised upon by the court, that they might give all the money, and all
the liberties of England up, when they were to have a large share of the money, and were
to be made the instruments of tyranny, as it was likely to have been in king Charles the
Second^s time. It was likewise hoped, that frequent parliaments would put an end to the
great expense candidates put themselves to in elections ; arid that it would oblige the mem-
bers to behave themselves so well, both with relation to the public, and in their private
deportment, as to recommend them to their electors at three years' end ; whereas when a
parliament was to sit many years, members covered with privileges were apt to take great
liberties, forgot that they represented others, and took care only of themselves. So it was
thought, that England would have a truer representative, when it was chosen anew every
third year, than when it run on to the end of a reign. All that was objected against this
was, that frequent elections would make the freeholders proud and insolent, when they knew
that applications must be made to them at the end of three years ; this would establish a
faction in every body of men that had a right to an election ; and whereas now an election
put men to a great charge all at once, then the charge must be perpetual all the three years,
in laying in for a new election, when it was known how soon it must come round. And as
for the dissolution of the present parliament, some were for leaving it to the general trien-
nial clause, that it might still sit three years ; they thought that, during so critical a war,
as that in which we were now engaged, it was not advisable to venture on a new election,
since we had so many among us who were so ill affected to the present establishment : yet
it was said, this parliament had already sat three years ; and, therefore, it was not consistent
with the general reason of the act to let it continue longer. So the bill passed in the house
of lords ; and though a bill from them, dissolving a parliament, struck only at the house of
commons, the lords being still the same men ; so that, upon that single account, many
thought they would have rejected it, yet they also passed it, and fixed their own dissolution
to the twenty-fifth of March in the next year ; so that they reserved another session to them-
selves. The king let the bill lie for some time on the table : so that men's eyes and expec-
tations were much fixed on the issue of it. But, in conclusion, he refused to pass it ; so the
session ended in ill humour. The rejecting a bill, though an unquestionable right of the
crown, has been so seldom practised, that the two houses are apt to think it a hardship when
there is a bill denied *.
But to soften the distaste this might otherwise give, the king made considerable alterations
in his ministry. All people were now grown weary of the great seal's being in commission ;
it made the proceedings in chancery to be both more dilatory, and more expensive ; and
there were such exceptions made to the decrees of the commissioners, that appeals were
brought against most of them, and frequently they were reversed. Sir John Somers had
now got great reputation, both in his post of attorney-general, and in the house of commons ;
so the king gave him the great seal. He was very learned in his own profession, with a
great deal more learning in other professions, in divinity, philosophy, and history. He had
a great capacity for business, with an extraordinary temper ; for he was fair and gentle, per-
haps to a fault, considering his post ; so that he had all the patience and softness, as well as
the justice and equity, becoming a great magistrate. He had always agreed in his notions
with the whigs, and had studied to bring them to better thoughts of the king, and to a
greater confidence in him t. Trenchard was made secretary of state ; he had been engaged
* King William was persuaded to consent to the tricn- session, gave her consent to forty-three bills, and rejected
uial bill, two years subsequently. His rejection of the forty-eight.
bill, as mentioned in the text, is the last time the prero- f John, lord Somers, baron Evesham, born in 1650, at
gative of the crown has been so employed ; and, although Worcester, was one of the brightest ornaments of his age.
the king has an undoubted right to w'ithhold his consent His father sent him to Trinity College, Oxford ; and here
'o any bill passed by the two houses, yet he would be now he formed an intimacy with the young duke of Shrcws-
;i very rash monarch who would venture to do it against bury, that never afterwards was weakened. He first
the united opinions of the collected wisdom of the nation, obtained public notice by the talents displayed by him as
!n earlier periods of our history, the prerogative was pro- one of the counsel employed to defend, in 1688, the seven
I usely exercised. In sir Symond Dewe's "-Journal," p. bishops, or seven golden candlesticks, as they we;-e
->96, it is stated, that queen Elizabeth, at the close of a emphatically denominated. Always acting consistently
688
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
far with the duke of Monmouth, as was told formerly. He got out of England, and lived
some years beyond sea, and had a right understanding of affairs abroad : he was a cairn and
sedate man, and was much more moderate than could have been expected, since he was a
leading man in a party. He had too great a regard to the stars, and too little to religion *.
The bringing these men into those posts was ascribed chiefly to the great credit the earl of
Sunderland had gained with the king ; he had now got into his confidence, and declared
openly for the whigs. These advancements had a great effect on the whole party, and brought
them to a much better opinion of the king. A young man, Mr. Montague, a branch of the
earl of Manchester's family, began to make a great figure in the house of commons. He
was a commissioner of the treasury, and soon after made chancellor of the exchequer. He
had great vivacity and clearness, both of thought and expression ; his spirit was at first
turned to wit and poetry, which he continued still to encourage in others, when he applied
himself to more important business. He came to have great notions with relation to all
the concerns of the treasury, and of the public funds, and brought those matters into new
.and better methods : he shewed the error of giving money upon remote funds, at a vast dis-
count, and with great premiums to raise loans upon them ; which occasioned a great outcry
at the sums that were given, at the same time that they were much shrunk before they pro-
duced the money that was expected from them. So he pressed the king to insist on this as
a maxim, to have all the money for the service of a year to be raised within that year t.
with the whigs, he obtained the favour of William, who
made him solicitor-general in 1689, and attorney-general
in 1692. In the following year we have seen that he was
made lord keeper, and four years subsequently was enno-
bled, and appointed lord high chancellor. Never had so
much dignity, or so much mildness, been displayed ; never
such a complication of endowments centred in one per-
son. He uas a prodigy. Lord Orford said he was
" a chapel in a place where every other room is pro-
faned." In the city he only had to ask for the king,
and the money was had. The laws of England were
known to him, and he was not ignorant of those of Greece,
Rome, or modern kingdoms. Foreign ambassadors, noble-
men, and strangers saw, in an individual of private birth,
unused to courts, the manners of the most finished courtier :
professional men of all kinds found in him, for he admitted
them to his table, an adept in that science they had spent
a life in studying. A lucid eloquence was natural to him.
His arguments were called "geometrical stairs," support-
ing each other. He was the truest patriot and sincerest
of all William's ministers ; yet, as will be seen in future
pages, even he could not escape the machinations of those
who desired place and power more than they respected
worth. In 1710, he finally retired from public affairs,
and died in 1716 — a warning against presumption to the
most talented — an idiot ! His great foible was a devo-
tion to women, and this hastened his death. Unmarried,
his titles died with him. It is greatly to be lamented
that nearly all his MSS were destroyed in 1752 by a
fire in Lincoln's-Inn. The few that escaped have been
published by lord Hardwicke. A good life of this great
man is still a desideratum. Whoever undertakes it, will
find valuable materials in those papers, and in the " Shrews-
bury Correspondence." Maddock's Life of Somers, and
the sketch of his early years, by Cooksey, are very imper-
fect. There is a memoir of him in the Biographia Bri-
ton nica.
* Sir John Trenchard was of the legal profession. His
residence was Wolverton, in Dorsetshire. He narrowly
escaped being executed, for one of the witnesses swore that
Trei;chard undertook to raise troops at Taunton, although,
as he was the first mover of the exclusion bill, it was con-
sidered Jarnes the Second would have him destroyed.
He joined Monmouth's expedition, but escaped when it
was defeated. At the revolution he returned to England,
and represented Dorchester in Parliament. He was mace
a serjeant in 1689, and afterwards secretary of stute, as
mentioned above. He enjoyed his distinctions a very-short
time, dying in 1694 Noble's Continuation of Grainger.
•f- Charles Montague was the youngest son of a youngest
son of an earl of Manchester, and born at Horton, iu
Northamptonshire, during 1661. The remainder of his
career may be told in the words of Dr. Johnson. He was
educated first in the country, and then removed to West-
minster : where, in 1677, he was chosen a king's scholar,
and recommended himself to Busby by his felicity in
extemporary epigrams. He contracted a very intimate
friendship with Mr. Stepney; and, in 1682, when Step-
ney was elected to Cambridge, the election of Montague
being not to proceed until the year following, he was
afraid lest, by being placed at Oxford, he might be sepa-
rated from his companion, and therefore solicited to be
removed to Cambridge. It seemed, indeed, time to wish
for a removal, for he was already a schoolboy of twenty-
one. At Trinity College, of which his uncle was the
master, he commenced his acquaintance with the great
Newton, which continued through his life, and was at
last attested by a legacy. In 1685, his verses on the
death of king Charles made such an impression upon the
earl of Dorset, that he was invited to town, and introduced
by that universal patron of the wits. In 1687 he joined
with Prior in " the City Mouse and Country Mouse," a
burlesque of Dryden's " Hind and Panther." He feigned
the invitation to the prince of Orange, and sat in the con-
vention. About the same time he married the countess
dowager of Manchester, and intended to have taken orders,
but changed his purpose, and purchased for 1,500/. the
place of one of the clerks of council. After he had writteL
his epistle on the victory of the Boyne, his patron, Dorset,
introduced him to the king, saying, " Sire, I have a
mouse to wait on your majesty." To which the king is
said to have replied, " You do well to put me in the way
of making a man of him." In 1691, being a member of
the house of commons, he argued warmly in favour of a
law to grant the assistance of counsel in trials for high
treason ; and in the midst of his speech, falling into sonic
confusion, was for a while silent ; but recovering himself,
observed, " how reasonable it was to allow counsel to
men called as criminals before a court of justice, when it
appeared how much the presence of this assembly would
disconcert one of their own body." He now rose fast
into honours and employment, being made one of the
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. *689
But as the employing these men had a very good effect on the king's affairs, so a party
came to be now formed that studied to cross and defeat every thing ; this was led by Sey-
mour and Musgrave. The last was a gentleman of a noble family in Cumberland, whose
life had been regular, and his deportment grave. He had lost a place in king James's time ;
for though he was always a high tory, yet he would not comply with his designs. He had
indeed contributed much to increase his revenue, and to offer him more than he asked ; yet
he would not go into the taking off the tests. Upon the revolution, the place out of which
he had been turned, was given to a man that had a good share of merit in that great event.
This alienated him from the king ; and he, being a man of good judgment, and of great
experience, came to be considered as the head of the party ; in which he found his account
so well, that no offers that were made him could ever bring him over to the king's interests.
Upon many critical occasions he gave up some important points, for which the king found it
necessary to pay him very liberally.
But the party of the tories was too inconsiderable to have raised a great opposition, if a
body of whigs had not joined with them ; some of these had such republican notions, that
they were much set against the prerogative : and they thought the king was become too
stiff in maintaining it ; others were offended because they were not considered nor preferred,
as they thought they deserved. The chief of these were, Mr. Paul Foley and Mr. Harley *.
The first of these was a younger son of one, who from mean beginnings had, by iron works,
raised one of the greatest estates that had been in England in our time. He was a learned,
though not a practising lawyer ; and was a man of virtue and good principles, but morose
and wilful ; and he had the affectation of passing for a great patriot by his constant finding
fault with the government, and venting an ill humour, and a bad opinion of the court.
Harley was a man of a noble family, and very eminently learned ; much turned to politics,
and of a restless ambition. He was a man of great industry and application, and knew
forms, and the records of parliament so well, that he was capable both of lengthening out
and of perplexing debates. Nothing could answer his aspiring temper ; so he and Foley
joined with the tories to create jealousies, and raise an opposition. They soon grew to be
able to delay matters long, and set on foot some very uneasy things that were popular ;
such as the bill against parliament men being in places, and that for dissolving the parlia-
ment, and for having a new one every third year.
That which gave them much strength was, the king's cold and reserved way ; he took no
pains to oblige those that came to him, nor was he easy of access ; he lived out of town
at Kensington, and his chief confidants were Dutch. He took no notice of the clergy, and
seemed to have little concern in the matters of the church, or of religion ; and at this
time some atheists and deists, as well as Socinians, were publishing books against religion
in general, and more particularly against the mysteries of our faith. These expressed great
zeal for the government, which gave a handle to those who were waiting for all advantages,
and were careful of increasing and improving them, to spread it all over the nation, that
the king, and those about him, had no regard to religion, nor to the church of England.
But now I go on to the transactions of this summer. The king had, in his speech to the
parliament, told them he intended to land a considerable army in France this year : so,
after the session, orders were given for hiring a fleet for transports, with so great a train of
artillery, that it would have served an army of forty thousand men. This was very accept-
able to the whole nation, who loved an active war, and were very uneasy to see so much
money paid, and so little done with it ; but all this went off without any effect. The
commissioners of the treasury, a privy councillor, and was raised to the peerage. He was twice attacked by the
chancellor of the exchequer, as mentioned in the text, house of commons, so uncertain is popular favour, but was
He merited the gratitude of his country by effecting a as often protected by the conn tcr-votes of the peers. He
re-coinage of the silver currency in two years, an under- again came in to office upon the accession of George the First,
taking that was deemed impossible to complete. In 169G, but died soon after, in 1715, to the confusion of the chief
he projected the general fund, and raised the credit of practitioners of that time, Doctors Shadwell, Scigerthal,
the exchequer ; examined the giants of the Irish crown Blackmore, and Mead, who declared his disease to be a
lands, and was voted by the house of commons to have pleurisy, when it proved to be an inflammation of the
deserved his majesty's favour. In 1698, he was advanced lungs Johnson's Lives of the Poets; Noble's Contio.
to be first commissioner of the treasury, and appointed one of Grainger.
of the regency in the king's absence ; the year after, he * Afterwards carl of Oxford.
690 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Frencli had attempted this winter the siege of Rhinfeldt, a place of no great consequence ;
but it lay upon the Rhine, not far from Coblentz ; and by it Franconia would have been
open to them. They could not cut off the communication by the Rhine ; so that fresh sup-
plies of men and provisions were every day sent to them by the care of the landgrave of
Hesse, who managed the matter with such success, that after a fortnight's stay before it, the
French were forced to raise the siege ; which was a repulse so seldom given them, that
upon it some said, they were then sensible that Louvois was dead. The French had also
made another attempt upon Huy, of a shorter continuance, but with the like success. The
campaign was opened with great pomp in Flanders ; for the king of France came thither in
person, accompanied by the ladies of the court, which appeared the more ridiculous, since
there was no queen at the head of them, unless madame de Maintenon was to be taken for
one, to whom respects were indeed paid with more submission than is commonly done to
queens ; so that what might be wanting in the outward ceremony, was more than balanced
by the real authority that she had. It was given out, that the king of France, after he had
amused the king for some days, intended to have turned either to Brussels on the one hand,
or to Liege on the other. In the mean while the French were working on the Dutch, by
their secret practices, to make them hearken to a separate peace ; and the ill humour that
had appeared in the parliament of England against them was an argument much made use
of, to convince them how little ground they had to trust to their alliance with England ; so
that, as French practices had raised this ill humour among us, they made now this use of it
to break our mutual confidence, and by consequence our alliance with the States. The king
made great haste, and brought his army much sooner together than the French expected :
he encamped at Park, near Louvain : by which he broke all the French measures ; for he
lay equally well posted to relieve Brussels or Liege. It was grown the more necessary to
take care of Liege, because though the bishop was true to the allies, yet there was a faction
formed among the capitulars, to offer themselves to the French ; but the garrison adhered
to the bishop ; and now, when so great an army lay near them, they broke the measures
which that faction had taken. The French king, seeing that the practices of treachery, on
which he chiefly relied, succeeded so ill, resolved not to venture himself in any dangerous
enterprise ; so he and the ladies went back to Versailles.
The dauphin, with a great part of the army, was sent to make head against the Germans
who had brought an army together, commanded by the elector of Saxony, the landgrave ot
Hesse, and the prince of Baden ; the Germans moved slowly, and were retarded by some
disputes about the command ; so that the French came on to Heidelberg, before they wera
ready to cover it. The town could make no long resistance, but it was too soon abandoned
by a timorous governor. The French were not able to hinder the conjunction of the Ger-
mans, though they endeavoured it ; they advanced towards them. And though the Dauphin
was much superior in numbers, and studied to force them to action, yet they kept close ;
and he did not think fit to attack them in their camp. The French raised great contribu-
tions in the Wirtemburg ; but no action happened on the Rhine all this campaign. The
French had better success, and less opposition, in Catalonia : they took Rosas, and advanced
to Barcelona, expecting their -fleet, which was to have bombarded it from the sea, while
their army attacked it by land. This put all Spain under a great consternation ; the design
of this invasion was, to force them to treat of a separate peace ; while they felt themselves
so vigorously attacked, and saw that they were in no condition to resist.
Affairs in Piedmont gave them a seasonable relief: the duke of Savoy's motions were sc
slow, that it seemed both sides were resolved to lie upon the defensive. The French were
very weak there, and they expected to be as weakly opposed ; but in the end of July, the
duke began to move ; and he obliged Catinat to retire with his small army, having made
him quit some of his posts. And then he formed the siege of St. Bridget, a fort that lay
above Pignerol, and, as was believed, might command it. After twelve days' siege, the
French abandoned it, and he was master of it ; but he was not furnished for undertaking
the siege of Pignerol, and so the campaign went off in marches and countermarches ; but
in the end of it, Catinat, having increased his army by some detachments, came up to the
duke of Savoy. They engaged at Orbasson, where the honour of the action, but with that
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 691
the greatest loss, fell to tlic French ; for, though they carried it by the?7 numbers, their bodies
bning less spent and fuller, yet the resistance that was made was such, that the duke of
Savoy gained more in his reputation, than he suffered by the loss of the day.
The two armies lay long in Flanders, watching one another's motions, without coming to
action. In July, Luxembourg wrent to besiege Huy, and carried it in two or three days
The king moved that way, on design either to raise the siege, or to force a battle. Those
in Huy did not givo him time to come to their relief; and Luxembourg made a feint towards
Liege, which obliged the king to send some battalions to reinforce the garrison of that
place. He had also sent another great detachment, commanded by the duke of Wirtem-
burg, to force the French lines, and to put their country under contribution ; which he
executed with great success, and raised above four millions. Luxembourg thought this was
an advantage not to be lost : so that, as soon as ho had received orders from the king of
France to attack the king in his camp, he came up to him near Landen, upon the river
Gitte. He was about double the king's number, chiefly in horse. The king might have
secured himself from all attacks, by passing the river ; and his conduct in not doing it
was much censured, considering his strength, and the enemy's. He chose rather to stay
for them, but sent away the baggage and heavy cannon to Mechlin, and spent the whole
night in planting batteries, and casting up retrenchments. On the twenty-ninth of July
the French began their attack, early in the morning, and came on writh great resolution,
though the king's cannon did great execution ; they were beaten off with the loss of many
officers in several attacks ; yet they came still on with fresh bodies, till at last, after an
action of seven or eight hours' continuance, they broke through, in a place where there was
such a body of German and Spanish horse, that the army on no side was thought less in
danger. These troops gave way ; and so the French carried the honour of the day, and
were masters both of the king's camp and cannon : but the king passed the river, and cut
the bridges, and lay secure out of reach. He had supported the wlioJ.fi action with so much
courage, and so true a judgment, that it was thought he got more honour that day than
even when he triumphed at the Boyne. He charged himself in several places ; many were
shot round about him with the enemy's cannon : one musket-shot carried away part of his
scarf, and another went through his hat, without doing him any harm. The French lost so
many men, and suffered so much in the several onsets they had made, that they were not
able to pursue a victory, which cost them so dear. We lost in all about seven thousand ;
and among these there was scarce an officer of note ; only the count de Solms had his leg
shot off by a cannon ball, of which he died in a few hours. By all the accounts that came
from France, it appeared that the French had lost double the number, with a vastly greater
proportion of officers. The king's behaviour, during the battle, and in the retreat, was
much magnified by the enemy, as well as by his own side. The king of France was
reported to have said upon it, that Luxembourg's behaviour was like the prince of Conde's,
but the king's like M. Turenne's. His army was, in a few days, as strong as ever, by recall-
ing the duke of Wirtemburg, and the battalions he had sent to Liege, and some other bodies
hat he drew out of garrisons. And the rest of the campaign passed over, without any
•ther action ; only at the end of it, after the king had left the army, Charleroi was besieged
>y the French : the country about it had been so eat up, that it was not possible to sub-
ist an army that might have been brought to relieve it : the garrison made a brave rcsist-
nice, and held out a month, but it wras taken at last.
Thus the French triumphed every where ; but their successes were more than balanced
»y two bad harvests, that came successively one after another ; they had also suffered much
u their vintage ; so that they had neither bread nor wine. Great diligence was used to
>ring in com from all parts ; and strict orders were given by that court, for regulating the
>rice of it, and for furnishing their markets; there was also a liberal distribution ordered
'.y that king foi the relief of the poor. But misery will be misery still, after all possible
;tre to alleviate it. Great multitudes perished for want, and the whole kingdom fell into
|iu extreme poverty; so that all the pomp of their victories could not make them easy at
|">me. They tried all possible methods for bringing about a general peace; or if that
Ailed, for a separate peace with some of the confederates ; but there was no disposition iu
592 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
any of them to hearken to it; nor could they engage the northern crowns to offer their
mediation. Some steps were indeed made, for they offered to acknowledge the present
government of England ; but in all other points their demands were still so high, that
there was no prospect of a just peace till their affairs should have brought them to an
humbler posture.
But while the campaign, in all its scenes, was thus unequal and various, the French,
though much weaker at sea, were the most successful there ; and though we had the superior
strength, we were very unprosperous ; and by our ill conduct we lost much, both in our
honour and interest, on that element. The great difficulty that the French were under in
their marine was, by reason of their two great ports, Brest and Toulon ; and from the bring-
ing their fleets together, and sending them back again. The danger they ran in that, and
the delays that it put them under, were the chief occasions of their losses last year ; but
these were, in a great measure, made up to them now. We were sending a very rich fleet
of merchant ships to the Mediterranean, which was valued at many millions ; some of these
had lain ready a year and a half, waiting for a convoy, but were still put off by new delays ;
nor could they obtain one after Russel's victory, though we were then masters at sea. They
were promised a great one in winter. The number of the merchant ships did still increase ;
so that the convoy, which was at first designed, was not thought equal to the riches of
the fleet, and to the danger they might run by ships that might be sent from Toulon to
intercept them. The court of France was watching this carefully ; a spy among the Jacob-
ites gave advice, that certain persons sent from Scotland to France, to shew with how small
a force they might make themselves masters of that kingdom, had hopes given them for
some time : upon which several military men went to Lancashire and Northumberland, to
see what could be expected from thence, if commotions should happen in Scotland. But in
February the French said they could not do what was expected ; and the Scotch agents
were told that they were obliged to look after the Smyrna fleet, which they reckoned might
be of more consequence than even the carrying Scotland could be. The fleet was ready in
February, but new excuses were again made ; for it was said, the convoy must be increased
to twenty men of war ; Rook was to command it : a new delay was likewise put in, on
the pretence of staying for advice from Toulon, whether the squadron that was laid up there
was to lie in the Mediterranean this year, or to come about to Brest. The merchants were
very uneasy under those delays, since the charge was likely to eat up the profit of the
voyage; but no dispatch could be had; and very probable reasons were offered to justify
every new retardment. The French fleet had gone early out of Toulon, on design to have
destroyed the Spanish fleet, which lay in the bay of Puzzolo ; but they lay so safe there, that
the French saw they could not succeed in any attempt upon them ; afterwards the/ stood
off to the coast of Catalonia, to assist their army, which was making some conquests there.
Yet these were only feints to amuse and to cover their true design. The fleet at Brest
sailed away from thence so suddenly, that they were neither completely manned nor
victualled ; and they came to Lagos Bay in Algarve. Tenders were sent after them, with
the necessary complement of men and provisions : this sudden and unprovided motion of the
French fleet looked as if some secret advice had been sent from England, acquainting them
with our designs. But at the secretary's office, not only there was no intelligence concerning
their fleet, but when a ship came in that brought the news of their having sailed from Brest,
they were not believed. Our main fleet sailed out into the sea for some leagues with Rook,
and the merchant ships ; and when they thought they were out of danger, they came hack.
Rook was unhappy in that, which, upon any other occasion, would have been a great hap-
piness : he had a fair and a strong gale of wind, so that no advice sent after him could over-
take him ; nor did he meet with any ships at sea that could give him notice of the danger
that lay before him. He doubled the Cape of St. Vincent, and had almost fallen in with !
the French fleet, before he was aware of it. He dreamed of no danger but from the Toulon ,
squadron, till he took a fire-ship ; the captain whereof endeavoured to deceive him by a j
false fetory, as if there had been only fifteen men of war lying at Lagos, that intended to join '
D'Estrees. The merchants were for going on, and believed the information ; they were con-
firmed in this by he disorder the French seemed to be in ; for they were cutting their cables,
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 603
and drawing near the shore. The truth was, when they saw Rook's fleet, they apprehended
by their numbers that the whole fleet of England was coming towards them ; and indeed
had they come so far with them, here was an occasion offered, which perhaps may not be
found again in an age, of destroying their whole strength at sea. But as the French soon
perceived their error, and were forming themselves into a line, Rook saw his error likewise,
and stood out to sea, while the merchants fled, as their fears drove them ; a great many of
them sticking still close to him ; others sailed to Cadiz, and some got to Gibraltar ; and,
instead of pursuing their voyage, put in there ; some ships were burnt or sunk, and a very
small number was taken by the French. They did not pursue Rook, but let him sail away
to the Madeiras ; and from thence he came, first to Kinsale, and then into England. The
French tried what they could do upon Cadiz, but found that it was not practicable. They
came next to Gibraltar, where the merchants sunk their ships, to prevent their falling into
their hands ; from thence they sailed along the coast of Spain, and burnt some English and
Dutch ships that were lying at Malaga, Alicant, and in some other places. They hoped to
have destroyed the Spanish fleet ; but they put in at Port Mahon, where they were safe.
At length, after a very glorious campaign, the French came back to Toulon. It is certain,
if Tourville had made use of all his advantages, and had executed the design, as well as it
was projected, he might have done us much mischief: few of our men-of-war, or merchant-
men, could have got out of his hands. The loss fell heaviest on the Dutch ; the voyage was
! quite lost, and the disgrace of it was visible to the whole world, and very sensible to the
I trading part of the nation.
The appearances were such, that it was generally surmised our counsels were betrayed.
! The secretary, that attended on the admirals, was much suspected, and charged with many
things ; but the suspicions rose high even as to the secretary of state's office. It was said,
that our fleet was kept in port till the French were laid in their way, and was then ordered
to sail, that it might fall into their hands. Many particulars were laid together, which had
such colours, that it was not to be wondered at, if they created jealousy, especially in minds
sufficiently prepared for it. Upon enquiry, it appeared, that several of those, who, for the
last two years, were put in the subaltern employments, through the kingdom, did upon
many occasions shew a disaffection to the government, and talked and acted like enemies.
Our want of intelligence of the motions of the French, while they seemed to know every
thing that we either did, or designed to do, cast a heavy reproach upon our ministers, who
were now broken so in pieces, that they acted without union or concert : every one studied
to justify himself, and to throw the blame on others ; a good share of this was cast on the earl
f Nottingham : the marquis of Caermnrthen was much suspected ; the earl of Rochester
egan now to have great credit with the queen, and seemed to be so violently set against the
vhigs, that they looked for dreadful things from him, if he came again to govern ; for, being
laturally warm, and apt to heat himself in company, he broke out into sallies, which were
arried about, and began to create jealousies, even of the queen herself.
I was in some sort answerable for this ; for, when the queen came into England, she was
o possessed against him, that he tried all his friends and interest in the court, to be admitted
<> clear himself, and to recover her favour, but all in vain ; for they found her so alienated
torn him, that no person would undertake it. Upon that he addressed himself to me : I
! ought that, if he came into the service of the government, his relation to the queen would
i iake him firm and zealous for it : and I served him so effectually, that the queen laid aside
ill her resentments, and admitted him, by degrees, into a high measure of favour and confi-
' aoe *. I quickly saw my error ; and he took pains to convince me effectually of it ; for
Some of the harshest treatment Dr. Burnet met rendon was afterwards unhappily engaged in the conspiracy
b in the two former reigns, had passed through the against the government, in 1690, and some hotter whigs
K!S of the earl of Rochester; no two men ever differed were for the severest methods, the bishop became a hearty
re widely in their principles, both in church and state ; and successful advocate in his favour. These matters arc
the first good offices done that earl, with the king and but cursorily mentioned in the history, but will more fully
''en (after all other applications for introduction had appear from the four following original letters; the first,
led), their entire reconciliation to him, and the first written by the countess of Ranelagh ; the other three by
1 vantages be reaped in consequence of that reconciliation, the earl of Rochester himself: —
•'•e owing to our author. And when the earl of da-
ft U
504
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
he was no sooner possessed of her favour, than he went into an interest, very different from
what I believed he would have pursued. He talked against all favour to dissenters, and for
« My lord,
" Your lordship knows that by my lord Rochester's
desiring me to help him to thank you for your forwardness
to do him favours with their majesties (out of the sense
he had, that he ought to be more grateful for them,
because he had not at all deserved them from your lord-
sbip), he had informed me, that you had done him such
favours ; and when, pursuant to his desire, I began to give
you humble thanks for him (who is a person in whom I
can be very sensibly obliged) I told your lordship I was
pleased in paying this duty, as much upon your account,
as upon his lordship's, as having attempted to conquer
him by weapons, fit to be used by one of your profession
and character; and I hoped he might be advantaged, as
well by being gained by you, as by reaping good fruits of
your mediation with their majesties. And now I present
your lordship, in the enclosed, with what appears to me an
evidence, that my hopes of his making ingenuous returns,
for your generous advances towards a friendship with him,
were not groundless ; since he would sure never have
pitched upon you, to manage an application of his about an
interest wherein the visible subsistence of his family is so
deeply concerned, if he did not firmly believe the reality
of your intentions towards him ; though he have no merits
of his towards you, or any thing else, but your Christian
beginnings towards him, to build that faith upon. Nor
can be, in my poor opinion, give you a clearer proof of his
being already overcome by you, than in choosing you to be
the person to whom he would in such an interest be
obliged ; since he thereby puts himself upon the peril of
being faithfully yours, or a very unthankful man ; which
I do so much assure myself he will not be, that I humbly
beg your lordship to put this obligation upon him, to per-
fect what you have already begun to do for him, of a like
nature, and to the same royal person : who would not, I
think, act unbecoming herself, nor the eminent station
God has placed her in, in assisting five innocent children,
who have the honour to be related to her royal mother,
who did still, with great tenderness, consider her own
family, when she was most raised above it; especially
when, in assisting them, her majesty will need only to
concern herself, to preserve a property made theirs by the
law of England, which as queen of this kingdom she is
obliged to maintain.
" I send your lordship my lord Rochester's letter to me,
that you may see he has thoughts that justify what I have
said here for him, and has expressed them much better
than I can do : so that as an argument to gain your par-
don, for this confused scribble of mine, I present you with
his good writing. I am,
" Your lordship's humble and affectionate servant,
" July 13<A, 1689. " K. RANELAGH."
« My Lord,
" The good offices, your lordship has told me, you have
endeavoured to do me with the queen, of your own accord
and generosity, incline me to be desirous to be obliged to
your lordship, for the favour of presenting the enclosed
petition to her majesty. Your lordship will see, by the
reading it, the occasion and the subject of it ; and I am
sure I need not suggest any thing to your own kind
thoughts to add at the delivery of it, save only this, which
I thought not proper to touch in the petition, that I have
certainly as good a title in law to it as any man has to any
thing he possesses ; as likewise that the pension is appro-
priated, to be paid out of a part of the revenue, which
never was designed by any act of parliament, for any
public use of the government ; which I think has some-
thing of weight and reason to distinguish it from those
pensions that are placed on the more public branches of
the revenue.
" I know not whether the queen can do me any good in
this affair, but I will believe her majesty cannot but wish
she could ; however, I think I should have been very
wanting to my children if I had not laid this case most
humbly before her majesty ; lest at one time or other she
herself might say, I had been too negligent in not making
applications to her; which having now done, I leave the
rest, with all possible submission, to her own judgment,
and to the reflections, that some good-natured moments
may incline her to make towards my family. I should
say a great deal to your lordship, for my own confidence,
in addressing all this to your lordship, some passages of
my life having been such as may very properly give it that
name : but, 1 think, whatever you would be content to
hear on that subject will be better expressed by the per-
son, who does me the honour to deliver this to your lord-
ship, from
" My lord,
" Your lordship's most obedient servant,
" July 13, 1689. " ROCHESTER."
« My lord,
" Upon what account soever it is, that your lordship is
pleased to let me hear from you, T take it to be something
of good fortune, whatsoever ill cause there may be in it
too. Therefore I humbly thank your lordship for the
honour of yours of the 18th from Salisbury; which was
sent me to this pretty place, where I love to be, as much
as you do at your palace ; and though I cannot do so
much good to others as your lordship does there to all
that are near you, yet I do more to myself than I can do
any where else. Quid sentire putas, quid credis, amice,
precari ? Sit mihi quod nunc est, etiam minus, ut mihi
vivam quod superest scvi. Forgive this transgressional
rapture, and receive my thanks, which I pay your lord-
ship again, for your kind letter. For indeed I do take it
very kindly, that-you were so much concerned, as to give
me a kind hint of that unseasonable discourse you came
to be acquainted with when you were last in London ; I :
will make the best use of it I can, to prevent the like for J
the future, if I have any credit. And in the mean time ;
I must make use of this opportunity to calm and soften j
your resentments, towards this friend of mine, as you call j
him in the beginning of your letter. I will allow you as I
a servant to the king and queen, and a subject to their J
crown, to have as great a detestation of the contrivance,
as you can wish ; and upon my word, I can accompany |
you in it. But when I consider you, as once you were, a ;
concerned friend of this lord, to have a respect for his
/amily, and particularly for my father, who lost not only
all the honours and preferments of this world, but even
the comforts of it too, for the integrity and uprightness of
his heart : you must forgive me, if I conjure you, by all
that's sacred in this generation in which we live together,
by the character that you bear, and by the religion you
profess, that you do not (as much as in you lies) suffer
this next heir of my good father's name and honour, to go J
down with sorrow to the grave. I would not flatter j
myself that your lordship should be moved with any fund-
ness of mine, to endeavour to bring to pass, what is
fit for a wise and a good man to propose ; that would b<
to make a very ill use of your friendship to me, and I
would rather be corrected myself in my own desires, than
expose your lordship on such an account. But I i
that they, who are the supreme directors of this matu-ij
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY 69i
setting up the notions of persecution and violence, which he had so much promoted in king
Charles's time, and professed himself an enemy to the present bishops, and to the methods
they were taking, of preaching and visiting their dioceses, of obliging the clergy to attend
more carefully to their functions., and of endeavouring to gain the dissenters by gentle and
calm methods.
The king had left the matters of the church wholly in the queen's hands. He found he
could not resist importunities which were not only vexatious to him, but had drawn prefer-
ments from him, which he came soon to see were ill bestowed ; so he devolved that care upon
the queen, which she managed with strict and religious prudence. She declared openly
against the preferring of those who put in for themselves, and took care to inform herself
particularly of the merits of such of the clergy as were not so much as known at court, nor
using any methods to get themselves recommended ; so that we had reason to hope, that, if
this course should be long continued, it would produce a great change in the church, and in
the temper of the clergy. She consulted chiefly with the archbishop of Canterbury, whom
she favoured and supported in a most particular manner. She saw what need there was of
it ; for a party was formed against him, who set themselves to censure every thing he did.
It was a melancholy thing to consider that, though we never saw an archbishop before him
apply himself so entirely, without partiality or bias, to all the concerns of the church and
religion, as he did ; and that the queen's heart was set on promoting them, yet such an
evil spirit should seem to be let loose upon the clergy. They complained of every thing
that was done, if it was not in their own way ; and the archbishop bore the blame of all.
He did not enter into any close correspondence, or the concerting measures with the minis-
try, but lived much abstracted from them ; so they studied to depress him all they could.
This made a great impression upon him. He grew very uneasy in his great post : we were
all soon convinced, that there was a sort of clergymen among us that would never be satis-
fied, as long as the toleration was continued ; and they seemed resolved to give it out, that
under God, may in their great wisdom and goodness
judge, that it may prove as much to their honour and
safety too, to pass over this particular, as if they should
pursue the strictest measures of justice in it. Though I
an? a brother, if I did not, upon the greatest reflection I
can make, think I should be of the same opinion, if I
were none, I would not press this matter upon you. For
I cannot but think, that the queen would do, and would
be glad to avow it too, a very great thing for the memory
of that gentleman, so long in his grave. It is upon this
account I am begging of your lordship to do all that's pos-
sible, to preserve every part and branch and member of
his family, from the least transient stain of infamy and
reproach. And if God was prevailed with by Abraham,
to have saved a whole city for the sake of ten righteous
men, I hope there may be as charitable an inclination to
spare the debris of our broken family, for the sake of him
who was the raiser of it.
" I ask your lordship's pardon for being thus importu-
nate ; for I have great need of your help, and I hope I
shall have it from you. Losses of many and good friends
1 have borne, and submitted with patience to the pleasure
of Almighty God ; but a calamity of this nature, that I
now deprecate, has in it something so frightful, and on
some accounts so unnatural, that I beg you for God's
jsuke, from an angry man yourself, grow an advocate for
l"ie and for the family on this account. I am ever,
" My lord,
" Your lordship's most faithful humble servant,
"• ROCHESTER.
" New Park, March 21 st, 1690-91."
" My lord,
' I was warm, I confess, in the last letter T gave your
idship the trouble of, and I thank you for reproving the
•lenience of my style, in your last of the twenty-eighth ;
m grown cooler, and acknowledge my fault; neither
did I commit it with an apprehension that your lordship
was inexorable, or that it would be so much as needful to
desire your assistance in that matter. But you may
remember, you had used a word to me, when you were
here, an attainder, that I acknowledge sounded very
harsh to me, and when I had reflected a little more upon
it, as likewise that your lordship did not use to speak by
chance, and consequently that you had good ground for
what you said, I own it heated me all over, which made
me express my thoughts to you with more transport than
was fit, and I will say no more of them, for fear of run-
ning into new excesses. What your lordship proposes for
my lord Clarendon to desire, is perfectly agreeable to my
mind ; but I know not, whether it be not a little too
early, and that such a petition might be presented with a
better grace, if he were once out of the Tower upon bail,
than it would be while he is under this close confinement.
But as your lordship says, the affair of Mons must for the
present put a stop to every man's private thoughts, for
that is a matter of such vast importance to the public,
that it is but very fit, that all particular considerations
should give way to it, and wait the determination of that
great point : I cannot but believe the French are masters
of it before now, because all the letters that came by the
last post, that I could hear of, looked upon it as a thing
impracticable to relieve it, but we have had no letters
since Saturday. What the French will do next, whether
send their men into quarters for two months, or try to
follow their blow, is what men are now most anxious
about. One of my old friends, with whom of late I have
renewed my acquaintance, says upon all these mighty
occasions, ' Prudens futuri temporis exitum Caliginosa
noctepremit Deus Ridetque si mortalis ultra Fas trepidat.'
But 1 confess to you I cannot be quite so overcome with
philosophy, as not to be concerned beforehand, at what
this dark night is to bring forth."
2
590 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the church was in danger, till a prosecution of dissenters should be again set on foot ; nor
could they look at a man with patience, or speak of him with temper, who did not agree
with them in these things. The bishops fell under the displeasure of the wings by the
methods they took, not only of protecting, but of preferring some of these men, hoping by
that means both to have softened them and their friends ; but they took their preferments
as the rewards that they supposed were due to their merit ; and they employed the credit
and authority which their preferments brought them, wrholly against those to whom they
owed them. The whigs were much turned against the king ; and were not pleased with
those who had left them, when they were so violent in the beginning of this reign ; and it
was a hard thing, in such a divided time, to resolve to be of no party, since men of that
temper are pushed at by many, an I protected by no side. Of this we had many instances
at that time ; and I myself had so. ne very sensible ones ; but they are too inconsiderable to
be mentioned. In this bad state we were, when a session of parliament came on with great
apprehensions, occasioned by our ill success, and by the king's temper, which he could no
way constrain, or render more complaisant, but chiefly from the disposition of men's minds,
which was practised on with great industry by the enemies of the government, who were
driving on jealousies daily.
A parliament had been summoned in Ireland by the lord Sidney ; but they met full of dis-
content, and were disposed to find fault with every thing : and there was too much matter
to work upon ; for the lord lieutenant was apt to excuse or justify those who had the
address to insinuate themselves intc his favour ; so that they were dismissed before they
brought their bills to perfection. The English in Ireland thought the government favoured
the Irish too much ; some said this was the effect of bribery, whereas others thought it was
necessary to keep them safe from the prosecutions of the English, who hated them, and were
much sharpened against them. The protecting the Irish was indeed in some sort necessary,
to keep them from breaking out, or from running over to the French : but it was very plain
that the Irish were Irish still, enemies to the English nation, and to the present government ;
so that all kindness shewed them beyond what was due in strict justice, was the cherishing
an inveterate enemy. There were also great complaints of an ill administration, chiefly
in the revenue, in the pay of the army, and in the embezzling of stores. Of these much
noise was made in England, which drew addresses from both houses of parliament to
the king, which were very invidiously penned ; every particular being severely aggravated.
So the king called back the lord Sidney, and put the government of Ireland into three lords
justices ; lord Capel, brother to the earl of Essex, sir Cyril "Wyche, and Mr. Duncomb.
When they were sent from court, the queen did very earnestly recommend to their care, the
reforming of many disorders that were prevailing in that kingdom ; for, neither had the late
destructive war, out of which they were but beginning to recover themselves, nor their
poverty, produced those effects, that might have been well expected.
The state of Ireland leads me to insert here a very particular instance of the queen's pious
care in the disposing of bishoprics : lord Sidney was so far engaged in the interest of a great
family of Ireland, that he was too easily wrought on to recommend a branch of it to a vacant
see. The representation was made with an undue character of the person : so the queen
granted it. But when she understood that he lay under a very bad character, she wrote a
letter, in her own hand, to lord Sidney, letting him know what she had heard, and ordered
him to call for six Irish bishops, whom she named to him, and to require them to certify to
her their opinion of that person : they all agreed that he laboured under an ill fame ; and,
till that was examined into, they did not think it proper to promote him ; so that matter
was let fall. I do not name the person ; for I intend not to leave a blemish on him ; but set
this down as an example, fit to be imitated by Christian princes.
Another effect of the queen's pious care of the souls of her people was finished this year,
after it had been much opposed, and long stopped. Mr. Blair, a very worthy man, came
over from Virginia, with a proposition for erecting a college there. In order to which, he had
set on foot a voluntary subscription, which arose to a great sum ; and he found out some
Branches of the revenue there that went all into private hands, without being brought
any public account, with which a free-school and college might be well endowed. The
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. £07
born there were, as lie said, capable of every thing, if they were provided with the means of
a good education ; and a foundation of this kind in Virginia, that lay in the middle, between
our southern and northern plantations, might be a common nursery to them all ; and put the
people born there in a way of further improvement. Those concerned in the management
of the plantations had made such advantages of those particulars, out of which the endow-
ment was to be raised, that all possible objections were made to the project, as a design that
would take our planters off from their mechanical employments, and make them grow too
knowing to be obedient and submissive. The queen was so well pleased with the design, as
apprehending the very good effects it might have, that no objection against it could move
her : she hoped it might be a means of improving her own people, and of preparing some to
propagate the gospel among the natives ; and therefore, as she espoused the matter with a
particular zeal, so the king did very readily concur with her in it. The endowment was
fixed, and the patent was passed for the college called, from the founders, the William and
Mary College.
Affairs in Scotland grew more and more out of joint. Many whom the king had trusted
in the ministry there, were thought enemies to him and his government ; and some took so
little care to conceal their inclinations, that, when an invasion was looked for, they seemed
resolved to join in it. They were taken out of a plot, which was managed by persuading
many to take oaths to the government, on design to betray it ; and were now trusted with
the most important posts. The presbyterians began to see their error, in driving matters so
far, and in provoking the king so much ; and they seemed desirous to recover his favour, and
to manage their matters with more temper. The king came likewise to see that he had
been a little too sudden in trusting some who did not deserve his confidence. Duke Hamil-
ton had for some years withdrawn from business ; but he was now prevailed with to return
to council ; many letters were intercepted between France and Scotland ; in those from Scot-
land, the easiness of engaging that nation was often repeated, if no time were lost ; it seemed
therefore necessary to bring that kingdom into a better state.
A session of parliament was held there, to which duke Hamilton was sent as the king^s
commissioner ; the supplies that were asked were granted ; and now the whole presbyterian
party was again entire in the king's interest ; the matters of the church were brought to
more temper than was expected : the episcopal clergy had more moderate terms offered
them ; they were only required to make an address to the general assembly, offering to sub-
scribe to a confession of faith, and to acknowledge presbytery to be the only government of
that church, with a promise to submit to it ; upon which, within a fortnight after they did
that, if no matter of scandal was objected to them, the assembly was either to receive them
into the government of the church, or, if they could not be brought to that, the king was to
take them into his protection, and maintain them in their churches, without any dependence
on the presbytery. This was a strain of moderation that the presbyterians were not easily
brought to ; a subscription that owned presbytery to be the only legal government of that
church, without owning any divine right in it, was far below their usual pretensions. And
this act vested the king with an authority, very like that which they were wont to condemn
;is Erastianism. Another act was also passed, requiring all in any office in church or state,
to take, besides the oath of allegiance, a declaration called the assurance, owning the king
and queen to be their rightful and lawful sovereigns, and promising fidelity to them against
king James, and all his adherents. The council was also empowered to tender these, as they
j should see cause for it, and to fine and imprison such as should refuse them. When the
session was near an end, Nevil Payne was brought before the parliament, to be examined,
upon the many letters that had been intercepted. There was a full evidence against him in
many of his own letters; but he sent word to several of the lords, in particular to duke
! I lamilton, that as long as his life was his own, he would accuse none ; but he was resolved
lie would not die; and he could discover enough to deserve his pardon. This struck such
terror into many of them, whose sons or near relations had been concerned with him, that he
moving for a delay, on a pretence of some witnesses that were not then at hand, a time was
pven him beyond the continuance of the session ; so he escaped, and that enquiry was stifled,
'ihe session ended calmly; but the king seemed to have forgotten Scotland so entirely, that
693 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
he let three months go over before he took notice of any of their petitions ; and, though he
had asked, and had supplies for an augmentation of forces, and many had been gained to
consent to the tax, by the hope of commissions in the troops that were to be levied ; yet the
king did not raise any new ones, but raised the supply, and applied it to other uses : this
began again to raise an ill humour, that had been almost quite laid down, in the whole course
of this session, which was thought a reconciling one. The clergy let the day prefixed, for
making their submission to the assembly, slip, and did not take the oaths ; so they could
claim no benefit by the act that had been carried in their favour, not without some difficulty.
And the law, that was intended to save them, did now expose them to ruin ; since by it,
they, not taking the oaths, had lost their legal rights to their benefices. Yet they were suf-
fered to continue in them, and were put in hope, that the king would protect them, though
it was now against law. They were also made to believe, that the king did not desire that
they should take the oaths, or make any submission to presbytery : and it is certain, that no
public signification of the king's mind was made to them ; so they were easily imposed on
by surmises and whispers ; upon this the distractions grew up afresh. Many concluded
there, as well as in England, that the king's heart led him still to court his enemies, even
after all the manifest reasons he had to conclude, that the steps they made towards him were
only feigned submissions, to gain such a confidence as might put it in their power to deliver
him up.
The earl of Middleton went over to France in the beginning of this year ; and it was
believed he was sent by a great body among us, with a proposition, which, had he had the
assurance to have made, and they the wisdom to have accepted, might have much increased
our factions and jealousies. It was, that king James should offer to resign his title in favour
of his son, and likewise to send him to be bred in England, under the direction of a parlia-
ment, till he should be of age ; but I could never hear that he ventured on this advice ; in
another he succeeded better. When king James thought the invasion from Normandy, the
former year, was so well laid, that he seemed not to apprehend it could miscarry, he had pre-
pared a declaration, of which some copies came over. He promised nothing in it, and par-
doned nobody by it ; but he spoke in the style of a conqueror, who thought he was master,
and therefore would limit himself by no promises, but such as were conceived in general
words, which might be afterwards expounded at pleasure. This was much blamed, even by
his own party, who thought that they themselves were not enough secured by so loose a
declaration : so the earl of Middleton, upon his going over, procured one of another strain,
which, as far as words could go, gave all content ; for he promised every thing, and pardoned
all persons. His party got this into their hands. I saw a copy of it, and they waited for
a fit occasion to publish it to the nation.
"We were also at this time alarmed with a negotiation, that the court of France was setting
on foot at Madrid ; they offered to restore to the crown of Spain all that had been taken from
it, since the peace of Munster, on condition that the duke of Anjou should be declared the
heir of that crown, in default of issue by the king : the grandees of Spain, who are bred up
to a disregard and contempt of all the world besides themselves, were inclinable to entertain
this proposition ; though they saw that by so doing they must lose the house of Austria, the
elector of Bavaria, and many of their other allies. But the king himself, weak as he was,
stood firm arid intractable ; and seemed to be as much set on watching their conduct, as a
man of his low genius could possibly be. He resolved to adhere to the alliance, and to carry
on the war, though he could do little more than barely resolve on it. The Spaniards thought
of nothing but their intrigues at Madrid ; and for the management of the war, and all their
affairs, they left the care of that to their stars> and to their allies.
The king came over to England in November ; he saw the necessity of changing both his
measures and his ministers ; he expressed his dislike of the whole conduct at sea ; and named
Bussel for the command of the fleet next year ; he dismissed the earl of Nottingham, and
would immediately have brought the earl of Shrewsbury again into the ministry : but when that
lord came to him, he thought the king's inclinations were still the same that they had been for
some years, and that the turn which he was now making was not from choice, but force ; so that
went off, and the earl of Shrewsbury went into the country ; yet the king soon after sent f<
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 590
him, and gave him such assurances, that he was again made secretary of state, to the general
satisfaction of the whigs *. But the person that had the king's confidence to the highest
degree, was the earl of Sunderland, who, by his long experience and his knowledge of men
and things, had gained an ascendant over him, and had more credit with him than any
Englishman ever had : he had brought the king to this change of councils by the prospect
he gave him of the ill condition his affairs were in, if he did not entirely both trust and
satisfy those, who, in the present conjuncture, were the only party that both could and
would support him. It was said, that the true secret of this change of measures was, that
the tories signified to the king plainly, that they could carry on the war no longer, and that
therefore he must accept of such a peace as could be had : this was the most pernicious thing
that could be thought on, and the most contrary to the king's notions and designs ; but they
being positive, he was forced to change hands, and to turn to the other party ; so the whigs
were now in favour again, and every thing was done that was likely to put them in good
humour. The commission of the lieutenancy for the city of London, on which they had set
their hearts, much more perhaps than it deserved, was so altered, that the whigs were the
superior number ; and all other commissions over England were much changed. They were
also brought into many places of trust and profit ; so that the king put his affairs chiefly
into their hands ; yet so, that no tory who had expressed zeal or affection for the government
was turned out. Upon this the whigs expressed new zeal and confidence in the king. All
the money that was asked for the next year's expense was granted very readily.
Among other funds that were created, one was for constituting a bank, which occasioned
great debates : some thought a bank would grow to be a monopoly. All the money of
England would come into their hands, and they would in a few years become the masters of
the stock and wealth of the nation. Others argued for it ; that the credit it would have,
must increase trade and the circulation of money, at least in bank notes. It was visible
that all the enemies of the government set themselves against it, with such a vehemence of
zeal, that this alone convinced all people, that they saw the strength that our affairs would
receive from it. I had heard the Dutch often reckon up the great advantages they had from
their banks ; and they concluded that, as long as England continued jealous of the govern-
ment, a bank could never be settled among us, nor gain credit enough to support itself : and
upon that they judged that the superiority in trade must still lie on their side. This, with
all the other remote funds that were created, had another good effect ; it engaged all those
who were concerned in them, to be, upon the account of their own interest, zealous for main-
taining the government ; since it was not to be doubted, but that a revolution would have
swept all these away. The advantages that the king, and all concerned in tallies, had from
the bank, were soon so sensibly felt, that all people saw into the secret reasons that made the
enemies of the constitution set themselves with so much earnestness against it t.
The enquiry into the conduct at sea, particularly with relation to the Smyrna fleet, took
up much time, and held long : great exceptions were taken to the many delays, by which it
seemed a train was laid, that they should not get out of our ports till the French were ready
to lie in their way, and intercept them. Our want of intelligence was much complained of :
the instructions that the admirals, who commanded the fleet, had received from the cabinet
council, were thought ill given, and yet worse executed ; their orders seemed weakly drawn,
ambiguous, and defective : nor had they shewn any zeal in doing more than strictly to obey
* It seems that, at their first interview, the earl of Paterson, a merchant. It was with extreme difficulty
Shrewsbury was so dissatisfied with the king, that after that he and his friends obtained a charter, which is dated
:m angry altercation, he left London for his seat in Oxford- July 27, 1694, and was granted only for twelve years, the
t-hire. William, in his cooler moments, saw the import- corporation to be determinable on a year's notice. The
»ncc of obtaining the earl's services, and employed the original capital subscribed was 1,200,000/., which they
blandishments of the royal concubine. Elizabeth Villiers, lent to the government at eight per cent, interest, and an
afterwards countess of Orkney, and of the earl's favourite, allowance of 4,00()/. annually for managing expenses.
Mrs. Lundee. Even these failed, and it was not until he The difficulties this corporation has had to encounter, the
that the king intended really to confide in the whig important assistance it has afforded to our various adminis-
,y, by appointing them to gome of the chief offices, that trations, and the great influence it has over our moneyed
1 '' was persuaded to accept the secretary's seals. — See the interests, arc subjects of important and interesting con-
orrcspondence. in Coxe's Shrewsbury Papers. sideration.
t The Bank of England was projected by Mr. W.
600 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
euch orders : they had very cautiously kept within them, and had been very careful never to
exceed them in a tittle ; they had used no diligence to get certain information concerning
the French fleet, whether it was still in Brest, or had sailed out ; but in that important
matter, they had trusted general and uncertain reports too easily ; nor had they sailed with
Rook, till he was past danger. To all this their answer was, that they had observed their
orders : they had reason to think the French were still in Brest ; that therefore it was not
safe to sail too far from the coast of England when they had (as they understood) ground to
believe, that they had left behind them a great naval force, which might make an impression
on our coast, when they were at too great a distance from it ; the getting certain intelligence
from Brest, was represented as impracticable. They had many specious things to say in
their own defence, and many friends to support them ; for it was now the business of one
party to accuse, and of another to justify that conduct. In conclusion, there was not ground
sufficient to condemn the admirals, as they had followed their instructions ; so a vote passed
in their favour. The rest of the business of the session was managed both with dexterity
and success ; all ended well, though a little too late ; for the session was not finished before
the end of April. Prince Lewis of Baden came this winter to concert measures with the
king : he stayed above two months in England, and was treated with very singular respects,
and at a great expense.
The tories began in this session to obstruct the king's measures more openly than before;
the earls of Rochester and Nottingham did it in the house of lords, with a peculiar edge and
violence : they saw how great a reputation the fair administration of justice by the judges,
and more particularly that equity, which appeared in the whole proceedings of the court of
chancery, gave the government ; therefore they took all occasions that gave them any handle
to reflect on these. We had many sad declamations, setting forth the misery the nation was
under, in so tragical a strain, that those who thought it was quite otherwise with us, and
that under all our taxes and losses, there was a visible increase of the wealth of the nation,
could not hear all this without some indignation.
The bishops had their share of ill humour vented against them ; it was visible to the whole
nation that there was another face of strictness, of humility and charity among them, than
had been ordinarily observed before : they visited their dioceses more ; they confirmed and
preached oftener than any who had in our memory gone before them ; they took more care
in examining those whom they ordained, and in looking into the behaviour of their clergy,
than had been formerly practised : but they were faithful to the government, and zealous for
it ; they were gentle to the dissenters, and did not rail at them, nor seem uneasy at the tole-
ration. This was thought such a heinous matter, that all their other diligence was despised ;
and they were represented as men who designed to undermine the church, and to betray it.
Of this I will give one instance ; the matter was of great importance ; and it occasioned
great and long debates in this, and in the former session of parliament ; it related to the duke
of Norfolk, who had proved his wife guilty of adultery, and did move for an act of parlia-
ment, dissolving his marriage, and allowing him to marry again. In the later ages of popery,
when marriage was reckoned among the sacraments, an opinion grew to be received, that
adultery did not break the bond, and that it could only entitle to a separation, but not such
a dissolution of the marriage, as gave the party that was injured a right to marry again :
this became the rule of the spiritual courts, though there was no definition made about it
before the council of Trent. At the time of the reformation, a suit of this nature was pro-
secuted by the marquis of Northampton ; the marriage was dissolved, and he married a
second time : but he found it necessary to move for an act of parliament to confirm this sub-
sequent marriage. In the reformation of the ecclesiastical laws, that was prepared by Cran-
mer and others, in king Edward's time, a rule was laid down, allowing of a second marriage,
upon a divorce for adultery. This matter had lain asleep above an hundred years, till the
present duke of Rutland, then lord Roos, moved for the like liberty. At that time a scep-
tical and libertine spirit prevailed, so that some began to treat marriage only as a civil con-
tract, in which the parliament was at full liberty to make what laws they pleased ; and '
most of king Charles's courtiers applauded this, hoping by this doctrine that the king might ,
be divorced from the queen. The greater part of the bishops, apprehending the consequence ;
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. 001
that lord Roos's act might have, opposed every step that was made in it ; though many of
them were persuaded, that in the case of adultery, when it was fully proved, a second
marriage might be allowed. In the duke of Norfolk's case, as the lady was a papist, and a
busy Jacobite, so a great party appeared for her. All that favoured the Jacobites and those
who were thought engaged in lewd practices., espoused her concern with a zeal that did
themselves little honour. Their number was such, that no progress could be made in the
bill, though the proofs were but too full, and too plain. But the main question was, whether
supposing the matter fully proved, the duke of Norfolk should be allowed a second marriage ?
The bishops were desired to deliver their opinions, with their reasons : all those who had
been made during the present reign, were of opinion, that a second marriage in that case was
lawful, and conformable, both to the words of the gospel, and to the doctrine of the primitive
church ; and that the contrary opinion was started in the late and dark ages. But all the
bishops that had been made by the two former kings, were of another opinion, though some
of them could not well tell why they were so. Here was a colour for men, who looked at
things superficially, to observe that there was a difference of opinion, between the last made
bishops, and those of an elder standing ; from which they inferred, that we were departing
from the received doctrine of our church ; and upon that topic, the earl of Rochester charged
us very vehemently. The bill was let fall at this time : nor was the dispute kept up, for no
books were written on the subject of either side.
The king went beyond sea in May ; and the campaign was opened soon after. The
armies of both sides came very near one another: the king commanded that of the confede-
rates, as the dauphin did the French. They lay between Brussels and Liege ; and it was
given out, that they intended to besiege Maestricht : the king moved towards Namur, that
le might either cut off their provisions, or force them to fight ; but they were resolved to
avoid a battle ; so they retired likewise, and the campaign passed over in the ordinary man-
r : both of them moving and watching one another. The king sent a great detachment
break into the French country at Pont Esperies ; but though the body he sent had made
a great advance, before the French knew any thing of their march, yet they sent away their
cavalry with so much haste, and in so- continued a march, that they were possessed of the
)ass before the body the king had sent could reach it ; whereby they gained their point,
hough their cavalry suffered much. This design failing, the king sent another body towards
;Iuy, who took it in a few days. It was become more necessary to do this, for the covering
>f Liege, which was now much broken into faction ; their bishop was dead, and there was
i great division in the chapter ; some were for the elector of Cologne, and others were for
he elector Palatine's brother; but that for the elector of Cologne was the stronger party,
ind the court of Rome judged in their favour. The differences between that court and that
f Versailles, were now so far made up, that the bulls for the bishops, whom the king had
lamed to the vacant sees, were granted, upon the submission of all those who had been con-
erned in the articles of 1 682 ; yet after all that reconciliation, the real inclinations of the
ourt of Rome lay still towards the confederates : the alliance that France was in with the
Turk, was a thing of an odious sound at Rome. The taking of Huy covered Liege : so that
hey were both safer and quieter. The confederates, especially the English and the Dutch,
rew weary of keeping up vast armies, that did nothing else, but lay for some months advan-
ageously posted, in view of the enemy, without any action.
On the Rhine, things went much in the usual manner ; only at the end of the campaign,
ie prince of Baden passed the Rhine, and raised great contributions in Alsace, which the
I'rench suffered him to do, rather than hazard a battle. There was nothing of any import-
uice done on either side in Piedmont; only there appeared to be some secret management
•etvveen the court of France, and that of Turin, in order to a peace ; it was chiefly nego-
tiated at Rome, but was all the while denied by the duke of Savoy.
In Catalonia, the Spaniards were beat off from some posts, and Gironne was taken ; nor
'•vas Barcelona in any condition to have resisted, if the French had set down before it. The
ourt of Madrid felt their weakness, and saw their danger so visibly, that they were forced
i '» implore the protection of the English fleet. The French had carried the best part of their
aval force into the Mediterranean, and had resolved to attack Barcelona, both by sea and
602 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
land, at the same time ; and, upon their success there, to have gone round Spain, destroying
their coasts every where. All this was intended to force them to accept the offers the French
were willing to make them ; but to prevent this, Russel was ordered to sail into the Medi-
terranean with a fleet of threescore great ships. He was so long stopt in his voyage by con-
trary winds, that the French, if they had pursued their advantages, might have finished the
conquest of Catalonia ; but they resolved not to hazard their fleet ; so it was brought back
to Toulon, long before Russel could get into the Mediterranean, which was now left entirely
free to him. But it wTas thought that the French intended to make a second attempt, in the
end of the year, as soon as he should sail back to England : so it was proposed, that he might
lie at Cadiz all the winter. This was an arrair of that importance, that it was long and
much debated, before it was resolved on. It was thought a dangerous thing to expose the
best part of our fleet, so much as it must be, while it lay at so great a distance from us, that
convoys of stores and provisions might easily be intercepted ; and indeed, the ships were so
low in their provisions, when they came back to Cadiz (the vessels that were ordered to carry
them having been stopped four months in the channel by contrary Avinds) that our fleet had
not then above a fortnight's victuals on board ; yet when the whole matter was thoroughly
canvassed, it was agreed, that our ships might both lie safe, and be well careened at Cadiz :
nor was the difference in the expense, between their lying there, and in our own ports, con-
siderable. By our lying there, the French were shut within the Mediterranean ; so that the
ocean and their coasts were left open to us. They were in effect shut up within Toulon ;
for they, having no other port in those seas but that, resolved not to venture abroad ; so that
now we were masters of the seas every where. These considerations determined the king to
send orders to Russel, to lie all the winter at Cadiz ; which produced very good effects. The
Venetians and the great duke had not thought fit to own the king till then. A great fleet
of stores and ammunition, with all other provisions for the next campaign, came safe to
Cadiz ; and some clean men of war were sent out, in exchange for others, which were
ordered home.
But while we were very fortunate in our main fleet, we had not the like good success in
an attempt that was made on Camaret, a small neck of land that lies in the mouth of the
river of Brest, and would have commanded that river, if we could have made ourselves
masters of it. Talmash had formed the design of seizing on it ; he had taken care to be well
informed of every thing relating to it : six thousand men seemed to be more than were
necessary for taking and keeping it. The design, and the preparations for it, were kept so
secret, that there was not the least suspicion of the project, till the hiring transport ships
discovered it. A proposition had been made of this two years before to the earl of Notting-
ham, who, among other things, charged Russel with it, that this had been laid before him
by men that came from thence, but that he had neglected it. Whether the French appre-
hended the design from that motion, or whether it was now betrayed to them, by some of
those who were in the secret, I know not : it is certain, that they had such timely know-
ledge of it, as put them on their guard. The preparations were not quite ready by the
day that was settled ; and, when all was ready, they were stopt by a westerly wind for
some time ; so that they came thither a month later than was intended. They found the
place was well fortified by many batteries, that were raised in different lines upon the rocks,
that lay over the place of descent ; and great numbers were there ready to dispute their
landing. When our fleet came so near as to see all this, the council of officers were all
against making the attempt ; but Talmash had set his heart so much upon it, that he could
not be diverted from it.
He fancied the men they saw were only a rabble brought together to make a show,
though it appeared very evidently that there were regular bodies among them, and that
their numbers were double to his. He began with a landing of six hundred men, and put
hi -nself at the head of them. The men followed him with great courage, but they were so
exposed to the enemies' fire, and could do them so little harm, that it quickly appeared it j
was needlessly throwing away the lives of brave men to persist longer in so desperate an !
undertaking. The greatest part of those who landed were killed or taken prisoners, and not
above an hundred of 'Jiem came back. Talmash himself was shot in thu thigh, of which lie :
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY COS
died in a few days, and was much lamented ; for he was a brave and generous man, and a
good officer, very fit to animate and encourage inferior officers and soldiers ; but he was
much too apt to be discontented, and to turn mutinous ; so that upon the whole, he was
one of those dangerous men that are capable of doing as much mischief as good service.
Thus that design miscarried, which, if it had been undertaken at any time before the
French were so well prepared to receive us, might have succeeded, and must have had great
effects *.
Our fleet came back to Plymouth ; and after they had set the land forces ashore, being
well furnished with bomb- vessels and ammunition, they were ordered to try what could be
done on the French coast t. They lay first before Dieppe, and burned it almost entirely to
the ground. They went next to Havre de Grace, and destroyed a great part of that town.
Dunkirk was the place of the greatest importance : so that attempt was long pursued in
several ways, but none of them succeeded. These bombardings of the French towns soon
spread a terror among all that lived near the coast : batteries were every where raised, and
the people were brought out to defend their country : but they could do us no hurt, while
our bombs at a mile's distance did great execution. The action seemed inhuman ; but the
French, who had bombarded Genoa without a previous declaration of war, and who had so
often put whole countries under military execution, even after they had paid the contribu-
tions that had been laid on them (for which they had protection given them), had no reason
to complain of this way of carrying on the war, which they themselves had first begun.
The campaign ended every where to the advantage of the confederates, though no signal
success had happened to their arms : and this new scene of action at sea raised the hearts of
our people, as much as it sunk our enemies. The war in Turkey went on this year with
various success : the Venetians made themselves masters of the isle of Scio, the richest and
the best peopled of all the islands of the Archipelago : those of that island had a greater
share of liberty left them, than any subjects of the Ottoman empire, and they flourished
accordingly. The great trade of Smyrna that lay so near them, made them the more con-
siderable. The Venetians fortified the port, but used the natives worse than the Turks had
done : and as the island had a greater number of people upon it than could subsist by the
productions within themselves, and the Turks prohibited all commerce with them from
Asia, from whence they had their bread ; the Venetians could not keep this possession,
unless they had carried off the greatest part of the inhabitants to the Morea, or their other
dominions, that wanted people. The Turks brought their whole power at sea together, to
make an attempt for recovering this island : two actions happened at sea, within ten days
one of another ; in the last of which the Venetians pretended they had got a great victory :
but their abandoning Scio, in a few days after, showed that they did not find it convenient
to hold that island, wrhich obliged them to keep a fleet at such a distance from their other
dominions, and at a charge which the keeping the island could not balance. The Turks
|>ent, as they did every year, a great convoy to Caminieck, guarded by the Grim-Tartars.
jThe Polish army routed the convoy, and became masters of all the provisions ; but a second
K-onvoy was more happy, and got into the place ; otherwise it must have been abandoned.
There was great distraction in the affairs of Poland : their queen's intrigues with the court
»f France gave much jealousy : their diets were broken up in confusion ; and they could
never agree so far in the preliminaries, as to be able by their forms to do any business. In
Vansylvania, the emperor had, after a long blockade, forced Giula to surrender ; so that the
jTurks had now nothing in those parts, on the north of the Danube, but Temeswaer. The
;rand vizier came into Hungary with a great army, while the emperor had a very small one
o oppose him. If the Turks had come on resolutely, and if the weather had continued
:ood, it might have brought a, fatal reverse on all the imperial affairs, and retrieved all that
* There appears no cause to wondei at the failure of infantry, who were immediately charged and cut to
liis expedition. It had been the common topic of con- pieces by the French horse Shrewsbury Corrcspond-
j.ersation in London for a month before it Bailed, so that ence ; Coxe's Life of Marlborough ; Tindal's Contin. of
j lie enemy were quite prepared to oppose us. Then there Rapin's History.
8 considerable confusion in landing from the boats, •{• This expedition was at the king's express desire,
that Tal mash could only Hand with nine hundred Sec his letter, " Shrewsbury Correspordcnce," p. 44.
604 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the Turks had lost. But the grand vizier lay still, while the emperor s army increased, aM
such rains fell that nothing could be done. The affairs of Turkey were thus in great
disorder : the grand seignior died soon after; and his successor in that empire gave hi.c sub-
jects such hopes of peace, that they were calmed for the present.
At the end of the campaign, the court of France flattered their people with hopes of a
speedy end of the war : and some men of great consideration were sent to try what terms
they could bring the empire or the states to : but the French were yet far from offering con-
ditions, upon which a just or a safe peace could be treated of. The States sent some as far
as to Maestricht, to see what powers those sent from France had brought with them, before
they would grant them the passports that they desired: and when they saw how lim'ted
these were, the negotiation was soon at an end ; or rather it never b<?gan. When the
French saw this, they disowned their having sent any on such an errand ; and preten ded
that this was only an artifice of the confederates to keep one another and their people in
heart, by making them believe that they had now only a small remnant of the war before
them, since the French had instruments every where at work to solicit a peace.
The king came to England in the beginning of November, and the parliament was open e<
with a calmer face than had appeared in any session during this reign. The supplies tha
were demanded, the total amounting to five millions, were all granted readily. An ij
humour indeed appeared in some who opposed the funds, that would most easily and m os
certainly raise the money that was given, upon this pretence, that such taxes would ro\\
to be a general excise ; and that the more easily money was raised, it would be the more
easy to continue such duties to a longer period, if not for ever. The truth was, the secret
enemies of the government proposed such funds as would be the heaviest to the people, and
would not fully answer what they were estimated at ; that so the nation might be uneasy
under that load, and that a constant deficiency might bring on such a debt, that the govern-
ment could not discharge, but must sink under it.
With the supply bills, as the price or bargain for them, the bill for frequent parliaments
went on : it enacted, that a new parliament should be called every third year, and that the
present parliament should be dissolved before the first of January, 1695-6; and to this the
royal assent was given : it was received with great joy, many fancying that all their other
laws and liberties were now the more secure, since this was passed into a law. Time must
tell what effects it will produce ; whether it will put an end to the great corruption with
which elections were formerly managed, and to all those other practices that accompany
them. Men that intended to sell their own votes within doors spared no cost to buy the
votes of others in elections : but now it was hoped we should see a golden age, wherein the
character men were in, and the reputation they had, w^ould be the prevailing considerations
in elections : and by this means it was hoped that our constitution, in particular that part
of it which related to the house of commons, would again recover both its strength and repu-
tation, which was now very much sunk ; for corruption was so generally spread, that it was
believed every thing was carried by that method.
But I am now coming towards the fatal period of this book. The queen continued still
to set a great example to the whole nation, which shined in all the parts of it. She used all
possible methods for reforming whatever was amiss. She took ladies off' from that idleness
which not only wasted their time but exposed them to many temptations : she engaged
many both to read and to work : she wrought many hours a-day herself, with her ladies
and her maids of honour working about her, while one read to them all. The female part of
the court had been in the former reigns subject to much censure, and there was great cause
for it ; but she freed her court so entirely from all suspicion, that there was not so much as
a colour for discourses of that sort. She did divide her time so regularly between her closet
and business, her work and diversion, that every minute seemed to have its proper employ-
ment : she expressed so deep a sense of religion, with so true a regard to it ; she had such
right principles and just notions ; and her deportment was so exact in every part of it ; all
being natural and unconstrained, and animated wifli due life and cheerfulness : she considered
every thing that was laid before her so carefully, and gave such due encouragement to (
freedom of speech : she remembered every thing so exactly, observing at the same time the
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY.
closest reservedness, yet with an open air and frankness : she was so candid in all she said,
and cautious in every promise she made ; and, notwithstanding her own great capacity, she
expressed such a distrust of her own thoughts, and was so entirely resigned to the king's
judgment, and so constantly determined by it, that when I laid all these things together,
which I had large opportunities to observe, it gave a very pleasant prospect to balance the
melancholy view that arose from the ill posture of our affairs in all other respects. It gave
us a* very particular joy when we saw that the person, whose condition seemed to mark her
out as the defender and perfecter of our reformation, was such in all respects in her public
administration, as well as in her private deportment, that she seemed well fitted for accom-
plishing that work for which we thought she was born : but we soon saw this hopeful view
blasted, and our expectations disappointed, in the loss of her.
It was preceded by that of archbishop Tillotson, who was taken ill of a fit of a dead palsy
in November, while he was in the chapel at Whitehall, on a Sunday, in the worship of God :
he felt it coming on him, but, not thinking it decent to interrupt the divine service, he
neglected it too long, till it fell so heavily on him, that all remedies were ineffectual ; and he
died the fifth day after he was taken ill*. His distemper did so oppress him, and speaking
was so uneasy to him, that though it appeared by signs and other indications that his under-
j standing remained long clear, yet he was not able to express himself so as to edify others.
i He seemed still serene and calm, and in broken words he said he thanked God he was quiet
within, and had nothing then to do but to wait for the will of Heaven. I preached his
funeral sermon, in which I gave a character of him which was so severely true, that I
perhaps kept too much within bounds, and said less than he deserved. But we had lived
m such friendship together, that I thought it was more decent, as it always is more safe, to
<Tr on that hand. He was the man of the truest judgment and best temper I had ever
known : he had a clear head, with a most tender and compassionate heart : he was a faithful
d zealous friend, but a gentle and soon conquered enemy : he was truly and seriously reli-
ous, but without affectation, bigotry, or superstition : his notions of morality were fine
d sublime : his thread of reasoning was easy, clear, and solid : he was not only the best
eacher of the age, but seemed to have brought preaching to perfection : his sermons were
well heard and liked, and so much read, that all the nation proposed him as a pattern,
d studied to copy after him : his parts remained with him clear and unclouded ; but the
rpetual slanders and other ill usage he had been followed with for many years, most par-
ularly since his advancement to that great post, gave him too much trouble, and too deep
concern : it could neither provoke him, nor fright him from his duty ;- but it affected his
nd so much, that this was thought to have shortened his days.
Sancroft had died a year before in the same poor and despicable manner, in which he had
ed for some years : he died in a state of separation from the church ; and yet he had not
e courage to own it in any public declaration : for neither living nor dying did he publish
y thing concerning it. His death ought to have put an end to the schism that some were
deavouring to raise ; upon this pretence, that a parliamentary deprivation was never to be
owed, as contrary to the intrinsic power of the church ; and therefore they looked on
ncroft as the archbishop still, and reckoned Tillotson an usurper, and all that joined with
m were counted schismatics ; they were willing to forget, as some of them did plainly
ndemn, the deprivations made in the progress of the reformation, more particularly those
the first parliament of queen Elizabeth's reign, and the deprivations made by the act of
iformity in the year 1662 : but from thence the controversy was carried up to the fourth
atury ; and a great deal of angry reading was brought out on both sides to justify, or to
ndemn, those proceedings. But arguments will never have the better of interest and
imour ; yet now, even according to their own pretensions, the schism ought to have ceased ;
he, on whose account it was set up, did never assert his right ; and therefore that
ight have been more justly construed a tacit yielding it ; but those who have a mind to
" Tillotson died on the 24th of November, 1G94. His integrity and freedom from avarice is attested by the fact
his widow, a nieca of Oliver Cromwell, was supported by the bounty of king William. — Noble's ConVip.-n'kn
GOG THE HISTORY OF THE REIGtf
embroil church or state, will never want a pretence, and no arguments will beat them
from it.
Both king and queen were much affected with Tillotson's death : the queen for many
days spoke of him in the tenderest manner, and not without tears. He died so poor that, if
the king had not forgiven his first fruits, his debts could not have been all paid : so
generous and charitable was he in a post, out of which Sancroft had raised a great estate,
which he left to his family ; but Tillotson was rich in good works. His see was filled by
Tenison, bishop of Lincoln. Many wished that Stillingfleet might have succeeded, he being
not only so eminently learned, but judged a man in all respects fit for the post. The queen
was inclined to him ; she spoke with some earnestness oftener than once to the duke of
Shrewsbury on that subject : she thought he would fill that post with great dignity : she
also pressed the king earnestly for him : but as his ill health made him not capable of the
fatigue that belonged to this province, so the whigs did generally apprehend that both his
notions and his temper were too high ; and all concurred to desire Tenison, who had a firmer
health, with a more active temper, and was universally well liked for having served the cure
of St. Martin's, in the worst time, with so much courage and discretion ; so that at this
time he had many friends and no enemies*.
The small pox raged this winter about London, some thousands dying of them, which gave
us great apprehensions with relation to the queen, for she had never had them.
In conclusion, she was taken ill, but the next day that seemed to go off: I had the honour
to be half an hour with her that day, and she complained then of nothing. The day
following she went abroad ; but her illness returned so heavily on her that she could disguise
it no longer : she shut herself up long in her closet that night, and burned many papers, and
put the rest in order ; after that she used some slight remedies, thinking it was only a
transient indisposition ; but it increased upon her, and, within two days after, the small pox
appeared, and with very bad symptoms. I will not enter into another's province, nor speak
of matters so much out of the way of my own profession : but the physicians' part was
universally condemned, and her death was imputed to the negligence, or unskilfulness, of
Dr. Ratcliffe. He was called for, and it appeared but too evidently that his opinion was
chiefly considered, and was most depended on. Other physicians were afterwards called,
but not till it was too late-]-. The king was struck with this beyond expression. He came
on the second day of her illness and passed the bill for frequent parliaments, which, if he had
not done that day, it is very probable he would never have passed it. The day after, he
called me into his closet, and gave a free vent to a most tender passion ; he burst out into tears,
and cried out that there was no hope of the queen, mnd that, from being the most happy, he
was now going to be the most miserable, creature upon earth. He said, during the whole !
course of their marriage, he had never known one single fault in her : there was a worth in
her that nobody knew besides himself; though he added, that I might know as much of
her as any other person did. Never was such a face of universal sorrow seen in a court, or
in a town, as at this time : all people, men and women, young and old, could scarcely refrain
from tears. On Christmas-day the small pox sunk so entirely, and the queen felt herself so
well upon it, that it was for a while concluded she had the measles, and that the danger was
over. This hope was ill grounded, and of a short continuance ; for, before night, all was
sadly changed. It appeared that the small pox were now so sunk that there was no hope
of raising them. The new archbishop attended on her ; he performed all devotions, and had
much private discourse with her. When the desperate condition she was in was evident
* Dr. Thomas Tenison is described by Mackay in his Martin's-in-the-fields, to which he was presented in 1680, j
"Memoirs," as being "a plain, good, heavy man ;" a that he founded the library which has just been thrown
sketch that his conduct, as metropolitan, justifies us in open to the public. It was for his strenuous oppositio
thinking accurate. Dr. Stillingfleet was every way his to popery, in the reign of James, that he obtained the
superior; but, in those days, it was a point of import- bishopric of Lincoln in 1691, from whence he was tn
ance to obtain a man for that high office who would lated to Canterbury. He died in 1715. — Biog. Britan. ; i
not do any harm. Tenison appeared to disadvantage Noble's Continuation of Grainger.
from being in such close juxtaposition to Tillotson. Pie -f- Dr. RatcliflPe always declared that he was not called
was born at Cottenham, in Cambridgeshire, during the in until human skill could be of no avail. Burnet i
year 1636. It was while he held the rectory of St. statement shows that medical aid was long deferred.
OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY. GOT
beyond doubt, lie told the king' he could not do his duty faithfully, unless he acquainted her
with the danger she was in. The king approved of it, and said, whatever effect it might
have, he would not have her deceived in so important a matter. And, as the archbishop
was preparing the queen with some address, not to surprise her too much with such tidings,
she presently apprehended his drift, but showed no fear nor disorder upon it. She said she
thanked God she had always carried this in her mind, that nothing was to be left to the
last hour ; she had nothing then to do but to look up to God, and submit to his will ; it
went further indeed than submission, for she seemed to desire death rather than life ; and
she continued to the last minute of her life in that calm and resigned state. She had
formerly written her mind, in many particulars, to the king : and she gave order to look
carefully for a small scrutoire that she made use of, and to deliver it to the king : and,
having dispatched that, she avoided the giving herself or him the tenderness which a final
parting might have raised in them both. She was almost perpetually in prayer. The day
before she died she received the sacrament, all the bishops, who were attending, being
admitted to receive it with her : we were, God knows, a sorrowful company ; for we were
losing her who was our chief hope and glory on earth : she followed the whole office,
repeating it after the archbishop : she apprehended, not without some concern, that she
should not be able to swallow the bread, yet it went down easily. When this was over,
she composed herself solemnly to die ; she slumbered sometimes, but said she was not
refreshed by it ; and said often that nothing did her good but prayer ; she tried once or twice
to have said somewhat to the king, but was not able to go through with it. She ordered
the archbishop to be reading to her such passages of Scripture as might fix her attention
and raise her devotion. Several cordials were given, but all was ineffectual ; she lay silent
for some hours : and some words that came from her showed her thoughts began to break.
In conclusion, she died on the 28th of December, about one in the morning, in the thirty-
third year of her age, and in the sixth of her reign.
She was the most universally lamented princess, and deserved the best to be so, of any in
our age, or in our history. I will add no more concerning her in the way of a character : I
have said a great deal already in this work ; and I wrote a book, as an essay on her cha-
racter, in which I have said nothing but that which I knew to be strictly true, without the
• nlargement of figure or rhetoric*. The king's affliction for her death was as great as it
was just ; it was greater than those who knew him best thought his temper capable of : he
went beyond all bounds in it : during her sickness, he was in an agony that amazed us all,
;1 linting often, and breaking out into most violent lamentations. When she died, his
•spirits sunk so low, that there was great reason to apprehend that he was following her ;
for some weeks after he was so little master of himself, that he was not capable of minding
jl Business, or of seeing company. He turned himself much to the meditations of religion, and
lo secret prayer; the archbishop was often and long with him : he entered upon solemn and
'- TIOIIS resolutions of becoming in all things an exact and exemplary Christian. And now
jl am come to the period of this book with a very melancholy prospect ; but God has ordered
lattors since beyond all our expectations t.
Burnet's work, with the queen's portrait, was pub- tion that was professed between her and the king was
ed in 1695. See an account of this essay in Mr. certainly genuine. Her private letters express naturally
.sracli's Curiosities of Literature, second series, article her love for him ; and, after he was dead, a bracelet of
rue Sources of Secret History." her hair was found upon his arm. — Noble's Continuation
- Burnet's character of queen Mary has never been of Grainger,
trover ted iu any material points. The mutual affec-
BOOK VI.
OF THE LIFE AND REIGN OF KING WILLIAM THE THIRD.
HE two houses of parliament set an example that was followed
by the whole nation, of making consolatory and dutiful addressee
to the king. The queen was buried with the ordinary cere-
mony, and with one piece of magnificence that could never
happen before ; for both houses of parliament went in procession
before the chariot that carried her body to Westminster Abbey ;
where places were prepared for both houses to sit in form, while
the archbishop preached the funeral sermon. This could never
happen before, since the sovereign's death had always dissolved
our parliaments. It is true, the earl of Rochester tried if ho
could have raised a doubt of the legality of this parliament's continuance, since it was sum-
moned by king "William and queen Mary j so, upon her death, the writ that ran in her name
seemed to die with her. This would have had fatal consequences, if in that season of the
year all things must have stood still till a new parliament could have been brought together :
but the act that put the administration entirely in the king, though the queen had a share in
the dignity of sovereign, made this cavil appear to be so ill grounded, that nobody seconded
so dangerous a suggestion.
The parliament went on with the business of the nation, in which the earl of Rochester
and that party artfully studied all that was possible to embroil our affairs. The state of our
coin gave them too great a handle for it. We had two sorts of coin : the one was milled,
and could not be practised on ; but the other was not so, and was subject to clipping : and
in a course of some years the old money was every year so much diminished, that it at last
grew to be less than the half of the intrinsic value. Those who drove this trade were as
much enriched as the nation suffered by it. When it came to be generally observed, the
king was advised to issue out a proclamation, that no money should pass for the future by
the tale, but by the weight, which would put a present end to clipping. But Seymour,
being then in the treasury, opposed this : he advised the king to look on, and let that
matter have its course : the parliament would in due time take care of it ; but in the mean-
while the badness of money quickened the circulation, while every one studied to put out of
his hands all the bad money ; and this would make all people the readier to bring their
cash into the exchequer, and so a loan was more easily made. The badness of the money
began now to grow very visible ; it was plain that no remedy could be provided for it, but
by recoining all the specie of England ; and that could not be set about in the end of a
session. The earls of Rochester and Nottingham represented this very tragically in the
house of lords, where it was not possible to give the proper remedy ; it produced only an
act with stricter clauses and severer penalties against clippers : this had no other effect but
that it alarmed the nation, and sunk the value of our money in the Exchange : guineas,
which were equal in value to twenty-one shillings and sixpence in silver, rose to thirty
shillings ; that is to say, thirty shillings sunk to twenty-one shillings and sixpence. This I
public disgrace put on our coin, when the evil was not cured, was in effect a great point
carried, by which there was an opportunity given to sink the credit of the government,
and of the public funds ; and it brought a discount of about 407. per cent, upon tallies.
Another bill was set on foot, which was long pursued, and in conclusion carried by the j
tories : it was concerning trials for treason ; and the design of it seemed to be to make men \
THE REIGN OF KING WILLIAM III. GO*
as safe in all treasonable conspiracies and practices as was possible : two witnesses were ta
concur to prove the same fact, at the same time : counsel in matters of fact, and witnesses
upon oath, were by it allowed to the prisoners ; they were to have a copy of the indictment
and the panel in due time : all these things were in themselves just and reasonable : and
if they had been moved by other men, and at another time, they would have met with little
opposition : they were chiefly set on by Finch, the earl of Nottingham's brother, who had
been concerned in the hard prosecutions for treasons in the end of king Charles's reign, and
had then carried all prerogative points very far ; but was, during this reign, in a constant
opposition to every thing that was proposed for the king's service : he had a copious way of
speaking, with an appearance of beauty and eloquence to vulgar hearers ; but there was a
superficialness in most of his harangues that made them seem tedious to better judges ; his
rhetoric was all \icious, and his reasoning was too subtle. The occasion given for this bill
leads me to give an account of some trials for treason during the last summer, which, for the
relation they have to this matter, I have reserved for this place.
Lunt, an Irishman, who was bold and poor, and of a mean understanding, had been often
employed to carry letters and messages between Ireland and England when king James was
there. He was once taken up on suspicion, but he was faithful to his party, and would
discover nothing ; so he continued after that to be trusted by them. But, being kept very
poor, he grew weary of his low estate, and thought of gaining the rewards of a discovery.
He fell into the hands of one Taaff, an Irish priest, who had not only changed his religion,
but had married in king James's time. Taaff came into the service of the present govern-
ment, and had a small pension. He was long in pursuit of a discovery of the imposture in
the birth of the prince of Wales, and was engaged with more success in discovering the
concealed estates of the priests and the religious orders, in which some progress was made.
These seemed to be sure evidences of the sincerity of the man, at least in his opposition to
those whom he had forsaken, and whom he was provoking in so sensible a manner. All
this I mention the more particularly to show how little that sort of men are to be depended
on ; he possessed those to whom his other discoveries gave him access, of the importance of
this Lunt, who was then come from St. Germains, and who could make great discoveries : so
Lunt was examined by the ministers of state ; and he gave them an account of some dis-
courses and designs against the king, and of an insurrection, that was to have broken out in
the year 1692, when king James was designing to come over from Normandy : for he said
he had carried at that time commissions to the chief men of the party, both in Lancashire
and Cheshire. A carrier had been employed to carry down great quantities of arms to
them : one of the chests, in which they were put up, had broken in the carriage, so the
Carrier saw what was in them ; and he deposed he had carried many of the same weight
ind size : the persons concerned, finding the carrier was true and secret, continued to employ
dm in that sort of carriage for a great while. Lunt's story seemed probable and coherent
n all its circumstances : so orders were sent to seize on some persons, and to search houses
or arms. In one house they found arms for a troop of horse, built up within walls very
iexterously. Taaff was all this while very zealous in supporting Lunt's credit, and in
issisting him in his discoveries. A solemn trial of the prisoners was ordered in Lancashire.
When the set time drew near, Taaff sent them word that, if he should be well paid for it,
3 would bring them all off : it may be easily imagined that they stuck at nothing for such
service. He had got out of Lunt all his depositions, which he disclosed to them ; so they
id the advantage of being well prepared to meet and overthrow his evidence in many cir-
umstances : and at the trial Taaff turned against him, and witnessed many things against
•tint that shook his credit. There was another witness that supported Lunt's evidence, but
<' was so profligate a man, that great and just objections lay against giving him any credit ;
ut the carrier's evidence was not shaken. Lunt, in the trial, had named two gentlemen
vrong, mistaking the one for the other ; but he quickly corrected his mistake : he had seen
fiem but once, and they were both together, so he might mistake their names ; but he was
I ire these were the two persons with whom he had those treasonable negotiations. Taaff
lad engaged him in company in London, to whom he had talked very idly, like a man who
solved to make a fortune by swearing : and it seemed, by what he said, that he haa many
R R
CIO THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
discoveries yet in reserve, which he intended to spread among many, till he should grew
rich and considerable by it : this was sworn against him. By all these things his evidence
was so blasted that no credit was given to him. Four of the judges were sent down to try
the prisoners at Manchester and at Chester, where they managed matters with an impartial
exactness. Any leaning that appeared was in favour of the prisoners, according to a charac-
teristic that judges had always pretended to, but had not of late deserved so well as upon
this occasion, of being counsel for the prisoner. The evidence that was brought against
Lunt was afterwards found to be false ; but it looked then with so good an appearance, that
both the king's counsel and the judges were satisfied with it ; and so, without calling for the
rest of the evidence, the matter was let fall : and when the judges gave the charge to the
jury, it was in favour of the prisoners, so that they were acquitted. And the rest of those
who were ordered to be tried after them were all discharged without trial.
The whole party triumphed upon this as a victory, and complained both of the ministers
of state and of the judges : the matter was examined into by both houses of parliament, and
it evidently appeared that the proceeding had been not only exactly according to law, but
that all reasonable favour had been shewed the prisoners ; so that both houses were fully
satisfied : only the earls of Rochester and Nottingham hung on the matter long, and with
great eagerness, and, in conclusion, protested against the vote by which the lords justified
these proceedings. This examination was brought on with much noise, to give the more
strength to the bill of treasons : but the progress of the examination turned so much against
them who had made this use of it, that it appeared there was no just occasion given by that
trial to alter the law. Yet the commons passed the bill : but the lords insisted on a clause,
that all the peers should be summoned to the trial of a peer that was charged with high
treason : the commons would not agree to that ; and so the bill was dropped for this time.
By the late trial it had manifestly appeared how little the crown gained by one thing, which
yet was thought an advantage, that the witnesses for the prisoner were not upon oath.
Many things were upon this occasion witnessed in favour of the prisoners, which were after--
wards found to be notoriously false : and it is certain that the terror of an oath is a great
restraint, and many, whom an oath might overawe, would more freely allow themselves the
liberty of lying in behalf of a prisoner to save his life.
When this design failed, another was set up against the bank, which began to have a
flourishing credit, and had supplied the king so regularly with money, and that upon such
reasonable terms, that those who intended to make matters go heavily, tried what could be
done to shake the credit of the bank. But this attempt was rejected in both houses with
indignation: it was very evident that public credit would signify little, if what was
established in one session of parliament might be fallen upon and shaken in another.
Towards the end of the session, complaints were made of some military men who did not
pay their quarters, pretending their own pay was in arrear ; but, it appearing that they had
been paid, and the matter being further examined into, it was found that the superior
officers had cheated the subalterns, which excused their not paying their quarters. Upon
this the enquiry was carried further, and such discoveries were made, that some officers were
broken upon it, while others prevented complaints, by satisfying those whom they had
oppressed. It was found out that the secretary of the treasury had taken two hundred
guineas, for procuring the arrears due to a regiment to be paid : whereupon he was sent to
the Tower, and turned out of his place. Many were the more sharpened against him,
because it was believed that he, as well as Trevor, the speaker, was deeply concerned in
corrupting the members of the house of commons : he had held his place both in king
Charles's and king James's time : and the share he had in the secret distribution of money,
had made him a necessary man for those methods.
But the house, being on this scent, carried the matter still further. In the former session
of parliament, an act had passed, creating a fund for the repayment of the debt owing t<
the orphans, by the chamber of London ; and the chamber had made Trevor a present of a
thousand guineas, for the service he did them in that matter : this was entered in their
books, so that full proof was made of it. It was indeed believed that a much grea
had been made him in behalf of the orphans ; but no proof of that appeared : whereas
OF KING WILLIAM III. (JH
had been taken in so public a manner could not be hid. This was objected to Trevor as
corruption and a breach of trust ; and upon it he was expelled the house : and Mr. Paul
Foley was chosen speaker in his room ; who had got great credit by his integrity, and his
constant complaining of the administration.
One discovery made way for another : it was found that in the books of the East India
company there were entries made of great sums given for secret services done the company,
that amounted to 170,000/. : and it was generally believed that the greatest part of it had
gone among the members of the house of commons. For the two preceding winters there
had been attempts eagerly pursued by some for breaking the company, and either opening
a free trade to the Indies, or at least erecting a new company : but it was observed that
some of the hottest sticklers against the company did insensibly not only fall off from that heat,
but turned to serve the company as much as they had at first endeavoured to destroy it.
Seymour was among the chief of these : and it was said that he had J2,000/. of their money
under the colour of a bargain for their saltpetre. Great pains and art were used to stifle this
enquiry ; but curiosity, envy, and ill nature, as well as virtue, will on such occasions always
prevail to set on enquiries. Those who have had nothing desire to know who have had
something, while the guilty persons dare not show too great a concern in opposing dis-
coveries. Sir Thomas Cook, a rich merchant, who was governor of the company, was
examined concerning that great sum given for secret service : but he refused to ans\ver. So
a severe bill was brought in against him, in case he should not, by a prefixed day, confess
how all that money had been disposed of. When the bill was sent up to the lords,
and was likely to pass, he came in and offered to make a full discovery, if he might be
indemnified for all that he had done, or that he might say, in that matter. The enemies of
the court hoped for great discoveries that should disgrace both the ministers and the
favourites : but it appeared that whereas both king Charles and king James had obliged the
company to make them a yearly present of 10,000/., that the king had received this but once ;
and that though the company offered a present of 50,OOOZ. if the king would grant them a
new charter, and consent to an act of parliament confirming it, the king had refused to
hearken to it. There were indeed presumptions that the marquis of Caermarthen had taken
a present of five thousand guineas, which were sent back to sir Thomas Cook the morning
before he was to make his discovery. The lords appointed twelve of their body to meet
with twenty-four of the house of commons to examine into this matter ; but they were so
ill satisfied with the account that was given them by the four persons who had been
entrusted with the secret, that by a particular act, that passed both houses, they were com-
mitted to the Tower of London till the end of the next session of parliament, and restrained
from disposing of their estates, real or personal. These were proceedings of an extraordinary
nature, which could not be justified but from the extraordinary occasion that was given for
them. Some said this looked like the setting up a court of inquisition, when new laws
were made on purpose to discover secret transactions ; and that no bounds could be set to
such a method of proceeding. Others said, that when entries were made of such sums
secretly dispose^of, it was as just for a parliament to force a confession, as it was common
in the course of the law to subpoena a man to declare all his knowledge of any matter, how
secretly soever it might have been managed, and what person soever might have been con-
< cnicd in it. The lord president felt that he was deeply wounded with this discovery ; for,
while the act against Cook was passing in the house of lords, he took occasion to affirm,
with solemn protestations, that he himself was not at all concerned in that matter. But
ow all had broken out. One Firebrass, a merchant, employed by the East India company,
ad treated with Bates, a friend of the marquis of Caermarthen ; and for the favour that
lord was to do them, in procuring them a new charter, Bates was to have for his use five
t'lousand guineas. But now a new turn was to be given to all this: Bates swore that he
indeed received the money, and that he offered it to that lord, who positively refused to take
lit : but, since it was already paid in, he advised Bates to keep it to himself; though, by the
I ^animation, it appeared that Bates waS to have 500/. for his own negotiating the affair : it
id also appear that the money was paid into the hands of one of that lord's servants;
1 it he could not be come at. Upon this discovery the house of commons voted an
RR 2
612 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
impeachment for a misdemeanour against the lord president. He, to prevent that,
desired to be heard speak to that house :n his own justification. When he was
before them he set out the services that he had done the nation, in terms that were not
thought very decent : he assumed the greatest share of the honour of the revolution to
himself: he expressed a great uneasiness to be brought under so black an imputation, from
which he cleared himself as much as words could do : in the end, he desired a present trial.
Articles were upon that brought against him : he, in answer to these, denied his having
received the money. But his servant, whose testimony only could have cleared that point,
disappearing, the suspicion still stuck on him. It was intended to hang up the matter to
another session ; but an act of grace came in the end of this, with an exception indeed as to
corruption : yet this whole discovery was let fall, and it was believed too many of all sides
were concerned in it ; for, by a common consent, it was never revived ; and thus the
session ended.
The first consultation after it was over wras concerning the coin, what methods should be
taken to prevent further clipping, and for remedying so great an abuse. Some proposed the
recoining the money, with such a raising of the value of the species as should balance the
loss upon the old money that was to be called in. This took with so many that it was not
easy to correct an error that must have had very bad effects in the conclusion : for the only
fixed standard must be the intrinsic value of an ounce of silver : and it was a public robbery
that would very much prejudice our trade, not to keep the value of our specie near an
equality with its weight and fineness in silver. So that the difference between the old and
new money could only be set right by the house of commons, in a supply to be given for
that end. The lord keeper, Somers, did indeed propose that which would have put an
effectual stop to clipping for the future. It was, that a proclamation should be prepared
with such secrecy, as to be published all over England on the same day, ordering money to
pass only by weight ; but that, at the same time, during three or four days after the pro-
clamation, all persons, in every county, that had money, should bring it in to be told and
weighed ; and the difference wras to be registered, and the money to be sealed up, to the
end of the time given, ,-and then to be restored to the owners ; and an assurance was to be
given, that this deficiency in weight should be laid before the parliament, to be supplied
another way, and to be allowed them in the following taxes. But though the king liked
this proposition, yet all the rest of the council were against it. They said this would stop
the circulation of money, and might occasion tumults in the markets. Those whose money
was thus to be weighed would not believe that the difference between the tale and the
weight would be allowed them, and so might grow mutinous ; therefore they were for leaving
this matter to the consideration of the next parliament. So this proposition was laid aside;
which would have saved the nation above a million of money. For now, as all people
believed that the parliament would receive the clipped money in its tale, clipping went ou,
and became more visibly scandalous than ever it had been.
There was indeed reason to apprehend tumults : for, now, after the queen's death, the
Jacobites began to think, that the government had lost the half of its strength, and that
things could not be kept quiet at home, when the king should be beyond sea. Some pre-
tended they were for putting the princess in her sister's place ; but that was only a pretence.
to which she gave no sort of encouragement : king James lay at bottom. They fancied an
invasion in the king's absence would be an easy attempt, which would meet with little re-
sistance ; so they sent some over to France, in particular one Charnock, a Fellow of
Magdalen College, who in king James's time had turned papist, and was a hot and active
agent among them. They undertook to bring a body of two thousand horse to meet such
an army as should be sent over ; but Charnock carne back with a cold account, that nothing
could be done at that time ; upon which it was thought necessary to send over a man of
quality, who should press the matter with some more authority ; so the earl of Ayleshury
was prevailed on to go. He was admitted to a secret conversation with the French king, j
and this gave rise to a design which was very near being executed the following winter.
But, if sir John Fenwick did not slander king James, they at this time proposed a shorter j
and more infallible way, by assassinating the king ; for he said that some came over from '
OF KING WILLIAM III. 613
France about this time who assured their party, and himself in particular, that a commission
was coming over, signed by king James, which they affirmed they had seen, warranting
them to attack the king's person. This, it is true, was not yet arrived ; but some affirmed
they had seen it, and that it was trusted to one who was on his way hither. Therefore,
since the king was so near going over to Holland, that he would probably be gone before
the commission could be in England, it was debated among the Jacobites whether they ought
not to take the first opportunity to execute this commission, even though they had it not in
their hands. It was resolved to do it, and a day was set for it ; but, as Fenwick said, he
broke the design, and sent them word that he would discover it if they would not promise to
give over the thoughts of it ; and upon this reason, he believed, he was not let into the
secret the following winter. This his lady told me from him, as an article of merit to obtain
his pardon ; but he had trusted their word very easily, it seems, since he gave the king no
warning to be on his guard, and the two witnesses whom he said he could produce to vouch
this, were then under prosecution, and outlawed ; so that the proof was not at hand, and the
warning had not been given as it ought to have been. But of all this the government knew
nothing, and suspected nothing at this time.
The king settled the government of England, in seven lords justices, during his absence ;
and in this a great error was committed, which had some ill effects, and was like to have had
worse. The queen, when she was dying, had received a kind letter from, and had sent a
reconciling message to the princess, and so that breach was made up. It is true the sisters
did not meet ; it was thought that might throw the queen into too great a commotion, so it
was put off till it was too late ; yet the princess came soon after to see the king, and there
was after that an appearance of good correspondence between them ; but it was little more
than an appearance *. They lived still in terms of civility and in formal visits ; but the
king did not bring her into any share in business, nor did he order his ministers to wait on
her and give her any account of affairs. And now that he was to go beyond sea, she was
not set at the head of the councils, nor was there any care taken to oblige those who were
about her. This looked either like a jealousy and distrust, or a coldness towards her which
gave all the secret enemies of the government a colour of complaint. They pretended zeal
for the princess, though they came little to her ; and they made it very visible, on many
occasions, that this was only a disguise for worse designs.
Two great men had died in Scotland the former winter, the dukes of Hamilton and
Queensbury : they were brothers-in-law, and had been long great friends, but they became
irreconcilable enemies. The first had more application, but the other had the greater genius.
They were incompatible with each other, and indeed with all other persons ; for both loved
uO be absolute, and to direct every thing. The marquis of Halifax died in April this year.
He had gone into all the measures of the tories, only he took care to preserve himself from
criminal engagements. He studied to oppose every thing, and to embroil matters all he
could. His spirit was restless, and he could not bear to be out of business. His vivacity
• nd judgment sunk much in his last years, as well as his reputation. He died of a gangrene,
occasioned by a rupture that he had long neglected. "When he saw death so near him, and
was warned that there was no hope, he shewed a great firmness of mind, and a calm that
ad much of true philosophy at least. He professed himself a sincere Christian, and la-
icnted the former parts of his life, with solemn resolutions of becoming in all respects another
i;ui, if God should raise him up : and so, I hope, he died a better man than he lived.
The seven lords justices were the archbishop of Canterbury, the lord keeper, the lord privy
•al, the lord steward, the lord chamberlain, the first secretary of state, and the first commis-
oner of the treasury t. They had no character nor rank except when four of them were
gether, and they avoided assembling to that number except at the council board, where
t was necessary ; and when they were together they had regal authority vested in them. They
're chosen by the posts they were in, so that no other person could think he was neglected by
0 preference : they were not envied by this titular greatness, since it was indeed only
* This was brought about by lord keeper Somers. — Shrewsbury Correspondence.
t Dr. Tenlson, sir Joan Somers, carl of Halifax, duke of Devonshire, duke of Dorset, duke of Shrewsbury, eari
1 ^'dolphin.
614 'J HE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
titular ; for tliey Lad no real authority trusted with them. They took care to keep within
bounds, and to do nothing, but in matters of course, till they had the king's orders, to which
they adhered exactly, so that no complaints could be made of them because they took
nothing on them, and did only keep the peace of the kingdom, and transmit and execute
the king's orders. The summer went over quietly at home ; for though the Jacobites showed
their disposition on some occasions, but most signally on the prince of W ales' s birth-day, yet
they were wiser than to break out into any disorder, when they had no hopes of assistance
from France.
About the end of May the armies were brought together in Flanders ; the king drew hia
main force towards the French lines, and the design was formed to break through and to
destroy the French Flanders. Luxembourg died this winter; so the command of the French
armies was divided between Yilleroy and Bouflers, but the former commanded the stronger
army. An attempt was made on the fort of Knock, in order to forcing the lines, and there
was some action about it ; but all on the sudden Namur was invested, and the king drew
off the main part of his army to besiege that place, and left above thirty thousand men under
the command of the prince of Vaudemont, who was the best general he had ,• for prince
Waldeck died above a year before this. With that army he was to cover Flanders and
Brabant, while the king carried on the siege.
As soon as Namur was invested, Bouflers threw himself into it, with many good officers
and a great body of dragoons : the garrison was twelve thousand strong. A place
so happily situated, so well fortified, and so well furnished and commanded, made the attempt
seem bold and doubtful. The dry season put the king under another difficulty ; the Maese
was so low that there was not water enough to bring up the barks, laden with artillery and am-
munition, from Liege and Maestricht, so that many days were lost in bringing these overland ;
and if Yilleroy had followed the king close, it is thought he must have quitted the design ; but
the French presumed upon the strength of the place and garrison, and on our being so little
practised in sieges. They thought that Villeroy might make some considerable conquest in
Flanders, and when that was done come in good time to raise the siege. Prince Vaudemont
managed his army with such skill and conduct, that as he covered all the places on which
he thought the French had an eye, so he marched with that caution, that though Villeroy
had above double his strength, yet he could not force him to an engagement, nor gain any
advantage over him. The military men that served under him, magnified his conduct highly,
and compared it to any thing that Turenne, or the greatest generals of the age had clone.
Once it was thought, he could not get off ; but he marched under the cannon of Ghent with-
out any loss. In this Villeroy's conduct was blamed, but without cause ; for he had not
overseen his advantage, but had ordered the duke of Mayne, the French king's beloved son,
to make a motion with the horse which he commanded ; and probably, if that had been_
speedily executed, it might have had ill effects on the prince of Vaudemont ; but the duke
cle Mayne despised Villeroy, and made no haste to obey his orders, so the advantage was
lost, and the king of France put him under a slight disgrace for it. Villeroy attacked
Dixmuyde and Deinse : the garrisons were not indeed able to make a great resistance ; but
they were ill commanded. If their officers had been masters of a true judgment, or presence
of mind, they might at least have got a favourable composition, and have saved the gar-
risons, though the places were not tenable ; yet they were basely delivered up, and about
seven thousand men were made prisoners of war. And hereupon, though by a cartel that
had been settled between the two armies, all prisoners were to b£ redeemed at a set price,
and within a limited time; yet the French having now so many men in their hands, did,
without either colour or shame, give a new essay of their perfidiousness ; for they broke it
upon this occasion, as they had often done at sea, indeed as often as any advantages on their
side tempted them to it. The governors of those places were at first believed to have be-
trayed their trust and sold the garrisons, as well as the places, to the French ; but they were
tried afterwards, and it appeared that it flowed from cowardice and want of sense ; for
whicn one of them suffered, and the other was broken with disgrace.
Villeroy marched towards Brussels, and was followed by prince Vaudemont, whose chief
care was to order his motions so, that the French might not get between him and the king's
OF KING WILLIAM III. . 615
camp at Namur. He apprehended that Yilleroy might bombard Brussels, and would have
hindered it if the town could have been wrought on to give him the assistance that he desired
of them. Townsmen upon all such occasions are more apt to consider a present, though a
small expense, than a great, though an imminent danger ; so prince Yaudemont could not
pretend to cover them. The electoress of Bavaria was then in the town ; and though Yille-
roy sent a compliment to her, yet he did not give her time to retire, but bombarded the place
for two days, with so much fury, that a great part of the lower town was burnt down. The
damage was valued at some millions, and the electoress was so frighted, that she miscarried
upon it of a boy. When this execution was done, Yilleroy marched towards Namur ; his
army was now so mucL ^nc^eased by detachments brought from the Rhine, and troops
drawn out of garrisons, that it was said to be one hundred thousand strong. Both armies
on the Rhine were so equal in strength that they could only lie on the defensive, neither side
being strong enough to undertake any thing. M. de L'Orge commanded the French, and
the prince of Baden the imperialists : the former was sinking as much in his health as in his
credit, so a great body was ordered to march from him to Yilleroy ; and another body equal
to that commanded by the landgrave of Hesse came and joined the king's army.
The siege was carried on with great vigour : the errors to which our want of practice ex-
posed us were all corrected by the courage of our men : the fortifications, both in strength
and in the extent of the outworks, were double to what they had been when the French
took the place. Our men did not only succeed in every attack, but went much further. —
In the first great sally the French lost so many, both officers and soldiers, that after that
they kept within their works and gave us no disturbance. Both the king and the elector
of Bavaria went frequently into the trenches : the town held out one month, and the citadel
another. Upon Yilleroy's approach, the king drew off all the troops that could be spared
from the siege, and placed himself in his way with an army of sixty thousand men ; but he
was so well posted, that after Yilleroy had looked on him for some days he found it was
not advisable to attack him. Our men wished for a battle, as that which would not only
decide the fate of Namur, but of the whole war. The French gave it out that they would
put all to hazard rather than suffer such a diminution of their king's glory as the retaking
that place seemed to be. But the signal of the citadel's treating, put an end to Yilleroy's de-
signs ; upon which, he apprehending that the king might then attack him, drew off with
so much precipitation, that it looked more like a flight than a retreat.
The capitulation was soon ended and signed by Bouflers, who, as was said, was the first
mareschal of France that had ever delivered up a place. He marched out with five thousand
men ; so it appeared he had lost seven thousand during the siege, and we lost in it only
about the same number. This was reckoned one of the greatest actions of the king's life,
and indeed one of the greatest that is in the whole history of war. It raised his character
much, both at home and abroad, and gave a great reputation to his troops : the king had
the entire credit of the matter, his general officers having a very small share in it, being most
of them men of low genius, and little practised in things of that nature. Cohorn, the chief
engineer, signalized himself so eminently on this occasion, that he was looked on as the
greatest man of tha age, and outdid even Yauban, who had gone far beyond all those that
wont before him in the conduct of sieges : but it was confessed by all, that Cohorn had
carried that art to a much farther perfection during this siege. The subaltern officers and
soldiers gave hopes of a better race that was growing up, and supplied the errors and defects
of their superior officers. As the garrison marched out, the king ordered Bouflers to be
-topped, in reprisal for the garrisons of Dixmuyde and Deinse. Bouflers complained of this as
:i breach of articles, and the action seemed liable to censure. But many authorities and pre-
cedents were brought, both from law and history, to justify it. All obligations among
princes, both in peace and war, must be judged to be reciprocal; so that he who breaks
these first sets the other at liberty. At length the French consented to send back the garri-
• ons, pursuant to the cartel : Bouflers was first set at liberty, and then these garrisons were
i eleased according to promise.
The officers were tried and proceeded against by councils of war, according to martial law.
They were raised in the army by ill methods, and maintained themselves by worse : corrup-
616 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
tion had broken into the army, and oppression and injustice were much complained of. The
king did not approve of those practices, but he did not inquire after them, nor punish them
with a due severity ; nor did he make difference enough between those who served well, sold
nothing, and used their subalterns kindly, and those who set every thing to sale, and op-
pressed all that were under them ; and when things of that kind go unpunished, they will
soon make a great progress. There was little more done during the campaign in Flanders ;
nor was there any action upon the Rhine.
In Italy there was nothing done in the field by force of arms ; but an affair of great conse-
quence was transacted in a very mysterious manner. The duke of Savoy, after a very long
blockade, undertook the siege of Casal ; but he was so ill provided for it that no good account
of it could be expected ; the king had so little hopes of success, that he was not easily pre-
vailed on to consent to the besieging it ; but either the French intended to gain the pope
and the Venetians, and in conclusion, that duke himself, with this extraordinary concession ;
or, since our fleet was then before Toulon, they judged it more necessary to keep their troops
for the defence of their coast and fleet, than to send them to relieve Casal ; so orders were
sent to the governor to capitulate in such a number of days after the trenches were opened,
so that the place was surrendered, though it was not at all straitened. It was agreed that
it should be restored to the duke of Mantua, but so dismantled, that it might give jealousy
to no side ; and the slighting the fortifications went on so slowly, that the whole season was
spent in it, a truce being granted all that while. Thus did the French give up Casal, after
they had been at a vast expense in fortifying it, and had made it one of the strongest places
in Europe.
Our fleet was all the summer master of the Mediterranean : the French were put into great
disorder, and seemed to apprehend a descent, for Russel came before Marseilles and Toulon
oftener than once : contrary winds forced him out to sea again, but with no loss. He him-
self told me he believed nothing could be done there ; only the honour of commanding the
sea, and of shutting the French within their ports, gave a great reputation to our affairs.
In Catalonia the French made no progress ; they abandoned Palamos, and made Gironne
their frontier. The Spaniards once pretended to besiege Palamos, but they only pretended
to do it ; they desired some men from Russel, for he had regiments of marines on board :
they said they had begun the siege, and were provided with every thing that was necessary
to carry it on, only they wanted men, so he sent them some battalions ; but when they came
thither, they found not any one thing that was necessary to carry on a siege, not so much
as spades, not to mention guns and ammunition ; so Russel sent for his men back again.
But the French of themselves quitted the place ; for as they found the charge of the war in
Catalonia was great, and though they met with a feeble opposition from the Spaniards, yet
since they saw they could not carry Barcelona, so long as our fleet lay in those seas, they
resolved to lay by in expectation of a better occasion. We had another fleet in our own
channel that was ordered to bombard the French coast : they did some execution upon St.
Malos, and destroyed Grandville, that lay not far from it : they also attempted Dunkirk,
but failed in the execution : some bombs were thrown into Calais, but without any great
effect, so that the French did not suffer so much by the bombardment as was expected : the
country indeed was much alarmed by it ; they had many troops dispersed all along their
coast, so that it put their affairs in great disorder, and we were every where masters at sea.
Another squadron, commanded by the marquis of Caermarthen (whose father was created
duke of Leeds, to colour the dismissing him from business, with an increase of title), lay off
from the isles of Scilly, to secure our trade and convoy our merchants. He was an extravagant
man both in his pleasures and humours : he was slow in going to sea ; and when he was
out he fancied the French fleet was coming up to him, which proved to be only a fleet of
merchant ships ; so he left his station and retired into Milford haven, by which means that
squadron became useless.
This proved fatal to our trade ; many of our Barbadoes ships were taken by French
cruizers and privateers. Two rich ships coining from the East Indies, were also taken one
hundred and fifty leaugues to the westward, by a very fatal accident, or by some treacherous
advertisement, for cruizers seldom go so far into the ocean ; and to complete the misfortunes
OF KING WILLIAM III. 617
of the East India company, three other ships that were come near Galway, on the west of
Ireland, fell into the hands of some French privateers. Those five ships were valued at a
million, so here was great occasion of discontent in the city of London : they complained
that neither the admiralty nor the government took the care that was necessary for preserv-
ing the wealth of the nation. A French man-of-war at the same time fell upon our factory
on the coast of Guinea; he took the small fort we had there, and destroyed it. These
misfortunes were very sensible to the nation, and did much abate the joy which so glo-
rious a campaign would otherwise have raised ; and much matter was laid in for ill humour
to work upon.
The war went on in Hungary ; the new grand seignior came late into the field, but as
late as it wTas the imperialists were not ready to receive him : he tried to force his way into
Transylvania, and took some weak and ill-defended forts, which he soon after abandoned.
Veterani, who was the most beloved of all the emperor's generals, lay with a small army to
defend the entrance into Transylvania ; the Turks fell upon him and overpowered him with
numbers ; his army was destroyed and himself killed, but they sold their lives dear : the
Turks lost double their number and their best troops in the action, so that they had only
the name and honour of a victory ; they were not able to prosecute it, nor to draw any ad-
vantage from it. The stragglers of the defeated army drew together towards the passes, but
none pursued them, and the Turks marched back to Adrianople, with the triumph of having
made a glorious campaign. There were some slight engagements at sea between the Vene-
tiins and the Turks, in which the former pretended they had the advantage, but nothing
followed upon them. Thus affairs went on abroad during this summer.
There was a parliament held in Scotland, where the marquis of Tweedale was the king's
commissioner. Every thing that was asked for the king's supply, and for the subsistence of
his troops, was granted. The massacre in Glencoe made still a great noise, and the king
seemed too remiss in inquiring into it ; but when it was represented to him that a session
of parliament could riot be managed without high motions and complaints of so crying a
matter, and that his ministers could not oppose these, without seeming to bring the guilt of
that blood that was so perfidiously shed, both on the king and on then^L-Ives, to prevent
that, he ordered a commission to be passed under the great seal, for a prccognition in that
matter, which is a practice in the law of Scotland of examining into crimes before the per-
sons concerned are brought upon their trial. This was looked on as an artifice to cover that
transaction by a private inquiry ; yet when it was complained of in parliament, not without
reflections on the slackness in examining into it, the king^s commissioner assured them that,
1 >y the king's order, the matter was then under examination, and that it should be reported to
the parliament. The inquiry went on, and in the progress of it a new practice of the earl
of Bredalbane's was discovered ; for the Highlanders deposed that while he was treating with
1 hem, in order to their submitting to the king, he had assured them that he still adhered to
•king James's interest, and that he pressed them to come into that pacification, only to pre-
korve them for his service till a more favourable opportunity. This, with several other
treasonable discourses of his being reported to the parliament, he covered himself with his
(pardon, but these discourses happened to be subsequent to it. so he was sent a prisoner to
the castle of Edinburgh : he pretended he had secret orders from the king to say any thing
that would give him credit with them, which the king owned so far that he ordered anew
rdon to be past for him. A great party came to be formed in this session of a very
Id mixture ; the high presbyterians and the Jacobites joined together to oppose every thing,
ft it was not so strong as to carry the majority, but great heats arose among them.
The report of the massacre of Glencoe was made in full parliament ; by that it appeared
1 1 at a black design was laid, not only to cut off the men of Glencoe but a great many more
iiins, reckoned to be in all above six thousand persons. The whole was pursued in many
tters, that were written with great earnestness ; and though the king's orders carried
i -thing in them that was in any sort blameable, yet the secretary of staters letters went
intch further ; so the parliament justified the king^s instructions, but voted the execution in
j icncoe to have been a barbarous massacre, and that it was pushed on by the secretary of
tate's letters beyond the king's orders. Upon that they voted an address to be made to the
II'H
G18 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
kino-, that he and others concerned in that matter might be proceeded against according to
law ; this was carried by a great majority.
In this session, an act passed in favour of such of the episcopal clergy, as should enter
into those engagements to the king that were by law required ; that they should continue
in their benefices under the king's protection, without being subject to the power of the
presbytery. This was carried with some address before the presbyterians were aware of
the consequences of it, for it was plainly that which they call erastianism. A day was
limited to the clergy for taking the oaths ; and by a very zealous and dexterous manage-
ment, about seventy of the best of them were brought to take the oaths to the king : and
so they came within the protection promised them by the act.
Another act passed that has already produced very fatal consequences to that kingdom,
and may yet draw worse after it. The interlopers in the East India trade, finding that the
company was likely to be favoured by the parliament, as well as by the court, were resolved
to try other methods to break in upon that trade. They entered into a treaty with some
merchants in Scotland ; and they had, in the former session, procured an act that promised
letters patents to all such as should offer to set up new manufactures, or drive any new trade,
not yet practised by that kingdom, with an exemption for twenty-one years from all taxes
and customs, and with all such other privileges as should be found necessary for establishing
or encouraging such projects. But here was a necessity of procuring letters patents, which
they knew the credit that the East India company had at court would certainly render
ineffectual. So they were now in treaty for a new act, which should free them from that
difficulty. There was one Paterson, a man of no education, but of great notions, which, as I
was generally said, he had learned from the buccaneers, with whom , he had consorted for
some time. He had considered a place in Darien, where he thought a good settlement might
be made, with another over against it in the South Sea ; and by two settlements there, he j
fancied a great trade might be opened both for the East and West Indies ; and that the |
Spaniards in the neighbourhood might be kept in great subjection to them : so he made the I
merchants believe, that he had a great secret, which he did not think fit yet to discover, and
reserved to a fitter opportunity, only he desired that the West Indies might be named in
any new act that should be offered to the parliament. He made them in general understand
that he knew of a country, not possessed by Spaniards, where there were rich mines, and
gold in abundance. While these matters were in treaty, the time of the king's giving the
instructions to his commissioner for the parliament came on ; and it had been a thing of
course, to give a general instruction to pass all bills for the encouragement of trade. John-
stoun told the king that he heard there was a secret management among the merchants for
an act in Scotland, under which the East India trade might be set up ; so he proposed, and
drew an instruction, empowering the commissioner to pass any bill, promising letters patents
for encouraging of trade, yet limited so that it should not interfere with the trade of England.
When they went down to Scotland, the king's commissioner either did not consider this, or i
had no regard to it, for he gave the royal assent to an act, that gave the undertakers, either !
of the East India or West India trade, all possible privileges, with exemption of twenty-one :
years from all impositions ; and the act directed letters patents to be passed under the great ;
seal, without any further warrant for them. When this was printed, it gave a great alarm
in England, more particularly to the East India company ; for many of the merchants of j
London resolved to join stock with the Scotch company, and the exemption from all duties
gave a great prospect of gain. Such was the posture of affairs in Scotland.
In Ireland, the three lords justices did not agree long together ; the lord Capel studied to ;
render himself popular, and espoused the interests of the English against the Irish, without '
any nice regard to justice or equity : he was too easily set on by those who had their own '
end in it to do every thing that gained him applause. The other two wTere men of severe '
tempers, and studied to protect the Irish, when they were oppressed ; nor did they try to !
make themselves otherwise popular than by a wise and just administration : so lord Capel ',
was highly magnified, and they were as much complained of by all the English in Ireland.
Lord Capel did undertake to manage a parliament so as to carry all things, if he was made,
lord deputy, and had power given him to place and displace such as he should name. This
OF KING WILLIAM III. 619
was agreed to, and a parliament was held there, after he had made several removes. In tiis
beginning of the session, things went smoothly ; the supply that was asked for the support
of that government was granted ; all the proceedings in king James's parliament were
annulled ; and the great act of settlement was confirmed and explained as they desired : but
this good temper was quickly lost by the heat of some who had great credit with lord Capel.
Complaints were made of sir Charles Porter, the lord chancellor, who was beginning to set
on foot a tory humour in Ireland, whereas it was certainly the interest of that government
to have no other division among them but that of English and Irish, and of protcstant and
papist. Lord Capel's party moved in the house of commons, that Porter should be
impeached ; but the grounds upon which this motion was made appeared to be so frivolous,
after the chancellor was heard by the house of commons, in his own justification, that he was
voted clear from all imputation by a majority of two to one : this set the lord deputy and
the lord chancellor, with all the friends of both, at so great a distance from each other, that
it put a full stop, for some time, to all business.
Thus factions were formed in all the king's dominions ; and he being for so much of the
year at a great distance from the scene, there was no pains taken to quiet these, and to check
the animosities which arose out of them. The king studied only to balance them, and to
keep up among the parties a jealousy of one another, that so he might oblige them all to
depend more entirely on himself.
As soon as the campaign was over in Flanders, the king intended to come over directly
into England ; but he was kept long on the other side by contrary winds. The first point
that was under debate upon his arrival was, whether a new parliament should be summoned,
or the old one be brought together again, which by the law that was lately passed, might
sit till lady-day *. The happy state the nation was in put all men, except the merchants,
:n a good temper ; none could be sure we should be in so good a state next year ; so that
now probably elections would fall on men, who were well affected to the government ; a
parliament that saw itself in its last session, might affect to be fro ward, the members by
- uch a behaviour, hoping to recommend themselves to the next election ; besides, if the
-ame parliament had been continued, probably the inquiries into corruption would have
ieen carried on, which might divert them from more pressing affairs, and kindle greater heats:
11 which might be more decently dropped by anew parliament than suffered to lie asleep by
'.lie old one. These considerations prevailed, though it was still believed that the king's own
j i inclinations led him to have continued the parliament yet one session longer ; for he reckoned
,] e was sure of the major vote in it. Thus this parliament was brought to a conclusion, and
I a new one was summoned.
The king made a progress to the north ; and staid some days at the earl of Sunderland^s,
k Inch was the first public mark of the high favour he was in. The king studied *o constrain
1 imsclf to a little more openness and affability than was natural to him ; but his cold and
( ry way had too deep a root not to return too oft upon him : the Jacobites were so descried,
tliat few of them were elected; but many of the sourer sort of whigs, who were much
alienated from the king, were chosen: generally, they were men of estates; but many
vv-cro young, hot, and without experience. Foley was again chosen speaker, the demand of
o supply was still very high, and there was a great arrear of deficiences : all was readily
ii anted, and lodged on funds that seemed to be very probable.
The state of the coin was considered, and there were great and long debates about the
per remedies. The motion of raising the money above its intrinsic value was still much
i3ssed; many apprehended this matter could not be cured, without casting us into great
isordcrs : our money, they thought, would not pass, and so the markets would not be
mished ; and it is certain, that if there had been ill humours then stirring in the nation,
s might have cast us into great convulsions. But none happened, to the disappointment
our enemies, who had their eyes and hopes long fixed on the effects this might produce.
'I came, in the end, to a wise and happy resolution of recoining all the specie of England,
milled money : all the old money was ordered to be brought in, in public payments or
lio " Shrewsbury Correspondence" informs us that a general election had been resolved before the king left
C20 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
loans, to the exchequer, and that by degrees ; first, the half-crown pieces, and the rest of the
money by a longer day ; money of a bad alloy, as well as clipped money, was to be received,
though this was thought an ill precedent, and that it gave too much encouragement to false
coining, yet it was judged necessary upon this occasion, and it gave a present calm to a
ferment that was then working all England over. Twelve hundred thousand pounds was
given to supply the deficiency of the bad and clipped money. So this matter was happily
settled, and was put in a way to be effectually remedied ; and it was executed with an order
and a justice, with a quiet and an exactness, beyond all men's expectation. So that we
were freed from a great and threatening mischief, without any of those effects that were
generally apprehended from it *.
The Bill of trials, in cases of treason, was again brought into the house of commons, and
passed there ; when it came up to the lords, they added the clause for summoning all the
peers to the trial of a peer, which was not easily carried ; for those who wished well to the
bill looked on this as a device to lose it, as no doubt it was, and therefore they opposed it ;
but, contrary to the hopes of the court, the commons were so desirous of the bill, that when
it came down to them they agreed to the clause, and so the bill passed, and had the royal
assent.
A severe bill was brought in for voiding all the elections of parliament men, where the
elected had been at any expense in meat, drink, or money, to procure votes. It was very
strictly penned; but time im x show whether any evasions can be found out to avoid it.
Certainly, if it has the desired, effect, it would prove one of the best laws that ever was
made in England ; for abuses in elections were grown to most intolerable excesses, which
threatened even the ruin of the nation. Another act passed against unlawful and double
returns, for persons had been often returned, plainly contrary to the vote of the majority ;
and in boroughs, where there was a contest, between the select number of the Corporation,
and the whole populace ; both sides had obtained favourable decisions, as that side prevailed,
on which the person elected happened to be : so both elections were returned, and the house
judged the matter. But by this act, all returns were ordered to be made according to the
last determination of the house of commons. These were thought good securities for future
parliaments ; it had been happy for the nation, if the first of these had proved as effectual
as the last was.
Great complaints were made in both houses of the act for the Scotch East India company,
and addresses were made to the king, setting forth the inconveniences that were likely to
arise from thence to England ; the king answered, that he had been ill served in Scotland,
but he hoped remedies should be found to prevent the ill consequences, that they apprehended
from the act : and soon after this, he turned out both the secretaries of state, and the marquis
of Tweedale, and great changes were made in the whole ministry of that kingdom, both high
and low. No enquiry was made, nor proceedings ordered, concerning the business of Glencoe,
so that furnished the libellers with some colours in aspersing the king, as if he must have
been willing to suffer it to be executed, since he seemed so unwilling to let it be punished.
But when it was understood in Scotland, that the king had disowned the act for the East
India company, from which it was expected that great riches should flow into that kingdom,
it is not easy to conceive how great and how general an indignation was spread over the
whole kingdom ; the Jacobites saw what a game it was likely to prove in their hands, they
played it with great skill, and to the advantage of their cause, in a course of many years,
and continue to manage it to this day. There was a great deal of noise made of the Scotch
act in both houses of parliament in England by some who seemed to have no other design
in that, but to heighten our distractions by the apprehensions that they expressed. The
8cotch nation fancied nothing but mountains of gold, and the credit of the design rose so
jiigh, that subscriptions were made, and advances of money were offered, beyond what any
* The cause of the coin being so liable to suffer by mints were established at Bristol, Chester, Exeter, Nor-(
clipping, was its being broad and thin, from being old and -\vich, and York. The pieces there struck have tlie first!
hammered. The fresh issue, mentioned in the text, was li/ttev of these names under the bust of the king. (Essay
called ''the grand recoinage of 1696'." It amounted to on Medals, 153. ed. I/ 84.)
£6,400,000 sterling To expedite the issue, cor.utry
OF KING \V1LLIAM III. 621
licved the wealth of that kingdom could have furnished. Paterson came to have such
credit among them, that the design of the East India trade, how promising soever, was
wholly laid aside ; and they resolved to employ all their wealth in the settling a colony,
with a port and fortifications, in Darien ; which was long kept a secret, and was only trusted
to a select number empowered by this new company, who assumed to themselves the name
of the African company, though they never meddled with any concern in that part of the
world. The unhappy progress of this affair will appear in its proper time.
The losses of the merchants gave great advantages to those who complained of the
administration ; the conduct, with relation to our trade, was represented as at best a neglect
of the nation, and of its prosperity. Some, with a more spiteful malice, said it was designed
that we should suffer in our trade, that the Dutch might carry it from us ; and how extrava-
gant soever this might seem, it was often repeated by some men of virulent tempers. And
in the end, when all the errors, with relation to the protection of our trade, were set out
and much aggravated, a motion was made to create by act of parliament, a council of trade.
This was opposed by those who looked on it as a change of our constitution, in a very
essential point. The executive part of the government was wholly in the king ; so that the
appointing any council, by act of parliament, began a precedent of their breaking in upon
the execution of the law, in which it could not be easy to see how far they might be carried ;
it was indeed offered, that this council should be much limited as to its powers, yet many
apprehended, that if the parliament named the persons, how low soever theii powers might
be at first, they would be enlarged every session ; and from being a council to look into
matters of trade, they would be next empowered to appoint convoys and cruisers ; this in time
might draw in the whole admiralty, and thai part of the revenue or supply that was appro-
priated to the navy : so that a king would soon grow to be a duke of Venice, and indeed those
who set this on most zealously did not deny that they designed to graft many things upon it.
The king was so sensible of the ill effects this would have, that he ordered his ministers
to oppose it as much as possibly they could. The earl of Sunderland, to the wonder of
many, declared for it, as all that depended on him promoted it ; he was afraid of the violence
of the republican party, and would not venture on provoking them ; the ministers were much
offended with him for taking this method to recommend himself at their cost ; the king
himself took it ill, and he told me, if he went on driving it as he did, that he must break
with him ; he imputed it to his fear ; for the unhappy steps he had made in King James's
time, gave his enemies so many handles and colours for attacking him, that he would
venture on nothing that might provoke them. Here was a debate plainly in a point of
prerogntive, how far the government should continue on its ancient bottom of monarchy, as
to the executive part, or how far it should turn to a commonwealth ; and yet, by an odd
reverse, the whigs, who were now most employed, argued for the prerogative, while the
tories seemed zealous for public liberty : so powerfully does interest bias men of all forms.
This was going on, and probably would have passed in both houses, when the discovery of a
conspiracy turned men's thoughts quite another way : so that all angry motions were let fall,
and the session came to a very happy conclusion, with greater advantages to the king than
could have been otherwise expected. We were all this winter alarmed, from many different
quarters, with the insolent discourses of the Jacobites, who seemed so well assured of a
sudden revolution, which was to be both quick and entire, that at Christmas they said it
would be brought about within six weeks. The French fleet, which we had so long shut
up within Toulon, was now fitting out, and was ordered to come round to Brest ; our fleet,
that lay at Cadiz, was not strong enough to fight them, when they should pass the straits ;
Rassel had come home, with many of the great ships, and had left only a squadron there ;
but a great fleet was ordered to go thither ; it was ready to have sailed in December ; but
was kept in our ports by contrary winds till February : this was then thought a great unhap-
piness ; but we found afterwards, that our preservation was chiefly owing to it : and it was
so extraordinary a thing to see the wind fixed at south-west during the whole winter, that
t'W could resist the observing a signal providence of God in it. We were all this while in
reat pain for Rook, who commanded the squadron that lay at Cadiz, and was likely to
uffer for want of the provisions and stores which this fleet was to carry him, besides the
C22 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
addition of strength this would bring him, in case the Toulon squadron should come about ;
we were only apprehensive of danger from that squadron, for we thought that we could be
in none at home, till that fleet was brought about ; the advertisements came from many
places that some very important thing was ready to break out : it is true, the Jacobites fed
their party with such stories every year, but they both talked and wrote now with more
than ordinary assurance. The king had been so accustomed to alarms and reports of this
kind, that he had now so little regard to them as scarcely to be willing to hearken to those, who
brought him such advertisements. He was so much set on preparing for the next campaign,
that all other things were little considered by him.
But in the beginning of February, one captain Fisher came to the earl of Portland, and
in general told him there was a design to assassinate the king ; but he would not, or could
not then, name any of the persons who were concerned in it : he never appeared more, for
he had assurances given him, that he should not be made use of as a witness. Few days
after that, one Pendergrass, an Irish officer, came to the earl of Portland, and discovered all
that he knew of the matter ; he freely told him his own name, but would not name any of
the conspirators. La Rue, a Frenchman, came also to brigadier Levison, and discovered to
him all that he knew ; these two (Pendergrass and La Rue) were brought to the king apart,
not knowing of one another's discovery ; they gave an account of two plots then on foot,
the one for assassinating the king, and the other for invading the kingdom. The king was
not easily brought to give credit to this, till a variety of circumstances, in which the
discoveries did agree, convinced him of the truth of the whole design.
It has been already told, in how many projects king James was engaged for assassinating
the king ; but all these had failed : so now one was laid that gave better hopes, and looked
more like a military action than a foul murder. Sir George Berkeley, a Scotchman, received
a commission from king James, to go and attack the prince of Orange in his winter quarters ;
Charnock, Sir William Perkins, Captain Porter, and La Rue, were the men to whose conduct
the matter was trusted ; the duke of Berwick came over, and had some discourse with
them about the method of executing it. Forty persons were thought necessary for the
attempt ; they intended to watch the king as he should go out to hunt, or come back from
it in his coach ; some of them were to engage the guards, while others should attack the
kingf, and either carry him off a prisoner, or, in case of any resistance, kill him. This soft
manner was proposed, to draw military men to act in it, as a warlike exploit ; Porter and
Knightly went and viewed the grounds, and the way through which the king passed, as he
went between Kensington and Richmond park, where he used to hunt commonly on
Saturdays : and they pitched on two places, where they thought they might well execute
the design. King James sent over some of his guards to assist in it ; he spoke himself to
one Harris, to go over and to obey such v/rders as he should receive from Berkeley ; he ordered
money to be given him, and told him that, if he was forced to stay long at Calais, the
president there would have orders to furnish him *.
When the duke of Berwick had laid the matter so well here, that he thought it could
not miscarry, he went back to France, and met king James at St. Denis, who was come so
far on his way from Paris. He stopped there, and after a long conference with the duke of;
Berwick, he sent him first to his queen at St. Germains, and then to the king of France, j
and he himself called for a notary, and passed some act ; but it was not known to what I
effect. When that was dene, he pursued his journey to Calais to set himself at the head of j
an army of about 20,000 men, that were drawn out of the garrisons which lay near that I
frontier. These being full in that season, an army was in a very few days brought together,!
without any previous warning or noise. There came every winter a coasting fleet from allj
the sea-ports of France to Dunkirk, with all the provisions for a campaign ; and it was o-iven;
out that the French intended an early one this year. So that this coasting fleet was ordered
to be there by the end of January ; thus here were transport-ships, as well as an army.j
brought together in a very silent manner ; there was also a small fleet of cruizers, and somt}
men of war ready to convoy them over ; many regiments were embarked, and king James
* For full particulars, see Blackmore's "History of the Assassination Plot."
OF KING WILLIAM III. 023
was waiting at Calais for some tidings of that on which he chiefly depended ; for upon the
first notice of the success of the assassination, he was resolved to have set sail : so near was
the matter brought to a crisis, when it broke out by the discovery made by the persons above
named. La Rue told all particulars with the greatest frankness, and named all the persons
that they had intended to engage in the execution of it ; for several lists were among them, and
those who concerted the matter had those lists given them, and took it for granted that
every man named in those lists was engaged ; since they were persons on whom they
depended, as knowing their inclinations, and believing that they would readily enter into the
project, though it had not been at that time proposed to many oi them, as it appeared
afterwards. The design was laid to strike the blow on the loth of February, in a lane that
turns down from Turnham Green to Brentford ; and the conspirators were to be scattered
about the green, in taverns and alehouses, and to be brought together upon a signal given.
They were cast into several parties, and an aid-de-camp was assigned to every one of them,
both to bring them together, and to give the whole the air of a military action : Pendergrass
owned very freely to the king, that he was engaged in interest against him, as he was of a
religion contrary to his. He said he would have no reward for lift discovery ; but he hated
a base action ; and the point of honour was the only motive that prevailed on him : he
owned that he was desired to assist in seizing on him, and he named the person that was
fixed on to shoot him ; he abhorred the whole thing, and immediately came to reveal it. His
story did in all particulars agree with La Rue's ; for some time he stood on it, as a point of
honour, to name no person ; but upon assurance given him that he should not be brought as a
witness against them, he named all he knew. The king ordered the coaches and guards to
be made ready next morning, being the 15th of February, and a Saturday, his usual day of
hunting ; but some accident was pretended to cover his not going abroad that day. The
conspirators continued to meet together, not doubting but that they should have occasion to
execute their design the next Saturday : they had some always about Kensington, who came
and went continually, and brought them an account of every thing that passed there. On
Saturday, the 22d of February, they put themselves in a readiness, and were going out to
take the posts assigned them ; but were surprised, when they had notice that the king's
hunting was put off a second time ; they apprehended they might be discovered, yet as none
were seized, they soon quieted themselves.
Next night, a great many of them were taken iri their beds ; and the day following
the whole discovery was laid before the privy council. At the same time, advices were sent
to the king from Flanders, that the French army was marching to Dunkirk, on design to
invade England. And now, by a very happy providence, though hitherto a very unaccept-
able one, we had a great fleet at Spithead ready to sail ; and we had another fleet, designed
for the summer's service in our own seas, quite ready, though not yet manned. Many brave
seamen, seeing the nation was in such visible danger, came out of their lurking holes, in
which they were hiding themselves from the press, and offered their service ; and all people
showed so much zeal, that in three days Russel, who was sent to command, stood over to
the coast of France with a fleet of above fifty men of war. The French were amazed at
this ; and upon it their ships drew so near their coasts, that he durst not fc How them in
such shallow water, but was contented with breaking their design, and driving them into
their harbours. King James stayed for some weeks there ; but, as the French said, his
malignant star still blasted every project that was formed for his service.
The court of France was much out of countenance with this disappointment ; for that
king had ordered his design of invading England to be communicated to all the courts in
which he had ministers : and they spoke of it wyith such an air of assurance, as gave violent
presumptions that the king of France knew of the conspiracy against the king's person, and
I depended upon it ; for indeed, without that, the design was impracticable, considering
now great a fleet we had at Spithead. Nor could any men of common sense have entertained
a thought of it, but with a view of the confusion into which the intended assassination must
have cast us. They went on in England seizing the conspirators ; and a proclamation was
issued out, for apprehending those that absconded, with a promise of a thousand pounds
j reward to such as should seize on any of them, and the offer of a pardon to every conspirator
that should seize on any of the rest. This set all people at work, and in a few weeks most
C24 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
of them were apprehended ; only Berkeley was not found, who had brought the commission
from king James, though great search was made for him. For, though the reality of such a
commission was fully proved afterwards, in the trials of the conspirators, by the evidence
of those who had seon and read it all written in king James's own hand (such a paper
being too important to be trusted to any to copy), yet much pains was taken to have found
the very person who was entrusted with it : the commission itself would have been a valuable
piece, and such an original as was not to be found any where.
The military men would not engage on other terms : they thought, by the laws of war,
they were bound to obey all orders that run in a military style, and no other ; and so they
imagined that their part in it was as innocent as the going on any desperate design during
a campaign. Many of them repined at the service, and wished that it had not been put on
them ; but, being commanded, they fancied that they were liable to no blame nor infamy,
but ought to be treated as prisoners of war.
Among those who were taken, Porter and Pendergrass were brought in. Porter had been
a vicious man, engaged in many ill things ; and was very forward and furious in all their
consultations. The lord Cutts, who, as captain of the guards, was present when the king
examined Pendergrass, but did not know his name, when he saw him brought in pressed
him to owrn himself and the service that he had already done ; but he claimed the promise
of not being forced to be a witness, and would say nothing. Porter was a man of pleasure,
who loved not the hardships of a prison, and much less the solemnities of an execution ;
so he confessed all : and then Pendergrass, who had his dependence on him, freely confessed
likewise. He said, Porter was the man who had trusted him ; he could not be an instru-
ment to destroy him ; yet he lay under no obligations to any others among them. Porter
had been in the management of the whole matter; so he gave a very copious account of it
all, from the first beginning. And now it appeared, that Pendergrass had been but a very
few days among them, and had seen very few of them ; and that he came and discovered the
conspiracy the next day after it was opened to him.
When by these examinations the matter was clear and undeniable, the king communicated
it in a speech to both houses of parliament. They immediately made addresses of congratu-
lation, with assurances of adhering to him against all his enemies, and in particular against
king James; and after that, motions were made in both houses for an association, wherein they
should own him as their rightful and lawful king, and promise faithfully to adhere to him against
king James, and the pretended prince of Wales ; engaging at the same time to maintain the
act of succession, and to revenge his death on all who should be concerned in it. This was
much opposed in both houses, chiefly by Seymour and Finch in the house of commons, and
the earl of Nottingham in the house of lords. They went chiefly upon this, that " rightful
and lawful" were words that had been laid aside in the beginning of this reign ; that they
imported one that was king by descent, and so could not belong to the present king. They j
said the crown and the prerogative of it were vested in him, and therefore they would obey J
him, and be faithful to him, though they could not acknowledge him their rightful and
lawful king. Great exceptions were also taken to the word " revenge," as not of an evan-
gelical sound ; but that word was so explained, that these were soon cleared : revenge was
to be meant in a legal sense, either in the prosecution of justice at home, or of war abroad ;
and the same word had been used in that association, into which the nation entered, whey
it was apprehended that queen Elizabeth's life was in danger by the practices of the queen j
of Scots. After a warm debate, it was carried in both houses, that an association should be
laid on the table, and that it might be signed by all such as were willing of their own accord
to sign it; only with this difference, that instead of the words " rightful and lawful king,
the lords put these words, " That king William hath the right by law to the crown of these
realms ; and that neither king James, nor the pretended prince of Wales, nor any otlu
person, has any right whatsoever to the same." This was done to satisfy those, who said
they could not come up to the words "rightful and lawful :" and the earl of Rochester,
offering these words, they were thought to answer the ends of the association, and so were
agreed to. This was signed by both houses, excepting only fourscore in the house of com-j
mons, and fifteen in the house of lords. The association was carried from the houses ofj
parliament over all England, and was signed by all sorts of people, a very few only excepted
OF KING WILLIAM III. 025
The bishops also drew a form for the clergy, according to that signed by the house of lords,
with some small variation, which was so universally signed, that not above an hundred all
England over refused it.
Soon after this, a bill was brought into the house of commons, declaring all men
incapable of public trust, or to serve in parliament, who did not sign the association. This
passed with no considerable opposition ; for those who had signed it of their own accord, were
not unwilling to have it made general ; and such as had refused it when it was voluntary,
were resolved to sign it as soon as the law should be made for it. And at the same time,
an order passed in council, for reviewing all the commissions in England, and for turning out
of them all those who had not signed the association, while it was voluntary ; since this
seemed to be such a declaration of their principles and affections, that it was not thought
reasonable that such persons should be any longer either justices of peace, or deputy
lieutenants.
The session of parliament was soon brought to a conclusion. They created one fund,
upon which two millions and a half were to be raised, which the best judges did apprehend
was neither just nor prudent. A new bank was proposed, called the Land Bank, because
the securities were to be upon land : this was the main difference between it and the Bank
of England ; and by reason of this, it was pretended, that it was not contrary to a clause in
the act for that bank, that no other bank should be set up in opposition to it. There was a
set of undertakers, who engaged that it should prove effectual, for the money for which it
was given. This was chiefly managed by Foley, Harley, and the tories : it was much
laboured by the earl of Sunderland ; and the king was prevailed on to consent to it, or
rather to desire it, though he was then told by many, of what ill consequence it would prove
to his affairs. The earl of Sunderland's excuse for himself, when the error appeared after-
wards but too evidently, was, that he thought it would engage the tories in interest to
support the government*.
After most of the conspirators were taken, and all examinations were over, some of them
were brought to their trials. Charnock, King, and Keys, were begun with : the design was
fully proved against them. Charnock showed great presence of mind, with temper, and
good judgment, and made as good a defence as the matter could bear; but the proof was so
full, that they were all found guilty. Endeavours were used to persuade Charnock to con-
fess all he knew, for he had been in all their plots from the beginning. His brother was
employed to deal with him, and he seemed to bs once in suspense ; but the next time that
his brother came to him, he told him, he could not save his own life without doing that
which would take away the lives of so many, that he did not think his own life worth it.
This showed a greatness of mind that had been very valuable, if it had been better directed.
Thus this matter was understood at the time ; but many years after this, the lord Somers
jjave me a different account of it. Charnock, as he told me, sent an offer to the king, of a
fall discovery of all their consultations and designs ; and desired no pardon, but only that he
might live in some easy prison ; and if he was found to prevaricate, in any part of his disco-
very, he would look for the execution of the sentence. But the king apprehended, that so
many persons would be found concerned, and thereby be rendered desperate, that he was
afraid to have such a scene opened, and would not accept of this offer. At his death,
Charnock delivered a paper, in which he confessed he was engaged in a design to attack the
>rince of Orange's guards : but he thought himself bound to clear king James from having
iven any commission to assassinate him. King's paper, who suffered with him, was to the
purpose ; and they both took pains to clear all those of their religion from any acce»
ion to it. King expressed a sense of the unlawfulness of the undertaking, but Charnock
emed fully satisfied with the lawfulness of it. Keys was a poor ignorant trumpeter, who
;id his dependence on Porter, and now suffered chiefly upon his evidence, for which he was
* The scheme of a Land Bank was suggested by Dr. per cent, was to be paid, and the privilege granted them
igh Chamberlain, and was patronised by the tories, or of lending a certain sum annually on landed securities.
' ded interest, because they thought it would embarrass It was sanctioned by an act of parliament, but when the
"'• whigs, and their monied supporters, the bank of day of payment came, the projectors failed to fulfil their
i'jland, &c. The new bank proposed to advance engagements, and the scheme proved entirely abortive. —
!UO,000/. for the service of government, for which seven Shrewsbury Correspondence.
b S
02(5 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
much reflected on. It was said that servants had often been witnesses against their masters,
but that a master's witnessing against his servant was somewrhat new and extraordinary.
The way that Charnock and King took to vindicate king James did rather fasten the im-
putation more upon him : they did not deny that he had sent over a commission to attack
the prince of Orange, which, as Porter deposed, Charnock told him he had seen. If this
had been denied by a dying man his last wTords would have been of some weight ; but in-
stead of denying that which was sworn, he only denied that king James had given a
commission for assassination ; and it seems great weight was laid on this word, for all the
conspirators agreed in it, and denied that king James had given a commission to assassinate
the prince of Orange. This was an odious word, and perhaps no person was ever so wicked
as to order such a thing in so crude a manner ; but the sending a commission to attack the
king's person was the same thing upon the matter, and was all that the witnesses had de-
posed ; therefore their not denying this, in the terms in which the witnesses swore it, did
plainly imply a confession that it was true. But some who had a mind to deceive them-
selves or others, laid hold on this and made great use of it, that dying men had acquitted
king James of the assassination. Such slight colours will serve, when people are engaged
beforehand to believe as their affections lead them.
Sir John Friend and sir William Perkins were tried next. The first of these had risen
from mean beginnings to great credit and much wealth : he was employed by king James,
and had all this while stuck firm to his interests : his purse was more considered than his
head, and was open on all occasions, as the party applied to him. While Parker was for-
merly in the Tower, upon information of an assassination of the king designed by him, he
furnished the money that corrupted his keepers, and helped him to make his escape out of
the Tower : he knew of the assassination, though he was not to be an actor in it ; but he
had a commission for raising a regiment for king James, and he had entertained arid paid the
officers who were to serve under him : he had also joined with those wTho had sent over
Charnock, in May 1695, with the message to king James mentioned in the account of the
former year ; it appearing now, that they had then desired an invasion with eight thousand
foot and one thousand horse, and had promised to join these with two thousand horse upon
their landing. In this the earl of Aylesbury, the lord Montgomery, son to the marquis of
Powys, and sir John Fenwick, were also concerned. Upon all this evidence Friend was
condemned, and the earl of Aylesbury was committed prisoner to the Tower. Perkins was a
gentleman of estate, who had gone violently into the passions and interests of the court in
king Charles's time : he was one of the six clerks in chancery, and took all oaths to the
government rather than lose his place. He did not only consent to the design of assassina-
tion, but undertook to bring five men who should assist in it, and he had brought up horses
for that service from the country, but had not named the persons, so this lay yet in his own
breast. He himself was not to have acted in it, for he likewise had a commission for
a regiment ; and therefore was to reserve himself for that service : he had also provided
a stock of arms which were hid under ground, and w^ere now discovered : upon this evidence
he was condemned. Great endeavours were used both with Friend and him to confess all
they knew. Friend was more sullen, as he knew less ; for he was only applied to and
trusted, when they needed his money. • Perkins fluctuated more ; he confessed the whole
thing for which he was condemned, but would not name the five persons whom he was to
have sent in to assist in the assassination. He said he had engaged them in it, so he
could not think of saving his own life by destroying theirs. He confessed he had seen king
James's commission ; the words differed a little from those which Porter had told, but
Porter did not swear that he saw it himself, he only related what Charnock had
told him concerning it, yet Perkins said they were to the same effect : he believed it
was all written with king James's own hand ; he had seen his writing often, and was confi-
dent it was written by him : he owned that he had raised and maintained a regiment, but
lie thought he could not swear against his officers, since he himself had drawn them into the
service ; and he affirmed that he knew nothing of the other regiments. He sent for the
bishop of Ely, to whom he repeated all these particulars, as the bishop himself told me : he
seemed much troubled with a sense of his forirer life, which had been very irregular. The
OF KING WILLIAM III. G27
house of commons sent some to examine him, but he gave them so little satisfaction that
they left him to the course of the law. His tenderness in not accusing those whom he had
drawn in, was so generous, that this alone served to create some regard for a man who had
been long under a very bad character. In the beginning of April, Friend and he were exe-
cuted together.
A very unusual instance of the boldness of the Jacobites appeared upon that occasion :
these two had not changed their religion, but still called themselves protestants ; so three
of the nonjuring clergymen waited on them io Tyburn, two of them had been often with
Friend, and one of them with Perkins : and all the three at the place of execution joined to
give them public absolution, with an imposition of hands, in the view of all the people ; a
strain of impudence that was as new as it was wicked, since these persons died owning the
ill designs they had been engaged in, and expressing no sort of repentance for them. So
these clergymen, in this solemn absolution, made an open declaration of their allowing and
justifying these persons in all they had been concerned in : two of these were taken, and
censured for this in the king's bench, the third made his escape.
Three other conspirators, Rookwood, Lowick, and Cranborn, were tried next. By this
time the new act for trials in such cases began to take place, so these held long, for their
counsel stuck upon every thing : but the evidence was now more copious, for three other
witnesses came in, the government being so gentle as to pardon even the conspirators who
confessed their guilt, and were willing to be witnesses against others. The first two were papists,
they expressed their dislike of the design, but insisted on this, that as military men they were
bound to obey all military orders; and they thought that the king, who knew the laws of war,
ought to have a regard to this, and to forgive them. Cranborn called himself a protestant, but
was more sullen than the other two ; to such a degree of fury and perverseness had the Jacobites
wrought up their party. Knightly was tried next : he confessed all, and upon that, though
he was condemned, he had a reprieve and was afterwards pardoned. These were all the
trials and executions that even this black conspiracy drew from the government ; for the king's
inclinations were so merciful, that he seemed uneasy even under these acts of necessary justice.
Cook was brought next upon his trial on account of the intended invasion, for he was
not charged with the assassination : his trial was considered as introductory to the earl of
| Aylesbury's, for the evidence was the same as to both. Porter and Goodman were two wit-
i nesses against him : they had been with him at a meeting, in a tavern in Leadenhall-street.
where Ciiarnock received instructions to go to France with the message formerly mentioned.
; All that was brought against this was, that the master of the tavern and two of his servants
swore, that they remembered well when that company was at the tavern, for they were
often coming into the room where they sat, both at dinner time and after it, and that they
saw not Goodman there ; nay, they were positive that he was not there. On the other hand,
Porter deposed that Goodman was not with them at dinner, but that he came to that house
after dinner, and sent him in a note, upon which he, with the consent of the company, went
<>ut and brought him in ; and then it was certain that the servants of the house were not in
that constant attendance, nor could they be believed in a negative against positive evidence
to the contrary. Their credit was not such but that it might be well supposed, that, for
the interest of their house, they might be induced to make stretches. The evidence was be-
lieved, and Cook was found guilty, and condemned : he obtained many short reprieves upon
ssurances that he would tell all he knew ; but it was visible he did not deal sincerely ; his
unishment ended in banishment. Sir John Fenwick' was taken not long after, going over
'» France, and was ordered to prepare for his trial, upon which he seemed willing to discover
H he knew ; and in this he went off and on, for he had no mind to die, and hoped to save
imself by some practice or other. Several days were set for his trial, and he procured new
•lays by making some new discoveries. At last, when he saw that slight and general ones
ould not serve his turn, he sent for the duke of Devonshire, and wrote a paper as a
iscovery, which he gave him to be sent to the king ; and that duke affirming to the lords
i stices that it was not fit that paper should be seen by any before the king saw it, the
latter was suffered to rest for this time *.
* The chief of these prosecutions are in tlie l State Trials."
S S 2
628 TPIE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The summer went over, both in Flanders and on the Rhine, without any action. All
the funds given for this year's service proved defective, but that of the Land bank failed totally,
and the credit of the bank of England was much shaken. About five millions of dipt
money was brought into the exchequer ; and the loss that the nation suffered by the recoin-
ing of the money, amounted to two millions and two hundred thousand pounds. The
coinage was carried on with all possible haste ; about eighty thousand pounds was coined
every week ; yet still this was slow, and the new money was generally kept up, so that
for several months little of it appeared. This stop in the free circulation of money put
the nation into great disorder. Those who, according to the act of parliament, were to have
the first payments in milled money, for the loans they had made, kept their specie up, and
would not let it go but at an unreasonable advantage. The king had no money to pay his
army, so they were in great distress, which they bore with wonderful patience. By this
means the king could undertake nothing, and was forced to lie on the defensive ; nor were
the French strong enough to make an impression in any place. The king had a mighty
army, and was much superior to the enemy, yet he could do nothing ; and it passed for a
happy campaign because the French were not able to take any advantage from those ill
accidents that our want of specie brought us under, which indeed were such, that nothing
but the sense all had of the late conspiracy, kept us quiet and free from tumults. It now
appeared what a strange error the king was led into, when he accepted of so great a sum to
be raised by a Land bank. It was scarcely honourable, and not very safe at any time ; but it
might have proved fatal at a time in which money was likely to be much wanted, which
want would have been less felt if paper credit had been kept up : but one bank working
against another, and the goldsmiths against both, put us to great straits ; yet the bank sup-
plied the king in this extremity, and thereby convinced him that they were his friends in
affection as well as interest *.
The secret practices in Italy were now ready to break out. The pope and the Venetians
had a mind to send the Germans out of Italy, and to take the duke of Savoy out of the
necessity of depending on those they called heretics. The management in the business of
Casal looked so dark, that the lord Galway, who was the king's general and envoy there,
did apprehend there was something mysterious under it. One step more remained, to settle
the peace there ; for the duke of Savoy would not own that he was in any negotiation, till
lie should have received the advances of money that were promised him from England and
Holland, for he was much set on the heaping of treasure, even during the war, to which end
he had debased his coin so, that it was not above a sixth part in intrinsic value of what it
passed for. He was always beset with his priests, who were perpetually complaining of
the progress that heresy was like to make in his dominions. He had indeed granted a very
full edict in favour of the Yaudois, restoring their former liberties and privileges to them,
which the lord Galway took care to have put in the most emphatical words, and passed
with all the formalities of law, to make it as effectual as laws and promises can be ; yet
every step that was made in that affair went against the grain, and was extorted from hin.
by the intercession of the king and the States, and by the lord Galway's zeal.
* The following contemporary song was published in To show that our merciful senate don't fail
" Poems on Affairs of State," vol. ii ed. 1703. To begin at the head, and tax down to the tail.
1 We pay through the nose by subjecting foes,
Good people, what will you o'f all be bereft ? Yet for al1 our expenses get nothing but blows ;
Will you never learn wit while a penny is left ? At home we are cheated, abroad we're defeated,
You are all, like the dog in the fable, betray'd But the end °*\ the end on'fc> the L°rd above know*
To let go the substance and snatch at the shade ; 3.
Your specious pretences, and foreign expenses, We parted with all our old money, to shew
We war with religion, and waste all our chink, We foolishly hoped for a plenty of new ;
'Tis nipt and ''tis dipt, 'tis lent and 'tis spent, But might have remember'd, when we came to the push,
Till 'tis gone, till 'tis gone to the devil I think. That a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
2. We now, like poor wretches, are kept under hatches,
We pay for our new-born, we pay for our dead, At rack» and at manger, like beasts in the ark,
We pay if we're single, we pay if we're wed ; Since rtur burgesses and knights make us pay for our light* ,
Why should we, why should we be kept in the d
Alluding to the window tax.
OF KING WILLIAM III. 629
In conclusion, the French were grown so weary of that war, and found the charge of it
so heavy, that they offered not only to restore all that had been taken, but to demolish
Pignerol, and to pay the duke some millions of crowns; and to complete the whole, that the duke
of Burgundy should marry his daughter. To this he consented ; but to cover this defection
from his allies, it was further agreed that Catinat should draw his army together before the
duke could bring his to make head against him ; and that he should be ordered to attempt
the bombardment of Turin, that so the duke might seem to be forced by the extremity of
his affairs to take such conditions as were offered him. He had a mind to have cast
the blame on his allies, but they had assisted him more effectually at this time than on
other occasions. A truce was first made, and that, after a few months, was turned into
an entire peace ; one article whereof was, that the Milanese should have a neutrality
granted them in case the German forces were sent out of Italy. All the Italian princes
and states concurred in this, to get rid of the Germans as soon as was possible ; so the duke
of Savoy promised to join with the French to drive them out. Valence was the first
place that the duke of Savoy attacked ; there was a good garri.-gn in it, and it was better
provided than the places of the Spaniards generally were. It was not much pressed,
and the siege held some weeks, many dying in it. At last the courts of Vienna and
Madrid accepted of the neutrality, and engaged to draw the Germans out of these parts
upon an advance of money, which the princes of Italy were glad to pay to be delivered
of such troublesome guests.
Thus ended the war in Piedmont, after it had lasted six years. Pignerol was demo-
lished ; but the French, by the treaty, might build another fort at Fenestrella, which is
in the middle of the hills ; and so it will not be so important as Pignerol was, though it
may prove an uneasy neighbour to the duke of Savoy. His daughter was received in
France as duchess of Burgundy, though not yet of the age of consent, for she svas but
ten years old.
Nothing of consequence passed in Catalonia : the French went no further than Gironne,
and the Spaniards gave them no disturbance. Both the king and queen of Spain were at
this time so ill, that, as is usual upon such occasions, it was suspected they were both poi-
soned. The king of Spain relapsed often, and at last remained in that low state of health,
in which lie seemed to be always rather dying than living. The court of France were glad
of his recovery ; for they were not then in a condition to undertake such a war as the dau-
phin's pretensions must have engaged them in.
In Hungary the Turks advanced again towards Transylvania, where the duke of Saxony
commanded the imperial army. The Turks did attack them, and they defended themselves
so well, that though they were beat, yet it cost the Turks so dear, that the grand seignior
could undertake nothing afterwards. The imperialists lost about five thousand men ; but
the Turks lost above twice that number, and the grand seignior went back with an empty
triumph as he did the former year. But another action happened, in a very remote place,
which may come to be of a very great consequence to him. The Muscovites, after they
had been for some years under the divided monarchy of two brothers, or rather of a sis-
ter, who governed all in their name, by the death of one of these came now under one czar :
he entered into an alliance with the emperor against the Turks ; and Azuph, which was
reckoned a strong place, that commanded the mouth of the Tanais, or Don, where it falls
into the Meotis-palus, after a long siege was taken by his army. This opened the Euxine
to him, so that if he be furnished with men skilled in the building and sailing of ships,
this may have consequences that may very much distress Constantinople, and be in the end
fatal to that empire. The king of Denmark's health was now on a decline, upon which the
duke of Holstein was taking advantage, and new disputes were like to arise there.
Our affairs at sea went well with relation to trade : all our merchant fleets came happily
home ; we made no considerable losses ; on the contrary, we took many of the French priva-
teers ; they now gained little in that way of war, which in some of the forniei yer»rs ivaci
lu-eii very advantageous to them. Upon the breaking out of the conspiracy, oiaers \\eie
.-ent to Cadiz for bringing home our fleet ; the Spaniards murmured at this, though it was
reasonable for us to take cure of ourselves in the first place. Upon that the French fleet
630 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
was also ordered to come about : they met with rough weather, and were long in the pas-
sage ; so that if we had sent a squadron before Brest, we had probably made some consider-
able advantage ; but the fleet was so divided, that faction appeared in every order and in
every motion ; nor did the king study enough to remedy this, but rather kept it up. and
seemed to think that was the way to please both parties ; but he found afterwards, that by
all his management with the tones he disgusted those who were affectionate and zealous for
him, and that the tories had too deep an alienation from him to be overcome with good
usage. Their submissions however to him gained their end, which was to provoke the
whigs to be peevish and uneasy. Our fleet sailed towards the isle of Rhee, with some bomb
vessels : some small islands were burnt and plundered, as St. Martin's was bombarded : the
loss the French made was not considerable in itself, but it put their affairs in great distrac-
tion, and the charge they were at in defending their coast, was much greater than ours in
attacking it. This was the state of affairs in England and abroad during the summer.
Scotland was falling into great misery by reason of two successive bad harvests, which ex-
hausted that nation and drove away many of their people ; the greatest number went over
to Ireland. A. parliament was held at Edinburgh, and in a very thin house every thing
that was asked was granted. They were in a miserable condition, for two such bad years
lay extremely heavy on them.
This summer the French were making steps towards a peace : the court was very uneasy
under so long and so destructive a war : the country was exhausted, they had neither men
nor money ; their trade was sunk to nothing, and public credit was lost. The creation of
new offices, which always was considered as a resource never to be exhausted, did not work
as formerly ; few buyers or undertakers appeared. That king's health was thought declining ;
he affected secrecy and retirement ; so that both the temper of his mind and the state of
his affairs disposed him to desire a peace. One Callieres was sent to make propositions to
the States, as D'Avaux was pressing the king of Sweden to offer his mediation : the States
would hearken to no proposition till two preliminaries were agreed to ; the first was, that
all things should be brought back to the state in which they were put by the treaties of
Munster and Nimegueii. This imported not only the restoring Mons and Charleroy, but
likewise Strasburg and Luxemburg, and that, in the state which they were in at present.
The other preliminary was, that France should own the king whensoever the peace should he
concluded. The emperor, who designed to keep off any negotiation as much as possible,
moved that this should be done before the treaty was opened ; but the king thought the
other was sufficient, and would not suffer the peace to be obstructed by a thing that might
seem personal to himself. To all this the court of France, after some delays, consented ; but
that spirit of chicane and injustice that had reigned so long in that court, did still appear
in every step that was made, for they made use of equivocal terms in every paper that was
offered in their name. The States had felt the effects of these in their former treaties too
sensibly not to be now on their guard against them. The French still returned to them,
and when some points seemed to be quite settled new difficulties were still thrown in. It
was proposed by the French that the popish religion must continue still at Strasburg, that
the king of France could not in conscience yield that point. It was also pretended that
Luxemburg was to be restored in the same state in which it was when the French took it.
These variations did almost break off the negotiation, but the French would not let it
fall, and yielded them up again ; so it was visible all this was only an amusement and an
artifice, by this shew of peace, to get the parliament of England to declare for it ; since as
a trading nation must grow weary of war, so the party they had among us would join in
with the inclination that was now become general, to promote the peace ; for though our
affairs were in all respects, except that of the coin, in so good a condition that we felt our-
selves grow richer by the war, yet during each campaign we ran a greater risk than our
enemies did ; for all our preservation hung on the single thread of the king's life, and on
that prospect the party that wrought against the government had great hopes, and acted
with much spirit during the war, which we had reason to think must sink with a peace.
The parliament met in November ; and at the opening of the session, the king in his
speech to the two houses, acquainted them with the overtures that were made towards a
OF KING WILLIAM III. 031
peace ; but added, that the best way to obtain a good one, was to be in a posture for carry-
ing on the war. The great difficulty was to find a way to restore credit : there was a great
arrear due ; all funds had proved deficient, and the total failing of the Land bank had brought
a great confusion on all payments : the arrears were put upon the funds of the revenue,
which had been granted for a term of but five years, and that was now ending ; so a new
continuance of those revenues was granted, and they were put under the management of the
bank of England, which, upon that security, undertook the payment of them all. It was
long before all this was fully settled : the bank was not willing to engage in it, yet at last
it was agreed, and the bank quickly recovered its credit so entirely, that there was no dis-
count upon the notes. The arrear amounted to ten millions, and five millions more were to
be raised for the charge of the following year ; so that one session was to secure fifteen mil-
lions, a sum never before thought possible to be provided for in any one session. There was
not specie enough for giving that quick circulation which is necessary for trade ; so to
remedy that, the treasury was empowered to give out notes to the value of almost three
millions, which were to circulate as a species of money, and to be received in taxes, and
were to sink gradually, as the money should arise out of the fund that was created to answer
them ; by these methods all the demands, both for arrears and for the following year,
were answered. The commons sent a bill to the lords, limiting elections to future parlia-
ments, that none should be chosen but those who had such a proportion of estate or
money : the lords rejected it : they thought it reasonable to leave the nation to their
freedom in choosing their representatives in parliament. It soermd both unjust and
cruel, that if a poor man had so fair a reputation as to be chosen, notwithstanding his
poverty, by those who were willing to pay him wages, that he should be branded with an
incapacity because of his small estate. Corruption in elections was to be apprehended from
the rich rather than from the poor. Another bill was sent up by the commons, but rejected
by the lords, prohibiting the importation of all East India silks and Bengals. This was
proposed to encourage the silk manufacture at home, and petitions were brought for it by
great multitudes, in a very tumultuary way ; but the lords had no regard to that.
The great business of this session that held longest in both houses, was a bill relating to
sir John Fenwick. The thing was of so particular a nature that it deserves to be related in
a special manner ; and the great share that I bore in the debate when it was in the house of
lords, makes it more necessary for me copiously to enlarge upon it ; for it may at first view
seem very liable to exception, that a man of my profession should enter so far into a debate
of that nature. Fenwick, when he was first taken, wrote a letter to his lady, setting forth
his misfortune, and giving himself for dead unless powerful applications could be made for
him, or that some of the jury could be hired to starve out the rest ; and to that he added,
" This, or nothing, can save my life." This letter was taken from the person to whom he
had given it. At his first examination before the lords justices, he denied every thing, till
he was shewed this letter, and then he was confounded. In his private treaty with the
duke of Devonshire, he desired an assurance of life upon his promise to tell all he knew ;
but the king refused that, and would have it left to himself to judge of the truth and the
importance of the discoveries he should make : so he, resolving to cast himself on the king's
mercy, sent him a paper, in which after a bare account of the consultations among the Jaco-
bites (in which he took care to charge none of his own party) he said that king James and
thoso who were employed by him, had assured them, that both the earls of Shrews-
bury and Marlborough, the lord Godolphin and admiral Russel, were reconciled to him, and
were now in his interests and acting for him *. This was a discovery that could signify
* The magnanimous conduct of the king upon this The innocence of the duke was fully proved, and it is
occasion is fully related in the " Shrewsbury Correspon- further shewn by the letter he wrote to the king upon the
<len<T." He inclosed the calumniating paper to the duke first information of sir John Fenwick' s capture, and before
of Shrewsbury, adding, " you are, I trust, too fully con he had brought charges against the duke. In this letter
vinced of the entire confidence I place in you, to imagine he expresses his conviction that, by proper management,
that such an accusation has made any impression on me; sir John might be brought to give important information.
it it had t should not have sent you this paper. You will This was not the conduct of a man conscious of his own
observe the sincerity of this honest man, who only guilt.
; ctuses those in my service, and not one of his own party."
632 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
nothing but to give the Icing a jealousy of those persons ; for he did not offer the least
shadow or circumstance, either of proof or of presumption, to support this accusation. The
king not being satisfied herewith, sent an order for bringing him to a trial, unless he made
fuller discoveries : he desired to be further examined by the lords justices, to whom he, being
upon oath, told some more particulars ; but he took care to name none of his own side but
those against whom evidence was already brought, or who were safe and beyond sea ; some
few others he named, who were in matters of less consequence that did not amount to high
treason ; he owned a thread of negotiations, that had passed between them and king James,
or the court of France ; he said the earl of Aylesbury had gone over to France, and had been
admittc d to a private audience of the French king, where he had proposed the sending over
an army of thirty thousand men, and had undertaken that a great body of gentlemen and
horses should be brought to join them. It appeared by his discoveries, that the Jacobites in
England were much divided : some were called compounders, and others noncompounders.
The first sort desired securities from king James for the preservation of the religion and
liberties of England ; whereas the second sort were for trusting him upon discretion without
asking any terms, putting all in his power, and relying entirely on his honour and genero-
sity. These seemed indeed to act more suitably to the great principle upon which they all
insisted, that kings have their power from God, and are accountable only to him for the
exercise of it. Dr. Lloyd, the deprived bishop of Norwich, was the only eminent clergyman
that went into this ; and therefore all that party had, upon Bancroft's death, recommended
him to king James to have his nomination for Canterbury.
Fen wick put all this in writing, upon assurance, that he should not be forced to witness
any part of it. When that was sent to the king, all appearing to be so trifling, and no
other proof being offered for any part of it, except his own word, which he had stipulated
should not be made use of, his majesty sent an order to bring him to his trial; but as the
king was slow in sending this order, so the duke of Devonshire, who had been in the secret
management of the matter, was for some time in the country : the lords justices delayed the
matter till he came to town ; and then the king's coming was so near, that it wras respited
till he came over. By these delays, Fenwick gained his main design in them, which was to
practise upon the witnesses.
His lady began with Porter ; he was offered, that if he would go beyond sea, he should
have a good sum in hand, and an annuity secured to him for his life ; he hearkened so far
to the proposition, that he drew those who were in treaty with him, together with the lady
herself, who carried the sum that he was to receive, to a meeting, where he had provided
witnesses, who should over-hear all that passed, and should, upon a signal, come in, and
seize them with the money : which was done, and a prosecution upon it was ordered. The
practice was fully proved, and the persons concerned in it were censured, and punished ; so
Porter was no more to be dealt with. Goodman was the other witness : first they gathered
matter to defame him, in which his wicked course of life furnished them very copiously ; but
they trusted not to this method, and betook themselves to another, in which they prevailed
more effectually ; they persuaded him to go out of England : and by this means, when the
last orders were given for Fenwick's trial, there were not two witnesses against him ; so
by the course of law, he must have been acquitted : the whole was upon this kept entire for
the session of parliament. The king sent to the house of commons the two papers that Fen-
wick had sent him. Fenwick was brought before the house ; but he refused to give any
farther account of the matter contained in them ; so they rejected them as false and scanda-
lous, made only to create jealousies. And they ordered a bill of attainder to be brought
against Fenwick, which met with great opposition in both houses, in every step that was
made. The debates were the hottest, and held the longest, of any that I ever knew. The
lords took a very extraordinary method to force all their absent members to come up ; they
sent messengers for them to bring them up, which seemed to be a great breach on their
dignity ; for the privilege of making a proxy was an undoubted right belonging to their
peerage ; but those who intended to throw out the bill, resolved to have a full house. The
bill set forth the artifices Fenwick had used to gain delays ; and the practice upon Porter,
and Goodman's escape, the last having sworn treason against him at Cook's trial, and like-
OF KING WILLIAM III. C33
wise to the grand jury, who had found the bill against him upon that evidence. 3c now
Porter appearing, and giving his evidence against him, and the evidence that Goodman nad.
given being proved, it was inferred that he was guilty of high treason, and that therefore ne
ought to be attainted.
The substance of the arguments brought against this way of proceeding, was, that the law
was all men's security, as well as it ought to be their rule : if this was once broke through,
no man was safe ; men would be presumed guilty without legal proofs, and be run down,
and destroyed by a torrent : two witnesses seemed necessary, by an indisputable law of
justice, to prove a man guilty ; the law of God, given to Moses, as well as the law of
England, made this necessary ; and, besides all former ones, the law lately made for trials
in cases of treason, was such a sacred one, that it was to be hoped that even a parliament
would not make a breach upon it. A written deposition was no evidence, because the per-
son accused could not have the benefit of cross interrogating the witness, by which much
false swearing was often detected : nor could the evidence given in one trial be brought
against a man who was not a party in that trial : the evidence that was offered to a grand
jury was to be examined all over again at the trial ; till that was done, it was not evidence.
It did not appear that Fenwick himself was concerned in the practice upon Porter ; what
his lady did could not be charged on him ; no evidence was brought that Goodman was
practised on ; so his withdrawing himself could not be charged on Fenwick. Some very
black things were proved against Goodman, which would be strong to set aside his testimony,
though he were present ; and that proof, which had been brought in Cook's trial against
Porter's evidence, was again made use of, to prove that as he was the single witness, so he
was a doubtful and suspected one : nor was it proper that a bill of this noture should begin
in the house of commons, which could not take examinations upon oath. This was the
substance of the arguments that were urged against the bill.
On the other hand it was said, in behalf of the bill, that the nature of government required
that the legislature should be recurred to, in extraordinary cases, for which effectual provision
could not be made by fixed arid standing laws : our common law grew up out of the pro-
ceedings of the courts of law ; afterwards, this, in cases of treason, was thought too loose :
so the law in this point was limited, first by the famous statute in king Edward the Third's
time, and then by the statute in king Edward the Sixth's time ; the two witnesses were to
be brought face to face with the person accused : and that the law, lately made, had brought
the method of trials to a yet further certainty, yet in that, as well as in the statute of
Edward III., parliamentary proceedings were still excepted ; and indeed, though no such
provision had been expressly made in the acts themselves, the nature of government puts
always an exception in favour of the legislative authority. The legislature was indeed
bound to observe justice and equity, as much, if not more, than the inferior courts ; because
the supreme court ought to set an example to all others ; but they might see cause to pass
over forms, as occasion should require ; this was the more reasonable among us, because there
was no nation in the world besides England, that had not recourse to torture, when the
evidence was probable but defective ; that was a mighty restraint, and struck a terror into
all people ; and the freest governments, both ancient and modern, thought they could not
subsist without it. At present, the Venetians have their civil inquisitors, and the Grisons
have their high courts of justice, which act without the forms of law, by the absolute trust-
that is reposed in them, such as the Romans reposed in dictators, in the time of their liberty.
England had neither torture nor any unlimited magistrate in its constitution ; and therefore,
upon great emergencies, recourse must be had to the supreme legislature. Forms are neces-
sary in subordinate courts, but there is no reason to tie up the supreme one by them : this
method of attainder had been practised among us at all times ; it is true what was done in
this way at one time was often reversed at another; but that was the effect of the violence
of the times, and was occasioned often by the injustice of those attainders ; the judgments
"f the inferior courts were upon the like account often reversed; but when parliamentary
attainders went upon good grounds, though without observing the forms of law, they were
never blamed, not to say condemned. When poisoning was first practised in England, and
put in a pot of porridge in the bishop of Rochester's house, this, which was only felony, was
<;3i THE HISTORY OF THE UEIGN
by a special law made to be high treason ; and a new punishment was appointed by act of
parliament ; the poisoner was boiled alive. When the nun of Kent pretended to visions, to
oppose king Henry the Eighth's divorce, and his second marriage, and said, if he married
again, he should not live long after it, but should die a villain's death ; this was judged in
parliament to be high treason ; and she and her accomplices suffered accordingly. After
that, there passed many attainders in that reign, only upon depositions, that were read in
both houses of parliament : it is true these were much blamed, and there was great cause
for it ; there were too many of. them ; for this extreme way of proceeding is to be put in
practice but seldom, and upon great occasions ; whereas many of these went upon slight
grounds, such as the uttering some passionate and indecent words, or the using some
embroidery in garments and coats of arms, with an ill intent. But that which was ind ^ed
execrable, was, that persons in prison were attainted, without being heard in their own
defence ; this was so contrary to natural justice, that it could not be enough condemned.
In king Edward the Sixth's time, the lord Seymour was attainted in the same manner, only
with this difference, that the witnesses were brought to the bar, and there examined ;
whereas, formerly, they proceeded upon some depositions that were read to them : at the
duke of Somerset's trial, which was both for high treason and for felony, in which he was
acquitted of the former, but found guilty of the latter, depositions were only read against
him ; but the witnesses were not brought face to face, as he pressed they might be : upon
which it was, that the following parliament enacted, that the accusers (that is the witnesses)
should be examined face to face, if they were alive. In queen Elizabeth's time, the parlia-
ment went out of the method of law, in all the steps of their proceedings against the queen
of Scots : it is true there were no parliamentary attainders in England during that long and
glorious reign, upon which those who opposed the bill insisted much ; yet that was only,
because there then was no occasion here in England for any such bill ; but in Ireland, where
some things were notoriously true, which yet could not be legally proved, that government
was forced to have, on many different occasions, recourse to this method. In king James
the First's time, those who were concerned in the gunpowder plot, and chose to be killed,
rather than taken, were by act of parliament attainted after their death ; which the courts
of law could not do, since by our law, a man's crimes die with himself ; for this reason,
because he cannot make his own defence, nor can his children do it for him. The famous
attainder of the earl of Strafford, in king Charles the First's time, has been much and justly
censured ; not so much because it passed by bill, as because of the injustice of it : he was
accused for having said, vpon the house of commons refusing to grant the subsidies, the king
had asked, " That the king was absolved from all the rules of government, and might make
use of force to subdue this kingdom." These words were proved only by one witness, all
the rest of the council who were present, deposing, that they remembered no such words,
and were positive, that the debate ran only upon the war with Scotland ; so that though
" this kingdom," singly taken, must be meant of England, yet it might well be meant of
" that kingdom," which was the subject then of the debate ; since then the words were
capable of that favourable sense, and that both he who spoke them, and they who heard
them, affirmed that they were meant and understood in that sense, it was a most pernicious
precedent, first to take them in the most odious sense possible, and then to destroy him who
said them, upon the testimony of one single, exceptionable witness ; whereas, if, upon the
commons refusing to grant the king's demand, he had plainly advised the king to subdue his
people by force, it is hard to telLwhat the parliament might not justly have done, or would
not do again in the like case. In king Charles the Second's time, some of the most eminent
of the regicides were attainted, after they were dead ; and in king James's time, the duke of
Monmouth was attainted by bill : these last attainders had their first beginning in the house
of commons. Thus it appeared, that these last two hundred years, not to mention much ;
ancienter precedents, the nation had upon extraordinary occasions proceeded in this parlia-
mentary way by bill. There were already many precedents of this method ; and whereas it
was said, that an ill parliament might carry these too far, it is certain the nation, and every
person in it, must be safe, when they are in their own hands, or in those of a representative!
chosen by themselves ; as, on the other hand, if that be ill chosen, there is no help for it ; thej
OF KING WILLIAM III. 035
nation must perish, for it is by their own fault ; they have already too many precedents for
this way of proceeding, if they intend to make an ill use of them ; but a precedent is only
a ground or warrant for the like proceeding, upon the like occasion.
Two rules were laid down for all bills of this nature ; first, that the matter be of a very
extraordinary nature : lesser crimes had better be passed over than punished by the legis-
lature. Of all the crimes that can be contrived against the nation, certainly the most heinous
one is, that of bringing in a foreign force to conquer us ; this ruins both us and our posterity
for ever : distractions at home, how fatal soever, even though they should end ever so tragi-
cally, as ours once did in the murder of the king, and in a military usurpation, yet were
capable of a crisis and a cure. In the year 1660, we came again to our wits, and all was
set right again ; whereas there is no prospect after a foreign conquest, but of slavery
and misery ; and how black soever the assassinating the king must needs appear, yet a
foreign conquest was worse, it was assassinating the kingdom ; and therefore the inviting and
contriving that must be the blackest of crimes. But, as the importance of the matter ought
to be equal to such an unusual way of proceeding, so the certainty of the facts ought to be
such, that if the defects in legal proof are to be supplied, yet this ought to be done upon such
grounds as make the fact charged appear so evidently true, that though a court of law could
not proceed upon it, yet no man could raise in himself a doubt concerning it. Anciently,
treason was judged, as felony still is, upon such presumptions as satisfied the jury ; the law
has now limited this to two witnesses brought face to face ; but the parliament may still
take that liberty which is denied to inferior courts, of judging this matter as an ordinary
ury does in a case of felony. In the present case, there was one witness, viva voce, upon
rvhose testimony several persons had been condemned, and had suffered ; and these neither
it their trial, nor at their death, disproved, or denied, any circumstance of his depositions.
If he had been too much a libertine in the course of his life, that did not destroy his credit
is a witness : in the first trial this might have made him a doubtful witness, but what
lad happened since had destroyed the possibility even of suspecting his evidence ; a party
tad been in interest concerned to enquire into his whole life, and in the present case had full
time for it ; and every circumstance of his deposition had been examined, and yet nothing
vas discovered that could so much as create a doubt ; all was still untouched, sound and
rue. The only circumstance in which the dying speeches of those who suffered on his
'vidence, seemed to contradict him, was concerning king James's commission ; yet none of
them denied really what Porter had deposed, which was, that Charnock told him, that there
was a commission come from king James, for attacking the prince of Orange's guards : they
nly denied that there was a commission for assassinating him. Sir John Friend, and sir
William Perkins, were condemned for the consultation now given in evidence against Fen-
wick : they died, not denying it ; on the contrary, they justified all they had done. It
•ould not be supposed that, if there had been a tittle in the evidence that was false, they
should both have been so far wanting to themselves, and to their friends, who were to be
tried upon the same evidence, as not to have declared it in the solemnest manner : these
tilings were more undeniably certain than the evidence of ten witnesses could possibly be.
Witnesses might conspire to swear a falsehood ; but in this case, the circumstances took
Jivvay the possibility of a doubt. And therefore the parliament, without taking any notice
<>f Goodman's evidence, might well judge Fen wick guilty, for no man could doubt of it in
liis own mind.
The ancient Romans were very jealous of their liberty ; but how exact soever they might
bo in ordinary cases, yet when any of their citizens seemed to have a design of making him-
self king, they either created a dictator to suppress or destroy him, or else the people pro-
ceeded against him in a summary way. By the Portian law, no citizen could be put to
•loath for any crime whatsoever; yet such regard did the Romans pay to justice, even above
1 1 w, that, when the Campanian legion had perfidiously broken in upon Rhegium, and pil-
laged it, they put them all to death for it. In the famous case of Catiline's conspiracy, as
the evidence was clear, and the danger extreme, the accomplices in it were executed, not-
withstanding the Portian law; and this was done by the order of the senate, without either
< aring them make their own defence, or admitting them to claim the right, which the Yale-
f3G THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
rian law gave them, of an appeal to the people. Yet that whole proceeding was cmonv
directed by the two greatest* asserters of public liberty that ever lived, Cato and Cicero j ana"
Caesar, who opposed it, on pretence of its being against the Portian law, was for that reason
suspected of being in the conspiracy : it appeared afterwards, how little regard he had, either
to law or liberty, though, upon this occasion, he made use of the one to protect those who
were in a plot against the other. This expression was much resented by those who were
against this bill, as carrying a bitter reflection upon them for opposing it.
In conclusion, the bill passed by a small majority of only seven in the house of lords ; the
royal assent was soon given to it. Fenwick then made all possible applications to the king
for a reprieve ; and as a main ground for that, and as an article of merit, related how he had
saved the king's life, two years before, as was already told in the beginning of the year
1695. But as this fact could not be proved, so it could confer no obligation on the king,
since he had given him no warning of his danger ; and according to his own story, had
trusted the conspirators1 words very easily when they promised to pursue their design no
farther, which he had no reason to do. So that this pretension was not much considered ;
but he was pressed to make a full discovery ; and for some days he seemed to be in
some suspense what course to take. He desired to be secured, that nothing which he con-
fessed should turn to his own prejudice. The house of lords sent an address to the king,
entreating that they might be at liberty to make him this promise ; and that was readily
granted. He then farther desired, that, upon his making a full confession, he might be
assured of a pardon without being obliged to become a witness against any other person : to
this the lords answered, that he had to do with men of honour, and that he must trust to
their discretion ; that they would mediate for him with the king, in proportion as they should
find his discoveries sincere and important : his behaviour to the king hitherto had not been
such as to induce the lords to trust to his candour ; it was much more reasonable that he
should trust to them. Upon this all hopes of any discoveries from him were laid aside :
but a matter of another nature broke out, which, but for its singular circumstances, scarcely
deserves to be mentioned.
There was one Smith, a nephew of sir William Perkins, who had for some time been in
treaty at the duke of Shrewsbury's office, pretending that he could make great discoveries, and
that he knew all the motions and designs of the Jacobites : he sent many dark and ambiguous
letters to that duke's under secretary, which were more properly to be called amusements
than discoveries ; for he only gave hints and scraps of stories ; but he had got a promise not
to be made a witness, and yet he never offered any other witness, nor told where any of |
those he informed against were lodged, or how they might be taken. He was always asking !
more money, and bragging what he could do, if he were well supplied, and he seemed to
think he never had enough. Indeed, before the conspiracy broke out, he had given such i
hints, that when it was discovered, it appeared he must have known much more of it than
he thought fit to tell. One letter he wrote, two days before it was intended to have been
put in execution, shewed, he must have been let into the secret very far (if this was not an
artifice to lay the court more asleep), for he said, that as things ripened and came near '.
execution, he should certainly know them better. It was not improbable that he himself!
was one of the five, whom Perkins undertook to furnish, for assisting in the assassination;
and that he hoped to have saved himself by this pretended discovery, in case the plot mis-
carried. The duke of Shrewsbury acquainted the king with his discoveries, but nothing,
could then be made either of them or of him. When the whole plot was unravelled, it then!
was manifest from his letters, that he must have known more of it than he would own :
but he still claimed the promise before made him, that he should not be a witness. Upon
the whole, therefore, he rather deserved a severe punishment than any of those rewards!
which he pretended to. He was accordingly dismissed by the duke of Shrewsbury, who!
thought that even this suspicious behaviour of his did not release him from keeping ti c
promises he had made him. Smith, thereupon, went to the earl of Monmouth, and pos-
sessed him with bad impressions of the duke of Shrewsbury, and found him much inclmeo
to entertain them ; he told him that he had made great discoveries, of which that duke would:
take no notice ; and because the duke's ill health had obliged him to go into the countH
OF KING WILLIAM III. fiil"
two days before the assassination was intended, he put this construction upon it, that no
was willing to be out of the way when the king was to be murdered. To fix this imp'ita-
tion, he shewed him the copies of all his letters, all of which, but the last more espedallv,
had the face of a great discovery. The lord Monmouth carried this to court, and it made
such an impression there, that the earl of Portland sent Smith money, and entertained him
as a spy, but never could by his means learn any one real piece of intelligence. When this
happened, the king was just going beyond sea ; so Smith's letters were taken, and sealed up
by the king's order, and left in the hands of sir William Trumball, who was the other secre-
tary of state. This matter lay quiet till Fenwick began to make discoveries : and when
lord Monmouth understood that he had not named himself (about which he expressed too
vehement a concern) but that he had named lord Shrewsbury, it was said, that he entered
into a negociation with the duchess of Norfolk, that she should, by Fen wick's lady, encourage
him to persist in his discoveries ; and that he dictated some papers to the duchess that
should be offered to him as an additional one, in which many little stories were related
which had been told the king, and might be believed by him ; and by these the king might
have been disposed to believe the rest of Fenwdck's paper : and the whole ended in some
discoveries concerning Smith, which would naturally occasion his letters to be called for, and
then they would probably have had great effect. The duchess of Norfolk declared, that he
had dictated all these schemes of his to her, who copied them, and handed them to Fenwick ;
and that he had left one paper with her ; it was short, but contained an abstract of the whole
design, and referred to a larger one, which he had only dictated to her. The duchess said,
she had placed a gentlewoman, who carried her messages to Fenwick' s lady, to over-hear all
that passed ; so that she both had another witness to support the truth of what she related,
and a paper left by him with her. She said that Fenwick would not be guided by him ;
and said, he would not meddle with contrived discoveries ; that thereupon this lord was
highly provoked : he said, if Fenwick would follow his advice, he would certainly save him ;
but if he would not, he would get the bill to pass. And, indeed, when that matter was
depending, he spoke two full hours in the house of lords, in favour of the bill, with a pecu-
liar vehemence. Fenwick's lady being much provoked at this, got her nephew, the earl of
Carlisle, to move the lords, that Fenwick might be examined, concerning any advices that
had been sent him, with relation to his discoveries : and upon this, Fenwick told what his
lady had brought him, and thereupon the duchess of Norfolk and her confident were likewise
interrogated, and gave the account which I have here related : in conclusion, Smith's letters
were read, and he himself was examined. This held the lords several days ; for the earl of
Portland, by the king's orders, produced all Smith's papers. By them it appeared, that he
was a very insignificant spy, who was always insisting in his old strain of asking money,
and taking no care to deserve it. The earl of Monmouth was, upon the accusation and
evidence above-mentioned, sent to the Tower, and turned out of all his employments : but
the court had no mind to have the matter farther examined into ; for the king spoke to
myself to do all I could to soften his censure, which he afterwards acknowledged I had done.
I did not know what new scheme of confusion might have been opened by him in his own
excuse. The house of lords was much set against him, and seemed resolved to go great
lengths. To allay that heat, I put them in mind, that he set the revolution first on foot,
and was a great promoter of it, coming twice over to Holland to that end : I then moved,
that he should be sent to the Tower ; this was agreed to, and he lay there till the end of the
session, and was removed from all his places ; but that loss, as was believed, was secretly
made up to him, for the court was resolved not to lose him quite.
Fenwick seeing no hope was left, prepared himself to die ; he desired the assistance of one
of the deprived bishops, which was not easily granted; but in that, and in several other
matters, I did him such service, that he wrote me a letter of thanks upon it. He was
beheaded on Tower Hill, and died very composed, in a much better temper than was to oe
expected ; for his life had been very irregular. At the place of his execution, he delivered
;i paper in writing, wherein he did not deny the facts that had been sworn against hir, ;
but complained of the injustice of the procedure, and left his thanks to those who had v«/tcd
gainst the bill. He owned his loyalty to king James, and to the prince of Wales after
638 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
him ; but mentioned the design of assassinating king William in terms full of horror. The
paper was supposed to have been drawn by bishop White, and the Jacobites were much
provoked with the paragraph last mentioned. This was the conclusion of that unacceptable
affair, in which I had a much larger share than might seem to become a man of my
profession. But the house of lords, by severe votes, obliged all the peers to be present, and
to give their votes in the matter. Since I was therefore convinced, that he was guilty of
the crime laid to his charge, and that such a method of proceeding was not only lawful, but
in some cases necessary : and since, by the search I made into attainders and parliamentary
proceedings, when I wrote the History of the Reformation, I had seen further into those
matters, than otherwise I should ever have done ; I thought it was incumbent on me, when
my opinion determined me to the severer side, to offer what reasons occurred to me in justi-
fication of my vote. But this did not exempt me from falling under a great load of censure
upon this occasion *.
As soon as the business of the session of parliament was at an end, the king went beyond
sea. The summer passed over very quietly in England, for the Jacobites were now humble
and silent. The French were resolved to have peace at any rate, by the end of the year ;
they therefore studied to push matters as far as possible, during this campaign, that they
might obtain the better terms, and that their king might still, to outward appearance,
maintain a superiority in the field, as if nothing could stand before him, and from thence
might indulge his vanity in boasting, that, notwithstanding all his successes, he was willing
to sacrifice his own advantages to the quiet of Europe. The campaign was opened with
the siege of Ath ; the place was ill furnished, and the bad state, both of our coin and credit,
set the king's preparations so far back, that he could not come in time to relieve it. From
thence the French were advancing towards Brussels, on design, either to take or bombard
it; but the king, by a very happy diligence, preventing them, possessed himself of an
advantageous camp, about three hours before the French could reach it, by which they were
wholly incapacitated to execute their design-. After this, there was no more action in
Flanders all the summer : the rest of the time was spent in negotiation.
The French were more successful in Catalonia ; they sent an army against Barcelona,
commanded by the duke of Vendome, and their fleet came to his assistance. The garrison
was under the command of a prince of Hesse, who had served in the king's army, and, upon
changing his religion, was now at the head of the German troops that were sent into Spain.
The viceroy (whether by a fate common to all the Spaniards, or from a jealousy that the
whole honour should accrue to a stranger, if the place should hold out) so entirely neglected
to do his part that he was surprised, and his small army was routed. The town was large
arid ill fortified, yet it held out two months after the trenches were opened ; so that time
was given to the Spaniards sufficient to have brought relief from the furthest corner of Spain.
Nothing had happened during the whole course of the war, that did more evidently demon-
strate the feebleness into which that monarchy was fallen ; for no relief was sent to Barcelona,
so that they were forced to capitulate. By this, the French gained a great point ; hitherto
the Spaniards, who contributed the least towards carrying on the war, were the most back-
ward to all overtures of peace ; they had felt little of the miseries of war, and thought
themselves out of its reach ; but now France being master of so important a place, which
cut off all their communication with Italy, they became as earnest for peace as they had
hitherto been averse from it.
Nor was this all their danger : a squadron had been sent at the same time to seize on the
plate fleet in the West Indies ; the king ordered a squadron, which he had lying at Cadiz,
to sail after them, and assist the Spaniards. The French finding that the galleons were
already got to the Havanna, where they could not attack them, sailed to Carthagena, which
was in no condition to resist them. The plate had all been sent away before they came
thither ; but they landed and pillaged the place, and then gave it out that they had found
many millions there, which at first seemed incredible, and was afterwards known to be false:
yet it was confidently asserted at that time, to cover the reproach of having miscarried in
* The whole secret histoiy of this proceeding, all tending to the honoui' of the duke of Shrewsbury and the whi»9»
is to be found in archdeacon Coxe's " Shrewsbury Correspondence."
OF KING WILLIAiM III. 039
the attempt on which they had raised great expectations, and to which many undertakers
had been drawn in. Our squadron was much superior to theirs, yet never engaged them ;
once indeed they came up to the French, and had some advantage over them ; but did not
pursue it. The French sailed to the north towards Newfoundland, where we had another
squadron lying, which was sent with some land forces to recover Hudson's bay. These
ships might have fallen upon the French, and would probably have mastered them; but as
they had no certain account of their strength, so being sent out upon another service, they
did not think it proper to hazard the attacking them. So the French got safe home, and
the conduct of our affairs at sea was much censured ; yet our admiralty declared themselves
satisfied with the account the commanders gave of their proceedings. But that board was
accused of much partiality ; on all such occasions, the unfortunate must expect to be blamed :
and, to outward appearance, there was much room given either to censure the orders, or the
execution of them. The king owned he did not understand those matters ; and Russel,
now made earl of Orford, had both the admiralty and the navy board in a great dependence
on himself, so that he was considered almost as much as if he had been lord high admiral.
He was too much in the power of those in whom he confided, and trusted them too far ;
and it was generally believed that there was much corruption, as it was certain there was
much faction, if not treachery, in the conduct of our marine. Our miscarriages made all
people cry that we must have a peace, for we could not manage the war to any good purpose ;
since, notwithstanding our great superiority at sea, the French conducted their matters so
much better than us, that we were losers, even on that element where we used to triumph
most. Our squadron, in the bay of Mexico, did very little service ; they only robbed and
destroyed some of the French colonies : and that sent to Hudson's bay found it quitt1
abandoned by the French, so that both returned home inglorious.
A great change of affairs happened this year in Poland ; their king, John Sobieski, after
he had long outlived the fame he had got by raising the siege of Vienna, died at last under
a general contempt. He was going backwards and forwards, as his queen's negotiations in
the court of France were entertained, or rejected. His government was so feeble and
disjointed at home, that all their diets broke up upon preliminaries, before they could,
according to their forms, enter upon business : he wTas set on heaping up wealth, which
seemed necessary to give his son an interest in the succeeding election. And, upon his death,
a great party appeared for him, notwithstanding the general aversion to the mother ; but
the Polish nobility resolved to make no haste with their election; they plainly set the crown
to sale, and encouraged all candidates that would bid for it. One party declared for the
prince of Conti, of which their primate, then a cardinal, was the head. The emperor did
all he could to support the late king's son ; but when he saw the French party were too
strong for him, he was willing to join with any other pretender.
The duke of Lorrain, the prince of Baden, and Don Livio Odeschalchi, pope Innocent's
nephew, were all named ; but these not being likely to succeed, a negotiation was secretly
managed with the elector of Saxony, which succeeded eo well, that he was prevailed on to
change his religion, to advance his troops towards the frontier of Poland, to distribute eight
millions of florins among the Poles, and to promise to confirm all their privileges, and in
particular to undertake the siege of Caminieck. He consented to all this, and declared
liimself a candidate a very few days before the election : and so he was set up by the impe-
rialists in opposition to the French party ; his party became quickly so strong, that though
upon the first appearance at the election, while every one of the competitors was trying his
strength, the French party was the strongest, and was so declared by the cardinal ; yet
when the other pretenders saw that they could not carry the election for themselves, they
united in opposition to the French interest, and gave over all their voices to the elector of
^axony, by which his party became much the strongest : so he was proclaimed the elected
king. The cardinal gave notice to the court of France of what had been done in favour of
the prince of Conti ; and desired that he might be sent quickly thither, well furnished
with arms and ammunition, but chiefly with money. But the party for Saxony made
| "lore dispatch ; that elector lay nearer, and had both his money and troops ready, so he
I took the oaths that were required, and got the change of his religion to be attested by the
G40 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
imperial court: he made all the haste he could with his army to Cracow, and }<e
soon after crowned, to the great joy of the imperial party ; but the inexpressible trouble
of all his subjects in Saxony.
The secular men there saw, that the supporting this elective crown would ruin his
hereditary dominions ; and those, who laid the concerns of the protcstant religion to heart,
were much more troubled, when they saw that house, under whose protection their
religion grew up at first, now fall off to popery. It is true, the present family, ever since
Maurice's time, had showed very little zeal in that cause. The elected king had so small a
share of religion in himself, that little was to be expected from him, nor wras it much appre-
hended that he would become a bigot, or turn a persecutor ; but such was the eagerness of
the popish clergy towards the suppressing what they call heresy, and the perpetual jealousies
with which therefore they would possess the Poles, were likely to be such, in case he used
no violence towards his Saxon subjects, as possibly might have great effects on him : so that
it is no wonder if they were struck with a general consternation upon his revolt. His
electoress, though a very young person, descended of the house of Brandenburg, expressed
so extraordinary a measure of zeal and piety upon this occasion, that it contributed much to
the present quieting of their fears. The new king sent a popish stadtholder to Dresden ; but
so weak a man, that there was no reason to apprehend much from any conduct of his. He
also sent them all the assurances that could be given in words, that he would make no change
among them, nor has he hitherto made any steps towards it.
A very unusual accident happened at this time, that served not a little to his quiet
establishment on the throne of Poland. The czar was so sensible of the defects of his
education, that, in order to the correcting these, he resolved to go a little into the world for
better information. He was forming great designs ; he intended to make a navigable canal
between the Volga and the Tanais, by which he might carry both materials and provisions
for a fleet to Azuph ; and when that communication was opened, he apprehended great things
might be done afterwards. He therefore intended to see the fleets of Holland and England,
and to make himself as much master of that matter as his genius could rise up to. He sent
an embassy to Holland to regulate some matters of commerce, and to see if they would
assist him in the war he was designing against the Turks. When the ambassadors were set
out, he settled his affairs in such hands, as he trusted most to, and with a small retinue of two
or three servants, he secretly followed his ambassadors, and quickly overtook them. He
discovered himself first to the elector of Brandenburg, who was then in Prussia, looking on
the dispute that was likely to arise in Poland, in which, if a war should follow, he might bej
forced to have a share. The czar concerned himself much in the matter, not only by reason)
of the neighbourhood, but because he feared that, if the French party should prevail, France)
being in alliance with the Turks, a king sent from thence would probably not only make a
peace with the Turks, but turn his arms against himself, which would hinder all his designs!
for a great fleet. The French party was strongest in Lithuania ; therefore the czar sent!
orders to his generals to bring a great army to the frontier of that duchy, to be ready to!
break into it, if a war should begin in Poland : and we were told that the terror of this had
a great effect. From Prussia, the czar went into Holland, and thence came over to'
England; therefore I will refer all that I shall say concerning him to the time of his leaving
England*.
A fleet was ordered, at Dunkirk, to carry the prince of Conti to Poland. A squadron o
ours, that lay before that port, kept him in for some time ; at last he got out, and sailed tc
* This was Peter Michaelowitz, known as Peter the shipwright in the dockyard ; and then came and workci
Great, czar of Russia. He was born in 1672, so that at in a similar capacity in England for four months. Calleij
the time he heroically resolved to submit to the privations home suddenly to repress an insurrection, after eft'ectinjj
he necessarily must undergo in making himself practically this, he addressed himself to national improvement*!
acquainted with naval architecture, he was but 24 yeava founding schools, colleges, libraries, printing-presses, aij
old. His whole life was spent in efforts that he considered observatory, &c. He died in 1725, and was succeede'j
would benefit his country. He entered the army as a by his wife, the celebrated czarina Catherine, who hal
common soldier, and performed the duties of every grade, been the not very virtuous daughter of a Livonian pcasan'
until he attained the command of a body of troops, per- (Voltaire's Life of Peter the Great. Tooke's View t,
sonally exhibiting his conviction of the necessity of sub- Russia, &c )
milling to discipline. In Holland he laboured as a common
OF KING WILLIAM III. C41
Dantzic ; but that city had declared for the new king, so they would not suffer him to land,
with all those that had come with him. They only consented to suffer himself to land, with a
small retinue ; this he thought would not become him, so he landed at Marienbourg, where
he was met by some of the chief of his party.. They pressed him to distribute the money
that he had brought from France, among them, and promised to return quickly to him with
a great force ; but he was limited by his instructions, and would see a good force before he
would part with his treasure. The new king sent some troops to disperse those, who were
coming together to serve him, and these had once almost seized on the prince himself; but
he acted after that with great caution, and would not trust the Poles. He saw no appear-
ance of any force likely to be brought to him equal to the undertaking, and fearing lest, if he
stayed too long, he should be frozen up in the Baltic, he came back to Dunkirk. The cardinal
stood out still : the court of Rome rejoiced at the pretended conversion of the new king, and
owned him ; but he quickly saw such a scene of difficulties, that he had reason to repent
his embarking himself in such a dangerous undertaking. This may prove of such importance,
both to the political and religious concerns of Europe, that I thought it deserved that a
particular mention should be made of it, though it lies at a great distance from us. It had
some influence in disposing the French now to be more earnest for a peace ; for if they had
got a king of Poland in their dependence, that would have given them a great interest in
the northern parts, with an easier access, both to assist the Turks and the malcontents in
Hungary.
The negotiation for a peace w^as held at Ryswick, a house of the king's, between the
Hague and Delft. The chief of our plenipotentiaries was the earl of Pembroke, a man of
eminent virtue, and of great and profound learning, particularly in the mathematics. This
made him a little too speculative and abstracted in his notions : he had great application ;
but he lived a little too much out of the world, though in a public station : a little more
practice among men would have given him the last finishing. There was somewhat in his
person and manner, that created him an universal respect : for we had no man among us
whom all sides loved and honoured so much as they did him : there were two others joined
with him in that embassy *.
The king of Sweden was received as mediator ; but he died before any progress was made
in the treaty : his son, who succeeded him in his throne, was also received to succeed him
in the mediation. The father was a rough and boisterous man ; he loved fatigue, and was free
from vice ; he reduced his kingdom to a military state, and was ever going round it to see
how his troops were ordered, and his discipline observed ; he looked narrowly into the whole
administration : he had quite altered the constitution of his kingdom. It was formerly
changed from being an elective, to be an hereditary, kingdom ; yet, till his time, it had
continued to be rather an aristocracy than a monarchy. But he got the power of the
senators to be quite taken away, so that it was left free to him to make use of such council-
ors as he should choose. The senators had enriched themselves, and oppressed the people;
* Thomas Herbert, earl of Pembroke, was intended to private collector. Wilton will ever be a monument of
; M'actise at the bar; but the death of his elder brother his extensive knowledge, and the princely presents it
! precluded the necessity. Ilia rank and fortune gave him contains, of the high estimation in which he was held by
;reat advantages; but it was his merit established him. foreign potentates, as well as the many monarchs he saw
! A mind well furnished is seldom confined to one kind of and served at home. He lived rather as a primitive
1 < xecllence. Lord Pembroke had many. William sent Christian, in his behaviour meek, in his dress plain, rather
! I im ambassador extraordinary to the states general, named retired, conversing but little. — (Noble's Continuation of
I I im of his privy council, made him colonel of a regiment of Grainger.)
j narincs, fii>t commissioner of the admiralty, lord privy Edward Villiers, first earl of Jersey, held at several
; M'Jil, first plenipotentiary of the treaty of Ryswick, knight times the various appointments of master of the horse to
1 <>f the garter, lord high admiral of England and Ireland, the queen, one of the lord's justices of Ireland, am basso.
j 1 resident of the council, and seven times lord justice dor to the states general and to France, and lord chain-
. •' wing his absence on the continent. Queen Anne, George berlain of the household, dying the very day he was ap-
j ie First,and George the Second, continued to employ him pointed to the office of lord privy seal in 1711. Letters
in various offices. By all these sovereigns he was highly of this nobleman, during the negociation of the peace o.
j valued. Able in the cabinet, circumspect in negociations, Ryswick, are numerous in the " Shrewsbury Correspon-
i Chining in the senate, dignified as vice-regent, yet equally dcnce." Contemporary authorities agree in considering
I pit-eminent in retirement. His learning made him a fit him a very cool-headed, talented, man.
I < "mpanion for the literati; fond of ancient history, he Sir Joseph Williamson has been noticed in a previoue
i ' lised a collection of antiques that wcro unrivalled by any p-ge.
T T
&I2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
they bad devoured the revenues of the crown ; and in two reigns, in which the sovereign
was long in a state of infancy, both in queen Christina's and in this king's time, the senators
had taken care of themselves, and had stripped the crown. So the king moved for a general
resumption, and this he obtained easily of the states, who, as they envied the wealth of
the senators, so they hoped that, by making the king rich, the people would be less charged
with taxes. This was not all : he got likewise an act of revision, by which those who had
grants were to account for the mean profits, and this was applied even to those who had
grants upon valuable considerations ; for when it appeared that the valuable consideration
was satisfied, they were to account for all tbey had received over and above that, and to
repay this, with the interest of the money at 12 per cent, for all the years they had enjoyed
it. This brought a great debt on all the senators and other families of the kingdom ; it did
utterly ruin them, and left them at mercy : and when the king took from them all they had,
he kept them still in a dependence upon him, giving them employments in the army or
militia that he set up.
After that, he procured of the states of his kingdom an absolute authority to govern
them as he thought fit, and aceoiding to law ; but even this limitation seemed uneasy, and
their slavery was finished by another act which he obtained, that he should not be obliged
to govern by law, but by his mere will and pleasure. So successful was he, in the space of
five years, to ruin all the families in his kingdom, and to destroy their laws and liberties,
and that by their own consent. He died when his son was but fifteen years old, and gave
great hopes of being an active, warlike, and indefatigable prince, which his reign ever since
has demonstrated to the world *.
The first act of his reign was the mediation at Ryswick f , where the treaty went on but
slowly, till Harlai, the first of the French plenipotentiaries, came to the Hague, who, as
was believed, had the secret. He showed a fairer inclination than had appeared in the
others, to treat frankly and honourably, and to clear all the difficulties that had been started
before ; but while they were negotiating, by exchanging papers, which was a slow method,
subject to much delay and too many exceptions and evasions, the marshal Boufflers desirc-d
a conference with the earl of Portland, and by the order of their masters, they met four
times, and were long alone. That lord told me himself, that the subject of those conferences
was concerning king James. The king desired to know how the king of France intended
to dispose of him, and how he could own him and yet support the other. The king of
France would not renounce the protecting him, by any article of the treaty ; but it was
agreed between them, that the king of France should give him no assistance, nor give the
king any disturbance on his account, and that he should retire from the court of France,
either to Avignon, or to Italy. On the other hand, his queen should have fifty thousand
pounds a year, which was her jointure, settled after his death, and that it should now be paid
her, he being reckoned as dead to the nation ; and in this the king very readily acquiesced :
these meetings made the treaty go on with more dispatch, this tender point being once
settled.
A new difficulty arose with relation to the empire. The French offered Brisach and
Fribourg as an equivalent for Strasbourg: the court of Vienna consented to this, but the;
empire refused it. These places belonged to the emperor's hereditary dominions, whereas
Strasbourg was a free city, as well as a protestant town ; so the emperor was soon brought
to accept of the exchange. All other matters were concerted. Spain was now as impatient!
of delays as France : England and the States had no other concern in the treaty but to;
secure their allies, and to settle a barrier in the Netherlands : so, in September, the treatyj
was signed by all except the German princes : but a set time was prefixed for them to come!
into it. The duke of Savoy was comprehended within it ; and the princes of the empire.1
finding they could struggle no longer, did at last consent to it. A new piece of treacheryi
against the protestant religion broke out in the conclusion of all : the French declared tha
that part of the palatinate which was stipulated to be restored in the state in which it was
by virtue of that article was to continue in the same state, with relation to religion, "'
* He was the celebrated frantically brave diaries tbe XIT.
t Conducted by the regents appointed during the king's minority.
OF KING WILLIAM III 643
which it was at that time : by this, several churches were to be condemned that otherwise,
according to the laws of the empire, and in particular of those dominions, were to be restored
to the protestants : the elector palatine accepted of the condition very willingly, being
bigoted to a high degree : but some of the princes, the king of Sweden in particular, as
duke of Deuxponts, refused to submit to it : but this had been secretly concerted among the
whole popish party, who are always firm to the interest of their religion, and zealous for
them ; whereas the protestant courts are too ready to sacrifice the common interest of their
religion to their own private advantage. The king was troubled at this treacherous motion,
but he saw no inclination in any of the allies to oppose it with the zeal with which it was
pressed on the other hand. The importance of the thing, sixteen churches being only con-
demned by it, as the earl of Pembroke told me, was not such as to deserve he should venture
a rupture upon it : and it was thought the elector palatine might, on other accounts, be so
obnoxious to the protestants, and might need their assistance and protection so much, that
he would be obliged afterwards to restore these churches thus wrested from them. So the king
contented himself with ordering his plenipotentiaries to protest against this, which they did
in a formal act that they passed.
The king by this peace concluded the great design of putting a stop to the progress of the
French arms, which he had constantly pursued from his first appearnce on the stage, in the
year J 672. There was not one of the allies who complained that he had been forgotten by
him, or wronged in the treaty : nor had the desire of having his title universally acknow-
ledged raised any impatience in him, or made him run into this peace with any indecent
haste. The terms of it were still too much to the advantage of France ; but the length and
charge of the war had so exhausted the allies, that the king saw the necessity of accepting
the best conditions that could be got. It is true, France was more harassed by the war,
yet the arbitrary frame of that government made their king master of the whole wealth of his
people : and the war was managed on both sides, between them and us, with this visible
difference, that every man who dealt with the French king was ruined by it ; whereas,
among us, every man grew rich by his dealings with the king : and it was not easy to see
how this could be either prevented or punished. The regard that is shown to the members
of parliament among us makes that few abuses can be enquired into or discovered : and the
king found his reign grow so unacceptable to his people, by the continuance of the war, that
he saw the necessity of coming to a peace. The States were under the same pressure ; they
were heavier charged, and suffered more by the war than the English. The French got
indeed nothing by a war which they had most perfidiously begun ; they were forced to
return to the peace of Nimeguen : Pignerol and Brisach, which cardinal Richelieu had con-
sidered as the keys of Italy and Germany, were now parted with ; and all that base prac-
tice of claiming so much under the head of reunions and dependencies, was abandoned : the
duchy of Lorrain was also entirely restored : it was generally thought that the king of
France intended to live out the rest of his days in quiet ; for his parting with Barcelona
made all people conclude that he did not intend to prosecute the dauphin's pretensions
upon the crown of Spain, after that king's death, by a new war ; and that he would only
try how to manage it by negotiation.
The most melancholy part of this treaty was, that no advantages were got oy it in favour
<>f the protestants in France : the French refugees made all possible applications to the king,
and to the other protestant allies ; but as they were no part of the cause of the war, so it
(lid not appear that the allies could do more for them than to recommend them, in the
warmest manner, to the king of France : but he was so far engaged in a course of super-
jstition and cruelty, that their condition became worse by the peace : the court was more at
leisure to look after them, and to persecute them, than they thought fit to do during the
I *var. The military men in France did generally complain of the peace as dishonourable and
jhaae. The Jacobites among us were the more confounded at the news of it, because the
j court of France did, to the last minute, assure king James that they would never abandon
i is interests: and his queen sent over assurances to their party here, that England would
>'-' left out of the treaty, and put to maintain the war alone : of which they were so confi-
lont, that they entered into deep wagers upon it ; a practice little known among us before
T T 2
C44 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the war, but it was carried on, in the progress of it, to a very extravagant degree ; so that
they were ruined in their fortunes, as well as sunk in their expectations, by the peace. It
was said, king James's queen made a bold repartee to the French king, when he told her
the peace was signed : she said she wished it might be such as should raise his glory as
much as it might settle his repose*.
But while the peace was concluded in these parts, the war between the emperor and the
Turks went on in Hungary. The imperial army was commanded by prince Eugene, a
brother of the count of Soissons, who, apprehending that he was riot likely to be so much
considered as he thought he might deserve in France, went and served the emperor, and
grew up in a few years to be one of the greatest generals of the age.
The grand seignior came to command his armies in person, and lay encamped on both
sides of the Theisse, having laid a bridge over the river. Prince Eugene marched up to
him and attacked his camp on the west side of the river, and, after a short dispute, he broke
in and was master of the camp, and forced all who lay on that side over the river. In this
action many were killed and drowned : he followed them across the Theisse, and gave them
a total defeat : most of their janissaries were cut off, and the prince became master of all
their artillery and magazines : the grand seignior himself narrowly escaped, with a body of
horse, to Belgrade. This was a complete victory, and was the greatest blow the Turks had
received in the whole war. At the same time the czar was very successful on his side
against the Tartarians. The Venetians did little on their part, and the confusions in Poland
made that republic but a feeble ally : so that the weight of the war lay wholly on the
emperor. But though he, being now delivered from the war with France, was more at
leisure to prosecute this, yet his revenue was so exhausted, that he was willing to suffer a
treaty to be carried on by the mediation of England and Holland ; and the French, being
now no longer concerned to engage the Porte to carry on the war, the grand seignior
fearing a revolution upon his ill success, was very glad to hearken to a treaty, which was
carried on all this winter, and was finished the next year at Carlo witz, from which place it
takes its name.
By it both parties were to keep that of which they were then possessed ; and so this long
war of Hungary, which had brought both sides by turns very near the last extremities,
was concluded by the direction and mediation of the king of England : upon which I will
add a curious observation, that though it may seem to be out of the laws of history, yet,
considering my profession, will I hope be forgiven.
Dr. Lloyd, the present most learned bishop of Worcester, who has now for above twenty
years been studying the Revelations with an amazing diligence and exactness, had long
before this year said, the peace between the Turks and the papal Christians was certainly to
be made in the year 1698, which he made out thus : — The four angels, mentioned in the
fourteenth chapter of the Revelations, that were bound in the river Euphrates, which he
expounds to be the captains of the Turkish forces, that till then were subject to the sultan
at Babylon, were to be loosed, or freed from that yoke, and to set up for themselves : and
these were prepared to slay the third part of men, for an hour, a day, a month, and a year.
He reckons the year, in St. John, is the Julian year of three hundred and sixty-five days,
that is, in the prophetic style, each day a year ; a month is thirty of these days, and a day j
.
* No English state measure of such importance as the support the cause of James : it was hase of all parties to
peace of Ryswickwas ever carried on whilst our chief offi- abandon the interests of the house of Austria. There is
cers of state were in comparative ignorance concerning the no doubt that the terms were in favour of France; and
negotiations. The duke of Shrewsbury, wilting to the were of such a nature, that the agreement was ratlicr a j
earl of Jersey, then lord Villiers, says of the proceedings, cessation of hostilities than a peace. The "partition
" I am more ignorant than you can believe." The fact treaty," a part of this unworthy negotiation, was carried
of so much secresy being employed, even to those who on similarly without consulting the English ministry ; and j
in other respects were so much trusted, naturally causes was detrimental to our interests, as well as the cause of
a suspicion that some dirty, some disgraceful detcrmina- future hostilities. By thus slighting his ministers, Wil-
tions were being concluded. It was unworthy of William liam incurred another annoyance, he lost their confidence,
and his protestant allies not to make some stipulations and eventually caused their secession from his service.
for the safety of the French huguenots ; it was a dcfal- The whole of these negotiations are unfolded and illus-
cation of honour on the part of Louis to acknowledge Irated in the " Shrewsbury Correspondence." Sec also
William asking of England, when he was pledged to the article " Bentinck," in the Biographia Britannica.
OF KING WILLIAM III. 345
makes one ; which, added to the former number, makes three hundred and ninety-six. Now
he proves from historians that Ottoman came, and began his conquests at Prousse, in the
1302 ; to which the former number, in which they were to slay the third part of men, being
•added, it must end in the year 1698: and though the historians do not mark the hour, or
the twelfth part of the day, or year, which is a month, that is, the beginning of the destruc-
tion the Turks were to make, yet he is confident, if that is ever known, that the prophecy
will be found, even in that, to be punctually accomplished. After this, he thinks their time
of hurting the papal Christians is at an end ; they may indeed still do mischief to the
Muscovites, or persecute their own Christian subjects, but they can do no hurt to the
papalins ; and he is so positive in this, that he consents that all his scheme should be laid
aside, if the Turks engage in a new war with them : and I must confess, that their refusing
now, in a course of three years, to take any advantage from the troubles in Hungary, to
begin the war again, though we know they have been much solicited to it, gives for the
present a confirmation to this learned prelate's exposition of that part of the prophecy*.
The king came over to England about the middle of November, and was received by the
city of London in a sort of triumph, with all the magnificence that he would admit. Some
progress was made in preparing triumphal arches, but he put a stop to it ; he seemed, by a
natural modesty, to have contracted an antipathy to all vain showrs ; which was much
increased in him by what he had heard of the gross excesses of flattery, to which the French
have run beyond the examples of former ages, in honour of their king ; who having shown
too great a pleasure in these, they have been so far pursued, that the wit of that nation has
been for some years chiefly employed on these ; for they saw that men's fortunes were more
certainly advanced by a new and lively invention in that way, than by any service or merit
whatsoever. This, in which that king has seemed to be too much pleased, rendering him
contemptible to better judges, gave the king such an aversion to every thing that looked
that way, that he scarcely bore even with things that were decent and proper.
The king ordered many of his troops to be disbanded soon after the peace ; but a stop was
put to that, because the French were very slow in evacuating the places that were to be
restored by the treaty, and were not beginning to reduce their troops : so though the king
declared what he intended to do, yet he made no haste to execute it, till it should appear
how the French intended to govern themselves. The king thought it was absolutely neces-
sary to keep up a considerable land force ; he knew the French would still maintain great
armies, and that the pretended prince of Wales would certainly be assisted by them, if
England should fall into a feeble and defenceless condition : the king of Spain was also in
such an uncertain state of health, so weak, and so exhausted, that it seemed necessary that
England should be in a condition to bar France's invading that empire, and to maintain the
rights of the houss of Austria. But though he explained himself thus in general to his
ministers, yet he would not descend to particulars, to tell how many he thought necessary,
150 that they had not authority to declare what was the lowest number the king insisted on.
Papers were written on both sides, for and against a standing force ; on the one hand, it
was pretended that a standing army was incompatible with public liberty, and according
to the examples of former times, the one must swallow up the other. It was proposed that
the militia might be better modelled, and more trained, which, with a good naval force,
>>me thought would be an effectual security against foreign invasions, as well as it would
laintain our laws and liberties at home. On the other side, it was urged, that since all our
3ighbours were armed, and the most formidable of them all kept up such a mighty force,
othing could give us a real security, but a good body of regular troops ; nothing could be
iade of the militia, chiefly of the horse, but at a vast charge ; and if it was well regulated
Dr. Lloyd is stated by the earl of Dartmouth to enraged the aged prelate extremely, he replied, with great
ive had very erroneous opinions in his old age, respect- passion and rudeness, "So says your treasurer, but God
' C the overthrow of papacy, and the approach of the says otherwise, whether he likes it or not." So sincere
iilleuuium. In the year 1712, he told the queen he was was the conviction of this worthy prelate upon these
' vinced that within four years these events would occur, points, that he told the queen, that if he was not right he
'5 was then more than eighty. He stated this in the did not know how to discern truth ; and requested he
'osence of the lord-treasurer, Oxford, who objected dif- might be removed from his bishopric, as unfit to explain
«nt interpretation* to those made by the bishop, which the Gospel to others. — Oxford ed. of this work.
646 THE PI I STORY OF THE REIGN
and well commanded, it would prove a mighty army ; but this of the militia was only talked
of to put by the other ; for no project was ever proposed to render it more useful ; a force
at sea might be so shattered, while the enemy kept within their ports (as it actually hap-
pened at the revolution), that this strength might come to be useless when we should need
it most : so that, without a considerable land force, it seemed the nation would be too much
exposed. The words "standing army" had an odious sound in English ears ; so the popu-
larity lay on the other side ; and the king's ministers suffered generally in the good
characters they had hitherto maintained, because they studied to stop the tide that run so
strong the other way.
At the opening of the session of parliament, the king told them, that in his opinion a
standing land force was necessary : the house of commons carried the jealousy of a standing
army so high, that they would not bear the motion, nor did they like the way the king took
of offering them his opinion in the point : this seemed a prescription to them, and might
bias some in the counsels they were to offer the king, and be a bar to the freedom of debate.
The managers for the court had no orders to name any number ; so the house came to a
resolution of paying off and disbanding all the forces that had been raised since the year
J680: this vote brought the army to be less than eight thousand. The court was struck
with this ; and then they tried, by an after-game, to raise the number of fifteen thousand
horse and foot. If this had been proposed in time, it would probably have been carried
without any difficulty ; but the king was so long upon the reserve, that now, when he
thought fit to speak out his mind, he found it was too late : so a force not exceeding ten
thousand horse and foot was all that the house could be brought to. This gave the king
the greatest distaste of any thing that had befallen him in his whole reign ; he thought it
would derogate much from him, and render his alliance so inconsiderable, that he doubted
whether he could carry on the government after it should be reduced to so weak and so
contemptible a state. He said, that if he could have imagined, that after all the service he
should have done the nation, he should have met with such returns, he would never have
meddled in our affairs ; and that he was weary of governing a nation that was so jealous as
to lay itself open to an enemy, rather than trust him, who had acted so faithfully during his
whole life, that he had never once deceived those who trusted him. He said this, with a
great deal more to the same purpose, to myself ; but he saw the necessity of submitting to
that which could not be helped.
During these debates, the earl of Sunderland had argued with many upon the necessity
of keeping up a greater force. This was in so many hands, that he was charged as the
author of the counsel, of keeping on foot a standing army : so he was often named in the
house of commons, with many severe reflections, for which there had been but too much
occasion given during the two former reigns. The tones pressed hard upon, and the whigs
were so jealous of him, that he, apprehending that while the former \vould attack him the
others would defend him faintly, resolved to prevent a public affront, and to retire from the
court and from business ; not only against the entreaties of his friends, but even the king's
earnest desire that he would continue about him : indeed, upon this occasion, his majesty
expressed such a concern and value for him, that the jealousies were increased by the con
fidence the court saw the king had in him. During the time of his credit things had been
carried on with more spirit and better success than before : he had gained such an ascendant
over the king, that he brought him to agree to some things that few expected he would have
yielded to : he managed the public affairs in both houses with so much steadiness and so
good a conduct, that he had procured to himself a greater measure of esteem than he had in
any of the former parts of his life ; and the feebleness and disjointed state we fell into, after
he withdrew, contributed not a little to establish the character which his administration had
gained him.
The parliament went on slowly in fixing the fund for the supplies they had voted : they
settled a revenue on the king for life, for the ordinary expense of the government, which was
called the Civil List. This they carried to 700,000/. a year, which was much more than the
former kings of England could apply to those occasions ; 600,0007. was all that was designed,
but it had been promised at the treaty of Ryswick that king James, being now as dead to
OF KING WILLIAM III. 647.
England, his queen should enjoy her jointure, that was 50,000/. a year : and it was intended
to settle a court about the duke of Gloucester, who was then nine years old : so, to enable
the king to bear that expense, this large provision was made for the Civil List. But
by some great error in the management, though the court never had so much, and
never spent so little, yet payments were ill made, and, by some strange consumption, all
was wasted.
While the house of commons was seeking a fund for paying the arrears of the army, and
for the expense at sea and land for the next year, a proposition was made for constituting a
new East India company, who should trade with a joint-stock, others being admitted in a
determinate proportion to a separate trade. The old East India company opposed this, and
offered to advance a sum (but far short of what the public occasions required,) for an act of
parliament that should confirm their charters. The projectors of the new company offered
two millions, upon the security of a good fund, to pay the interest of their money at eight
per cent. Great opposition was made to this : for the king, upon an address that was made
to him by the house of commons, had granted the old company a new charter, they being
obliged to take in a new subscription of 700,0007. to increase their stock and trade. Those
empowered by this new charter were not charged with any malversation ; they had been
trading under great disadvantages, and with great losses, by reason of the war. It is true
the king had reserved a power to himself, by a clause in the charter, to dissolve them, upon
warning given three years before such dissolution : so it was said that no injustice was done
them, if public notice should be given of such an intended dissolution. To this it was
answered, that the clause reserving that power was put in many charters, but that it was
considered only as a threatening, obliging them to a good conduct : but that it was not ordi-
nary to dissolve a company by virtue of such a clause, when no error or malversation was
objected. The old company came at last to offer the whole sum that was wanted j but the
party was now formed, so they came too late ; and this had no other effect but to raise a
clamour against this proceeding, as extremely rigorous, if not unjust. This threw the old
company and all concerned in it into the hands of the tories, and made a great breach and
disjointing in the city of London. And it is certain that this act, together with the inclina-
tions which those of the whigs, who were in good posts, had expressed for keeping up a
greater land force, did contribute to the blasting the reputation they had hitherto maintained
of being good patriots, and was made use of over England by the tories, to disgrace both
the king and them. To this another charge of a high nature was added, that they robbed
the public, and applied much of the money that was given for the service of the nation both
to the supporting a vast expense, and to the raising great estates to themselves. This was
sensible to the people, who were uneasy under heavy taxes, and were too ready to believe
that, according to the practice in king Charles's time, a great deal of the money that was
^iven in parliament was divided among those who gave it. These clamours were raised
:md managed with great dexterity by those who intended to render the king, and all who
were best affected to him, so odious to the nation, that by this means they might carry such
;m election of a new house of commons, as that by it all might be overturned. It was said
that the bank of England and the new East India company, being in the hands of whigs,
they would have the command of all the money, and, by consequence, of all the trade of
England : so a great party was raised against the new company in both houses ; but the
act for it was carried. The king was very indifferent in the matter at first, but the greatness
I of the sum that was wanted, which could not probably be raised by any other project, pre-
vailed on him ; the interests of princes carrying them often to act against their private
opinions and inclinations.
Before the king went into Holland, which was in July, news came from Spain that their
king was dying. This alarm was often given before, but it came much quicker now. The
French upon this sent a fleet to lie before Cadiz, which came thither at the time that the
galleons were expected home from the West Indies ; and it was apprehended that, if the
king had died, they would have seized on all that treasure. We sent a fleet thither to secure
liem, but it came too late to have done any service, if it had been needed ; this was much
< nsured, but the admiralty excused themselves, by saying that the parliament was so late io
watf THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
fixing the funds for the fleet, that it was not possible to be ready sooner than they were.
The king of Spain recovered for that time, but it was so far from any entire recovery, that a
relapse was still apprehended. \Vhen the king went to Holland, he left some sealed orders
behind him, of which some of his ministers told me they knew not the contents till they
were opened : by these, the king ordered sixteen thousand men to be kept up : for excusing
this, it was said, that though the parliament had in their votes mentioned only ten thousand
land men, to whom they had afterwards added three thousand marines, and had raised only
the money necessary for that number, yet no determined number was mentioned in the act
itself: so, since the apprehension of the king of Spain's death made it advisable to have a
greater force ready for such an accident, the king resolved to keep up a force somewhat
beyond that which the house of commons had consented to : the leaving these orders sealed,
made the whole blame to be cast singly on the king, as it screened the ministers from a
share in this counsel. And we have more than once known ministers put the advices that
they themselves gave in such a manner on their masters, that in executing them our kings
have taken more care to shelter their ministers than to preserve themselves.
The king, before his leaving England, settled a household about the duke of Gloucester :
the earl of Marlborough, who was restored to favour, was made his governor, and I was
named by the king to be his preceptor. I used all possible endeavours to excuse myself: I
had hitherto no share in the princess's favour or confidence : I was also become uneasy at
some things in the king's conduct : I considered him as a glorious instrument, raised up by
God, who had done great things by him : I had also such obligations to him, that I had
resolved, on public as well as on private accounts, never to engage in any opposition to him,
and yet I could not help thinking he might have carried matters further than he did ; and
that he was giving his enemies handles to weaken his government. I had tried, but with
little success, to use all due freedom with him ; he did not love to be found fault with ; and
though he bore every thing that I said very gently, yet he either discouraged me with
silence, or answered in such general expressions, that they signified little or nothing. These
considerations disposed me rather to retire from the court and town, than to engage deeper
in such a constant attendance, for so many years as this employment might run out to.
The king made it indeed easy in one respect ; for, as the young prince was to be all the
summer at Windsor, which was in my diocese, so he allowed me ten weeks in the year for
the other parts of my diocese. All my endeavours to decline this were without effect ; the
king would trust that care only to me, and the princess gave me such encouragement, that I
resolved not only to submit to this, which seemed to come from a direction of Provi-
dence, but to give myself wholly up to it. I took to my own province the reading and
explaining the Scriptures to him, the instructing him in the principles of religion, and the
rules of virtue, and the giving him a view of history, geography, politics, and government.
I resolved also to look very exactly to all the masters that were appointed to teach him other
things *. But now I turn to give an account of some things that more immediately belong
to my own profession.
This year, Thomas Firmin, a famous citizen of London, died : he was in great esteem for
promoting many charitable designs, for looking after the poor of the city, and setting them
to work, for raising great sums for schools and hospitals, and indeed for charities of all
sorts, private and public : he had such credit with the richest citizens, that he had the com-
* William, duke of Gloucester, was the only offspring rally admired and beloved. It will be seen in a future
of queen Anne that almost outlived childhood. When page that he died in 1700, having just completed bit
the king placed him under tiie tuition of the earl of eleventh year. His mother never ceased to remember or
Marlborough to learn the art of war, he complimented the to lament him, ever after signing herself, when writing
earl by saying, " Teach him to be what you are, and my to lady, afterwards the duchess of, Marlborough, " your
nephew cannot want accomplishments." His life was poor, unfortunate, faithful, Morley," the name she had
sacrificed, like Edward the Sixth's, to his too devoted adopted in her private correspondence with her confidante;
attention to his studies. He understood the terms of who in this intercourse adopted the signature of " Free-
fortification and navigation ; would marshal a company of man." — (Noble's Continuation of Grainger.) We may
boys, who had voluntarily enlisted to attend him ; studied estimate the national sorrow upon this event by remem-
history, politics, geography, and religion, assiduously ; bering how much the loss of the princess Charlotte WHS
delighted in martial sports and hunting, as relaxations ; lamented by every Englishman.
and M-as so pious and sweetly tempered, that he was gene-
OF KING WILLIAM III. G40
Tnancl of great wealth as oft as there was occasion for it : and he laid out his own time chiefly
in advancing all such designs. These things gained him a great reputation. He was called
a socinian, but was really an arian, which he very freely owned before the revolution ; but
he gave no public vent to it, as he did afterwards. He studied to promote his opinions, after
the revolution, with much heat : many books were printed against the Trinity, which he
dispersed over the nation, distributing them freely to ail who would accept of them : profane
wits were much delighted with this : it became a common topic of discourse to treat all
mysteries in religion as the contrivances of priests, to bring the world into a blind submis-
sion to them : priestcraft grew to be another word in fashion, and the enemies of religion
vented all their impieties under the cover of these words ; but while these pretended much
zeal for the government, those who were at work to undermine it made great use of all this :
they raised a great outcry against socinianism, and gave it out that it was likely to overrun
all ; for archbishop Tillotsori and some of the bishops had lived in great friendship with Mr.
Firmin, whose charitable temper they thought it became them to encourage. Many under-
took to write in this controversy ; some of these were not fitted for handling such a nice
subject. A learned deist made a severe remark on the progress of this dispute : he said, he
was sure the divines would be too hard for the socinians, in proving their doctrines out of
Scripture ; but if the doctrine could be once laughed at and rejected as absurd, then its
being proved, how well soever out of Scripture, would turn to be an argument against the
Scriptures themselves, as containing such incredible doctrines.
The divines did not go all in the same method, nor upon the some principles. Dr. Sher-
lock engaged in the controversy : he was a clear, a polite, and a strong writer, and had got
great credit in the former reign by his writings against those of the church of Rome ; but
he was apt to assume too much to himself, and to treat his adversaries with contempt ;
this created him many enemies, and made him pass for an insolent, haughty man : he was
at first a Jacobite, and while, for not taking the oaths, he was under suspension, he wrote
against the socinians, in which he took a new method of explaining the Trinity : he thought
there were three eternal minds ; two of these issuing from the Father, but that these were
one, by reason of a mutual consciousness in the three to every of their thoughts : this was
looked on as plain tritheism ; but all the party applauded him and his book. Soon after
that, an accident of an odd nature happened.
There was a book drawn up by bishop Overall, fourscore years ago, concerning govern-
ment, in which its being of a divine institution was very positively asserted ; it was read in
convocation, and passed by that body, in order to the publishing it in opposition to the
principles laid down in that famous book of Parsons, the Jesuit, published under the name
of Dollman. King James the First did not like a convocation entering into such a theory
of politics ; so he wrote a long letter to Abbot, who was afterwards archbishop of Canter-
bury, but was then in the lower house. I had the original, written all in his own hand, in
my possession ; by it he desired that no further progress should be made in that matter,
and that this book might not be offered to him for his assent. Thus that matter slept, but
Sancroft had got OveralFs own book into his hands ; so in the beginning of this reign, he
resolved to publish it as an authentic declaration that the church of England had made in
this matter ; and it was published as well as licensed by him a very few days before he came
under suspension for not taking the oaths ; but there was a paragraph or two in it that they
had not considered, which was plainly calculated to justify the owning the United Provinces
to be a lawful government ; for it was there laid down that when a change of government
was brought to a thorough settlement, it was then to be owned and submitted to as a work
of the providence of God, and a part of king James's letter to Abbot related to this. When
Sherlock observed this, he had some conferences with the party in order to convince them
by that, which he said had convinced himself. Soon after that he took the oaths, and was
made dean of St. Paul's. He published an account of the grounds he went on, which drew
out many virulent books against him. After that they pursued him with the clamour of
tritheism, which was done with much malice by the very same persons who had highly mag-
nified the performance while he was of their party ; so powerful is the bias of interest and
passion in the most speculative and the most important doctrines.
660 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Dr. South, a learned, but an ill-natured divine, who had taken the oaths, but with the
reserve of an equivocal sense which he put on them, attacked Dr. Sherlock's book of the Trinity,
not without wit and learning, but without any measure of Christian charity, and without
any regard either to the dignity of the subject or the decencies of his profession. He
explained the Trinity in the common method, that the Deity was one essence in three subsis-
tencies *. Sherlock replied, and charged this as Sabellianism ; and some others went into
the dispute with some learning, but with more heat ; one preached Sherlock's notion before
the university of Oxford, for which he was censured ; but Sherlock wrote against that cen-
sure with the highest strains of contempt. The socinians triumphed not a little upon this,
and in several of their books they divided their adversaries into real and nominal trinitarians.
Sherlock was put in the first class ; as for the second class, they pretended it had been the
doctrine of the western church ever since the time that the fourth council in the Lateral]
sat. Some, who took advantage from these debates to publish their impieties without fear
or shame, rejoiced to see the divines engaged in such subtle questions ; and they reckoned
that which side soever might have the better in the turn of this controversy, yet in conclu-
sion they alone must be the gamers by every dispute that brought such important matters
to a doubtfulness, which might end in infidelity at last.
The ill effects that were like to follow on those different explanations, made the bishops
move the king to set out injunctions, requiring them to see to the repressing of error and
heresy with all possible zeal, more particularly in the fundamental articles of the Christian
faith ; and to watch against and hinder the use of new terms, or new explanations, in those
matters. This put a stop to those debates, as Mr. Firmin's death put a stop to the printing
and spreading of socinian books. Upon all this, some angry clergymen, who had not that
share of preferment that they thought they deserved, begun to complain that no convocation
was suffered to sit to whom the judging in such points seemed most properly to belong.
Books were written on this head ; it was said, that the law made in king Kenry the Eighth's
time, that limited the power of that body, so that no new canons could be attempted, or put
in use without the king's licence and consent, did not disable them from sitting; on
the contrary, a convocation was held to be a part of the parliament, so that it ought always
to attend upon it, and to be ready, when advised with, to give their opinions chiefly in mat-
ters of religion. They had also, as these men pretended, a right to prepare articles and
canons, and to lay them before the king, who might indeed deny his assent to them, as he
did to bills that were offered him by both houses of parliament. This led them to strike at
the king's supremacy, and to assert the intrinsic power of the church, which had been
disowned by this church ever since the time of the reformation ; and indeed the king's
supremacy was thought to be carried formerly too high, and that by the same sort of men
who were now studying to lay it as low. It seemed that some men were for maintaining it
as long as it was in their management, and that it made for them ; but resolved to weaken
it all they could, as soon as it went out of their hands, and was no more at their discretion :
such a turn do men's interests and partialities give to their opinions.
All this while it was manifest that there were two different parties among the clergy ; one
was firm and faithful to the present government, and served it with zeal : these did not envy
the dissenters the ease that the toleration gave them ; they wished for a favourable oppor-
tunity of making such alterations in some few rites and ceremonies as might bring into the
church those who were not at too great a distance from it : and I do freely own that I was
* This amiable charitable man, and brilliant wit, de- induce liirn to exchange them even for the crosier and
serves more than the above solitary notice. Dr. Robert arrhiepiscopal mitre. He bore a long and excruciating
South was born in 1633, became a scholar of Westminster malady with cheerfulness, and died in 1716. One spcci-
and Christchurch, Oxford, seemed to make it a rule men of his reproving wit must be repeated. — Preaching
to join the triumphant party, and consequently adhered before Charles the Second, and his equally indecorous
successively to Cromwell, Charles, James, and William, courtiers, he perceived that tl-e tenants of the royal pew
This pliancy did not arise from avarice ; his highest pre- were sleeping. He stopped, and calling thrice to Lord
ferment was a canonry, Christchurch, and a prebend stall Lauderdale, who awoke, and stood up, said to him, " My
at Westminster; and the revenues of these, as well as part Lord, I am sorry to interrupt your repose, but I must beg
of his paternal patrimony, he dispersed annually in chari- that you will not snore quite so loud, lest you should awaken
f'es. He valued an old hat and walking stick so highly, his majesty." (Biog. Britannica. Wood's Athenae Oson.
having used them many years, that no persuasions could Noble's Contin. of Grainger.)
OF KING WILLIAM III. 651
of this number. Others took the oaths indeed, and concurred in every act of compliance
with the government, but they were not only cold in serving it, but were always blaming
the administration, and aggravating misfortunes : they expressed a great esteem for Jacobites,
and in all elections gave their votes for those. who leaned that way ; at the same time they
shewed great resentments against the dissenters, and were enemies to the toleration, and
seemed resolved never to consent to any alteration in their favour. The bulk of the clergy
ran this way, so that the moderate party was far out-numbered. Profane minds had too
great advantages from this, in reflecting severely on a body of men that took oaths, and per-
formed public devotions, when the rest of their lives was too public and too visible a contra-
diction to such oaths and prayers.
But while we are thus unhappily disjointed in matters of religion, our neighbours are not
so entirely united as they pretend to be. The quietists are said to increase not only in Italy,
but in France : the persecution there began at first upon a few jansenists, but it turned soon
to the protestants, on whom it has been long very heavy and bloody : this had put an end to
all disputes in those matters ; a new controversy has since been managed with great heat,
between Bossuet, the famous bishop, first of Condom and now of Meaux, and La Motte
Fenelon, who was once in high favour with Madame Maintenon, and was, by her means,
made preceptor to the dauphin's children, and afterwards advanced to be archbishop of Cam-
bray. He wrote a treatise of spiritual maxims, according to the subtilty, as well as the
sublimity, of the writers called the mystics : in it he distinguished between that which was
falsely charged upon them, and that which was truly their doctrine ; he put the perfection of
a spiritual life in the loving of God purely for himself, without any regard to ourselves, even
to our own salvation ; and in our being brought to such a state of indifference, as to have no
will, nor desire of our own, but to be so perfectly united to the will of God as to rejoice in
the hope of Heaven, only because it is the will of God to bring us thither, without any
regard to our own happiness. Bossuet wrote so sharply against him, that one is tempted to
think a rivalry for favour and preferment had as great a share in it as zeal for the truth.
The matter was sent to Rome ; Fenelon had so many authorized and canonized writers of his
side, that many distinctions must be made use of to separate them from him ; but the king
was much set against him ; he put him from his attendance on the young princess, and sent
him to his diocese : his disgrace served to raise his character. Madame Maintenon's violent
aversion to a man she so lately raised, was imputed to his not being so tractable as she
expected, in persuading the king to own his marriage with her ; but that I leave to conjec-
ture. There is a breach running through the Lutheran churches ; it appeared at first openly
at Hamburgh, where many were going into stricter methods of piety, who from thence were
called pietists : there is no difference of opinion between them and the rest, who are most
rigid to old forms, and are jealous of all new things, especially of a stricter course of devotion,
beyond what they themselves are inclined to practise. There is likewise a spirit of zeal and
devotion, and of public charities, sprung at home, beyond what was known among us in
former times ; of which I may have a good occasion to make mention hereafter.
But to return from this digression ; the company in Scotland, this year, set out a fleet,
with a colony, on design to settle in America ; the secret was better kept than could have
been well expected, considering the many hands in which it was lodged ; it appeared at last,
that the true design had been guessed, from the first motion of it : they landed at Darien,
which, by the report that they sent over, was capable of being made a strong place, with a
£ood port. It was no wonder that the Spaniards complained loudly of this ; it lay so near
Porto-Bello and Panama on the one side, and Carthagena on the other, that they could not
think they were safe when such a neighbour came so near the centre of their empire in Ame-
rica : the king of France complained also of this, as an invasion of the Spanish dominions,
and offered the court of Madrid a fleet to dislodge them. The Spaniards pressed the king hard
upon this : they said they were once possessed of that place, and though they found it too
unhealthy to settle there, yet the right to it belonged still to them ; so this was a breach of
treaties, and a violent possession of their country. In answer to this, the Scotch pretended,
that the natives of Darien were never conquered by the Spaniards, and were by consequence
a free people ; they said, they had purchased of them leave to possess themselves of that
Co2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
place, and that the Spaniards abandoned the country, because they could not reduce the
natives; so the pretension of the first discovery was made void when they went off from it,
not being able to hold it ; and then the natives being left to themselves, it was lawful for the
Scots to treat with them : it was given out that there was much gold in the country. Cer-
tainly the nation was so full of hopes from this project, that they raised a fund for carrying
it on, greater than, as was thought, that kingdom could stretch to : four hundred thousand
pounds sterling was subscribed, and a fourth part was paid down, and afterwards seventy
thousand pounds more was brought in, and a national fury seemed to have transported the
whole kingdom upon this project.
The Jacobites went into the management with a particular heat : they saw the king would
be much pressed from Spain ; the English nation apprehending that this would be set up as
a breach of treaties, and that upon a rupture their effects in Spain might be seized, grew also
very uneasy at it ; upon which it was thought that the king would in time be forced to dis-
own this invasion, and to declare against it, and in that case they hoped to have inflamed the
kingdom with this, that the king denied them his protection, while they were only acting
according to law ; and this, they would have said, was contrary to the coronation oath, and
so they would have thought they were freed from their allegiance to him. The Jacobites,
having this prospect, did all that was possible to raise the hopes of the nation to the highest
degree : our English plantations grew also very jealous of this new colony ; they feared,
that the double prospect of finding gold, and of robbing the Spaniards, would draw many
planters from them into this new settlement ; and that the buccaneers might run into them ;
for by the Scotch act, this place was to be made a free port ; and if it was not ruined before
it was well formed, they reckoned it would become a seat of piracy, and another Algiers, in
those parts. Upon these grounds the English nation inclined to declare against this, and the
king seemed convinced that it was an infraction of his treaties with Spain : so orders were
sent, but very secretly, to the English plantations, particularly to Jamaica and the Leeward
Islands, to forbid all commerce with the Scots at Darien. The Spaniards made some faint
attempts on them, but without success : this was a very great difficulty on the king ; he saw
how much he was likely to be pressed on both hands, find he apprehended what ill conse-
quences wrere likely to follow, on his declaring himself either way.
The parliament of England had now sat its period of three years, in which great things
had been done : the whole money of England was recoined ; the king was secured in his
government, an honourable peace was made *, public credit was restored, and the payment
of public debts was put on sure and good funds. The chief conduct lay now in a few hands;
the lord Somers was made a baron of England ; and as he was one of the ablest, and the
most incorrupt judges that ever sat in Chancery, so his great capacity for all affairs made the
king consider him beyond all his ministers, and he well deserved the confidence that the king
expressed for him on all occasions. In the house of commons, Mr. Montague had gained
such a visible ascendant over all that were zealous for the king's service, that he gave the law
to the rest, which he did always with great spirit, but sometimes with too assuming an air.
The fleet was in the earl of Orford's management, who was both treasurer of the navy, and
was at the head of the admiralty ; he had brought in many into the service, who were very
zealous for the government, but a spirit of impiety and dissolution ran through too many of
them, so that those who intended to cast a load upon the government had too great advan-
tages given by some of these. The administration at home was otherwise without exception,
and no grievances were complained of.
There was a new parliament called, and the elections fell generally on men who were in
the interests of the government ; many of them had indeed some popular notions, which
they had drank in under a bad government, and thought they ought to keep them under a
good one : so that those who wished well to the public did apprehend great difficulties in
managing them. The king himself did not seem to lay this to heart so much as was fitting;
he stayed long beyond sea ; he had made a visit to the duke of Zell, where he was treated
in a most magnificent manner. Cross winds hindered his coming to England so soon as
he had intended; upon which the parliament was prorogued for some weeks after the
* The far greater part of Englishmen held an opposite opinion.
OF KING WILLIAM III.
05.3
members were come up ; even this soured their spirits, and had too great a share in the ill
humour that appeared among them.
The king's keeping up an army beyond the votes of the former parliament, was much
resented, nor was the occasion for doing it enough considered ; all this was increased by his
own management after he came over. The ministers represented to him, that they could
carry the keeping up a land force of ten or twelve thousand, but that they could not carry
it further : he said so small a number was as good as none at all, therefore he would not
authorize them to propose it ; on the other hand, they thought they should lose their credit
with their best friends, if they ventured to speak of a greater number. So, when the house
of commons took up the debate, the ministry were silent, and proposed no number ; upon
which those who were in the contrary interest, named seven thousand men, and to this they
added, that they should be all the king's natural-born subjects. Both the parts of this vote
gave the king great uneasiness ; he seemed not only to lay it much to heart, but to sink
under it : he tried all that was possible to struggle against it, when it was too late ; it not
being so easy to recover things in an after-game, as it was to have prevented this misunder-
standing, that was likely to arise between him and his parliament. It was surmised that he
was resolved not to pass the bill, but that he would abandon the government, rather than
hold it with a force that was too small to preserve and protect it ; yet this was considered
only as a threatening, so that little regard was had to it ; the act passed with some oppo-
sition in the house of commons ; a feeble attempt was made in the house of lords against it,
but it was rather a reproach than a service to the government, it being faintly made and ill
supported. The royal assent wras given, and when it was hoped that the passing the act had
softened people's minds, a new attempt was made for keeping the Dutch guards in England,
but that was rejected, though the king sent a message desiring it*.
* It is easy to conceive how distressing this measure
must have been to the king. His guards, as he observed
with deep feeling, " had constantly attended him in all
actions wherein he had been engaged." — (Chandler's De-
bates, House of Commons, iii. 93.) They were his com-
panions—his children — for all history concurs in inform-
ing us that a general acquires a kind of parental regard for
those soldiers that have long been under his care and
command. The feeling is mutual • our soldiers during
the last war in Spain used to call lord Hill 'k our father."
When William first heard that the vote had passed which
was to separate him from his Dutch guards, he paced his
apartment for some time with downcast eyes, and sud-
denly pausing, said with more than usual passion, " If I
aad a son, these guards should not quit me." He made
several efforts to avoid this painful separation. On the
18th of March, 1698, the journals of the house of com-
mons inform 113 that the " earl of Ranelagh acquainted it,
'hat he had, in command from his majesty, a message to
deliver to this house, signed by his majesty, and all of his
"wn hand-writing ; which the said earl delivered in to
j Mr. Speaker, who read the same to the house, and is as
I followeth : viz. —
" William Rex.
" His majesty is pleased to let the house know, that
the necessary preparations are made for transporting the
f-'iiards, who came with him into England ; and that he in-
tends to send them away immediately, unless, out of con-
^deration to him, the house be disposed to find a way for
continuing them longer in his service, which his majesty
Mould take very kindly.
" Upon which a question being proposed, that a day be
appointed to consider of his majesty's said message, the
question was put, that that question be now put, and it
P'lssed in the negative.
"20/A of March, 1698.
" The lord Nosris reported from the committee appointed
"a Saturday last, to draw up an humble address, to be.
presented to his majesty ; that they had drawn up in
address accordingly, which he n ad in his place, and after-
wards delivered in at the clerk's table, where the same
was read, and is as followeth : —
" Most Gracious Sovereign,
" We, your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subject?,
the commons in this present parliament assembled, do,
with unfeigned zeal to your majesty's person and govern-
ment (which God long preserve), most humbly represent,
" That the passing the late act for disbanding the army
gave great satisfaction to your subjects ; and the punctual
execution thereof will prevent all occasions of distrust or
jealousy between your majesty and your people.
"It is, Sir, to your loyal commons, an unspeakable
grief, that anything should be asked by your majesty's
message, to which they cannot consent, without doing
violence to that constitution your majesty came over
to restore and preserve, and did at that time, in your
gracious declaration promise, that all those foreign forces
which came over with you, should be sent back. In duty
therefore to your majesty, and to discharge the trust
reposed in us, we crave leave to lay before you, that
nothing conduccth more to the happiness and welfare of
this kingdom, than an entire confidence between your
majesty and your people ; which can no way be so firmly
established as by entrusting your sacred person with your
own subjects, who have so eminently signalized themselves
on all occasions during the late long and expensive war.'*
However we may sympathize with William upon this
trying occasion, at the same time we must feel that our
legislators were right in their determination — even his
ministers were silent, or opposed the motion without
energy. They rightly felt that the guards of England
should be Englishmen ; not only for the sake of the
national honour, but because otherwise it would be a pre-
cedent for the permanent employment of foreign troops,
the most effectual mode of enslaving and enervating a
nation. Rome declined from the moment she employed
mercenary legions.
G54 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
In the carrying these points, many hard things were said against the court, and against
the king himself ; it was suggested that he loved not the nation ; that he was on the reserve
with all Englishmen, and shewed no confidence in them ; but that as soon as the session of
parliament was over, he went immediately to Holland ; and they said, this was not to look
after the affairs of the States, which had been more excusable ; but that he went thither to
enjoy a lazy privacy at Loo ; where, with a few favourites, he hunted and passed away the
Hummer, in a way that did not raise his character much. It is certain the usage he had met
with of late put his spirits too much on the fret ; and he neither took care to disguise that,
nor to overcome the ill humour, which the manner of his deportment, rather than any just
occasion given by him, had raised in many against him. Some, in the house of commons,
began to carry things much further, and to say, that they were not bound to maintain the
votes, and to keep up the credit oft he former parliament ; and they tried to shake the act made
in favour of the new East-India company : this was so contrary to the fundamental maxims
of our constitution, that it gave cause of jealousy, since this could be intended for nothing,
but to ruin the government : money raised by parliament upon bargains and conditions that
were performed by those who advanced it, gave them such a purchase of those acts, and this
was so sacred, that to overturn it must destroy all credit for the future, arid no government
could be maintained that did not preserve this religiously.
Among other complaints, one made against the court was, that the king had given grants
of the confiscated estates in Ireland ; it was told before, that a bill being sent up by the
commons, attainting the Irish that had been in arms, and applying their estates to the pay-
ing the public debts, leaving only a power to the king to dispose of the third part of them,
was likely to lie long before the lords, many petitions being offered against it ; upon which
the king, to bring the session to a speedy conclusion, had promised, that this matter should
be kept entire till their next meeting : but the next session going over without any pro-
ceeding in it, the king granted away all those confiscations ; it being an undoubted branch
of the royal prerogative, that all confiscations accrued to the crown, and might be granted
away at the pleasure of the king ; it was pretended that those estates came to a million and
a half in value. Great objections were made to the merits of some, who had the largest
share in those grants ; attempts had been made, in the parliament of Ireland, to obtain a con-
firmation of them, but that which Ginkle, who was created earl of Athlone, had, was only
confirmed : now it was become a popular subject of declamation, to arraign both the grants,
and those who had them ; motions had been often made for a general resumption of all the
grants made in this reign ; but in answer to this, it was said, that since no such motion was
made for a resumption of the grants made in king Charles the Second's reign, notwithstand-
ing the extravagant profusion of them, and the ill grounds upon which they were made, it
shewed both a disrespect and a black ingratitude, if, while no other grants were resumed, j
this king only should be called in question. The court party said often, let the retrospect go
back to the year 1660, and they would consent to it, and that which might be got by it
would be worth the while. It was answered, this could not be done after so long a time,
that so many sales, mortgages, and settlements had been made, pursuant to those grants ; so
all these attempts came to nothing. But now they fell on a more effectual method. A com-
mission was given, by act of parliament, to seven persons named by the house of commons, to
enquire into the value of the confiscated estates in Ireland so granted away, and into the con-
siderations upon which those grants were made. This passed in this session, and in the |
debates, a great alienation discovered itself in many from the king and his government, which
had a very ill effect upon all affairs, both at home and abroad. When the time prefixed for
the disbanding the army came, it was reduced to seven thousand men ; of these, four thousand]
were horse and dragoons, the foot were three thousand ; the bodies were also reduced to so;
small a number of soldiers, that it was said we had now an army of officers : the new method
was much approved of by -proper judges, as the best into which so small a number couldj
have been brought. There was at the same time a very large provision made for the sea,|
greater than was thought necessary in a time of peace. Fifteen thousand seamen, with a!
fleet proportioned to that number, was thought a necessary security, since we were made s^
weak by land.
OF KING WILLIAM III.
I mentioned in the relation of the former year, the czar's coming out of his own country,
on which I will now enlarge : he came this winter over to England, and stayed some months
among us ; I waited often on him, and was ordered, both by the king, and the archbishop
and bishops, to attend upon him, and to offer him such informations of our religion and con-
stitution, as he was willing to receive : I had good interpreters, so I had much free discourse
with him. He is a man of a very hot temper, soon inflamed, and very brutal in his passion ;
he raises his natural heat by drinking much brandy, which he rectifies himself with great
application : he is subject to convulsive motions all over his body, and his head seems to be
affected with these ; he wants not capacity, and has a larger measure of knowledge than
might be expected from his education, which was very indifferent : a want of judgment,
with an instability of temper, appear in him too often, and too evidently ; he is mechanically
turned, and seems designed by nature rather to be a ship carpenter than a great prince ; this
was his chief study and exercise while he stayed here ; he wrought much with his own
hands, and made all about him work at the models of ships : he told me he designed a great
fleet at Azoff, and with it to attack the Turkish empire ; but he did not seem capable of
conducting so great a design, though his conduct in his wars since this, has discovered a
greater genius in him than appeared at that time. He was desirous to understand our doc-
trine, but he did not seem disposed to mend matters in Muscovy : he was indeed resolved to
encourage learning, and to polish his people, by sending some of them to travel in other
countries, and to draw strangers to come and live among them. He seemed apprehensive
still of his sister's intrigues. There was a mixture both of passion and severity in his temper.
He is resolute, but understands little of war, and seemed not at all inquisitive that way.
After I had seen him often, and had conversed much with him, I could not but adore the
depth of the Providence of God that had raised up such a furious man to so absolute an
authority over so great a part of the world.
David, considering the great things God had made for the use of man, broke out into the
meditation, " What is man, that them art so mindful of him ? " But here there is an occa-
sion for reversing these words, since man seems a very -contemptible thing in the sight of God,
while such a person as the czar has such multitudes put as it were under his feet, exposed
to his restless jealousy and savage temper. He went from hence to the court of Vienna,
where he purposed to have stayed some time, but he was called home sooner than he had
intended, upon a discovery or a suspicion of intrigues managed by his sister : the strangers
to whom he trusted most were so true to him, that those designs were crushed before he
came back ; but on this occasion he let loose his fury on all whom he suspected ; some
hundreds of them were hanged all round Moscow, and it was said, that he cut off many heads
with his own hand, and so far was he from relenting, or shewing any sort of tenderness, that
lie seemed delighted with it. How long he is to be the scourge of that nation, or of his
neighbours, God only knows ; so extraordinary an incident will, I hope, justify such a
digression.
The king of Poland was not much better thought of by the Poles, though somewhat deeper
in his designs ; he had given that republic great cause of suspecting that he intended to turn
that free and elective state into an hereditary and absolute dominion. Under the pretence
of a civil war, like to arise at home, on the prince of Conti's account, and of the war with
the Turks, he had brought in an army of Saxons, of whom the Poles were now become so
jealous, that if he does not send them home again, probably that kingdom will fall into new
wars.
The young king of Sweden seemed to inherit the roughness of his father's temper with the
1'iety and the virtues of his mother; his coronation was performed in a particular manner,
lie took up the crown himself, and set it on his head ; the design of this innovation in the
ceremonial seems to be, that he will not have his subjects think that he holds his crown in
any respect by their grant or consent, but that it was his own by descent ; therefore no other
person was to set it on his head; whereas, even absolute princes are willing to leave this
poor remnant and shadow of a popular election among the ceremonies of their coronation ;
ce they are crowned upon the desires and shoutings of their people. Thus the two
rthern crowns, Denmark and Sweden, that were long under great restraints by their con-
6.5G THE HISTORY OF THE REIGX
stitution, have in our own time, emancipated themselves so entirely, that in their govern-
ment they have little regard, either to the rules of law or the decencies of custom. A little
time will shew, whether Poland can be hrought to submit to the same absoluteness of govern-
ment ; they who set their crown to sale, in so bare-faced a manner, may be supposed ready
likewise to sell their liberties, if they can find a merchant that will come up to their price.
The frequent relapses, and the feeble state of the king of Spain's health, gave the world
great alarms. The court of Vienna trusted to their interest in the court of Spain, and in
that king himself; the French court was resolved not to let go their pretensions to that suc-
cession without great advantages ; the king and the States were not now strong enough to
be the umpires in that matter ; this made them more easily hearken to propositions that
were set on foot by the court of France ; the electoral prince of Bavaria was proposed, he
being the only issue of the king of Spain's second sister, who was married to the emperor.
Into this, the king, the States, and the elector of Bavaria entered : the court of Spain
agreed to this ; and that king, by his will, confirmed his father's will, by which the succes-
sion of the crown was settled on the issue of the second daughter, and it was resolved to
engage all the grandees and cities of Spain to maintain the succession, according to this set-
tlement. The house of Austria complained of this, and pretended that, by a long tract of
reciprocal settlements, several mutual entails had passed between those two branches of the
house of Austria ; the court of France seemed also to complain of it, but they were secretly
in it, upon engagements, that the dominions in Italy should fall to their share ; but while
these engagements, in favour of the prince electoral, were raising great apprehensions every
where, that young prince, who seemed marked out for great things, and who had all the
promising beginnings that could be expected iii a child of seven years old, fell sick, and was
carried off the third or fourth day of his illness ; so uncertain are all the prospects, and all
the hopes, that this world can give. Now the dauphin and the emperor were to dispute, or
to divide this succession between them ; so a new treaty was set on foot : it was generally
given out, and too easily believed, that the king of France was grown weary of war, and
was reso-lved to pass the rest of his days in peace and quiet ; but that he could not consent
to the exaltation of the house of Austria ; yet if that house were set aside, he would yield
up the dauphin's pretensions ; and so the duke of Savoy was much talked of, but it was
with the prospect of having his hereditary dominions yielded up to the crown of France ;
but this great matter came to another digestion a few months after.
About this time, the king set up ;i new favourite ; Keppel, a gentleman of Guelder, was
raised from being a page into the highest degree of favour that any person had ever attained
about the king ; he was now made earl of Albemarle, and soon after knight of the garter ;
and by a quick, and unaccountable progress, he seemed to have engrossed the royal favour
so entirely, that he disposed of every thing that was in the king's power. He was a cheer-
ful young man, that had the heart to please, but was so ranch given up to his own pleasures,
that he could scarcely submit to the attendance and drudgery that was necessary to main-
tain his post. He never had yet distinguished himself in any thing, though the king did it
in every thing. He was not cold, nor dry, as the earl of Portland was thought to be ; who
seemed to have the art of creating many enemies to himself, and not one friend : but the earl
of Albemarle had all the arts of a court, was civil to all, and procured many favours*.
The earl of Portland observed the progress of this favour with great uneasiness ; they grew
to be not only incompatible, as all rivals for favour must needs be, but to hate and oppose
* Arnold Joost Van Keppel came over with William oorne by princes of the Plantngenet line, and by the
as a page, and had never been employed in offices more restorer of the Stuarts, as a dukedom, so that one moro
important than copying letters, until the royal mistress, honourable could riot have been selected. To this the
Mrs. Villiers, and the earl of Sunderland, employed and garter was appended, an-.l the offices of master of the robes, ;
sustained him to supplant the other favourite, the earl of and a lordship of the bedchamber. He was equally trusted !
Portland. The design proved successful, and however and variously employed by Anne and George the First. :
•we may lament that ministers of state are ever created He died, aged 48, in 1718. He was handsome, gay, lively, j
through motives aud intrigues so unworthy, yet in this courteous, liberal ; these were popular endowments, and j
instance it is consolatory to know that the instrument made him idolized even by the English. He was faith- '
•jvas virtuous and talented. He vvas, in 1696, created ful, brave, and honourable, which makes him deserving the
baron Ash ford, viscount Bury, in England, and earl of commendation of mankind. — Noble's Contin. of Grainger, j
Alheniavlc, in Normandy. Tim latter title hud been
)F KING WILLIAM III. 657
one another in every thing, by which the king's affairs suffered much ; the, one had more of the
confidence, and the other much more of the favour ; the king had heaped many grants on
the earl of Portland, and had sent him ambassador to France, upon the peace, where he
appeared with great magnificence, and at a vast expense, and had many very unusual
respects put upon him by that king, and all that court ; but upon his return, he could not
bear the visible superiority in favour, that the other was grown up to ; so he took occasion,
from a small preference that was given him, in prejudice of his own post, as groom of the
stole, and upon it withdrew from the court, and laid down all his employments. The king
used all possible means to divert him from this resolution, but without prevailing on him ;
he consented to serve the king still in his affairs, but he would not return to any post in the
household ; and not long after that he was employed in the new negotiation, set on foot for
the succession to the crown of Spain.
This year died the marquis of Winchester, whom the king had created duke of Bolton ;
he was a man of a strange mixture ; he had the spleen to a high degree, and affected an
extravagant behaviour : for many weeks he would take a conceit not to speak one word ;
and at other times he would not open his mouth till such an hour of the day, when he thought
the air was pure ; he changed the day into night, and often hunted by torchlight, and took
all sorts of liberties to himself, many of which were very disagreeable to those about him.
In the end of king Charles's time, and during king James's reign, he affected an appearance
of folly, which afterwards he compared to Junius Brutus's behaviour under the Tarquins.
With all this he was a very knowing, and a very crafty politic man ; and was an artful
flatterer, when that was necessary to compass his end, in which generally he was successful :
he was a man of a profuse expense, and of a most ravenous avarice to support that ; and
though he was much hated, yet he carried matters before him with such authority and suc-
cess, that he was in all respects the great riddle of the age.
This summer, sir Josiah Child died ; he was a man of great notions as to merchandize,
which was his education, and in which he succeeded beyond any man of his time ; he applied
himself chiefly to the East-India trade, which by his management was raised so high, that
it drew much envy and jealousy both upon himself and upon the company ; he had a com-
pass of knowledge and apprehension beyond any merchant I ever knew ; he was vain and
covetous, and thought too cunning, though to me he seemed always sincere *.
The complaints that the court of France sent to Rome, against the archbishop of Cambray's
book, procured a censure from thence ; but he gave such a ready and entire submission to it,
that how much soever that may have lessened him, in some men's opinions, yet it quite
defeated the designs of his enemies against him : upon this occasion, it appeared how much
both the clergy of France, and the courts of parliament there, were sunk from that firmness
which they had so long maintained against the encroachment of the court of Rome ; not so
much as one person of those bodies has set himself to assert those liberties, upon which they
had so long valued themselves ; the whole clergy submitted to the bull, the king himself
received it, and the parliament registered it ; we do not yet know by what methods and
practices this was obtained at the court of Rome, nor what are the distinctions, by which
they save the doctrine of so many of their saints, while they condemn this archbishop's
book ; for it is not easy to perceive a difference between them. From the conclusion of this
process at Rome, I turn to another, against a bishop of our own church, that was brought
to a sentence and conslusion this summer.
Dr. Watson -f- was promoted by king James to the bishopric of St. David's ; it was
believed that lie gave money for his advancement, and that in order to the reimbursing him-
'L'lf, he sold most of the spiritual preferments in his gift. By the law and custom of this
.•Imrcli the archbishop is the only judge of a bishop, but upon such occasions he calls for the
* Sir Josiah Child was the second son of sir Richard tion, is in the church of Wanstead, Essex. — Morant's
Child, a London merchant. His deep acquaintance with Hist, of Essex ; Grainger's Biog. History,
i he principles of commerce is shewn by his work, entitled -|- This was Dr. Thomas Watson, of St. John's col.
•' A new discourse upon trade," to which is appended a lege, Cambridge. He had been preferred at the recom-
^mall essay on usury. It has passed through several edi- mendation of lord Dover, in 1687. — Wood's Athens?
'ions. He was created a baronet in 1678. He was sixty- Oxon.
when he died. His monument, with a, long inscrip-
C58 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
assistance of some of the bishops ; he called for six in this cause ; I was one of tuem. It
was proved that the bishop had collated a nephew of his to a great many of the best prefer-
ments in his gift, and that for many years he had taken the whole profits of these to himself,
keeping his nephew very poor, and obliging him to perform no part of his duty : it was also
proved that the bishop obtained leave to keep a benefice, which he held before his promotion
by a commendam, (one of the abuses which the popes brought in among us, from which we
have not been able hitherto to free our church ;) that he had sold both the cure and the profits to
a clergyman, for a sum of money, and had obliged himself to resign it upon demand, that is, as
soon as the clergyman could, by another sum, purchase the next presentation of the patron :
these things were fully proved. To these was added a charge of many oppressive fees, which
being taken for benefices that were in his gift, were not only extortion but a presumptive
simony. All these he had taken himself, without making use of a register or actuary ; for
as he would not trust these secrets to any other, so he swallowed up the fees both of his chan-
cellor and register ; he had also ordained many persons without tendering them the oaths
enjoined by law, and yet in their letters of orders, he had certified under his hand and seal
that they had taken those oaths ; this was what the law calls cr linen falsi, the certifying
that which he knew to be false : no exceptions lay to the witnesses by whom these things
were made out, nor did the bishop bring any proofs on his side to contradict their evidence.
Some affirmed that he was a sober and regular man, and that he spoke often of simony witli
such detestation, that they could not think him capable of committing it. The bishop of
Rochester withdrew from the court on the day in which sentence was to be given ; he con-
sented to a suspension, but he did not think that a bishop could be deprived by the
archbishop. When the court sat to give judgment, the bishop resumed his privilege of peer-
age, and pleaded it ; but he having waived it in the house of lords, and having gone on still
submitting to the court, no regard was had to this, since a plea to the jurisdiction of the
court was to be offered in the first instance, but could not be kept up to the last and then be
made use of. The bishops that were present agreed to a sentence of deprivation : I went
further, and thought that he ought to be excommunicated. He was one of the worst men,
in all respects, that I ever knew in holy orders ; passionate, covetous, and false in the black-
est instances ; without any one virtue or good quality to balance his many bad ones. But
as he was advanced by king James, so he stuck firm to that interest ; and the party, though
ashamed of him, yet were resolved to support him with great zeal. He appealed to a court
of delegates, and they, about the end of the year, confirmed the archbishop's sentence.
Another prosecution followed for simony, against Jones, bishop of St. Asaph, in which,
though the presumptions were very great, yet the evidence was not so clear as in the
former case. The bishops in Wales give almost all the benefices in their diocese ; so this
primitive constitution that is still preserved among them, was scandalously abused by some
wicked men, who set holy things to sale, and thereby increased the prejudices that are but (
too easily received both against religion and the church.
I published this year an Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. It seemed a j
work much wanted, and it was justly to be wondered at, that none of our divines had at- ;
tempted any such performance in a way suitable to the dignity of the subject ; for some slight |
analyses of them are not worth either mentioning or reading. It was a work that required
study and labour, and laid a man open to many malicious attacks ; this made some of my
friends advise me against publishing it : in compliance with them I kept it five years by me
after I had finished it; but I was now prevailed on by the archbishop and many of my own order,
besides a great many others, to delay the publishing it no longer. It seemed a proper addition to
the History of the Reformation, to explain and prove the doctrine which was then established. |
I was moved first by the late queen, and pressed by the late archbishop to write it. I can)
appeal to the Searcher of all hearts that I wrote it with great sincerity and a good intention,!
and with all the application and care I was capable of. I did then expect what I have sinoc-j
met with, that malicious men would employ both their industry and ill nature to find mattCB
for censure and cavils ; but though there have been some books written on purpose againsli
it, and many in sermons and other treatises have occasionally reflected with great severitjj
upon several passages in it. yet this has been done with so little justice or reason, that I an:
OF KIN7G WILLIAM III. 659
not yet convinced that there is one single period or expression that is justly remarked on, or
that can give me any occasion either to retract or so much as to explain any one part of that
whole work, which I was very ready to have done if I had seen cause for it. There was
another reason that seemed to determine me to the publishing it at this time *.
Upon the peace of Ryswick a great swarm of priests came over to England, not only those
whom the revolution had frighted away, but many more new men, who appeared in many
places with great insolence ; and it was said that they boasted of the favour and protection
of which they were assured. Some enemies of the government began to give it out, that the
favouring that religion was a secret article of the peace ; and so absurd is malice and calumny,
that the Jacobites began to say, that the king was either of that religion, or at least a favourer
of it. Complaints of the avowed practices and insolence of the priests were brought from
several places during the last session of parliament, and those were maliciously aggravated
by some, who cast the blame of all on the king.
Upon this, some proposed a bill, that obliged all persons educated in that religion, or
suspected to be of it, who should succeed to any estate before they were of the age of
eighteen, to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and the test as soon as they
came to that age; and till they did it, the estate was to devolve to the next of kin,
that was a protestant, but was to return back to them, upon their taking the oaths. All popish
priests were also banished by the bill, and were adjudged to perpetual imprisonment if they
should again return to England ; and the reward of an hundred pounds was offered to every
one who should discover a popish priest so as to convict him. Those who brought this into
the house of commons, hoped the court would have opposed it, but the court promoted the
bill ; so when the party saw their mistake, they seemed willing to let the bill fall ; and when
that could not be done, they clogged it with many severe and some unreasonable clauses,
hoping that the lords would not pass the act ; and it was said that if the lords should make
the least alteration in it, they in the house of commons, who had set it on, were resolved to
let it lie on their table when it should be sent back to them. Many lords who secretly
favoured papists on the Jacobite account, did for this very reason move for several alterations,
some of these importing a greater severity ; but the zeal against popery was such in that
house, that the bill passed without any amendment, and it had the royal assent. I was for
this bill, notwithstanding my principles for toleration and against all persecution for consci-
ence sake : I had always thought, that if a government found any sect in religion incompati-
ble with its quiet and safety, it might, and sometimes ought to send away all of that sect
with as little hardship as possible. It is certain that as all papists must at all times be ill
subjects to a protestant prince, so this is much more to be apprehended when there is a pre-
! tended popish heir in the case. This act hurt no man that was in the present possession of
I an estate, it only incapacitated his next heir to succeed to that estate if he continued a papist ;
so the danger of this, in case the act should be well looked to, would put those of that religion
who are men of conscience on the selling of their estates, and in the course of a few years
: might deliver us from having any papists left among us. But this act wanted several
! necessary clauses to enforce the due execution of it : the word " next of kin," was very inde-
i finite, and the " next of kin," was not obliged to claim the benefit of this act, nor did the
right descend to the remoter heirs if the more immediate ones should not take the benefit of
I it ; the test relating to matters of doctrine and worship, did not seem a proper ground for so
irreat a severity, so this act was not followed nor executed in any sort ; but here is a scheme
'aid, though not fully digested, which on some great provocation given by those of that reli-
| i;'ion, may dispose a parliament to put such clauses in a new act as may make this effectual.
The king of Denmark was in a visible decline all this year, and died about the end of sum-
11 acr. While he was languishing, the duke of Holstein began to build some new forts in that
Uichy ; this the Danes said was contrary to the treaties, and to the condominium which that
1 :ing and the duke have in that duchy. The duke of Holstein had married the king of Swe-
den's sister, and depended on the assurances he had of being supported by that crown. The
young king of Denmark, upon his coming to the crown, as he complained of these infractions,
Tliis work has not been considered quite orthodox in its doctrines. Dr. South said that Burnet had served the
Church of England as the Jews served St. Paul ; giving it forty stripes, save one.
u u 2
660 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
so he entered into an alliance with the king of Poland and the elector of Brandenburg, and,
as was said, with the landgrave of Hesse and the duke of Wolfembuttel, to attack Sweden
and Holstein at once on all hands. The king of Poland was to invade Livonia ; the elector
of Brandenburgh was to fall into the regal Pomerania, and the other princes were to keep
the dukes of Zell and Hanover from assisting Holstein : the king of Denmark himself was to
attack Holstein, but his father's chief minister and treasurer, the baron Plesse, didnot like the con-
cert, and apprehended it would not end well ; so he withdrew from his post which he had main-
tained long with a high reputation, both for his capacity and integrity ; which appeared in this,
that though that king's power is now carried to be absolute, yet he never stretched it to new
or oppressive taxes ; and therefore seeing things were like to take another ply in a new reign,
he resigned his employment. He was the ablest and the worthiest man that I ever knew
belonging to those parts ; he was much trusted and employed by prince George, so that I
had great opportunities to know him.
The king of Sweden, seeing such a storm coming upon him from so many hands, claimed
the effects of his alliance with England and Holland, who were guarantees of the several
treaties made in the North, particularly of the last made at Altena but ten years before. The
house of Lunenburgh was also engaged in interest to preserve Holstein as a barrier' between
them and Denmark. The king of Poland thought the invasion of Livonia, which was to be
begun with the siege of Riga, would prove both easy and of great advantage to him. Li-
vonia was anciently a fief of the crown of Poland, and delivered itself for protection to the
crown of Sweden by a capitulation : by that they were still to enjoy their ancient liberties ;
afterwards the pretension of the crown of Poland was yielded up about threescore years ago,
So that Livonia was an absolute but legal government : yet the king of Sweden had treated
that principality in the same rough manner in which he had oppressed his other dominions ;
so it was thought that the Livonians were disposed (as soon as they saw a power ready to
protect them, and to restore them to their former liberties) to shake off the Swedish yoke ;
especially if they saw the king attacked in so many different places at once.
The king of Poland had a farther design in this invasion ; he had an army of Saxons in
Poland, to whom he chiefly trusted in carrying on his designs there ; the Poles were become
so jealous, both of him and of his Saxons, that in a general diet they had come to very severe
resolutions, in case the Saxons were not sent out of the kingdom by a prefixed day ; that king
therefore reckoned, that as the reduction of Livonia had the fair appearance of recovering the
ancient inheritance of the crown, so by this means he would carry the Saxons out of Poland,
as was decreed, and yet have them within call ; he likewise studied to engage those of Lithu-
ania to join with him in the attempt. His chief dependence was on the czar, who had
assured him, that if he could make peace with the Turk, and keep Azuph, he would assist
him powerfully against the Swedes ; his design being to recover Narva, which is capable of
being made a good port. By this means he hoped to get into the Baltic, where if he could
once settle, he would soon become an uneasy neighbour to all the northern princes. The king
of Poland went into Saxony to mortgage and sell his lands there, and to raise as much money
as was possible for carrying on this war ; and he brought the electorate to so low a state,
that if his designs in Poland miscarry, and if he is driven back into Saxony, he who was the
richest prince of the empire will become one of the poorest. But the amusements of balls
and operas consumed so much, both of his time and treasure, that whereas the design was
laid to surprise Riga in the middle of the winter, he did not begin his attempt upon it before
the end of February, and these designs went no farther this year.
While the king was at Loo this summer, a new treaty was set on foot, concerning the
succession to the crown of Spain ; the king and the states of the United Provinces saw the j
danger to which they would be exposed if they should engage in a new war, while we were j
yet under the vast debts that the former had brought upon us ; the king's ministers in the
house of commons assured him, that it would be a very difficult thing to bring them to enter j
into a new war for maintaining the rights of the house of Austria. During the debates con-j
cerning the army, when some mentioned the danger of that monarchy falling into the hands
of a prince of the house of Bourbon, it was set up for a maxim, that it would be of no cor
sequence to the affairs of Europe who was king of Spain, whether a Frenchman, or a Ger-
OF KING WILLIAM III. 661
man ; and that as soon as the successor should come within Spain, he would become a true
Spaniard, and be governed by the maxims and interests of that crown ; so that there was no
prospect of being able to infuse into the nation an apprehension of the consequence of that
succession. The emperor had a very good claim ; but as he had little strength to support it
by land, so he had none at all by sea ; and his treasure was quite exhausted by his long war
with the Turks : the French drew a great force towards the frontiers of Spain, and they
were resolved to march into it upon that king's death ; there was no strength ready to
oppose them, yet they seemed willing to compound the matter ; but they said, the consider-
ation must be very valuable that could make them desist from so great a pretension : and
both the king and the States thought it was a good bargain, if, by yielding up some of the
less important branches of that monarchy, they could save those in which they were most
concerned, which were Spain itself, the West-Indies, arid the Netherlands. The French
seemed willing to accept of the dominions in and about Italy, with a part of the kingdom of
Navarre, and to yield up the rest to the emperor's second son, the archduke Charles : the
emperor entered into the treaty, for he saw he could not hope to carry the whole succession
entire ; but he pressed to have the duchy of Milan added to his hereditary dominions in Ger-
many ; the expedient that the king proposed was, that the duke of Lorrain should have the
duchy of Milan, and that France should accept of Lorrain instead of it ; he was the empe-
ror's nephew, and would be entirely in his interests. The emperor did not agree to this, but
yet he pressed the king not to give over the treaty, and to try if he could make a better
bargain for him ; above all things he recommended secrecy, for he well knew how much the
Spaniards would be offended, if any treaty should be owned., that might bring on a dismem-
bering of their monarchy ; for though they were taking no care to preserve it, in the whole,
or in part, yet they could not bear the having any branch torn from it. The king reckoned
that the emperor, with the other princes of Italy, might have so much interest in Rome, as
to stop the pope's giving the investiture of the kingdom of Naples ; and which way soever
that matter might end, it would oblige the pope to shew great partiality, either to the house
of Austria, or the house of Bourbon ; which might occasion a breach among them, with
other consequences, that might be very happy to the whole protestant interest ; any war that
might follow in Italy, would be at great distance from us, and in a country that we had no
reason to regard much ; besides, that the fleets of England and Holland must come, in con-
clusion, to be the arbiters of the matter.
These were the king's secret motives ; for I had most of them from his own mouth ; the
French consented to this scheme, and if the emperor would have agreed to it, his son the
archduke was immediately to go to Spain, to be considered as the heir of that crown ; by
these articles, signed both by the king of France and the dauphin, they bound themselves not
to accept of any will, testament, or donation, contrary to this treaty, which came to be called
the partition treaty. I had the original in my hands, which the dauphin signed : the French
and the emperor tried their strength in the court of Spain ; it is plain the emperor trusted
too much to his interest in that court, and in that king himself; and he refused to accept of
the partition, merely to ingratiate himself with them ; otherwise it was not doubted but that,
seeing the impossibility of mending matters, he would have yielded to the necessity of his
affairs. The French did, in a most perfidious manner, study to alienate the Spaniards from
their allies, by shewing them to how great a diminution of their monarchy they had con-
sented ; so that no way possible was left for them to keep those dominions still united to
their crown, but by accepting the duke of Anjou to be their king, with whom all should be
again restored. The Spaniards complained in the courts of their allies, in ours in particular,
of this partition, as a detestable project, which was to rob them of those dominions that
belonged to their crown, and ought not to be torn from it. No mention was made of this
during the session of parliament, for though the thing was generally believed, yet it not
being publicly owned, no notice could be taken of bare reports, and nothing was to be done,
in pursuance of this treaty, during the king of Spain's life.
In Scotland, all men were full of hopes that their new colony should bring them home
mountains of gold ; the proclamations sent to Jamaica, and to the other English plantations,
were much complained of as acts of hostility and a violation of the common rights of
662 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
humanity ; these nad a great effect on them, though without these, that colony was too
weak and too ill supplied, as well as too much divided within itself, to have subsisted long ;
those who had first possessed themselves of it, were forced to abandon it : soon after they
had gone from it, a second recruit of men and provisions was sent thither from Scotland ;
but one of their ships unhappily took fire, in which they had the greatest stock of provisions ;
and so these likewise went off; and though the third reinforcement, that soon followed this,
was both stronger and better furnished, yet they fell into such factions among themselves,
that they were too weak to resist the Spaniards, who feeble as they were, yet saw the neces-
sity of attacking them ; and they finding themselves unable to resist the force which w^as
brought against them, capitulated ; and with that the whole design fell to the ground, partly
for want of stock and skill in those who managed it, and partly by the baseness and treachery
of those whom they employed.
The conduct of the king^s ministers in Scotland was much censured, in the wThole progress
of this affair, for they had connived at it, if not encouraged it, in hopes that the design
would fall of itself ; but now it was not so easy to cure the universal discontent, which the
miscarriage of this design, to the impoverishing the whole kingdom, had raised, and which
now began to spread, like a contagion, among all sorts of people. A petition for a present
session of parliament was immediately sent about the kingdom, and was signed by many
thousands : this was sent up by some of the chief of their nobility, whom the king received
very coldlv. Yet a session of parliament was granted them, to which the duke of Queens-
bury was sent down commissioner. Great pains were taken, by all sorts of practices, to be
sure of a majority ; great offers were made them in order to lay the discontents, which ran
then very high ; a law for a habeas corpus, with a great freedom for trade, and every thing
that they could demand, was offered, to persuade them to desist from pursuing the design
upon Darien. The court had tried to get the parliament of England to interpose in that
matter, and to declare themselves against that undertaking. The house of lords was pre-
vailed on to make an address to the king, representing the ill effects that they apprehended
from that settlement ; but this did not signify much, for as it was carried in that house by
a small majority of seven or eight, so it was laid aside by the house of commons. Some
were not ill pleased to see the king's affairs run into an embroilment ; and others did appre-
hend, that there was a design to involve the t\vo kingdoms in a national quarrel, that by
such an artifice, a greater army might be raised, and kept up on both sides : so they let that
matter fall, nor would they give any entertainment to a bill that was sent them by the lords,
in order to a treaty, for the union of both kingdoms. The managers in the house of commons
who opposed the court, resolved to do nothing that should provoke Scotland, or that should
take any part of the blame and general discontent, that soured that nation, off from the king.
It was further given out, to raise the national disgust yet higher, that the opposition the
king gave to the Scotch colony, flowed neither from a regard to the interests of England, nor
to the treaties with Spain ; but from a care of the Dutch, who from Curagoa drove a coasting
trade among the Spanish plantations, with great advantage, which they said the Scotch
colony, if once well settled, would draw wholly from them. These things were set about
that nation with great industry ; the management was chiefly in the hands of Jacobites :
neither the king nor his ministers were treated with the decencies that are sometimes observed,
even after subjects have run to anus. The keenest of their rage was plainly pointed at the king
himself ; next him, the earl of Portland, who had still the direction of their affairs, had a large
share of it. In the session of parliament, it was carried, by a vote, to make the affair of
Darien a national concern : upon that the session was for some time discontinued. When
the news of the total abandoning of Darien was brought over, it cannot be well expressed
into how bad a temper this cast the body of that people ; they had now lost almost two
hundred thousand pounds sterling upon this project, besides all the imaginary treasure they
had promised themselves from it : so the nation was raised into a sort of fury upon it, and in
the first heat of that, a remonstrance was sent about the kingdom for hands, representing
to the king the necessity of a present sitting of the parliament, which was drawn in so high
a strain as if they had resolved to pursue the effects of it by an armed force. It was signed
l>y a great majority of the members of parliament ; and the ferment in men's spirits was raised
OF KING WILLIAM III. 663
so high, that few thought it could have been long curbed, without breaking forth into great
extremities.
The king stayed beyond sea till November : many expected to see a new parliament ; for
the king's speech, at the end of the former session, looked like a complaint, and an appeal to
the nation against them : he seemed inclined to it, but his ministers would not venture on it.
The dissolving a parliament in anger has always cast such a load on those who were thought
to have advised it, that few have been able to stand it ; besides, the disbanding the army had
rendered the members, who promoted it, very popular to the nation : so that they would
have sent up the same men, and it was thought that there was little occasion for heat in
another session. But those who opposed the king, resolved to force a change of the ministry
upon him ; they were seeking colours for this, and thought they had found one, with which
they had made much noise : it was this.
Some pirates had got together in the Indian seas, and robbed some of the Mogul's ships,
in particular one, that he was sending with presents to Mecca ; most of them were English.
The East India company having represented the danger of the Mogul's taking reprisals of
them for these losses, it appeared that there was a necessity of destroying those pirates, who
were harbouring themselves in some creeks in Madagascar. So a man of war was to be set
out to destroy them, and one Kid was pitched upon, who knewr their haunts, and was thought
a proper man for the service ; but there was not a fund to bear the charge of this, for the
parliament had so appropriated the money given for the sea, that no part of it could be
applied to this expedition. The king proposed the managing it by a private undertaking,
and said he would lay down three thousand pounds himself, and recommended it to his
ministers to find out the rest. In compliance with this, the lord Somers, the earls of Orford,
Rumney, Bellamount, and some others, contributed the whole expense ; for the king excused
himself, by reason of other accidents, and did not advance the sum that he had promised.
Lord Somers understood nothing of the matter, and left it wholly to the management of
others, so that he never saw Kid, only he thought it became the post he was in to concur in
such a public service. A grant was made to the undertakers, of all that should be taken
from those pirates by their ship. Here was a handle for complaint, for as it was against law
to take a grant of the goods of any offenders before conviction, so a parity between that
and this case was urged ; but without any reason : the provisions of law being very different,
in the case of pirates and that of other criminals. The former cannot be attacked, but in
the way of war ; and therefore, since those who undertook this must run a great risk in
executing it, it was reasonable, and according to the law of war, that they should have a
right to all that they found in the enemies' hands; whereas those who seize common offen-
ders, have such a strength by the law to assist them, and incur so little danger in doing it,
that no just inference can be drawn from the one case to the other. When this Kid was
thus set out, he turned pirate himself : so a heavy load was cast on the ministry, chiefly on
him who was at the head of the justice of the nation. It was said he ought not to have
engaged in such a project ; and it was maliciously insinuated, that the privateer turned pirate,
in confidence of the protection of those who employed him, if he had not secret orders from
them for what he did. Such black constructions are men, who are engaged in parties, apt to
make of the actions of those whom they intend to disgrace, even against their own con-
sciences; so that an undertaking, that was not only innocent but meritorious, was traduced
as a design for robbery and piracy. This was urgeo. in the house of commons as highly
criminal, for which all who were concerned in it ought to be turned out of their employ-
ments ; and a question was put upon it, but it was rejected by a great majority*. The
next attempt was to turn me out from the trust of educating the duke of Gloucester. Some
objected my being a Scotchman, others remembered the book that was ordered to be burnt;
so they pressed an address to the king for removing me from that post ; but this was like-
wise lost by the same majority that had carried the former vote. The pay for the small
army, and the expense of the fleet, were settled, and a fund was given for it : yet those
who had reduced the army, thought it needless to have so great a force at sea ; they provided
' !8') to 133 Shrewsbury Correspondence. Captain William Kidd'e fate is mentioned in a future part of
this work.
OG-1 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
only for eight thousand men. This was moved by the tories, and the whigs readily gave
way to this reduction, because the fleet was now in another management ; Russel (now earl
of Orford), with his friends, being laid aside, and a set of tories being brought into their
places.
The great business of this session was the report brought from Ireland by four of the
seven commissioners, that were sent by parliament to examine into the confiscations and the
grants made of them. Three of the seven refused to sign it, because they thought it false
and ill grounded in many particulars, of which they sent over an account to both houses ;
but no regard was had to that, nor was any enquiry made into their objections to the report.
These three were looked on as men gained by the court ; and the rest were magnified, as
men that could not be wrought on nor frighted from their duty. They had proceeded like
inquisitors, and did readily believe every thing that was offered to them that tended to
inflame the report ; as they suppressed all that was laid before them that contradicted their
design of representing the value of the grants as very high, and of showing how undeserving
those were who had obtained them. There was so much truth in the main of this, that no
complaints against their proceedings could be hearkened to ; and indeed all the methods
that were taken to disgrace the report had the quite contrary effect : they represented the
confiscated estates to be such, that, out of the sale of them, a million and a half might be
raised : so this specious proposition, for discharging so great a part of the public debt, took
with the house. The hatred into which the favourites were fallen, among whom and their
creatures the grants were chiefly distributed, made the motion go the quicker. All the
opposition that was made in the whole progress of this matter, was looked on as a courting
the men in favour ; nor was any regard paid to the reserve of a third part, to be disposed of
by the king, which had been in the bill that was sent up eight years before to the lords.
When this was mentioned, it was answered, that the grantees had enjoyed those estates so
many years, that the mean profits did arise to more than a third part of their value : little
regard also was shown to the purchases made under those grants, and to the great improve-
ments made by the purchasers, or tenants, which were said to have doubled the value of
those estates. All that was said on that head made no impression, and was scarcely heard
with patience : yet, that some justice might be done both to purchasers and creditors, a
number of trustees were named, in whom all the confiscated estates were vested, and they
had a very great and uncontrolable authority lodged with them, of hearing and determining
all just claims relating to those estates, and of selling them to the best purchasers ; and the
money to be raised by this sale was appropriated to pay the arrears of the army. When
all this was digested into a bill, the party apprehended that many petitions would be offered
to the house, which the court would probably encourage on design at least to retard their
proceedings: so, to prevent this, and that they might not lose too much time, nor clog the
bill with too many clauses and provisos, they passed a vote of a very extraordinary nature ;
that they would receive no petitions relating to the matter of this bill. The case of the earl
of Athlone's grant was very singular : the house of commons had been so sensible of his good
service, in reducing Ireland, that they had made an address to the king, to give him a recom-
pense suitable to his services : and the parliament of Ireland was so sensible of their obliga-
tions to him, that they, as was formerly told, confirmed his grant of between 2000/. and
3000Z. a-year. He had sold it to those who thought they purchased under an unquestionable
title, yet all that was now set aside, no regard being had to it ; so that this estate was
thrown into the heap. Some exceptions were made in the bill in favour of some grants,
and provision was made for rewarding others, whom the king, as they thought, had not
enough considered. Great opposition was made to this by some, who thought that all
favours and grants ought to be given by the king, and not originally by a house of parlia-
ment ; and this was managed with great heat, even by some of those who concurred in
carrying on the bill : in conclusion it was, by a new term as well as a new invention, con-
solidated with the money bill that was to go for the pay of the fleet and army, and so it
came up to the house of Lords ; which by consequence they must either pass or reject. The
method that the court took in that house to oppose it, wras to offer some alterations that
were indeed very just and reasonable; but since the house of commons would not suffer the
OF KING WILLIAM JII. GG5
lords to alter money bills, this was in effect to lose it. The court, npon some previous votes,
found they had a majority among the lords : so, for some days, it seemed to be designed to
lose the bill, and to venture on a prorogation, or a dissolution, rather than pass it. Upon
the apprehensions of this, the commons were beginning to fly out into high votes, both
against the ministers and the favourites. The lord Somers was attacked a second time, but
was brought off by a greater majority than had appeared for him at the beginning of the
session. During the debates about the bill he was ill ; and the worst construction possible
was put on that : it was said he advised all the opposition that was made to it in the house
of lords, but that, to keep himself out of it, he feigned that he was ill ; though his great
attendance in the court of chancery, the house of lords, and at the council table, had so
impaired his health, that every year, about that time, he used to be brought very low, and
disabled from business. The king seemed resolved to venture on all the ill consequences that
might follow the losing this bill ; though those would probably have been fatal. As far as
we could judge, either another session of that parliament, or a new one, would have banished
the favourites, and begun the bill anew, with the addition of obliging the grantees to refund
all the mean profits. Many in the house of lords, that in all other things were very firm to
the king, were for passing this bill, notwithstanding the king's earnestness against it, since
they apprehended the ill consequences that were likely to follow if it was lost. I was one
of these, and the king was much displeased with me for it. I said I would venture his dis-
pleasure rather than please him in that, which I feared would be the ruin of his government.
I confess T did not at that time apprehend what injustice lay under many of the clauses
in the bill, which appeared afterwards so evidently, that the very same persons who drove
on the bill were convinced of them, and redressed some of them in acts that passed in subse-
quent sessions. If I had understood that matter aright, and in time, I had never given rny
vote for so unjust a bill. I only considered it as a hardship put on the king, many of his
grants being thus made void ; some of which had not been made on good and reasonable
considerations, so that they could hardly be excused, much less justified. I thought the
thing was a sort of force, to which it seemed reasonable to give way at that time, since we
were not furnished with an equal strength to withstand it : but when I saw afterwards, what
the consequences of this act proved to be, I did firmly resolve never to consent again to any
tack to a money bill as long as I lived. The king became sullen upon all this, and upon
the many incidents that are apt to fall in upon debates of this nature : he either did not
apprehend in what such things might end, or he was not much concerned at it : his resent-
ment, wThich was much provoked, broke out into some instances, which gave such handles
to his enemies as they wished for : and they improved those advantages, which his ill con-
duct gave them, with much spite and industry, so as to alienate the nation from him. It
was once in agitation among the party to make an address to him against going beyond sea,
but even that was diverted with a malicious design. Hitherto the body of the nation
retained a great measure of affection to him : this was beginning to diminish, by his going
so constantly beyond sea as soon as the session of parliament was ended ; though the war
was now over. Upon this it grew to be publicly said, that he loved no Englishman's face,
nor his company. So his enemies reckoned it was fit for their ends to let that prejudice go
<>n and increase in the minds of the people, till they might find a proper occasion to graft
some bad designs upon it. The session ended in April ; men of all sides being put into a
very ill humour by the proceedings in it'5.
The leaders of the tories began to insinuate to the favourites, the necessity of the king's
The commissioners, who had been sent to inquire offensive to the nation. The debates upon the bill of
•rning the grants of the Irish forfeited estates, were resumption were violent and lengthy in both houses, and
rl of Drogheda, sir Richard Leving, sir Francis it was not until the king directed his friends not to persist
•ster, Mr. Annesley, Mr. Trenchard, Mr. Hamilton, in their opposition, that it was passed in the house of
Mr. Langford. The three first were whigs, and had lords. When he gave the royal assent to it, and put an
H'il to sign the report ; the others were zealous tories. end to the session, with becoming dignity he did not ac-
I here is no doubt that a large portion of the forfeitures company the dismissal with the usual speech. — Shrewsbury
li id been given to the king's Dutch supporters, and a Correspondence; Smollett's Hist, of England; Journals
1;rge part of the ex king's estates had been bestowed of the houses.
'•'.?on William's mistrees. This was ill-judged, and
066 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
changing his ministry, in particular of removing the lord Somers, who, as he was now
considered as the head of the whigs, so his wise counsels, and his modest way of
laying them before the king had gained him a great share of his esteem and con-
fidence; and it was reckoned that the chief strength of the party lay in his credit
with the king, and in the prudent methods he took to govern the party, and to mode-
rate that heat and those jealousies, with which the king had been so long disgusted
in the first years of his reign. In the house of commons he had been particularly
charged for turning many gentlemen out of the commission of the peace : this was much
aggravated, and raised a very high complaint against him ; but there was no just cause for
it. When the design of the assassination and invasion, in the years 1695 and 1696, was
discovered, a voluntary association was entered into by both houses of parliament, and that
was set round the nation. In such a time of danger, it was thought that those who did not
enter voluntarily into it, were so ill affected, or at least so little zealous for the king, that it
was not fit they should continue justices of peace : so an order passed in council, that all
those who had so refused should be turned out of the commission : he had obeyed this order,
upon the representations made to him by the lords-lieutenants and the custodes rotulorum of
the several counties, who were not all equally discreet : yet he laid those representations
before the council, and had a special order for every person that was so turned out. All this
was now magnified, and it was charged on him that he had advised and procured these
orders ; yet this could not be made so much as a colour to proceed against him, a clamour
and murmuring was all that could be raised from it. But now the tories studied to get it
infused into the king, that all the hard things that had been of late put on him by the par-
liament, were occasioned by the hatred that was borne to his ministers ; and that, if he
would change hands and employ others, matters might be softened and mended in another
parliament : with this the earl of Jersey studied to possess the earl of Albermarle ; and the
uneasiness the king was in, disposed him to think, that if he should bring in a set of tories
into his business, they would serve him with the same zeal, and with better success than
the whigs had done ; and he hoped to throw all upon the ministers that were now to be
dismissed.
The first time that the lord Somers had recovered so much health as to come to court, the
king told him it seemed necessary for his service that he should part with the seals, and he
wished that he would make the delivering them up his owTn act. He excused himself in
this : all his friends had pressed him not to offer them, since that seemed to show fear or
guilt ; so he begged the king's pardon if in this he followed their advice ; but he told the
king, that whensoever he should send a warrant under his hand, commanding him to deliver
them up, he would immediately obey it. The order was brought by lord Jersey, and upon
it the seals were sent to the king. Thus the lord Somers was discharged from this great
office, which he had held seven years, with a high reputation for capacity, integrity, and
diligence ; he was in all respects the greatest man I had ever known in that post : his being
thus removed was much censured by all but those who had procured it. Our princes used
not to dismiss ministers who served them well, unless they were pressed to it by a house of
commons, that refused to give money till they were laid aside. But here a minister (who
was always vindicated by a great majority in the house of commons when he was charged
there, and who had served both with fidelity and success, and was indeed censured for
nothing so much as for his being too compliant with the king^s humour and notions, or at
least for being too soft or too feeble in representing his errors to him,) was removed without
a shadow of complaint against him. This was done with so much haste, that those who had
prevailed with the king to do it, had not yet concerted who should succeed him : they thought
that all the great men of the law were aspiring to that high post, so that any one to whom
it should be offered would certainly accept of it : but they soon found they were mistaken ;
for, what by reason of the instability of the court, what by reason of the just apprehensions
men might have of succeeding so great a man, both Holt and Trevor, to whom the seals were ;
offered, excused themselves. It was term time, so a vacancy in that post put things in |
some confusion. A temporary commission was granted to the three chief judges, to judge in
the court of chancery ; and after a few days the seals were given to sir Nathan Wright, in i
OF KING WILLIAM III. 607
whom there was nothing equal to the post, much less to him who had lately filled it*. The
king's inclinations seemed now turned to the tories, and to a new parliament : it was for
some time in the dark who had the confidence, and gave directions to affairs : we who looked
on were often disposed to think that there was no direction at all, but that every thing was
left to take its course, and that all was given up to hazard.
The king, that he might give some content to the nation, stayed at Hampton Court till
July, and then went to Holland : but, before he went, the minister of Sweden pressed him
to make good his engagements with that crown. Riga was now besieged by the king of
Poland : the first attempt of carrying the place by surprise miscarried ; those of Riga were
either overawed by the Swedish garrison that commanded there, or they apprehended that
the change of masters would not change their condition, unless it were for the worse. So
they made a greater stand than was expected ; and in a siege of above eight months very
little progress was made : the firmness of that place made the rest of Livonia continue fixed
to the Swedes. The Saxons made great waste in the country, and ruined the trade of
Riga. The king of Sweden, being obliged to employ his main force elsewhere, was not able
to send them any considerable assistance. The elector of Brandenburg lay quiet without
making any attempt : so did the prince of Hesse and Wolfembuttel. The two scenes of
action were in Holstein and before Copenhagen. The king of Denmark found the taking
the forts that had been raised by the duke of Holstein an easy work : they were soon carried
and demolished : he besieged Toninghen next, which held him longer. Upon the Swedes'
demand of the auxiliary fleets, that were stipulated both by the king and the States, orders
were given for equipping them here, and likewise in Holland. The king was not willing to
communicate this design to the two houses, and try if the house of commons would take
upon themselves the expense of the fleet : they were in so bad a humour, that the king
npprehended that some of them might endeavour to put an affront upon him, and oppose
the sending a fleet into the Sound : though others advised the venturing on this, for no
nation can subsist without alliances sacredly observed : and this was an ancient one, lately
renewed by the king ; so that an opposition in such a point, must have turned to the preju-
dice of those who should move it. Soon after the session, a fleet of thirty ships, English and
| Dutch, was sent to the Baltic, commanded by Rook. The Danes had a good fleet at sea,
much superior to the Swedes, and almost equal to the fleet sent from hence ; but it was their
vhole strength, so they would not run the hazard of losing it. They kept at sea for some
ime, having got between the Swedes and the fleet of their allies, and studied to hinder their
injunction. When they saw that could not be done, they retired, and secured themselves
vitliin the port of Copenhagen, which is a very strong one. The Swedes, with their allies,
ame before that town and bombarded it for some days, but with little damage to the place,
md none to the fleet. The dukes of Lunenburg, together with the forces that the Swedes
i ad at Bremen, passed the Elbe, and marched to the assistance of the duke of Holstein.
This obliged the Danes to raise the siege of Toninghen, and the two armies lay in view of
lie another for some weeks, without coming to any action. Another design of the Danes
lid also miscarry. A body of Saxons broke into the territories of the duke of Bruns-
ick, in hopes to force their army to come back to the defence of their own country : but
;he duke of Zell had left things in so good order, that the Saxons were beat back, and all
the booty that they had taken was recovered.
* Sir Nathan Wright would never have attained the is not supported by any known facts, and one contradic-
.;h office to which he was promoted, by his own merits, tory narrative deserves to be recited. A watchmaker,
Ho was thrown and left upon an elevation by the tide of having a cause depending in chancery, sent to the lord-
c tune ; and preceded by Somers, as he was followed by keeper a very fine timepiece some few days before tho
Jnwper, was a most striking foil to two of the most case came to be heard ; but sir Nathan returned it with
' 'fitted holders of our chancery seals. He rested on a the admonitory message, "I have no doubt of the good-
k;it not too elevated for his ambition, but it was an im- ness of the piece, but it has one motion in it too much
H'lium far beyond the compass of his mind. He has forme." He was turned out of office in 1705, and died
IK en succinctly described as "a good common lawyer, a almost forgotten at Cancot Hall, Warwickshire, in 1721.
1>>W chancellor, and a civilian ; plain both in person and He was promoted at the suggestion of the earl of Roches-
k'liversation." Lr> another part of this work, with the ter. — Noble's Continuation of Grainger; Shrewsbury
xressive prejudice of a political adversary, Burnet has Correspondence.
Uu impugned sir Nathan's honesty and integrity. This
fiG8 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
In the meantime, the king offered his mediation, and a treaty was set on foot. The two
young kino-s were so much sharpened against one another, that it was not easy to bring them
to hearken to terms of peace. The king of Denmark proposed that the king of Poland might
be included in the treaty, but the Swedes refused it : and the king was not guarantee of the
treaties between Sweden and Poland, so he was not obliged to take care of the king of
Poland. The treaty went on but slowly : this made the king of Sweden apprehend that he
should lose the season, and be forced to abandon Riga, which began to be straitened : so to
quicken the treaty he resolved on a descent in Zealand. This was executed without any
opposition, the king of Sweden conducting it in person, and being the first that landed : he
showed such spirit and courage in his whole conduct as raised his character very high : At
struck a terror through all Denmark : for now the Swedes resolved to besiege Copenhagen.
This did so quicken the treaty, that, by the middle of August, it was brought to a full end :
old treaties were renewed, and a liberty of fortifying was reserved for Holstein, under some
limitations : and the king of Denmark paid the duke of Holstein two hundred and sixty
thousand rix-dollars for the charge of the war. The peace being thus made, the Swedes
retired back to Schonen, and the fleets of England and Holland returned home. The king's
conduct in this whole matter was highly applauded ; he effectually protected the Swedes,
and yet obliged them to accept of reasonable terms of peace. The king of Denmark suffered
most in honour and interest. It was a great happiness that this war was so soon at an end;
for, if it had continued, all the North must have engaged in it, and there the chief strength
of the protestant religion lay : so that interest must have suffered much, which side soever
had come by the worst, in the progress of the war ; and it is already so weak, that it needed
not a new diminution.
The secret of the partition treaty was now published, and the project was to be offered
jointly, by the ministers of France, England, and the States, to all the princes of Europe ;
but particularly to those who were most concerned in it : and an answer was to be demanded
by a day limited for it. The emperor refused to declare himself till he knew the king of
Spain's mind concerning it. The duke of Savoy and the princes of Italy were very appro- j
hensive of the neighbourhood of France. The pope was extremely old, and declined very |
fast. The treaty was variously censured : some thought it would deliver up the Mediter- j
ranean sea and all our trade there, into the hands of France : others thought that the treaties
of princes were (according to the pattern that the court of France had set now for almost I
half an age,) only artifices to bring matters to a present quiet, and that they would be after- i
wards observed as princes found their account in them. The present good understanding i
that was between our court and the court of France, made that the party of our malcontents |
at home, having no support from thence, sunk much in their heat, and they had now no
prospect ; for it seemed as if the king of France had set his heart on the partition treaty, and (
it was necessary for him, in order to the obtaining his ends in it, to live in a good corres- j
pondence with England and the States. All our hopes were that the king of Spain might j
yet live a few years longer, till the great mortgages that were on the revenue might bej
cleared, and then it would be more easy for us to engage in a new war, and to be the arbiters
of Europe.
But while we were under the apprehension of his death, we were surprised by an unlocked- j
for and sudden death of our young prince at home, which brought a great change on the!
face of affairs. I had been trusted with his education now for two years, and he had made!
an amazing progress. I had read over the Psalms, Proverbs, and Gospels, with him, and!
had explained things that fell in my way very copiously ; and was often surprised with the
questions that he put me, and the reflections that he made. He came to understand things
relating to religion beyond imagination. I went through geography so often with him,!
that he knew all the maps very particularly. I explained to him the forms of government
in every country, with the interests and trade of that country, and what was both good and
. bad in it : I acquainted him with all the great revolutions that had been in the world, andj
gave him a copious account of the Greek and Roman Histories, and of Plutarch's Lives :|
the last thing I explained to him was the Gothic constitution, and the beneficiary and feudal
laws I talked of these things at different times nearly three hours a day : this was botiij
OF KING WILLIAM III. 6G9
sy and delighting to him. The king ordered five of his chief ministers to come once a
quarter, and examine the progress he made: they seemed amazed both at his knowledge
and the good understanding that appeared in him. He had a wonderful memory, and a
very good judgment. He had gone through much weakness and some years of ill health.
The princess was with child of him during all the disorder we were in at the revolution,
though she did not know it herself at the time when she left the court : this probably had
given him so weak a constitution, but we hoped the dangerous time was over. His birth-
day was the 24th of July, and he was then eleven years old : he complained a little the
next day, but we imputed that to the fatigues of a birthday ; so that he was too much
neglected. The day after, he grew much worse, and it proved to be a malignant iever. He
died the fourth day of his illness, to the great grief of all who were concerned in him. He was
the only remaining child of seventeen that the princess had borne, some to the full time, and
the rest before it. She attended on him, during his sickness, with great tenderness, but
with a grave composedness that amazed all who saw it : she bore his death with a resigna-
tion and piety that were indeed very singular. His death gave a great alarm to the whole
nation : the Jacobites grew insolent upon it, and said, now the chief difficulty was removed
out of the way of the prince of Wales's succession. Soon after this, the house of Brunswick
returned the visit that the king had made them last year, and the eyes of all the protestants
in the nation turned towards the electoress of Brunswick, who was daughter to the queen
of Bohemia, and was the next protestant heir ; all papists being already excluded from the
succession. Thus, of the four lives that we had in view as our chief security, the two that we
depended most on, the queen and the duke of Gloucester, were carried off on the sudden,
before we were aware of it ; and of the two that remained (the king and the princess), as
there was no issue, and little hopes of any by either of them ; so the king, who at best was
a man of a feeble constitution, was now falling under an ill habit of body : his legs were
much swelled, which some thought was the beginning of a dropsy, while others thought it
was only a scorbutic distemper.
Thus God was giving us great alarms as wrell as many mercies. He bears long with us,
but we are become very corrupt in all respects : so that the state of things among us gives a
melancholy prospect. The nation was falling under a general discontent, and a dislike of
the king's person and government : and the king, on his part, seemed to grow weary of us
and of our affairs ; and partly by the fret, from the opposition he had of late met with,
partly from his ill health, he was falling as it were into a lethargy of mind. We were, upon
the matter, become already more than half a commonwealth ; since the government was
plainly in the hands of the house of commons, who must sit once a year, and as long as they
thought fit, while the king had only the civil list for life, so that the whole administration
of the government was under their inspection ; the act for triennial parliaments kept up a
standing faction in every county and town of England : but, though we were falling insensi-
bly into a democracy, we had not learned the virtues that are necessary for that sort of
government : luxury, vanity, and ambition, increased daily, and our animosities were come
to a great height, and gave us dismal apprehensions. Few among us seemed to have a right
notion of the love of their country, and of a zeal for the good of the public. The house of
commons, how much soever its power was advanced, yet was much sunk in its credit ; very
little of gravity, order, or common decency, appeared among them : the balance lay chiefly
in the house of lords, who had no natural strength to resist the commons. The toleration of
nil the sects among us had made us live more quietly together of late than could be expected,
when severe laws were rigorously executed against dissenters. No tumults or disorders had
been heard of in any part of the kingdom these eleven years since that act passed : and yet
the much greater part of the clergy studied to blow up this fire again, which seemed to be
now as it were covered over with ashes.
The dissenters behaved themselves more quietly with relation to the church, they having
«|iiarrcls and disputes among themselves : the independents were raising the old antinomian,
tenets, as if men, by believing in Christ, were so united to him, that his righteousness
liecame theirs, without any other condition besides that of their faith : so that, though they
acknowledged the obedience of his laws to be necessary, they did not call it a condition,
670 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
but only a consequence, of justification. In this they were opposed by most of the presby-
teriaiis, who seemed to be sensible that this struck at the root of all religion, as it weakened
the obligation to a holy life : this year had produced a new extravagance in that matter.
Oiif* Asgil, a member of parliament, had published a book grounded on their notions, on
which he had grafted a new and wild inference of his own, that since true believers recovered
in Christ all that they lost in Adam, and our natural death was the effect of Adam's sin, he
inferred that believers were rendered immortal by Christ, and not liable to death ; and that
those who believed with a true and firm faith could not di.e. This was a strain beyond all
that ever went before it ; and, since we see that all men die, the natural consequence that
resulted from this was, that there neither are, nor ever were, any true believers. The pres-
byterians had been also engaged in disputes with the anabaptists. They complained that
they saw too great a giddiness in their people, and seemed so sensible of this, and so desirous
to be brought into the church, that a few inconsiderable concessions would very probably
have brought the bulk of them into our communion : but the greater part of the clergy
were so far from any disposition this way, that they seemed to be more prejudiced against
them than ever.
The quakers have had a great breach made among them by one George Keith, a Scotch-
man, with whom I had my first education at Aberdeen : he had been thirty-six years among
them : he wras esteemed the most learned man that ever was in that sect : he was well versed
both in the oriental tongues, in philosophy, and mathematics : after he had been above
thirty years in high esteem among them, he was sent to Pennsylvania (a colony set up by
Penn, where they are very numerous), to have the chief direction of the education of their
youth. In those parts, lie said, he first discovered that which had been always either denied
to him, or so disguised that he did not suspect it : but being far out of reach, and in a place
where they were masters, they spoke out their mind plainer ; and it appeared to him that they
were deists, and that they turned the whole doctrine of the Christian religion into allegories ;
chiefly those which relate to the death and resurrection of Christ, and the reconciliation of
sinners to God by virtue of his cross. He, being a true Christian, set himself with great
zeal against this, upon which they grew weary of him, and sent him back to England. At
his return, he set himself to read many of their books, and then he discovered the mystery
which was formerly so hid from him that he had not observed it. Upon this he opened a
new meeting, and by a printed summons he called the whole party to come and see the proof
that he had to offer, to convince them of these errors : few quakers came to his meetings,
but great multitudes of other people flocked about him : he brought the quakers' books with
him, and read such passages out of them as convinced his hearers that he had not charged
them falsely. He continued these meetings, being still in outward appearance a quaker, for
some years ; till having prevailed as far as he saw any probability of success, he laid aside their
exterior, and was reconciled to the church, and is now in holy orders among ITS, and likely
to do good service in undeceiving and reclaiming some of those misled enthusiasts*.
The clergy continued to be much divided : all moderate divines were looked upon by some
hot men with an evil eye, as persons who were cold and indifferent in the matters of the
church : that which flowed from a gentleness, both of temper and principle, was represented
as an inclination to favour dissenters, which passed among many for a more heinous thing
than leaning to popery itself. Those men, who began now to be called the high church
party, had all along expressed a coldness, if not an opposition, to the present settlement.
Soon after the revolution some great preferments had been given among them, to try if it
was possible to bring them to be hearty for the government ; but it appearing that they
were soured with a leaven, that had gone too deep to be wrought out, a stop was put to the
courting them any more. When they saw preferments went in another channel, they set
up a complaint over England of the want of convocations, that they were not allowed to sit,
nor act, with a free liberty, to consider of the grievances of the clergy, and of the danger the
church was in. This was a new pretension, never thought of since the Reformation. Some
books were written to justify it, with great acrimony of style and a strain of insolence that
* In this year (1700) he published "Reasons for renouncing the sect called Quakers." He died about tb«
XJM 1715.
OF KING WILLIAM III.
671
was peculiar to one Atterbury, who had indeed very good parts, great learning, and was an
excellent preacher, and had many extraordinary things in him ; but was both ambitious and
virulent out of measure ; and had a singular talent in asserting paradoxes with a great air
of assurance, showing no shame when he was detected in them, though this was done in
many instances : but he let all these pass, without either confessing his errors or pretending
to justify himself : he went on still venting new falsehoods in so barefaced a manner, that
he seemed to have outdone the Jesuits themselves. He thought the government had so little
strength or credit, that any claim against it would be well received ; he attacked the supre-
macy of the crown, with relation to ecclesiastical matters, which had been hitherto main-
tained by all our divines with great zeal. But now the hot men of the clergy did so readily
entertain his notions, that in them it appeared, that those who are the most earnest in the
defence of certain points, when these seem to be for them, can very nimbly change their minds
upon a change of circumstances*.
An eminent instance of this had appeared in the house of lords, in the former session,
where the deprived bishop of St. David's complained of the archbishop of Canterbury : first,
for breach of privilege, since sentence was passed upon him, though he had in court claimed
privilege of parliament, to which no regard had been paid ; but as he had waived his privi-
lege in the house of lords, it was carried, after a long debate, and by no great majority, that
in that case he could not resume his privilege. He excepted next to the archbishop's juris-
diction, and pretended that he could not judge a bishop but in a synod of the bishops of the
province, according to the rules of the primitive times : in opposition to this, it was shown
that, from the ninth and tenth century downward, both popes and kings had concurred to
bring this power singly into the hands of the metropolitans ; that this was the constant prac-
tice in England before the Reformation ; that by the provisional clause in the act passed in
the twenty-fifth of Henry the Eighth, that empowered thirty-two persons to draw a new
body of church laws, all former laws or customs were to continue in force till that new body
was prepared : so that the power the metropolitan then was possessed of stood confirmed
by that clause : it is true, during the high commission, all proceedings against bishops were
brought before that court, which proceeded in a summary way, and against whose sentence
no appeal lay : but, after that court was taken away, a full declaration wras made, by an
a~t of parliament, for continuing the power that was lodged with the metropolitan. It was
also urged, that if the bishop had any exception to the archbishop's jurisdiction, that ought
to have been pleaded in the first instance, and not reserved to the conclusion of all : nor
could the archbishop erect a new court, or proceed in the trial of a bishop in any other way
than in that which was warranted by law or precedent. To all this no answer was given,
but the business was kept up, and put off by many delays. It was said, the thing was
* Sterne, the sentimentalist, treated his wife with un-
merited unkindness ; Sheridan wrote in favour of morality,
and spoke vehemently against turpitude ; Atterbury,
mentioned in the text, declares in his letters that he was
devoted to a few friends and literary leisure, when it is
certain that a, more bigoted theologian, or more ambitious
statesman, never lived. To the praise given him by
liurnet, confined to his talents, may be added, that he was
a kind father, and an attached friend. Francis Atterbury,
horn at Middleton, or Milton-keynes, Buckinghamshire,
in 1662, proceeded in his course of education to West-
minster school, and Christchurch college, Oxford. From
liia youth he was distinguished for his literary excellence,
and this never deteriorated, any more than his proneness to
controversy, which appeared when he was twenty-four.
His defence of Luther was the only instance in which, as
;i disputant, he was triumphant. His polemical opinions
were too narrow, his political tenets too slavish, for him
to stand firm against Dr. Hoadley, the champion of
Christian and civil liberty. Atterbury dazzled by his
wit, but Hoadley plainly stated the truth — so the first
applause, and the other secured conviction. The
ost lengthy of his controversies was with Dr. Wake,
concerning the rights, &c. of convocations, a subject which
has now little interest ; but those who would engage in
the enquiry will find an ample reference to authorities in
Dr. Kippis's edition of the Biographia Britannica, article
" Atterbury." When the extreme tory party came into
power, during the reign of Anne, Atterbury was made
bishop of Rochester. This was in 1713. But when
other councils were adopted at the accession of George
the First, he shewed his disaffection by refusing to join in
signing the declaration against the claims of the pretender.
He also persuaded Dr. Smallridge, bishop of Bristol, not
to subscribe. In 1 722 he was apprehended on a charge
of being concerned in a plot to restore the Stuarts to the
throne. The evidence did not sufficiently substantiate
the charge of high treason, so a bill was passed by the
parliament to visit him with the punishment of banish-
ment. The chief opposition to this wafi founded upon its
being an extraordinary mode of proceeding, and upon the
want of full evidence. The latter deficiency is now re-
moved, for testimony has since been brought to light that
proves the bishop's disloyalty to the house of Hanover
beyond a doubt. He retired to France, whcjre he died
in 1731. His sejmons and letters are excellent. — Stack-
house's Memoirs of Atterbury ; Wood's Athense Oxoii ;
Boyer'B Hist, of Queen Anne.
p,72 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
new, and the house was not yet well apprised of it ; and the last time in which the debate
was taken up in the house, it ended in an intimation that it was hoped the king would not
fill that see, till the house should be better satisfied in the point of the archbishop's
authority. So the bishopric was not disposed of for some years : and this uncertainty
put a great delay to the process against the other Welch bishops accused of the same
crime.
In October, the pope died ; and at the same time all Europe was alarmed with the des-
perate state of the king of Spain's health. When the news came to the court of France that
he was in the last agony, the earl of Manchester, who was then our ambassador at that
court, told me that M. Torcy, the French secretary of state, was sent to him by the king of
France, desiring him to let the king, his master, know the news, and to signify to him that
the French king hoped that he would put things in readiness to execute the treaty, in case
any opposition should be made to it : and in his whole discourse he expressed a fixed reso-
lution in the French councils to adhere to it. A few days after that, the news came of his
death and of his will, declaring the duke of Anjou the universal heir of the whole Spanish
monarchy. It is not yet certainly known by what means this was brought about, nor how
the king of Spain was drawn to consent to it, or whether it was a mere forgery, made by
cardinal Portocarrero and some of the grandees, who, partly by practice and corruption, and
partly for safety, and that their monarchy might be kept entire (they imagining that the
power of France was far superior to all that the house of Austria would be able to engage
in its interests), had been prevailed on to prepare and publish this will ; and, to make it
more acceptable to the Spaniards, among other forfeitures of the crown, not only the suc-
cessor's departing from what they call the catholic faith, but even his not maintaining the j
immaculate conception of the Virgin, was one.
As soon as the new^s came to Rome, it quickened the intrigues of the conclave, so they set
up Albano, a man of fifty-two years of age, who, beyond all men's expectations, was chosen
pope, and took the name of Clement the Eleventh : he had little practice in affairs, but was j
very learned ; and, in so critical a time, it seems, a pope of courage and spirit, not sunk with j
age into covetousness or peevishness, was thought the fittest person for that see. France had
sent no exclusion to bar him, not imagining that he could be thought on : at first they did j
not seem pleased with the choice, but it was too late to oppose it : so they resolved to gain
him to their interests, in which they have succeeded beyond wbat they then hoped for.
When the court of France had notice sent them of the late king of Spain's will, real or
pretended, they seemed to be at a stand for some days ; and the letters written from the
secretary's office, gave it out for certain that the king would stick to the partition treaty.
Madame de Maintenon had an unspeakable fondness for the duke of Anjou ; so she prevailed
with the dauphin to accept of the will, and set aside the treaty : she also engaged Pontchar- !
train to second this.
They being thus prepared, when the news of the king of Spain's death came to Fontaine- j
bleau, where the court was at that time, M. Spanheim, who was then there as ambassador
of Prussia, told rne, that a cabinet council was called within two hours after the news came ;
it met in Madame de Maintenon's lodgings, and sat about four hours ; Pontchartrain was for
accepting the will, and the rest of the ministry were for adhering to the treaty ; but the
dauphin joined for accepting the will, with an air of positiveness, that he had never assumed \
before : so it was believed to be done by concert with the king, who was reserved, and seemed j
more inclined to the treaty : in conclusion, madame de Maintenon said, what had the duke of j
Anjou done to provoke the king, to bar him of his right to that succession ? and upon this j
all submitted to the dauphin's opinion, and the king seemed overcome with their reasons.
This was on Monday ; but though the matter was resolved on, yet it was not published j
till Thursday ; for then, at the king's levee, he declared, that he accepted of the will, and j
the duke of Anjou was now treated as king of Spain. Notice of this being sent to Spain,
an ambassador came in form to signify the will, and to desire that their king might go and j
live among them. Upon which he was sent thither, accompanied by his two brothers, who
went with him to the frontiers of Spain. When the court of France published this resolu-
tion, and sent it to \\\ the courts of Europe, they added a most infamous excuse for this noto- j
OF KING WILLIAM ill. 673
ous breach of faith . they said, the king of France considered chiefly what was the main
design of the treaty, which was to maintain the peace of Europe ; and therefore to pursue
this, he departed from the words of the treaty, but he adhered to the spirit and the chief
intent of it. This seemed to be an equivocation of so gross a nature, that it looked like the
invention of a Jesuit confessor, adding impudence to perjury. The king and the States were
struck with this ; the king was full of indignation to find himself so much abused ; so he
came over to England to see what was to be done upon so great an emergency. The Spaniards,
seeing themselves threatened with a war from the emperor, and apprehending that the empire,
together with England and the United Provinces, might be engaged to join in the war, and
being unable to defend themselves, delivered all into the hands of France : and upon that,
both the Spanish Netherlands and the duchy of Milan received French garrisons : the French
fleet came to Cadiz ; a squadron was also sent to the West Indies ; so that the whole Spanish
empire fell now, without a stroke of the sword, into the French power. All this was the
more formidable, because the duke of Burgundy had then no children, and by this means,
the king of Spain was in time likely to succeed to the crown of France ; and thus the world
saw the appearance of a new universal monarchy, likely to arise out of this conjunction.
It might have been expected that, when such a new unlooked-for scene was opened, the
king should have lost no time in bringing his parliament together as soon as possible ; it was
prorogued to the 20th of November, and the king had sent orders from Holland to signify
his resolution for their meeting on that day ; but the ministers, whom he was then bringing
into his business, had other views ; they thought they were not sure of a majority in parlia-
ment for their purposes, so they prevailed writh the king to dissolve the parliament, and after
a set of sheriffs were pricked, fit for the turn, a new parliament was summoned, to meet on
the sixth day of February, but it was not opened till the tenth.
And now I arn come to the end of this century, in which there was a black appearance
of a new and dismal scene ; France was now in possession of a great empire, for a small
part of which they had been in wars (broken off indeed in some intervals) for above two
hundred years ; while we in England, who were to protect and defend the rest, were, by
wretched factions and violent animosities, running into a feeble and disjointed state : the
king's cold and reserved manner, upon so high a provocation, made some conclude, that he
was in secret engagements with France ; that he was resolved to own the new king of Spain,
and not to engage in a new war : this seemed so different from his own inclinations, and
i'rom all the former parts of his life, that it made many conclude that he found himself in an
ill state of health, the swelling of his legs being much increased, and that this might have
such effects on his mind, as to make him less warm and active, less disposed to involve him-
self in new troubles ; and that he might think it too inconsiderate a thing to enter on a new
Avar that wras not likely to end soon, when he felt himself in a declining state of health ;
hut the true secret of this unaccountable behaviour in the king was soon discovered.
The earl of Rochester was now set at the head of his business, and was to bring the tories
into his service : they had continued, from his first accession to the throne, in a constant
pposition to his interests ; many of them were believed to be Jacobites in their hearts, and
they were generally much against the toleration, and violent enemies to the dissenters ; they
had been backward in every thing that was necessary for carrying on the former war; they
had opposed taxes as much as they could, and were against all such as were easily levied
and less sensibly felt by the people ; and were always for those that were most grievous to
the nation, hoping that by those heavy burdens the people would grow weary of the war and
f the government : on the contrary, the whigs, by supporting both, were become less
cceptable to the nation : in elections their interest was much sunk ; every new parliament
was a new discovery that they were become less popular, and the others, who were always
pposing and complaining, were now cried up as the patriots. In the three last sessions, the
vhigs had showed such a readiness to give the king more force, together with a management
> preserve the grants of Ireland, that they \vere publicly charged as betrayers Of their
ountry, and as men that were for trusting the king with an army ; in a word, they were
ccused of too ready a compliance with the humours and interests of courts and favourites,
> they were generally censured and decried : and now, since they had not succeeded to the
x x
67-A THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
kind's mind, some about him possessed him with this, that either they would not. or ccrad
not serve him. In some of them indeed, their principles lay against those things, whereas
the tones' principles did naturally lead them to make the crown great and powerful ; it was
also said, that the great opposition made to every thing the king desired, and the difficulties
that had been of late put upon him, flowed chiefly from the hatred borne to those who were
employed by him, and who had brought in their friends and creatures into the best posts,
and they were now studying to recover their lost popularity, which would make them cold,
if not backward, in complying with what the king might desire for the future : the whigs
did also begin to complain of the king's conduct, of his minding affairs so little, of his being
so much out of the kingdom, and of his ill choice of favourites ; and they imputed the
late miscarriages to errors in conduct, which they could neither prevent nor redress : the
favourites, who thought of nothing but to continue in favour, and to be still safe and secure
in their credit, concurred to press the king to take other measures, and to turn to another set
of men, who would be no longer his enemies, if they had some of the best places shared
among them ; and though this method had been almost fatal when the king had followed
it, soon after his first accession to the crown, yet there seemed to be less danger in trying it
now than was formerly. We were in full peace ; and it was commonly said, that nobody
thought any more of king James, and therefore it was fit, for the king's service, to encourage
all his people to come into his interests, by letting them see how soon he could forget all
that was past. These considerations had so far prevailed with him, that before he went out
of England, he had engaged himself secretly to them ; it is true, the death, first of the duke
of Gloucester, and now of the king of Spain, had very much changed the face of affairs, both
at home and abroad ; yet the king would not break off from his engagements.
Soon after his return to England, the earl of Rochester was declared lord lieutenant of
Ireland, and he had the chief direction of affairs *. And that the most eminent man of the
whigs might not oppose them in the new parliament, they got Mr. Montague to be made a
baron, who took the title of Halifax, which was sunk by the death of that marquis, with-
out issue male. The man on whose management of the house of commons this new set
depended, was Mr. Harley, the heir of a family which had been hitherto the most eminent
of the presbyterian party ; his education was in that way ; but he, not being considered at
the revolution as he thought he deserved, had set himself to oppose the court in every tiling, j
and to find fault with the whole administration. He had the chief hand, both in the reduc-
tion of the army, and in the matter of the Irish grants : the high party trusted him, though j
he still kept up an interest among the presbyterians ; and he had so particular a dexterity, I
that he made both the high church party and the dissenters depend upon him ; so it was
agreed that he should be speaker f . All this while, the new ministers talked of nothing but j
negotiations, and gave it out, that the king of France was ready to give all the security that j
could be desired, for maintaining the peace of Europe. At this time the emperor sent over
* Rochester, we have seen, was reconciled to queen commons. His eloquence was artificial : he never made j
Mary by the influence of Burnet ; he was restored to the confidants, so his plans as a statesman were rarely dis- .
favour of the king by Mr. Harley. Clarendon Corres- covered before his own appointed time. Sanguine in his
pondence. temperament, yet he had a perfect command over his
•f* It will be only necessary to detail in this note the passion. Abounding in wit and humour, he justly
early and concluding events of Mr. Harley's life. Those applauded it when even employed upon himself, and
which marked his mid-career are related by Burnet. rebuked those who resented such playful freedoms. He
Robert Harley, born in Bow-street, Covent Garden, during was a strict dissenter, though a leader of the tories ; and
1661, was the son of sir Edward Harley. Being destined although among his chaplains he always had one of the
for the army, it does not appear to have been thought established church. Although he cherished the dissenters,
requisite to send him to an university, and his education yet churchmen admired and supported him. Just before
ceased at a private school in Oxfordshire. He is thus an the death of queen Anne, in 1714, he retired from office, j
instance that a man's fondness for, and excellence in lite- and the next year afforded another instance of popular j
rary attainments, depend chiefly upon himself ; for he not fickleness, being impeached by the house of commons, and j
only is the still remembered patron of learning, but ex- confined two years in the Tower, though eventually
celled as a writer. Upon the landing of William, he, in acquitted. He died in 1724. His books, the catalogue j
common with his father and brothers, made exertions in of which fills four octavo volumes, were sold by auction jj
his favour; but from some disgust did not obtain employ' but his collection of MSS. fortunately are preserved entire I
ment under William and Mary, though he came into in the British Museum. — Collins's Peerage ; Noble's Con-
favour at the closing of the former's life. No one under- tin. of Grainger; Boyer's Queen Anne; Coxe's Memoirs;
stood better the duties of the speaker of the house of of Marlborough, &c.
OF KING WILLIAM III. 675
to England a minister to set forth his title to the Spanish monarchy, settled on his house by
ancient entails, often repeated, and now devolving on him by an undoubted right, since
by the renunciation made by the late queen of France, (as was stipulated by the treaty of
the Pyrenees, and then made by her in due form) this could not be called in question.
Our new ministers were scarcely civil to the emperor's envoy, and would not enter into any
consultations with him : but the Dutch who were about the king, and all the foreign minis-
ters, spoke in another style ; they said that nothing but a general union of all the powers in
Europe, could hinder the conjunction of the two monarchies ; so, by what those who talked
often with the king gave out, it came to be soon known that the king saw the necessity of
a new war, but that he kept himself in a great reserve that he might manage his new minis-
ters and their party, and see if he could engage them to concur with him.
But before I conclude the relation of this year, at which the century ends, I must close it
with an account of the king of Sweden's glorious campaign ; he made all the haste he could
to relieve Livonia, where not only Riga was for some months besieged by the king of Poland,
but Narva was also attacked by the czar, who hoped by taking it to get an entrance into the
Baltic : the czar came in person against it with an army of one hundred thousand men :
Narva was not provided for a siege ; it had a small garrison, and had very poor magazines,
yet the Muscovites attacked it so feebly, that it held out beyond all expectation till the end
iff the year. Upon the king of Sweden's landing at Revel, the Saxons drew oft' from Riga,
j'ofter a long siege at a vast charge ; this being done, and Riga both opened and supplied, that
king marched next to Narva. The czar, upon his march towards him, left his army in such a
manner as made all people conclude he had no mind to hazard his person ; the king marched
through ways that were thought so impracticable, that little care had been taken to secure
them; so he surprised the Muscovites, and broke into their camp before they apprehended
lie was near them ; he totally routed their army, took many prisoners, with all their artillery
and baggage, and so made a glorious entry into Narva *. This is the noblest campaign that
| we find in any history, in which a king about eighteen years of age led an army himself
against three kings, who had confederated against him, and was successful in every one of
is attempts, giving great marks both of personal courage and good conduct in them all ;
which is more extraordinary, an eminent measure both of virtue and piety appeared in
is whole behaviour. In him the world hoped to see another Gustavus Adolphus, who con-
uercd, or rather possessed himself of Livonia, in the same year of his age, in which this
ing did now so gloriously recover it, when almost lost by the invasion of two powerful
"ighbours. There were great disorders at this time in Lithuania, occasioned by the fac-
5 oils there, which were set on and fomented by the king, who seemed to aspire to be the
reditary king of Poland. But as these things are at a great distance from us, so since
3 have no public minister in those parts, I cannot give an account of them, nor form a true
udgment thereupon. The eighteenth century began with a great scene, that opened with it.
The new king of Spain wrote to all the courts of Europe, giving notice of his accession to
at crown, only he forgot England : and it was publicly given out that he had promised
3 pretended prince of Wales, that in due time he would take care of his interests : the king
Ind the States were much alarmed when they beheld the French possessed of the Spanish
Netherlands : a great part of the Dutch army lay scattered up and down in those garrisons,
ore particularly in Luxemburg, Namur, and Mons, and these were now made prisoners of
ar : neither officers nor soldiers could own the king of Spain, for their masters had not yet
ue it : at this time the French pressed the States very hard to declare themselves ; a great
rty in the States were for owning him, at least in form, till they could get their troops
am into their own hands, according to capitulation ; nor were they then in a condition to
ist the impression that might have been made upon them from the garrisons in the Spanish
uelder, who could have attacked them before they were able to make head : so the States
n sen ted to own the king of Spain. That being done, their battalions were sent back, but
y were ill used, contrary to capitulation, and the soldiers were tempted to desert their
vice, yet very few could be prevailed on to do it.
As soon as our parliament was opened, it appeared that the French had a great party in
* See Voltaire's Hist, of Charles the Twelfth.
x x 2
676 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
it ; it is certain great sums came over this winter from France ; the packet-boat came seldom
without 10.,000 louis-d'or ; it brought often more : the nation was filled with them, and in
six months' time, a million of guineas were coined out of them : the merchants indeed said,
that the balance of trade was then so much turned to our side, that, whereas we were wont
to carry over a million of our money in specie, we then sent no money to France ; and had
at least half that sum sent over to balance the trade ; yet this did not account for that vast
flood of French gold that was visible amongst us : and, upon the French ambassador's going
away, a very sensible alteration was found in the bills of exchange : so it was concluded that
great remittances were made to him, and that these were distributed among those who
resolved to merit a share in that wealth, which came over now so copiously beyond the
example of former times. The king, in his speech to the parliament, in the most effectual
manner possible, recommended the settling the succession of the crown, in the protestant
line ; and with relation to foreign affairs, he laid them before the two houses that they might
offer him such advices as the state of the nation and her alliances required ; but he did not
so much as intimate to them his own thoughts concerning them. A design was laid in the
house of commons, to open the session with an address to the king, that he would own the
king of Spain : the matter was so far concerted, that they had agreed on the words of the
vote, and seemed not to doubt of the concurrence of the house ; but Mr. Monkton opposed
it with great heat, and among other things said, that if that vote was carried, he should expect
that the next vote to be put, would be for owning the pretended prince of Wales : upon this
occasion it appeared, how much popular assemblies are apt to be turned by a thing boldly
said, though the consequence is ever so remote ; since the connection of these two points lay
at some distance, yet the issue of the debate was quite contrary to that which was designed ;
it ended in an address to the king, to enter into new alliances with the States for our mutual
defence, and for preserving the liberty and peace of Europe : these last words were not carried
without much difficulty ; they were considered, as they were indeed, an insinuation towards
a war.
Upon the view of the house, it appeared very evidently, that the tories were a great majo-
rity ; yet they, to make the matter sure, resolved to clear the house of a great many that
were engaged in another interest : reports were brought to them of elections that had been
scandalously purchased, by some who were concerned in the new East-India company.
Instead of drinking and entertainments, by which elections were formerly managed, now a
most scandalous practice was brought in of buying votes with so little decency, that the
electors engaged themselves by subscription to choose a blank person before they were trusted
with the name of their .candidate. The old East-India company had driven a course of cor-
ruption within doors with so little shame, that the new company intended to follow their
example, but with this difference, that, whereas the former had bought the persons who were
elected, they resolved to buy elections. Sir Edward Seymour, who had dealt in this corrup-
tion his whole life-time, and whom the old company was said to have bought before, at a
very high price, brought before the house of commons the discovery of some of the practices
of the new company ; the examining into these took up many days. In conclusion, the
matter was so well proved, that several elections were declared void ; and some of the per-
sons so chosen were for some time kept in prison ; after that they were expelled the house.
In these proceedings great partiality appeared ; for when in some cases corruption was
proved clearly against some of the tory party, and but doubtfully against some of the contrary j
side, that, which was voted corruption in the latter, was called the giving alms in those of
the former sort. Thus^ for some weeks, the house seemed to have forgotten all the concerns of
Europe, and was wholly employed in the weakening of one side, and in fortifying the other, i
To make some show of zeal for the public safety, they voted thirty thousand men for the I
fleet ; but they would allow no marines, though they were told that a fleet without these was |
only a good security for our own defence, but could have no influence on the affairs of!
Europe, either to frighten, or to encourage those abroad ; such a fleet, as it could not offend,!
so it was much too strong if it was intended only for a defence, and it looked like a needless
wasting the treasure of the nation to employ so much of it to so little purpose, and only toj
make a show.
OF KING WILLIAM III. 677
"While the house of commons was going on, minding only party matters, a design was laid
in the house of lords to attack the Partition Treaty, and some of those who were concerned
in it. They began with an address to the king, that he would order all the treaties made
since the peace of Ryswick, to be laid before them. This was complied with so slowly, that
they were not brought to the house till the 26th of February, and no notice was taken of
them till the 10th of March. It soon appeared that this was done by a French direction.
The court of France (perceiving that the Dutch were alarmed at their neighbourhood, and
were increasing their force both by sea and land, and were calling upon their allies to furnish
their quotas, which they were bound by treaties to send to their defence) entered upon a
negotiation with them at the Hague, to try what would lay these fears. Upon this, in the
beginning of March, the States, in conjunction with Mr. Stanhope, the English envoy at the
Hague, gave in memorials, in which they insisted on the violation of the Partition Treaty,
arid particularly on the French possessing themselves of the Spanish Netherlands ; they also
desired, that the emperor might have just satisfaction in his pretensions, and that in the mean
while, Luxemburg, Namur, Mons, and Ath, might be put in their hands ; and Ostend and
Newport into the hands of the English, and both they and the Dutch might have a free trade,
as before, to all the Spanish dominions. The French seeing these demands run so high, and
being resolved to offer no other security for the peace of Europe, but the renewing the treaty
of Ryswick, set all their engines at work in England, to involve us into such contentions at
home as should both disable us from taking any care of foreign affairs, and make the rest of
Europe conclude, that nothing considerable was to be expected from England. As soon as
the news of those memorials could come to England, the marquis of Normanby and the rest
of the tories took up the debate concerning the Partition Treaty ; this they managed with
great dexterity, while the matter was as much neglected by the king, who went that day to
Hampton-court, where he stayed some time ; by this means, no directions were given, and
we were involved in great difficulties before the court was aware of it ; the king either could
not prevail with his new ministers, to excuse the treaty, if they would not justify it, or lie
neglected them so far, as not to speak to them at all about it. Those who attacked it, said,
they meant nothing in that but to offer the king advices for the future, to prevent such
errors as had been committed in that treaty, both as to matter and form. They blamed the
giving such territories to the crown of France, and the forsaking the emperor ; they also com-
plained of the secrecy in which the treaty was carried on, it not being communicated to the
English council, or ministry, but privately transacted by the earls of Portland and Jersey :
they also blamed the putting the great seal, first to blank powers, and then to the treaty
itself, which, the king^s new ministers said, was unjust in the contrivance and ridiculous in
the execution. To all this, it was answered, that there not being a force ready and sufficient
to hinder the French from possessing themselves of the Spanish monarchy, which they were
prepared for, the emperor had desired the king to enter into a treaty of partition, and had
consented to every article of it, except that which related to the duchy of Milan ; but the
king, not thinking that worth the engaging in a new war, had obtained an exchange of it
for the duchy of Lorrain : the emperor did not agree to this, yet he pressed the king not to
break off the treaty, but to get the best terms he could for him, and above all things, he
recommended secrecy, that so he might not lose his interest in Spain, by seeming to con-
sent to this partition. It is certain that, by our constitution, all foreign negotiations were
trusted entirely to the crown ; that the king was under no obligation by law, to communicate
such secrets to his council, or to hear, much less was he obliged to follow, their advices : in
particular it was said, that the keeper of the great seal had no sort of authority to deny the
putting it, either to powers for a treaty, or to any treaty which the king should agree to ;
the law gives no direction in such matters, and he could not refuse to put the great seal to
any thing, for which he had an order from the king, unless the matter was contrary to law,
which had made no provision in this case : they insisted most, on the other side, upon the
concluding a treaty of this importance, without communicating it first to the privy council ;
so the first day of the debate ended with this.
The earl of Portland apprehending that this might fall too heavy on him, got the king's
leave to communicate the whole matter next day to the house ; so he told them that he had
678 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
not concluded the treaty alone, but had, by the king's order, acquainted six of his chief minis-
ters with it, who were, the earls of Pembroke and Marlborough, the viscount Lonsdale, the
lords Somers and Halifax, and secretary Vernon ; upon which those lords, being likewise
freed by the king from the oath of secrecy, told the house, that the earl of Jersey, having
in the king's name called them together, the treaty was read to them, and that they excepted
to several things in it, but they were told that the king had carried the matter as far as was
possible, and that he could obtain no better terms : so when they were told, that no altera-
tions could be made, but that every thing was settled, they gave over insisting on particu-
lars ; they only advised that the king might not engage himself in any thing that would
bring on a new war, since the nation had been so uneasy under the last. This was carried
to the king, and a few days after that, he told some of them that he was made acquainted
with their exceptions, but how reasonable soever they were, he had driven the matter as far
as he could : the earl of Pembroke said to the house of lords, he had offered the king those
advices that he thought were most for his service, and for the good of the nation ; but that
he did not think himself bound to give an account of that to any other persons : he was not
the man struck at, so there was nothing said, either against him, or the earls of Marlborough
or Jersey ; upon this the debate went on ; some said this was a mockery to ask advice when
there was no room for it : it was answered, the king had asked the advice of his privy
council, and they had given it ; but that such was the regal prerogative, that it was still free
to him to follow it or not, as he saw cause.
In conclusion, the house of lords resolved to set out this whole matter in an address to the
king, complaining both of the Partition Treaty, and of the method in which it had been
carried on : the lord Wharton moved an addition to the address, that, whereas the French
king had broken that treaty, they should advise the king to treat no more with him, or rely
on his word without further security : this was much opposed by all those who were against
the engaging in a new war; they said all motions of that kind ought to come from the house
of commons, who only could support such an advice, that did upon the matter engage us into
a new war ; nor would they lay any blame on the breaking of a treaty which they were
resolved to condemn; they also excepted to the words " further security" as ambiguous;
yet the majority of the house agreed to it ; for there was such treachery in the French nego-
tiations, that they could not be relied on without a good guarantee and the pledge of some
strong places. It now plainly appeared, that the design was, to set on the house of commons
to impeach some of the lords who had been concerned in the Partition Treaty, for it was
moved to send the address to the house of commons for their concurrence ; but that was not
carried. The king seemed to bear all this with his usual coldness ; and the new ministers
continued still in his confidence, but he laid the matter much to heart ; now he saw the error
he had fallen into by the change he had made in the ministry : it was plain they resolved to
govern him in every thing, and not to be governed by him in any one thing.
As soon as this was over, the earl of Jersey did, by the king's order, bring to the house of
lords the memorials that had been given in at the Hague, and then by comparing dates, it
was easy to conjecture why the Partition Treaty had been let lie so long on the table, and it
seemed as if it was taken up at last only to blast this negotiation ; a French management
appearing very plainly in the whole steps that had been made. The house of commons began,
at the same time, not only to complain of the Partition Treaty, but likewise of the demand of
Ostend and Newport, nor would they show any concern for the emperor's pretensions ; the
Dutch demanded the execution of the treaty that king Charles had made with them, in the
year 16775 by which England was bound to assist them with ten thousand men and twenty
ships of war, if they were attacked ; some endeavoured all that wras possible to put this off
for the present, pretending that they were not yet attacked ; others moved that the pay of
ten thousand men might be given to them, with the twenty ships, as a full equivalent to the j
treaty ; yet they not liking this, it was in conclusion agreed to send the ten thousand men ;
five thousand of these were to be drawn out of the army in Ireland, and five thousand of j
them were to be new levied ; but they took care that Ireland should not be provided with j
any new forces in their stead, so jealous were they of trusting the king with an arrny. The
representation sent over by the States, setting forth the danger they were in, and desiring j
OF KING WILLIAM III. G79
the assistance of England, was penned with great spirit, and in a very moving strain : the
house of lords did, upon a debate on that subject, make an address to the king to enter into
leagues offensive and defensive with the emperor and other princes and States, who were
interested against the conjunction of the French and Spanish monarchies ; but the house of
commons could not, upon this occasion, be carried further than to advise the king, to enter
into such alliances as should be necessary for our common security, and for the peace of
Europe. This coldness and uncertainty in our councils gave the French great advantages in
their negotiations, both in Germany and in Portugal. They tried the courts of Italy, but
without success ; only the duke of Mantua consented that they should make a show, as if
they had surprised him, and so force him to put Mantua in their hands : the pope and the
Venetians would not declare themselves ; the pope favoured the French, as the Venetians
did the emperor, who began the war with a pretension on the duchy of Milan, as a fief of
the empire that devolved on him ; and he was making magazines, both in Tyrol and at
Trent : the French seemed to despise all he could do, and did not apprehend that it was
possible for him to march an army into Italy ; both the king and the States pressed him to
make that attempt. The elector of Bavaria, and some of the circles, had agreed to a
neutrality this year ; so there was no hope of doing much upon the Rhine, and the French
were making the Italians feel what insolent masters they were likely to prove ; so a general
uneasiness among them, determined the emperor to send an army into Italy under the com-
mand of prince Eugene. England was all this while very unwilling to engage ; yet for fear
we should at last have seen our interest so clearly that we must have fallen into it, those who
were practised on to embroil us, so that we might not be in a condition to mind foreign affairs,
set on foot a design to impeach the former ministry.
The handle that brought this about was given by the earl of Portland ; when he was
excusing his own part in the Partition Treaty, he said, that having withdrawn himself from
business, and being at his country-house in Holland, the king sent to him, desiring him to
enter upon that negotiation ; upon that he wrote to secretary Vernon *, to ask his advice and
the advice of his other friends, whether it was fit for him to meddle in that matter, since his
being by birth a foreigner, seemed a just excuse for not engaging in a thing of such conse-
quence : to this secretary Vernon answered, that all his friends thought he wTas a very proper
person to be employed in that treaty, since he had known the progress of all those treaties,
and the persons who were employed on that occasion ; and he named the lord Scmers among
those who had advised this. The earl of Portland had mistaken this circumstance, which
did not belong to the last partition treaty, but to that of the year before, in favour of the
prince electoral of Bavaria. The house of commons hearing of this, required secretary Ver-
non to lay before them that letter, with his answer to it ; for the earl of Portland said, that
he had left all papers relating to that matter in Holland. Vernon said he had received no
such letter in the year 1699 ; so that led them to enquire farther, and they required him to
lay before them all the letters he had relating to both treaties : he said, those were the king's
secrets, written in confidence by the persons he employed. But in such a case, a house of
commons will not be put off; a denial rather raises in them more earnestness in following
their point : it was said, the king had dispensed with the oath of secrecy when he ordered
* James Vernon descended from a respectable family, porary work, said to have been written by a Mr. Davis,
seated at Haslington, in Cheshire. Early in life he was an officer of the customs, he is thus mentioned. •' No
initiated in official business, being placed in the secretary man understands all parts of that great office (of secre-
:>f state's office. Afterwards he enjoyed the duke of tary) better than he, nor could manage it with more pru-
Shrewsbury's entire confidence as his private secretary, dence at so intricate a time as the last two years of his
; nd under secretary of state. There are three quarto administration. He is indefatigable in business, and may
volumes of his letters to this nobleman in the possession be called a drudge in office. An ill wife hath much
<i the Buccleugh family. When lords justices presided soured his temper, which makes him rougher in business
< uring the absence of king William, he acted as secretary than could be expected from one of his sense and expe-
of state, and in 1697, upon sir W. TrumbulFs resignation, rience ; but that roughness is attended with so much can-
lie was permanently appointed to this office. Upon queen dour, and is distributed equally to all who have business
Anne's accession, he made way for the earl of Netting- with him, that makes it easier borne. Never any secre-
n;un, but was appointed to the sinecure of a teller of the tary wrote so many letters with his own hand, or in a
fxrhequ-r. lie di.-d in 1727, atrc.1 eighty-three, and better style." — Clarendon Correspondence ; Shrewsbury
buried at Watford, in Hertfordshire. In Mackay's Correspondence.
Characters of the Court of Great Britain," a cwatein-
630 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
all matters to be laid before them, and they would admit of no excuse. Yernon upon this
went to the king, and told him, since these were his secrets, he was ready to expose himself
to the indignation of the house, and to refuse to show his letters : but the king said, his
refusing to do it would not only raise a storm against himself, from which the king could not
protect him, but it would occasion an address to the king, to order him to lay every thing
before the house, which in the state that things were in then, he could not deny : Yernon, upon
these orders given him, at two different times, carried all the letters, and laid them before
the house of commons : it appeared by these, that he had communicated the treaty to the
king's ministers, who were in town, about the end of August, 1698 : that lord Somers
being then at Tunbridge, he went to him, and that he had communicated the project, both
to the earl of Orford and the lord Halifax ; several objections were made by them to many
parts of the treaty, which were mentioned in Yernon's letters, but, if better terms could not
be had, they thought it was better to conclude the treaty, than to leave the Spanish monarchy
to be overrun by France, or to involve Europe in a new war. Lord Somers had also put the
seals to blank powers for concluding this treaty. When all this was read, those who were
set on to blow up the flame, moved the house to impeach some of the ministers who bad
been concerned in this transaction ; yet in this they proceeded with so visible a partiality,
that though the earl of Jersey had signed the treaty, had been plenipotentiary at Ryswick,
ambassador in France, and secretary of state, while the Partition Treaty was negotiating ;
yet he, having joined himself to the new ministry, was not questioned about it : the party
said, he had been too easily drawn into it, but that he was not in the secret, and had no
share in the councils that projected it.
On the first of April, the house of commons brought up a general impeachment of the
earl of Portland, for high crimes and misdemeanors ; but the chief design was against the
earl of Orford, and the lords Somers and Halifax. Their enemies tried again what use
could be made of Kid's business, for he was taken in our northern plantations in America,
and brought over : he was examined by the house, but either he could not lay a probable
story together, or some remnants of honesty raised in him by the near prospect of death,
restrained him ; he accused no person of having advised, or encouraged, his turning pirate ;
he had never talked alone with any of the lords, and never at all with lord Somers ; he said
he had no orders from them, but to pursue his voyage against the pirates in Madagascar. All
endeavours were used to persuade him to accuse the lords ; he was assured that, if he did it,
he should be preserved ; and if he did it not, he should certainly die for his piracy ; yet this
could not prevail on him to charge them : so he, with some of his crew, were hanged, there
appearing not so much as a colour to fasten any imputation on those lords ; yet their enemies
tried what use could be made of the grant of all that Kid might recover from the pirates,
which some bold and ignorant lawyers affirmed to be against law *. So this matter was for
the fourth time debated in the house of commons, and the behaviour of those peers in it
appeared to be so innocent, so legal, and, in truth, so meritorious, that it was again let fall.
The insisting so much on it served to convince all people, that the enemies of these lords
wanted not inclinations, but only matter to charge them, since they made so much use of this :
but so partial was a great part of the house, that the dropping this was carried only by a
small majority : when one design failed, another was set up.
It was pretended, that by secretary Yernon's letters it was clearly proved, that the lord
Somers had consented to the Partition Treaty ; so a debate coming on concerning that, lord
Somers desired that he might be admitted to give an account of his share in it to the house
of commons ; some opposition was made to this, but it had been always granted, so it could
not be denied him : he had obtained the king's leave to tell every thing ; so that when he
appeared before the house, he told them, the king had written to him, that the state of the
king of Spain's health was desperate, and that he saw no way to prevent a new war, but to
accept of the proposition the French made for a partition; the king sent him the scheme of
this, and ordered him to communicate it to some others, and to give him both his own opi-
nion, and theirs, concerning it, and to send him over powers for a treaty, but in the most
* Queen Anne gave Kid's property, amounting to 64721., to Greenwich Hospital.— Noble's Continuation of ,
Grainger.
OF KING WILLIAM III. C81
secret manner that was possible ; yet the king added, that, if he and his other ministers
thought that a treaty ought not to be made upon such a project, then the whole matter must
be let fall, for he could not bring the French to better terms. Lord Somers upon this said,
that he thought it was the taking too much upon himself, if he should have put a stop to a
treaty of such consequence : if the king of Spain had died before it was finished, and the
blame had been cast on him for not sending the necessary powers, because he was not ordered
to do it by a warrant in full form, he could not have justified that, since the king's letter
was really a warrant, and therefore he thought he was bound to send the powers that were
called for, which he had done ; but at the same time he wrote his own opinion very fully to
the king, objecting to many particulars, if there was room for it, and proposing several thino-s,
which, as he thought, were for the good and interest of England. Soon after the powers
were sent over by him, the treaty was concluded, to which he put the great seal, as he
thought he was bound to do : in this, as he was a privy councillor, he had offered the kino-
his best advice ; and, as he was chancellor, he had executed his office according to his duty.
As for putting the seal to the powers, he had done it upon the king's letter, which was a real
warrant, though not a formal one. He had indeed desired, that a warrant in due form mio-ht
be sent him for his own security ; but he did not think it became him to endanger the
public only for want of a point of form, in so critical a time, where great dispatch was requi-
site. He spoke- so fully and so clearly, that upon his withdrawing, it was believed, if the
question had been quickly put, the whole matter had been soon at an end, and that the pro-
secution would have been let fall ; but his enemies drew out the debate to such a length,
that the impression which his speech had made, was much worn out ; and the house sitting
till it was past midnight, they at last carried it, by a majority of seven or eight, to impeach
him and the earl of Orford and the lord Halifax of high crimes and misdemeanors : the
general impeachment was brought up the next day to the lords' bar.
The commons were very sensible that those impeachments must come to nothing, and that
they had not a majority in the house of lords to judge in them as they should direct ; so
they resolved on a shorter way to fix a severe censure on the lords, whom they had thus
impeached : they voted an address to the king for excluding them from his presence, and
councils, for ever. This had never gone along with an impeachment before ; the house of
commons had indeed begun such a practice in king Charles the Second's time : when they
disliked a minister, but had not matter to ground an impeachment on, they had taken this
method of making an address against him, but it was a new attempt to come with an address
after an impeachment. This was punishing before trial, contrary to an indispensable rule of
justice, of not judging before the parties were heard : the lords saw that this made their
judicature ridiculous, when, in the first instance of an accusation, application was made to
the king for a censure, and a very severe one ; since few misdemeanors could deserve a harder
sentence. Upon these grounds, the lords prevented the commons, and sent some of their
body to the king, with an address, praying him, that he would not proceed to any censure of
these lords till they had undergone their trial. The king received these addresses, so con-
trary one to another, from both houses, but made no answer to either of them ; unless the
letting the names of these lords continue still in the council books, might be taken as a
refusing to grant what the commons had desired. They renewed their address, but had no
direct answer from the king ; this, though a piece of common justice, was complained of, and
it was said, that these lords had still great credit with the king : the commons had, for form's
sake, ordered a committee to prepare articles of impeachment, but they intended to let the
matter sleep ; thinking that, what they had already done had so marked those lords, that
the king could not employ them any more, for that was the main thing they drove at.
While this was in agitation, a letter came to the king from the king of Spain, giving
notice of his accession to that crown; it was dated the day after he entered into Spain, but
the date and the letter were visibly written at different times : the king ordered the letter tc
!>e read in the cabinet council ; there was some short debate concerning it, but it was never
Brought into any further deliberation there. The earl of Rochester saw the king seemed
distrustful of him, and reserved to him in that matter, and was highly offended at it : he and
the rest of the new ministry pressed the king to own the king of Spain, and to answer his
682 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
letter ; and since the Dutch had done it, it seemed reasonable that the king should likewise
do it : they prevailed at last, but with much difficulty ; the thing was kept secret, and was
not communicated to the privy council, or to the two houses, nor did the king speak of it to
any of the foreign ministers : the Paris Gazette gave the world the first notice of it. This
being carried in such a manner seemed the more strange, because his ministry had so lately
condemned a former one, for not communicating the Partition Treaty to the council before it
was concluded ; and yet had, in a matter of great consequence, so soon forgotten the cen-
sures they had thrown out so liberally upon the secrecy with which that matter had been
transacted. While things were moving in such a slow, and uncertain, pace in England, the
Dutch had daily new alarms brought them, of the forces that the French were pouring into
their neighbourhood ; into the Spanish Guelder on the one hand, and into Antwerp on the
other ; so that they were apprehensive of a design both upon Nimeguen, and Bergen-op-
zoom : they took the best care they could to secure their frontier : the negotiations went on
slowly at the Hague ; the French rejected all their demands, and offered nothing but to
renew the peace of Ryswick : this the Dutch laid again before the king, in a very awaken-
ing strain ; and he sent all to the house of commons, but they could not be brought to
declare that the offers made by the French were not sufficient. D'Avaux, seeing this cold-
ness in our counsels, refused to treat any more with the Dutch, in conjunction with the
envoy of England, and said his powers directed him only to them : this put a full stop to all
further treaty ; for the States said, they were engaged in such a close conjunction with
England, that they could not enter on a separate treaty. In the mean while they armed
powerfully ; and our fleet, in conjunction with theirs, were masters of the sea ; but for want
of marines, they were in no condition to make any impression on the enemy. The emperor
went on with his preparation for a campaign in Italy : the French sent an army into the
Milanese, that they reckoned would be much superior to any force the emperor could send
thither : the duke of Savoy was engaged in the interest of France by king Philip's marrying
his second daughter : the pope still refused to give the investiture of Naples, or to accept the
annual present, for he would not quite break with the emperor.
The French practices were every where the more prevalent, because they gave out that
England would not engage in a war, and the face of our affairs looked but dark at home.
The emperor's ministers had an uneasy time among us ; the king encouraged them, but the
new ministers were scarcely civil to them, and studied to put them quite out of hope. The
king of Denmark entered into a treaty with the emperor and the States. Great pains were
taken to mediate a peace between Sweden and Poland. The court of France, as well as
that of Vienna, tried it ; both sides hoping that Sweden, if not Poland, might enter into
their interests : the French reckoned that Denmark and Sweden could never be on the
same side ; so, when they found they could not gain Denmark, they tried a mediation,
hoping to get Sweden into an alliance with them, but all attempts for a mediation proved
unsuccessful. The diet of Poland was put off, and their king, being delivered from them,
resolved to carry on the war. The Spaniards, and the subjects of their other dominions,
began to feel the insolence of the French very sensibly; but nothing was more uneasy to
them than the new regulations they were endeavouring to bring in, to lessen the expense of
the court of Spain. So they seemed well disposed to entertain a new pretender.
While all these things were in a ferment all Europe over, the declaring a protestant suc-
cessor, after the princess and such issue as she might have, seemed to be forgotten by our
parliament, though the king had begun his speech with it. The new ministers spoke of it
with much zeal ; from this their friends made inferences in their favour, that certainly men,
in the interests of France, would not promote a design so destructive of all they drove at.
This was so little of a piece with the rest of their conduct, that those who were still jealous
of their sincerity looked on it as a blind, to cover their ill designs, and to gain them some
credit ; for they could not but see that if France was once possessed of the power and wealth
of Spain, our laws, and every thing that we could do to support them, would prove but
feeble defences. The manner in which this motion of the succession was managed did not
carry in it great marks of sincerity : it was often put off from one day to another, and it
gave place to the most trifling matters. At last, when a day was solemnly set for it, and
OF KING WILLIAM III.
083
all people expected that it should pass without any difficulty, Harley moved that some
tilings previous to that might be first considered. He observed that the haste the nation
was in, when the present government was settled, had made us go too fast and overlook
many securities, which might have prevented much mischief, and therefore he hoped they
would not now fall into the same error. Nothing pressed them at present, so he moved
they would settle some conditions of government, as preliminaries, before they should proceed
to the nomination of the person ; that so we might fix every thing that was wanting to
make our security complete. This was popular and took with many, and it had so fair an
appearance that indeed none could oppose it ; some weeks were spent upon it. Suspicious
people thought this was done on design to blast the motion, and to offer such extravagant
limitations as should quite change the form of our government, and render the crown titular
and precarious. The king was alarmed at it, for almost every particular that was proposed
implied a reflection on him and his administration, chiefly that of not employing strangers,
and not going too often out of the kingdom : it was proposed that every thing should be
done with the advice of the privy council, and every privy councillor was to sign his advice.
All men who had places or pensions were made incapable of sitting in the house of commons.
All this was unacceptable to the king, so, many who had an ill opinion of the design of those
who were now at the helm, began to conclude chat the delays were affected, and that these
limitations were designed to raise disputes between the two houses, by which the bill might
be lost. "When some time had been spent in those preliminaries, it came to the nomination
of the person. Sir John Bowles, who was then disordered in his senses, and soon after quite
lost them, was set on by the party to be the first that should name the electoress dowager of
Brunswick, which seemed done to make it less serious when moved by such a person : he
was, by the forms of the house, put in the chair of the committee, to whom the bill was
committed. The thing was still put off for many weeks ; at every time that it was called
for, the motion was entertained with coldness, which served to heighten the jealousy : the
committee once or twice sat upon it, but all the members ran out of the house with so much
indecency, that the contrivers seemed ashamed of this management : there were seldom fifty
or sixty at the committee : yet in conclusion it passed, and was sent up to the lords, where
we expected great opposition would be made to it : some imagined the act was only an
artifice, designed to gain credit to those who, at this time, were so ill thought of over the
nation, that they wanted some colourable thing to excuse their other proceedings. Many
of the lords absented themselves on design. Some little opposition was made by the marquis
of Normanby * ; and four lords, the earls of Huntington and Plymouth and the lords Guil-
ford and Jefferies, protested against it. Those who wished well to the act were glad to have it
passed any way, and so would not examine the limitations that were in it : they thought it
* Of the public career of John Sheffield, successively
known by the titles of earl Mulgrave, marquis Normanby,
; ml duke of Buckinghamshire, little need be said in addi-
tion to that which is scattered through the pages of Bur-
net. He was born in 1649, the son of Edmund, earl of
Mulgrave. His youth is remarkable for an effort, which
Dr. Johnson justly observes "delights as it is strange,
and instructs as it is real." His father dying while he
was a child, he was placed under so distasteful a tutor,
that, although only twelve years old, he resolved to edu-
cate himself. " His literary acquisitions are more won-
derful, as those years in which they are commonly made
vjere spent by him in the tumult of a military life, or the
Lf;iicty of a court." He served against the Dutch, in the
fleet commanded by prince Rupert and the duke of Albe-
uarle ; had the command of a troop of horse, and received
summons to parliament when but eighteen ; but this
being censured by the duke of Newcastle as improper, his
Hjection was successful. He opposed the duke of Mon-
niouth, and was recompensed with the lieutenancy of
Yorkshire, and the governorship of Hull. In 1680 he
uccessfully conducted an expedition for the relief of
Tangier. On the succession of James he was made lord
< iiamberlain : yet, at the revolution, he submitted to king
William, though he did not invite him over. It was
proposed that he should be asked to sign the invitation,
but the earl of Shrewsbury opposed it, on the ground that
Mulgrave would never concur. William asked hiifi
what he would have done, if the proposal had been made ?
To which he replied, " Sir, I would have discovered it to
the king whom I then served." William answered, " I
cannot blame you." After queen Anne's death he was
a fixed opponent of the court ; and, having no public em-
ployment, is supposed to have amused himself by writing
his two tragedies. He died in 1721. In early life, it is
said, he presumed to address princess Anne as a lover ;
but, subsequently, courted and married three widows.
In Mackay's "Characters," he is described as "a noble-
man of learning and good natural parts, but of no princi-
ples. Violent for the high church, yet seldom goes to it ;
very proud, insolent, and covetous, and takes all advan-
tages. In paying his debts, unwilling; and is neither
esteemed nor beloved." He is said, however, to have
had much tenderness, and to have been very ready to
apologize for his violences of passion. — (Johnson's Lives
of the Poets ; Clarendon Correspondence.) He was the
builder of Buckingham house, now the royal palace, at
Pimlico.
084 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
of great importance to carry the act, and that at another time those limitations might be
better considered : so the act passed, and the king sent it over by the earl of Macclesfield to
the electoress, together with the garter to the elector. We reckoned it a great point carried
that we had now a law on our side for a protestant successor ; for we plainly saw a great
party formed against it, in favour of the pretended prince of Wales. He was now past
thirteen, bred up with a hatred both of our religion and our constitution, in an admiration
of the French government ; and yet many who called themselves protcstants seemed fond of
such a successor : a degree of infatuation that might justly amaze all who observed it, and
saw the fury with which it was promoted.
Another very good act passed this session, concerning the privilege of parliament. Peers
had, by law or custom, a privilege for themselves and their servants during the session, and
at least twenty days before and after. Of late they have reckoned forty days before and
after, in which neither they nor their servants could be sued in any court, unless for treason,
felony, or breach of the peace : the house of commons had also possessed themselves of the
same privilege ; but with this difference, that the lords pretended theirs was a right not
subject to the order of the house of lords ; whereas the commons held that their privilege
was subject to the authority of their house. Of late years, sessions were long and continued
by intermediate prorogation?, so that the whole year round was a time of privilege : this
made a great obstruction in the course of justice, and none who were so protected could be
sued for debt. The abuse was carried further by the protections which some lords gave, or
rather sold, to persons who were no way concerned in their affairs ; but when they needed
this shelter, they had a pretended office given them, that was a bar to all arrests. After
many fruitless attempts to regulate these abuses, a bill was brought into the house of com-
mons that took away all privilege against legal prosecutions in intermediate prorogations;
and did so regulate it during the sitting of parliament, that an effectual remedy was pro-
vided for a grievance that had been long and much complained of. These were the only
popular things that were done by this parliament, the rest of their proceedings showed both
the madness and fury of parties.
The impeachments lay long neglected in the house of commons, and probably they would
have been let sleep, if the lords concerned had not moved for a trial : on their motion, mes-
sages were sent to the commons to quicken their proceedings. At last, articles were framed
and brought up, first, against the earl of Orford : he was charged for taking great grants
from the king. Kid's business was objected to him. He was also charged for abuses in
managing the fleet, and victualling it, when it lay on the coast of Spain, and for some orders
he had given, during his command ; and, in conclusion, for his advising the Partition Treaty.
And, in setting this out, the commons urged that the king, by the alliance made with the
emperor in the year 1689, was bound to maintain his succession to the crown of Spain,
which they said was still in force : so the Partition Treaty was a breach of faith, contrary to
that alliance, and this passed current in the house of commons, without any debate or
enquiry into it ; for everything was acceptable there that loaded that treaty and these lords :
but they did not consider, that by this they declared they thought the king was bound to
maintain the emperor's right to that succession; yet this was not intended by those
who managed the party, who had not hitherto given any countenance to the emperor's
pretensions. So apt are parties to make use of any thing that may serve a turn, without
considering the consequences of it.
The earl of Orford put in his answer in four days. He said he had no grant of the king,
but a reversion at a great distance, and a gift of ten thousand pounds, after he had defeated
the French at La Hogue, which he thought he might lawfully accept of, as all others before
him had done : he opened Kid's matter, in which he had acted legally, with good intentions
to the public, and to his own loss : his accounts, while he commanded the fleet, ha-d been
all examined and were passed ; but he was ready to waive that, and to justify himself in every
particular, and he denied his having given any advice about the Partition Treaty : this was ,
immediately sent down to the commons ; but they let it lie before them without coming to i
a replication ; which is only a piece of form by which they undertake to make good their
charge.
OF KING WILLIAM III. 685
Articles were next sent up against the lord Somers. In these, the two Partition Treaties
were copiously set forth, and it was laid down for a foundation, that the king was bound to
maintain the emperor's right of succession to the crown of Spain. Lord Somers was charged
for setting the seals, first to the powers, and then to the treaties themselves : he was also
charged for accepting some grants ; and the manner of taking them was represented as
fraudulent, he seeming to buy them of the king, and then getting himself discharged of the
price contracted for. Kid's business was also mentioned, and dilatory and partial pro-
ceedings in chancery were objected to him. He put in his answer in a very few days : in
the Partition Treaty, he said, he had offered the king very faithful advice as a councillor, and
had acted according to the duty of his post as chancellor ; so he had nothing more to answer
for : as for his grants, the king designed him a grant to such a value ; the king was not
deceived in the value ; the manner of passing it was according to the usual methods of the
treasury, in order to make a grant sure, and out of the danger of being avoided. Kid's
business was opened as was formerly set forth; and, as to the court of chancery, he had
applied himself wholly to the dispatch of business in it, with little regard to his own health
or quiet, and had acted according to the best of his judgment, without fear or favour.
This was presently sent down to the house of commons, and upon that they were at a full
stand : they framed 110 articles against the earl of Portland, which was represented to the
king as an expression of their respect to him.
Some time after this, near the end of the session, they sent up articles against the lord
Halifax, which I mention here that I may end this matter all at once. They charged him
for a grant that he had in Ireland, and that he had not paid in the produce of it, as the
act concerning those grants had enacted : they charged him for another grant, out of the
forest of Dean, to the waste of the timber and prejudice of the navy of England : they
charged him for holding places that were incompatible, being at the same time both a com-
missioner of the treasury and auditor of the exchequer : and, in conclusion, he was charged
for advising the two Partition Treaties. He was as quick with his answer as the other lords
had been. He said, his grant in Ireland was of some debts and sums of money, and so was
not thought to be within the act concerning confiscated estates. All he had ever received
of it was 4007. If he was bound to repay it, he was liable to an action for it ; but every
man was not to be impeached who did not pay his debts at the day of payment. His grant
in the forest of Dean was only of the weedings ; so it could be no waste of timber, nor a
prejudice to the navy : the auditor's place was held by another, till he obtained the king's
leave to withdraw from the treasury : as for the first Partition Treaty, he never once saw it,
nor was he ever advised with in it : as for the second, he gave his advice very freely about
it, at the single time in which he had ever heard any thing concerning it. This was sent
down to the commons, but was never so much as once read by them. When, by these
articles, and the answers to them, it appeared, that after all the noise and clamour that had
been raised against the former ministry (more particularly against the lord Halifax) for the
great waste of treasure during their administration, that now, upon the strictest search, all
ended in such poor accusations ; it turned the minds of many that had been formerly preju-
diced against them. It appeared that it was the animosity of a party at best, if it was
not a French practice, to ruin men who had served the king faithfully, and to discourage
others from engaging themselves so far in his interests as these lords had done. They saw
the effect that must follow on this ; and that the king could not enter upon a new war, if
they could discourage from his service all the men of lively and active tempers, that would
raise a spirit in the nation for supporting such an important and dangerous war, as this now
in prospect was likely to prove.
This gave a general disgust to all England, more particularly to the city of London,
where foreign affairs and the interest of trade were generally better understood. The old
East India company, though they hated the ministry that set up the new, and studied to
support this house of commons, from whom they expected much favour ; yet they, as well
as the rest of the city, saw visibly that first the ruin of trade, and then, as a consequence of
that, the ruin of the nation must certainly ensue, if France and Spain were once firmly
united : so they began openly to condemn the proceedings of the commons, and to own a
685 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
jealousy, that the lotiis-d'or sent hither of late had not come over to England for nothing.
This disposition to blame the slowness in which the house of commons proceeded with rela-
tion to foreign affairs, and the heat with which private quarrels were pursued, began to
spread itself through the whole nation. Those of the county of Kent sent up a petition to the
house, desiring them to mind the public more and their private heats less, and to turn their
addresses to the king to bills of supplies, to enable him both to protect the nation and to
defend our allies. This was brought up by some persons of quality, and was presented by
them to the house : but it was looked on as a libel on their proceedings ; and the gentlemen
who brought it up were sent to prison, where they lay till the prorogation ; but they were
much visited, and treated as confessors *. This was highly censured : it was said the com-
mons were the creatures of the people, and upon all other occasions they used to favour and
encourage petitions : this severity was condemned therefore as unnatural, and without a
precedent : it wras much questioned, whether they had really an authority to imprison any
except their own members, or such as had violated the privilege of their house : but the party
thought it was convenient, by such an unusual severity, to discourage others from following
the example set them by those of Kent ; for a design was laid to get addresses of the same
nature from all parts of the kingdom, chiefly from the city of London. The ministers repre-
sented to the king what an indignity this would be to the house of commons ; and that, if
he did not discourage it, he might look for unacceptable things from them. It might rather
discourage than give heart to our allies, if they should see such a disjointing, and both city
and country in an opposition to the house of commons. Some went, in his name, to the
eminent men of the city to divert it, yet with all this it came so near for such an address in a
common council, that the lord mayor's vote turned it for the negative, so that fell. But a
disposition to a war, and to a more hearty concurrence with the king, appeared to be the
general sense of the nation, and this had a great effect on the house of commons : they began
to talk of a war as unavoidable ; and when the session drew near an end, they, by an address,
desired the king to enter into such alliances with the emperor, and other states and princes,
as were necessary for the support of us and our allies, and to bring down the exorbitant
power of France. This was opposed with great zeal by those who were looked on as the
chief conductors of the Jacobite party, though many, who had in other things gone along
with them, thought this was the only means that were left to recover their credit with the
people ; for the current ran so strong for a war, that those who struggled against it, were
looked on as little better than public enemies. They had found good funds for a million
and a half. It is true one of these was very unacceptable to the king : it was observed that
the allotment for the civil list did far exceed the sum that was designed, which was only
600,0007., and that as king James's queen would not take her jointure, so, by the duke of
Gloucester's death, the charge on it was now less than when it was granted : so they took
almost 4000 /. a -week out of the excise, and, upon an assignation made of that for some
years, a great sum was raised. This was very sensible to the court, and the new ministers
found it no easy thing to maintain, at the same time, their interest both with the king and
their party : this matter was at last yielded to by the king. All the remainder of this
session relates to the impeachments.
The lords had resolved to begin with the trial of the earl of Orford, because the articles
against him were the first that were brought up ; and since the commons made no replica-
tion, the lords, according to clear precedents, named a day for his trial, and gave notice of
it to the house of commons. Upon this, the commons moved the lords to agree to name a
committee of both houses for settling the preliminaries of the trial, and they named two
preliminaries : one was, that the lord who was to be tried should not sit as a peer ; the
other was, that those lords who were impeached for the same matter, might not vote in the
trial of one another : they also acquainted the lords that the course of their evidence led
them to begin with the lord Somers. The lords judged their last demand reasonable, and
* The imprisoned "Kentish Petitioners" were Justi- and David Polhill, esq., of Cheapsted ; all in the county
nian Champneys, of Westhanger ; sir Thomas Culpepper, of Kent. — See Hist, of the Kentish Petition, published in
knight, of Preston Hall, Aylesford ; William Culpepper, 1701 ; Nohlc's Continuation of Grainger,
esq., of Hollingborne ; James Hamilton, esq., of Chilston ;
OF KING WILLIAM III. C87
tice,
agreed to it, but disagreed to the others. They considered themselves as a court of justk
and how great soever the regard due to the house of commons might be in all other respects,
yet in matters of justice, where they were the accusers, they could only be considered as
parties. The king, when he had a suit with a subject, submitted to the equality of justice ;
so the commons ought to pretend to no advantage over a single person in a trial : a court of
justice ought to hear the demands of both parties pleaded fairly, and then to judge impar-
tially : a committee named by one of the parties, to sit in an equality with the judges, and to
settle matters relating to the trial, was a thing practised in no court or nation, and seemed
contrary to the principles of law, or rules of justice : by these means they could at least
delay trials as long as they pleased, and all delays of justice are real and great injustices.
This had never been demanded but once, in the case of the popish plot ; then it was often
refused : it is true it was at last yielded to by the lords, though with great opposition ; that
was a case of treason, in which the king's life and the safety of the nation were concerned;
there was then a great jealousy of the court, and of the lords that belonged to it ; and the
nation was in so great a ferment, that the lords might at that time yield to such a motion,
though it derogated from their judicature : that ought not to be set up for a precedent for
a quiet time, and in a case pretended to be no more than a misdemeanor : so the lords
resolved not to admit of this, but to hear whatsoever should be proposed by the commons,
and to give them all just and reasonable satisfaction in it. The chief point in question, in
the year 1 679, was, how far the bishops might sit and vote in trials of treason ; but without
all dispute, they were to vote in trials for misdemeanors. It was also settled in the case of
the lord Mordaunt, that a lord tried for a misdemeanor was to sit within the bar. In all
other courts men tried for such offences came within the bar. This was stronger in the case
of a peer, who, by his patent, had a seat in that house, from which nothing but a judgment
of the house for some offence could remove him : they indeed found that, in king James the
First's time, the earl of Middlesex, being accused of misdemeanors, was brought to the bar ;
but as that prosecution was violent, so there had been no later precedent of that kind to
govern proceedings by it : there had been many since that time, and it had been settled, as
a rule for future times, that peers tried for such offences were to sit within the bar. The
other preliminary was, that peers, accused for the same offence, might not vote in the trials
of the others : the lords found that a right of voting was so inherent in every peer in all
causes, except Avhere himself was a party, that it could not be taken from him but by a
sentence of the house ; a vote of the house could not deprive him of it : otherwise, a majority
might upon any pretence deny some peers their right of voting, and the commons, by
impeaching many peers at once for the same offence, might exclude as many lords as they
pleased from judging : it was also observed that a man might be a judge in any cause in
which he might be a witness : and it was a common practice to bring persons charged with
the same offence, if they were not in the same indictment, to witness the facts with which
they themselves were charged in another indictment ; and a parity of reason appeared in
the case of lords, who were charged in different impeachments, for the same facts, that they
might be judges in one another's trials. Upon these points many messages passed between
the two houses with so much precipitation, that it was not easy to distinguish between the
answers and the replies : the commons still kept off the trial by affected delays. It was
visible, that when a trial should come on, they had nothing to charge these lords with : so
the leaders of the party showed their skill in rinding out excuses to keep up "the clamour,
nd to hinder the matters from being brought to an issue : the main point that was still
nsistcd on was a committee of both houses ; so, according to the forms of the house, it was
irought to a free conference.
In it the lord Haversham, speaking to the point of lords being partial in their own cases,
nd therefore not proper judges, said that the house of commons had plainly showed their
•artiality in impeaching some lords for facts in which others were equally concerned with
hem, who yet were not impeached by them, though they were still in credit and about the
ang ; which showed that they thought neither the one nor the other were guilty *. The
* Sir John Thompson, bart. was created baron of house of commons by his daring speeches. lie voted for
I iversliam in 1696. Ho distinguished himself in the the exclusion bill, and in favour of the revolution. In
633 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
commons thought that they had now found an occasion of quarrelling with the lords, which
they were looking for : so they immediately withdrew from the conference, though they
were told that the lord Haversham spoke only his own private sense, and not by any direc-
tion from the house. The house of commons sent up a complaint to the lords of this reflec-
tion on their proceedings, as an indignity done them, for which they expected reparation :
upon this the lord Haversham offered himself to a trial, and submitted to any censure that
the lords should think he had deserved ; but insisted that the words must first be proved,
and he must be allowed to put his own sense on them : the lords sent this to the commons,
but they seemed to think that the lords ought to have proceeded to censure him in a
summary way, which the lords thought, being a court of judicature, they could not do till
the words were proved, and the importance of them discussed.
The house of commons had now got a pretence to justify their not going further in these
trials, and they resolved to insist upon it : they said they could expect no justice, and there-
fore they could not go on with the prosecutions of their impeachments : and a day being set
for the lord Somers's trial, they excepting still, it was put off for some time ; at last a
peremptory day was fixed for it ; but the commons refused to appear, and said they were
the only judges, when they were ready with their evidence, and that it was a mockery to
go to a trial when they were not ready to appear at it. There were great and long debates
upon this in the house of lords: the new ministry and all the Jacobites joined to support the
pretensions of the commons : every step was to be made by a vote, against which many
lords protested ; and the reasons given, in some of their protestations, were thought to be
so injurious to the house, that they were by a vote ordered to be expunged ; a thing that
seldom happens. When the day set for the trial came, the other lords, who were also
impeached, asked the leave of the house to withdraw, and not to sit and vote in it : this
was granted them, though it was much opposed and protested against by the tory party,
because the giving such leave supposed that they had a right to vote. The lords went down
in form to Westminster Hall, where the articles against the lord Somers were first read ;
lord Somers's answers were next read ; and none appearing to make good the charge, the
lords came back to their house, where they had a long and warm debate of many hours,
concerning the question that was to be put; the judges told them that, according to the
forms of law, it ought to be guilty, or not guilty : but those of the party said, as it was
certain that none could vote him guilty, so, since the house of commons had not come to
make good the charge, they could not vote him not guilty : so, to give them some content,
the question agreed on to be put was, whether he ought to be acquitted of the impeachment,
or not ? That being settled, the lords went again to the Hall, and, the question being put,
fifty-six voted in the affirmative, and thirty-one in the negative. Upon this, the house of
commons passed some high votes against the lords, as having denied them justice, and having
obstructed the public proceedings ; and called the trial a pretended trial. The lords went
as high in their votes against the commons ; and each house ordered a narrative of the pro-
ceedings to be published for satisfying the nation. A few days after this the earl of Orford's
trial came on, but, all the lords of the other side withdrawing, there was no dispute ; so he
was acquitted by an unanimous vote. The lords did also acquit both the earl of Portland
and the lord Halifax ; and because the commons had never insisted on their prosecution of
the duke of Leeds, which they had begun some years before, they likewise acquitted him,
and so this contentious session came to an end. The two houses had gone so far in their
votes against one another, that it was believed they would never meet again : the pro-
ceedings of the lords had the general approbation of the nation on their side : most of the
bishops adhered to the impeached lords, and their behaviour on this occasion was much
commended. I bore some share in those debates, perhaps more than became me, considering i
my station, and other circumstances : but as I was convinced of the innocence of the lords, ;
the house of lords he was the undaunted declarer of his incorporate." He was an acknowledged republican in
opinions. One instance is mentioned above ; and when politics, and, though a dissenter in religion, often acted
opposing the union with Scotland, he compared it to " the with the tories and high church party. He died in 1710,
toes of Nebuchadnezzar's idol, which were made of iron and was buried in the church of Richmond, Surrey. —
and clay : they may cleave together, but they can never Nollc's Continuation of Grainger; Extinct Peerage, &c, j
OF KING WILLIAM III. C80
so I thought the government itself was struck at ; and therefore, when T apprehended all
was in danger, I was willing to venture every thing in such a quarrel. The violence, as
well as the folly, of the party, lost them much ground with all indifferent men ; but with
none more than with the king himself, who found his error in changing his ministry at so criti-
cal a time ; and he now saw that the tories were at heart irreconcilable to him ; in particular,
he was extremely uneasy with the earl of Rochester, of whose imperious and intractable temper
he complained much, and seemed resolved to disengage himself quickly from him, and never
to return to him any more. He thought the party was neither solid nor sincere, and that
they were actuated by passion and revenge, without any views with relation to our quiet at
home, or to our affairs abroad.
But having now given an account of the session of parliament, I turn to another scene.
When the new ministry undertook to serve the king, one of their demands was, that a con-
vocation should have leave to sit, which was promised ; and it sat this winter. Dr. Atter-
bury's book, concerning the rights of a convocation, was reprinted, with great corrections
and additions. The first edition was drawn out of some imperfect and disorderly collections,
and he himself soon saw that, notwithstanding the assurance and the virulence with which
it was written, he had made many great mistakes in it : so, to prevent a discovery from
other hands, he corrected his book in many important matters : yet he left a great deal of
matter to those who answered him, and did it with such a superiority of argument and of
knowledge in these matters, that his insolence in despising these answers was as extraordi-
nary, as the parties adhering to him after such manifest discoveries. Dr. Kennet laid him
so open, not only in many particulars, but in a thread of ignorance that ran through his
whole book, that if he had not had a measure of confidence peculiar to himself, he must have
been much humbled under it*. The clergy hoped to recover many lost privileges by the
help of his performances : they fancied they had a right to be a part of the parliament : so
they looked on him as their champion, and on most of the bishops as the betrayers of the
rights of the church : this was encouraged by the new ministry : they were displeased with
the bishops for adhering to the old ministry ; and they hoped, by the terror of a convocation,
to have forced them to apply to them for shelter. The Jacobites intended to put us all in
such a flame as they hoped would disorder the government. The things the convocation
pretended to were, first, that they had a right to sit whensoever the parliament sat ; so that
they could not be prorogued but when the two houses were prorogued : next, they advanced
that they had no need of a licence to enter upon debates, and to prepare matters, though it
was confessed that the practice for a hundred years was against them : but they thought
the convocation lay under no farther restraint than that the parliament was under ; and as
t hey could pass no act without the royal assent, so they confessed that they could not enact
or publish a canon without the king's licence. Anciently the clergy granted their own
subsidies apart, but ever since the reformation the grant of the convocation was not thought
good till it was ratified in parliament : but the rule of subsidies being so high on the clergy,
they had submitted to be taxed by the house of commons ever since the year 1665 ; though
n ) memorials were left to inform us how that matter was consented to so generally, that no
opposition of any sort was made to it. The giving of money being yielded up, which was the
chief business of convocations, they had after that nothing to do ; so they sat only for form's
sake, and were adjourned of course ; nor did they ever pretend, notwithstanding all the danger
that religion was in during the former reigns, to sit and act as a synod ; but now this was
|1 'manded as a right, and they complained of their being so often prorogued as a violation of
plieir constitution, for which all the bishops, but more particularly the archbishop of Canterbury,
was cried out on : they said, that he and the bishops looked so much to their own interests,
hat they forgot the interests of the church, or rather betrayed them. The greater part of the
;lorgy were in no good temper ; they hated the toleration, and were heavily charged with the
axes,(which made them very uneasy ; and this disposed them to be soon inflamed by those
v! 10 were seeking out all possible methods to disorder our affairs. They hoped to have engaged
horn against the supremacy, and reckoned that in the feeble state to which the government was
* Soc the names of Rennet's works, and other authorities relating to this controversy, in Kippis's edition of the
Britunnica.
Y Y
690 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
now brought, they might hope either to wrest it quite from the crown, and then it would
fall into the management of the house of commons : or, if the king should proceed against
them according to the statute, and sue them in a premunire, this might unite the clergy into
such an opposition to the government as would probably throw us into great convulsions :
but many aspiring men among them had no other design but to force themselves into pre-
ferment by the opposition they made. In the writ that the bishops had, summoning them
to parliament, the clause, known by the first word of it, " Premunientes," was still con-
tinued : at first, by virtue of it, the inferior clergy were required to come to parliament, and
to consent to the aids there given : but after the archbishops had the provincial writ for a
convocation of the province, the other was no more executed, though it was still kept in the
writ, and there did not appear the least shadow of any use that had been made of it for
some hundreds of years ; yet now some bishops were prevailed on to execute this clause,
and to summon the clergy by virtue of it. The convocation was opened with speeches
full of sharp reflections on the bishops, which they passed over, being unwilling to begin a
dispute.
Dr. Hooper, dean of Canterbury, was chosen prolocutor, a man of learning and good con-
duct hitherto ; he was reserved, crafty, and ambitious ; his deanery had not softened him,
for he thought he deserved to be raised higher *. The constant method of adjournments
had been this ; the archbishop signed a schedule for that purpose, by which the upper house
was immediately adjourned, and that being sent down to the prolocutor, did also adjourn
the lower house. The clergy perceiving that, by this means, the archbishop could adjourn
them at pleasure, and either hinder or break off all debates, resolved to begin at disputing
this point : and they brought a paper to the upper house, in which they asserted their right
of adjourning themselves, and cited some precedents for it. To this the bishops drew a very
copious answer, in which all their precedents were examined and answered, and the matter
was so clearly stated and so fully proved, that we hoped we had put an end to the dispute.
The lower house sat for some time about the reply to this ; but, instead of going on with
that, they desired a free conference, and began to affect, in all their proceedings, to follow
the methods of the house of commons. The bishops resolved not to comply with this, which
was wholly new. They had upon some occasions called up the lower house to a conference, I
in order to the explaining some things to them ; but the clergy had never taken upon them j
to desire a conference with the bishops before : so they resolved not to admit of it, and told |
them they expected an answer to the paper they had sent them. The lower house resolved
not to comply with this, but, on the contrary, to take no more notice of the archbishop's '
adjournments. They did indeed observe the rule of adjourning themselves to the day which j
the archbishop had appointed in his schedule, but they did it as their own act, and they j
adjourned themselves to intermediate days.
That they might express a zeal in the matters of religion, they resolved to proceed against i
some bad books. They began with one, entitled " Christianity not mysterious," written by;
one Toland, a man of a bold and petulant wit, who passed for a socinian, but was believed
* This is one of the most erroneous, party-biassed, cha- of his contemporaries. He was born at Grimley, in
racters Burnet has given. So far was he from being am- Worcestershire, during the year 1G40, and educated at
Ititious, that no persuasions could induce him to accept Westminster, and Christchurch, Oxford. At the first-
cither of the metropolitan mitres; instead of being named school, Dr. Busby, its master, discerned hisj
reserved, he was good-humoured, affable, witty, yet never opening excellence, observing of him, " This boy is the
offending against the rules of good manners, much less least favoured in features of any in the school, but he will
against those of piety. He was the patriarch of the dio- be the most extraordinary of any of them." He at
cese of Bath and Wells, to which queen Anne promoted various times held the livings of Lambeth, and East
him in 1 704. To his clergy he showed all the kindness Woodhay, Hampshire ; was chaplain to bishop Morley,
of a father; and many instances were known where he archbishop Sheldon, and princess Mary, whom he accom-,
had raised the deserving, but indigent, pastor to compe- panied to Holland. At the revolution, he held the sanie1
tency and independence. Such conduct gained him the office to her and king William, who, in 1691, gave biro;
esteem of the good; and his talents obtained liim another the deanery of Canterbury. In 1703 he was raised t<
large class of friends — the learned. He was "the lawyer, the see of St. Asaph, and the following year translated si
the casuist, the divine, the antiquary, the linguist, the before mentioned. He died in 1727. — -General Biog
philosopher, the classical scholar ; yet'always the refined Diet. ; Wood's Athense Oxon. ; Noble's Continuation o,
and accomplished gentleman." Such is the concurrent Grainger,
testimony given in favour of Dr. George Hooper by most
OF KING WILLIAM III. 6.01
to be a man of no religion*. They drew some propositions out of this book, but did it with
so little judgment, that they passed over the worst that were in it, and singled out some,
that how ill soever they were meant, yet were capable of a good sense. They brought up
the censure that they had passed on this book to the bishops, and desired them to agree to
their resolutions. This struck so directly at the episcopal authority, that it seemed strange
to see men who had so long asserted the divine right of episcopacy, and that presbyters were
only their assistants and council (according to the language of all antiquity), now assume to
themselves the most important act of church government, the judging in points of doctrine.
In this it appeared how soon men's interests and passions can run them from one extreme to
another. The bishops saw, that their design in this was only to gain some credit to them-
selves, by this show of zeal for the great articles of religion ; so they took advice of men
learned in the law, how far the act of submission in the Twenty-fifth of Henry the Eighth
did restrain them in this case. There had been the like complaint made in the convocation,
1698, of many ill books then published: and the bishops had then advised both with
civilians and common lawyers in this matter. They were answered, that every bishop might
proceed in his own court against the authors, or spreaders, of ill books, within his diocese ;
but they did not know of any power the convocation had to do it : it did not so much as
appear that they could summon any to come before them : and when a book was published
with the author's name to it, the,- condemning it, without hearing the author upon it, seemed
contrary to the common rules of justice. It did not seem to be a court at all, and since no
appeal lay from it, it certainly could not be a court in the first instance. When this question
was now again put to lawyers, some were afraid, and others were unwilling, to answer it;
but sir Edward Northey, afterwards made attorney-general, thought the condemning books
was a thing of great consequence ; since the doctrine of the church might be altered, by
condemning explanations of one sort, and allowing those of another ; and since the convoca-
tion had no licence from the king, he thought that, by meddling in that matter, they should
incur the pains in the statute ; so all further debate of this matter was let fall by the
bishops. The lower house going on to sit in intermediate days, many of the most eminent
and learned among them not only refused to sit with them on those days, but thought it
was incumbent on them to protest against their proceedings ; but the lower house refusing
to suffer this to be entered upon their books, they signified it in a petition to the archbishop.
The party sitting alone in those intermediate days, they entered into such a secresy, that
it could not be known what they sat so close upon. So the archbishop appointed five
bishops, together with ten they should name, as a committee to examine their books ; but-
though this had been often done, yet, upon this occasion, the lower house refused to comply
with it, or to name a committee. This was such an unprecedented invasion of the episcopal
authority, that the upper house resolved to receive nothing from them till that irregularity
was set right.
Hereupon they, being highly incensed against me, censured my Exposition of the Articles,
vhich, in imitation of the general impeachments by the house of commons, they put in three
general propositions : — First, that it allowed a diversity of opinions, which the articles were
rained to avoid ; secondly, that it contained many passages contrary to the true meaning of
lie articles, and to other received doctrines of our church ; thirdly, that some tilings in it
vere of dangerous consequence to the church, and derogated from the honour of the reforma-
ion. What the particulars were, to which these general heads referred, could never be
earned: this was a secret lodged in confiding hands. I begged that the archbishop would
lispense with the order, made against further communication with the lower house, as to
his matter : but they would enter into no particulars, unless they might at the same time
'ffer some other matters, which the bishops would not admit of.
In these proceedings the bishops were unanimous, except the bishops of London, Rochester,
nid Exeter (Dr. Trelawney). The bishop of London had been twice disappointed of his
!iopes of being advanced to the see of Canterbury ; so for several years he was engaged with
* Whoever wishes for more information relative to John Toland, the apostate, the deist, and the government
] v, mav find it in the "Life" prefixed to his posthumous works. He was a native of Ireland, born in 1669, and
1 it-din 1/22.
y Y 2
692 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the tory party, and opposed the court in every thing, but with little force or authority *.
The bishop of Rochester (Dr. Sprat) had been deeply engaged in the former reigns, and he
stuck firm to the party, to which, by reason of the liberties of his life, he brought no sort of
honour. These bishops gave no great reputation to the proceedings of the lower house, to
which they adhered : they likewise entered their dissent to the resolutions taken in the
upper house. From the fire raised thus in convocation a great heat was spread through
the whole clergy of the kingdom : it alienated them from their bishops, and raised factions
among them everywhere.
Thus ended the session of parliament and convocation, which had the worst aspect of any
that had sat during this reign. The new ministers pressed the king often to dissolve the
commission that recommended to ecclesiastical preferments, and to turn out some of the
whigs who were in employments, the lord Haversham in particular, who was in the
admiralty. But the king could not be prevailed on to do any thing ; yet he kept himgelf
so much on the reserve, that when he went out of England it was not certainly known
whether he intended to dissolve the parliament or not. When the king came to the Hague,
he found the negotiation with France quite at an end ; the king of France had recalled his
minister, the States had increased their force, and the French were very strong in their
neighbourhood: so that though no war wras actually declared, yet it was very near
breaking out.
The emperor's army was now got into Italy. The entrance towards Yerona was stopped
by the French, but prince Eugene came in by Yincenza ; and when the reinforcements and
artillery came up to him, he made a feint of passing the Po, near Ferrara : and having thus
amused the French, he passed the Adige, near Carpi, where a body of five thousand French
lay : these he routed, so the French retired to the Mincio. He followed them, and passed
that river in their sight, without any opposition. The French army was commanded by
the duke of Savoy ; with him were the mareschal Catinat, and the prince of Yaudcmont,
governor of Milan. These differed in opinion : the duke of Savoy was for fighting, Catinat
and prince Yaudemont were against it : so the mareschal Yilleroy was sent thither with
orders to fight. Catinat, who was the best general the French had left, looking on this as a
disgrace, retired and languished for some time ; yet he recovered. There were many small
engagements of parties sent out on both sides, in which the Germans had always the better ;
yet this did not discourage Yilleroy from venturing to attack them in their camp at Chiari ; but
they were so well entrenched, and defended themselves with so much resolution, that the
French were forced to draw off with great loss : about five thousand of them were killed,
whereas the loss of the Germans was inconsiderable. Sickness likewise broke in upon the
French, so that their army was much diminished ; and after this, they were not in a condi-
tion to undertake any thing. Prince Eugene lay for some time in his camp at Chiari,
sending out parties as far as the Adda, who, meeting often with parties of the French, had
always the advantage, killing some and taking many prisoners. For several months prince
Eugene had no place of defence to retire to ; his camp was all : so that a blow given him
there must have ruined his whole army. Towards the end of the campaign he possessed
himself of all the Mantuan territory, except Mantua and Goito ; he blocked them both up ;
and when the season obliged the French to go into quarters, he took all the places on the
Oglio, and continued in motion the whole following winter. The French had no other
enemy to deal with, so they poured in their whole force upon him. He was then but a young
man, and had little assistance from those about him, and none at all during the summer from
the princes and states of Italy : for the pope and the Yenetians pretended to maintain a
neutrality, though upon many occasions the pope showed great partiality to the French, j
The people indeed favoured him, so that he had good and seasonable intelligence brought ,
him of all the motions of the French : and in his whole conduct he showed both a depth of
contrivance and an exactness in execution, with all the courage, but without any of the j
rashness, of youth.
* Dr. Compton was a generous man, and if he had been told the unworthy suspicion cast upon him by Burnet, he j
probably would have said, as he once did on a similar occasion, " I am glad of it; for he has given me an opportunity;
of setting you a good example in forgiving him.M
OF KING WILLIAM III. 603
But to carry on the series of his motions as far as this period of my history goes, his
attempt in January following upon Cremona had almost proved a decisive one. Mareschal
Villeroy lay there with six or seven thousand men, and commanded a bridge on the Po :
prince Eugene had passed that river with a part of his army : the princess of Mirandola
drove out the French, and received a garrison from him. The duke of Modena put his
country in his hand, and gave him Bersello, the strongest place of his dominions. The duke
of Parma pretended he was the pope's vassal, and so put himself under the protection of that
see. Prince Eugene would not provoke the pope too much, so he only marched through
the Parmesan : here he laid the design of surprising Cremona with so much secresy, that the
French had not the least suspicion of it. Prince Eugene went to put himself at the head of
a body that he brought from the Oglio, and ordered another to come from the Parmesan at
the same time, to force the bridge. He marched with all secresy to Cremona ; at the same
time, through the ruins of an old aqueduct, he sent in some men, who got through and forced
one of the gates, so that he was within the town before mareschal Villeroy had any appre-
hension of an enemy being near him. He wakened on the sudden with the noise, got out
to the street, and there he was taken prisoner. But the other body did not come up criti-
cally at the time appointed, so an Irish regiment secured the bridge. And thus the design,
that was so well contrived and so happily executed in one part, did fail. Prince Eugene
had but four thousand men with him, so that, since the other body could not join him, he
was forced to march back, which he did without any considerable loss, carrying mareschal
Villeroy and some other prisoners with him. In this attempt, though he had not an entire
success, yet he gained all the glory to which the ambition of a military man could aspire ;
so that he was looked on as the greatest and happiest general of the age. He went on
enlarging his quarters, securing all his posts, and straitening the blockade of Mantua, and
was in perpetual motion during the whole winter. The French were struck with this ill
success ; more troops were sent into Italy, and the duke of Vendome went to command the
armies there.
The duke of Savoy was pressed to send his forces thither ; but he grew cold and back-
ward. He had now gained all that he could promise himself from France : his second
daughter was married to king Philip and was sent to him to Barcelona, and he came and
inut her there : Philip fell into an ill habit of body, and had some returns of a feverish dis-
temper : he had also great disputes with the states of Catalonia, who, before they would
irrant him the tax that was asked of them, proposed that all their privileges should be con-
firmed to them. This took up some time, and occasioned many disputes. All was settled
at last ; but their grant was short of what was expected, and did not defray the charges of
the king's stay in the place. A great disposition to revolt appeared in the kingdom of
Naples, and it broke out in some feeble attempts that were soon mastered. The leaders of
these were taken 'and executed. They justified themselves by this apology, that till the
] -ope granted the investiture they could not be bound to obey the new king. The duke of
.Medina was a severe governor, both on his master's account and on his own. Some of the
Austrian party made their escape to Rome and to Vienna. They represented to the
emperor that the disposition of the country was such in his favour, that a small force of ten
tliousand men would certainly put that kingdom wholly into his hands. Orders were upon
t'uit sent to prince Eugene to send a detachment into the kingdom of Naples. But though
he believed a small force would soon reduce that kingdom, yet he judged that such a dimi-
ution of his own strength, when the French were sending so many troops into the Milanese,
ould so expose him, that it would not be possible to maintain a defensive with such an
inequal force. Yet repeated orders came to him to the same effect ; but, in opposition to
Hose, he made such representations, that at last it was left to himself to do what he found
:if(L-st, and most for the emperor's service ; with that the matter was let fall, and it soon
•peored that he had judged better than the court of Vienna : but this was, by his enemies,
niputed to humour and obstinacy; so that, for some time after that, he was neither consi-
•red nor supported as his great services had deserved. This might flow from envy and
aliee. which are the ordinary growth of all courts, chiefly of feeble ones ; or it might be a
1 actice of the French, who had corrupted most courts, and that of Vienna in particular ;
094 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
since nothing could more advance their ends than to alienate the emperor from prince
Eugene ; which might so far disgust him, as to make him more remiss in his service.
Our fleets lay all this summer idle in our seas on a bare defensive, while the French had
many squadrons in the Spanish ports and in the West Indies. In the North, the war went
on still : the king of Sweden passed the Duna, and fell on an army of the Saxons that lay
on the other side, over against Riga, and routed them so entirely, that he was master of their
camp and artillery. From thence he marched into Courland, where no resistance was made •
Mittau, the chief town, submitted to him. The king of Poland drew his army intQ
Lithuania, which was much divided between the Sapichas and Oginskis : so that all those
parts were breaking into much confusion. The court of Vienna pretended that they had
made a great discovery of a conspiracy in Hungary. It is certain the Germans played the
masters very severely in that kingdom, so that all places were full of complaints, and the
emperor was so besieged by the authors of those oppressions, and the proceedings were so
summary upon very slight grounds, that it was not to be wondered if the Hungarians wrere
disposed to shake off the yoke, when a proper opportunity should offer itself. And it is not
to be doubted but the French had agents among them, by the way of Poland as well as of
Turkey, that so the emperor might have work enough at home.
This was the state of the affairs of Europe this summer. Several negotiations were secretly
carried on : the elector of Cologne was entirely gained to the French interest, but was resolved
not to declare himself till his brother thought fit likewise to do it. All the progress that the
French made with the two brothers this summer was, that they declared for a neutrality,
and against a war with France. The dukes of Wolfenbuttel and Saxe Gotha were also
engaged in the same design : they made great levies of troops beyond what they themselves
could pay, for which it was visible that they were supplied from France. Here was a
formidable appearance of great distractions in the empire. An alliance was also projected
with the king of Portugal. His ministers were in the French interests, but he himself
inclined to the Austrian family. He for some time affected retirement, and avoided the
giving audience to foreign ministers. He saw no good prospect from England ; so, being
pressed to an alliance with France, his ministers got leave from him to propose one on term?
of such advantage to him, that as it was not expected they could be granted, so it was
hoped this would run into a long negotiation. But the French were as liberal in making
large promises, as they were perfidious in not observing them : so the king of France agreed
to all that was proposed, and signed a treaty pursuant to it, and published it to the world.
Yet the king of Portugal denied that he had consented to any such project ; and he was so
hardly brought to sign the treaty, that, when it was brought to him, he threw it down and kicked
it about the room, as our envoy wrote over. In conclusion, however, he was prevailed on
to sign it ; but it was generally thought that when he should see a good fleet come from the
allies, he would observe this treaty with the French as they have done their treaties with
all the rest of the world. Spain grew uneasy and discontented under a French management.
The grandees were little considered, and they saw great designs for the better conduct of the
revenues of the crown likely to take place every where, which were very unacceptable to
them, who minded nothing so much as to keep up a vast magnificence at the king's cost.
They saw themselves much despised by their new masters, as there was indeed great cause
for it ; they had too much pride to bear this well, and too little courage to think how the/
should shake it off.
But now to return to our affairs at home : The duke of Queensbury was sent down to hold
a parliament in Scotland, where people were in so bad a humour, that much practice was
necessary to bring them into any temper. They passed many angry votes upon the business
of Darien, but in conclusion the session ended well. The army was reduced one half, and
the troops that were ordered to be broken were sent to the States, who were now increasing
their force. This session was chiefly managed by the duke of Queensbury and the earl of
Argyle ; and, in reward for it, the one had the garter, and the other was made a duke.
In Ireland, the trustees went on to hear the claims of the Irish, and in many cases they
gave judgment in their favour. But now it began to appear, that whereas it had been given
out that the sale of the confiscated estates would amount to a million and a half, it was not
OF KING WILLIAM III. 095
likely to rise to the third part of that sum. In the meanwhile, the trustees lived in great
state there, and were masters of all the affairs of that kingdom. But no propositions were
yet made for the purchasing of those estates. During the king's absence, the nation was in
a great ferment, which was increased by many books that were written to expose the late
management in the house of commons and the new ministry, the earl of Rochester in parti-
cular, who was thought the driver of all violent motions. The few books that were pub-
lished on the other side were so poorly written, that it tempted one to think they were
written by men wjio personated the being on their side, on design to expose them. The
earl of Rochester delayed his going to Ireland very long. He perceived that the king's heart
was not with him, and was very uneasy at that ; as on the other hand the king complained
much of his intractable temper and imperious manner, and, by his intercourse with him, the
king came to see that he was not the man he had taken him for ; that he had no great nor
clear notions of aftairs abroad ; and that, instead of moderating the violence of his party, he
inflamed them : so that he often said, that the year in which he directed the councils was
one of the uneasiest of his whole life. The earl of Rochester finding the king's coldness
towards him, expostulated with him upon it, and said he could serve him no longer, since
he saw he did not trust him. The king heard this with his usual phlegm, and concluded
upon it that he should see him no more ; but Harley made him a little more submissive and
towardly. After the king was gone beyond sea, he also went into Ireland ; there he used
much art in obliging people of all sorts, dissenters as well as papists ; yet such confidence
was put in him by the high church party, that they bore every thing at his hands. It was
not easy to behave himself towards the trustees, so as not to give a general distaste to the
nation, for they were much hated, and openly charged with partiality, injustice, and corrup-
tion. That which gave the greatest disgust in his administration there, wras his usage of
the reduced officers, who were upon half pay, a fund being settled for that by act of par-
liament. They were ordered to live in Ireland, and to be ready for service there. The earl
of Rochester called them before him, and required them to express under their hands their
readiness to go and serve in the West Indies. They did not comply with this ; so he set
them a day for their final answer, and threatened that they should have no more appoint-
ments if they stood out beyond that time. This was represented to the king, as p great
hardship put on them, and as done on design to leave Ireland destitute of the service that
might be done by so many gallant officers, who were all known to be well affected to the
present government. So the king ordered a stop to be put to it.
I am now come to the last period of the life of the unfortunate king James : he had led
for above ten years a very inactive life in France ; after he had in so poor a manner as was
told, abandoned first England, and then Ireland, he had entered into two designs, for reco-
vering the crowns, which he may be said, more truly, to have thrown away than lost : the
one was broken by the defeat of the French fleet at sea before Cherbourg, in the year 1692 ;
the other seemed to be laid with more depth, as well as with more infamy, when an army
was brought to Dunkirk, and the design of the assassination was thought sure, upon which
it was reasonably hoped that we must have fallen into such convulsions, that we should have
been an easy prey to an army ready to invade us. The reproach that so black a contrivance
cast upon him, brought him under so much contempt, that even the absolute authority of the
French court could hardly prevail so far as to have common respect paid him after that. He
limsolf seemed to be the least concerned at all his misfortunes ; and though his queen could
never give over meddling, yet he was the most easy, when he was least troubled with those
iiry schemes, upon which she was still employing her thoughts. He went sometimes to the
nonastery of La Trappe, where the poor monks were much edified with his humble and
'ious deportment. Hunting was his chief diversion, and for the most part he led a harmless,
nnocent life ; being still very zealous about his religion. In the opening of this year, he
i ad been so near death, that it was generally thought the decline of it would carry him off.
He went to Bourbon, but had no benefit by the waters there ; in the beginning of September,
ho fell into such fits, that it was concluded he could not live many days : the king of France
came to see him, and seemed to be much touched with the sight : he, with some difficulty,
GOG THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
recommended his queen and son to his care and protection : the French king answered, he
would reckon their concerns as his own ; and when he left him, he promised those of his
court that he would, upon king James's death, own the prince of Wales as 'king of England,
and that he would take care of them all. King James died on the 6th day of September.
He was a prince that seemed made for greater things than will be found in the course of his
life, more particularly of his reign : he was esteemed, in the former parts of his life, a man
of great courage, as he was quite through it a man of great application to business : he had
no vivacity of thought, invention, or expression ; but he had a good judgment, where his
religion, or his education, gave him not a bias, which it did very often : he was bred with
strange notions of the obedience due to princes, and came to take up as strange ones, of the
submission due to priests ; he was naturally a man of truth, fidelity, and justice ; but his
religion was so infused in him, and he was so managed in it by his priests, that the principles
which nature had laid in him, had little power over him when the concerns of his church stood
in the way : he was a gentle master, and was very easy to all who came near him ; yet he
was not so apt to pardon as one ought to be, that is the vicegerent of that God who is slow
to anger, and ready to forgive. He had no personal vices but of one sort : he was still wan-
dering from one amour to another, yet he had a real sense of sin, and was ashamed of it :
but priests know how to engage princes more entirely into their interests, by making them
compound for their sins by a great zeal for holy church, as they call it. In a word, if it had
not been for his popery, he would have been, if not a great, yet a good, prince. By what I
once knew of him, and by what I saw him afterwards carried to, I grew more confirmed in
the very bad opinion which I was always apt to have, of the intrigues of the popish clergy,
and of the confessors of kings : he was undone by them, and was their martyr, so that they
ought to bear the chief load of all the errors of his inglorious reign, and of its fatal cata-
strophe. He had the funeral which he himself had desired, private, and without any sort of
ceremony : as he was dying, he said nothing concerning the legitimacy of his son, on which
some made severe remarks : others thought that, having spoken so often of it before, he
might not reflect on the fitness of saying any thing concerning it in his last extremity. He
recommended to him firmness in his religion, and justice in his government, if ever he should
come to reign. He said, that by his practice he recommended Christian forgiveness to him,
for he heartily forgave both the prince of Orange and the emperor. It was believed, that
the naming the emperor was suggested to him by the French, to render the emperor odious
to all those of that religion *.
Upon his death, it was debated in the French council what was fit to be done with rela-
tion to his pretended son : the ministry advised the king to be passive, to let him assume
what title he pleased, but that, for some time at least, the king should not declare himself:
this might be some restraint on the king of England, whereas a present declaration must pre-
cipitate a rupture ; but the dauphin interposed with some heat, for the present owning him
king ; he thought the king was bound in honour to do it : he was of his blood, and
was driven away on the account of his religion ; so orders were given to proclaim him at
St. Germains. The earl of Manchester, then the king's ambassador at Paris, told me, that
his own court was going about it ; but a difficulty, proposed by the earl of Middleton, put
a stop to it : he apprehended that it would look very strange, and might provoke the court
of France, if among his titles he should be called king of France ; and it might disgust their
party in England, if it was omitted : so that piece of ceremony was not performed ; soon
after this, the king of Spain owned him, so did the pope and the duke of Savoy ; and the
king of France pressed all other princes to do it, in whose courts he had ministers, and pre-
vailed on the pope to press the emperor, and other popish princes, to own him, though with-
out effect. The king looked upon this as an open violation of the treaty of Ryswick, and
he ordered the earl of Manchester to leave that court without asking an audience. The
French pretended, that the bare owning of his title, since they gave him no assistance to
* It is unnecessary to say more concerning this misguided monarch. Those who would study his history, as viewed
by variously biassed partisans, must refer to the A'orks of Hume, Macauley, Fox, D'Orleans, " Life of Jauies the
Second, from the Stuart Papers,'' &c.
OF KING WILLIAM III. 697
make good his claim, was not a breach of the treaty ; but this could not pass on the world,
since the owning his right was a plain declaration that they w^ould assist him in claiming it,
whensoever the state of their affairs should allow of it.
This gave a universal distaste to the whole English nation ; all people seemed possessed
with a high indignation upon it to see a foreign power that wTas at peace with us, pretend to
declare who ought to be our king ; even those who were perhaps secretly well pleased with
it, were yet, as it were forced, for their own safety, to comply with the general sense of the
rest in this matter : the city of London began, and all the nation followed, in a set of
addresses, wherein they expressed their abhorrence of what the French king had done, in
taking upon him to declare who should be their king, and renewed their vow of fidelity to
the king, and to his successors, according to the act of settlement. A great diversity of style
appeared in these addresses, some avoided to name the French king, the prince of Wales, or
the act of settlement, and only reflected on the transaction in France, in general and soft
words ; but others carried the matter farther, encouraging the king to go on in his alliances,
promising him all faithful assistance in supporting them, and assuring him that, when he
should think fit to call a new parliament, they would choose such members as should concur
in enabling him to maintain his alliances ; this raised the divisions of the nation higher.
All this summer the king continued at Loo, in a very ill state of health ; new methods gave
some relief ; but when he came to the Hague, on his way to England, he was for some time
in so bad a condition, that they were in great fear of his life ; he recovered, and came over
in the beginning of November.
The first thing that fell under debate upon his return was, whether the parliament should
be continued, or dissolved, and a new one called ; some of the leading men of the former
parliament had been secretly asked, how they thought they would proceed, if they should
meet again : of these, while some answered doubtfully, others said positively, they would
begin where they had left off, and would insist on their impeachments. The new ministry
struggled hard against a dissolution, and when they saw the king resolved on it, some of
them left his service. This convinced the nation that the king was not in a double game,
which had been confidently given out before, and was too easily believed by many : the
heats in elections increased with every new summons. This was thought so critical a con-
juncture, that both sides exerted their full strength. Most of the great counties, and the
chief cities, chose men that were zealous for the king and government, but the rotten part
of our constitution, the small boroughs, were in many places wrought on to choose bad
men ; upon the whole, however, it appeared, that a clear majority was in the king's interests,
I yet the activity of the angry side was such, that they had a majority in choosing the speaker,
i and in determining controverted elections ; but in matters of public concern, things went on
as the king desired, and as the interest of the nation required.
The king opened the parliament with the best speech that he, or perhaps any other prince
| ever made to his people ; he laid the state of our affairs both at home and abroad before
them in a most pathetical manner ; he pressed it upon them to consider the dangers they
were in, and not to increase these by new divisions among themselves : he expressed a
readiness to forgive all offences against himself, and wished they would as readily forgive
me another ; so that no other division might remain but that of English and French, pro-
testant and papist ; he had entered into some alliances, pursuant to the addresses of the
last parliament, and was negotiating some others, all which should be laid before them : and
I this was accordingly done. Both houses began with addresses, in which they did very fully
renounce the prince of Wales. The house of lords ordered that all such as were willing to
lo it should sign the address that was entered into their books. This was without a prece-
I'lent, and yet it was promoted by those who, as was thought, hoped, by so unusual a practice,
o prevent any further proceedings on that head. No exception was made to any article of
tlie alliances ; one addition was only proposed, that no peace should be made till a full repa-
ration was offered to the king for the indignity done him by the French king's declaring the
>retended prince of Wales king of England ; which was soon after proposed to the allies,
uid was agreed to by them all. By the alliances, the king was obliged to furnish forty
thousand men to serve in the armies, besides what he was to do by sea ; all was consented
608 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
to in every particular ; angry men showed much rancour against the king, and tried to cross
every thing that was proposed, both as to the quotas of the troops we were to furnish, and
as to the strength of our fleet. But the puhlic interest was now so visible, and the concur-
rent sense of the nation ran so vehemently for a war, that even those who were most averse
to it, found it convenient to put on the appearance of zeal for it. The city of London was
now more united than it had been at any time during this reign, for the two companies
that traded to the East-Indies, saw that their common interest required they should come to an
agreement ; and though men of ill designs did all they could to obstruct it, yet in conclusion
it was happily effected. This made the body of the city, which was formerly much divided
between the two companies, fall now into the same measures. But those who intended to
defeat all this good beginning of the session, and to raise a new flame, set on debates that
must have embroiled all again, if they had succeeded in their designs : they began with com-
plaints of some petitions arid addresses that had reflected on the proceedings of the last
house of commons; but it was carried against them, that it was the right of the subjects to
petition as they thought themselves aggrieved ; yet they were not discouraged by this, but
went on to complain that the lords had denied justice in the matter of the impeachments.
This bore a long and hot debate in a very full house ; but it was carried, though by a
small majority, that justice had not been denied them ; after this, the party gave over any
further struggling, and things were carried on with more unanimity.
The house of commons began a bill of attainder of the pretended prince of Wales. This
could not be opposed, much less stopped ; yet many showed a coldness in it, and were absent
on the days in which it was ordered to be read ; it was sent up to the lords, and it passed in
that house, with an addition of an attainder of the queen, who acted as queen regent for him.
This was much opposed, for no evidence could be brought to prove that allegation, yet the
thing wras so notorious, that it was passed, and was sent down again to the commons. It
was excepted to there as not regular, since but one precedent in king Henry the Eighth's
time was brought for it, and in that the commons had added some names by a clause in a bill
of attainder, sent down to them by the lords ; yet as this was a single precedent, so it seemed
to be a hard one : attainders by bill were the greatest rigours of the law, so stretches in them
ought to be avoided ; it was therefore thought more proper to attaint her by a bill apart,
than by a clause in another bill ; to this the lords agreed, so the bill against the pretended
prince of Wales passed. The lords also passed a new bill, attainting the queen, but that was
let sleep in the house of commons.
The matter that occasioned the longest and warmest debates in both houses, was an act
for abjuring the pretended prince of Wales, and for swearing to the king by the title of
rightful and lawful king, and to his heirs, according to the act of settlement : this was
begun in the house of lords, and the first design was, that it should be voluntary, it being
only to be tendered to all persons, and their subscription or refusal to be recorded, without
any other penalty. It was vehemently opposed by all the tory party, at the head of whom
the earl of Nottingham set himself. They who argued against it, said this government was
first settled with another oath, which was like an original contract, and it was unjust and
unreasonable to offer a new one : there was no need of new oaths, as there was no new
strength got by them : oaths, relating to men's opinions, had been always looked on as
severe impositions : a voluntary oath seemed to be by its nature unlawful ; for we cannot
swear lawfully unless we are required to do it. To all this it was answered, that in ancient
time, the oath of allegiance was short and simple, because then it was not thought that
princes had any right, other than what was conveyed to them by law ; but of late, and indeed
very lately, new opinions had been started of a divine right, with which former times were
not acquainted : so it was necessary to know who among us adhered to these opinions ; the
present government was begun upon a comprehensive foot, it being hoped that all parties
might have been brought to concur in supporting it : but the effects had not answered expec-
tation; distinctions had been made between a king de jure and a king de facto ; whereby !
these men plainly declared with whom they believed the right was lodged : this opinion j
must, whensoever that right comes to be claimed, oblige those who hold it to adhere to such
claimers ; it seemed therefore in some sort necessary that the government should know on !
OF KING WILLIAM III. C99
\vliom it might depend : the discrimination made, by such a test, was to be without compul-
sion, or penalty ; no hardship was put on any person by it : those who refused to give this
security would see what just cause of jealousy they gave, and would thereby be obliged to
behave themselves decently and with due caution : when a government tendered an oath,
though under no penalty, that was a sufficient authority for all to take it who were satisfied
with the substance of it : while, therefore, there was so great a power beyond sea, that did
so openly espouse this young man's pretensions, and while there was just ground to suspect
that many at home favoured him, it seemed very reasonable to offer a method, by which it
should appear, who obeyed the present government from a principle, believing it lawful, and
who submitted only to it, as to a prosperous usurpation. About twenty lords persisted in
their opposition to this bill ; those who were for it being thrice that number ; but, in the
house of commons, when it appeared how the lords w^ere inclined, they resolved to bring in
a bill that should oblige all persons to take this abjuration. It was drawn by sir Charles
Hedges; all employments in church or state were to be subject to it: some things were
added to the abjuration, such as an obligation to maintain the government in king, lords, and
commons, and to maintain the church of England, together with the toleration for dissenters :
Finch offered an alteration to the clause, abjuring the prince of Wales, so that it imported
only an obligation not to assist him ; but though he pressed this with unusual vehemence, in
a debate that he resumed seventeen times in one session, against all rules, he had few to
second him in it : the debate, whether the oath should be imposed, or left free, held longer ;
it was carried, but by one vote, to impose it : the party chose that, rather than to have it
left free ; for they reckoned the taking an oath that was imposed, was a part of their submis-
sion to the usurpation ; but the taking any oath, that strengthened the government, of their
own accord, did not suit with their other principles ; but to help the matter with a show of
zeal, they made the clause that imposed it very extensive, so that it comprehended all clergy-
men, fellows of colleges, schoolmasters, and private tutors : the clause of maintaining the
government in king, lords, and commons, was rejected with great indignation ; since the
government was only in the king ; the lords and commons being indeed a part of the con-
stitution, and of the legislative body, but not of the government. This wvas a bare-faced
republican notion, and was wont to be condemned as such by the same persons who now
pressed it. It was farther said, that if it appeared that our constitution was in danger, it
might be reasonable to secure it by an act and oath apart ; but since the single point, that
required this abjuration, was the French king^s declaring that the pretended prince of Wales
was our king, it was not fit to join matters foreign to that in this oath ; upon the same
reason, the clause in favour of the church, and of the toleration, were also laid aside. The
design of this act was to discover to all, both at home and abroad, how unanimously the
nation concurred in abjuring the pretended prince of Wales ; but here was a clause, to one
part of which (the maintaining the church) the dissenters could not swear ; and even the
more moderate men of the church, who did well approve of the toleration, yet might think it
too much to swear to maintain it ; since it was reasonable to oblige the dissenters to use
their liberty modestly, by keeping them under the apprehension of having it taken away, if
it was abused by them. One addition was offered, and received without any debate about
it, or the shadow of any opposition ; it was declared to be high treason to endeavour to pre-
vent or defeat the princess's right of succession : the tories pretended great zeal for her, and
cave it out that there was a design to set her aside, and to have the house of Hanover to
succeed the king immediately ; though it could never, be made appear that any motion of
this kind had ever been either made, or debated, even in private discourse, by any of the
whole whig party. Great endeavours were used, and not altogether without effect, to infuse
this jealousy into the princess, and into all about her, not without insinuations, that the king
liimself was inclined to it. When this clause was offered, its being without a precedent,
Have handle enough to oppose it, yet there was not one word said in opposition to it, in either
house, all agreeing heartily in it. This ought to have put an end to the suspicion, but sur-
hiises of that kind, when raised on design, are not soon parted with.
Saon after the session was opened, the earl of Rochester wrote to the king, and asked leave
a lo come over ; it was soon granted, but when he signified this to the council of Ireland, the
700 THE HISTORY OF THE RHIGN
whole board joined in a request to him, that he would lay before the king the great griev-
ances under which the whole kingdom lay, by the proceedings of the trustees, who stretched
the authority that the law gave them, in many instances, to the oppressing of the nation ;
he seemed uneasy at the motion, but promised to lay it before the king, which he did at his
coming over. Soon after that, petitions were sent round all the counties of Ireland, and
signed by many, representing both the hardships of the act, and the severe methods the
trustees took in executing it : all this was believed to be set on secretly by the court, in hope
that some temper might be found in that matter, so that the king's grants might again take
place in whole, or in part. The house of commons was moved to proceed severely against
the promoters of these petitions ; yet the complaining of grievances had been so often asserted
to be a right of the subject, that this was let fall ; but since no person appeared to justify
the facts set forth, and suggested in those petitions, they were voted false and scandalous,
and this stopped a further progress in that method. The heat with which that act had been
carried was now much qualified, and the trustees having judged for so many claims in favour
of Irish papists, showing too manifest a partiality for them, and having now sat two years,
in which they had consumed all the rents that arose out of the confiscated estates, the house
was applied to for their interposition, by many petitions relating to that matter. This was
the more necessary, because, as was formerly told, when that act was depending, they had
passed a vote against receiving any petition relating to it : the thing had now lost much of
the credit and value that was set upon it at first ; and though the same party still opposed
the receiving any petitions, yet the current was now so strong the other way;, that they were
ail received, and in a great many cases justice was done ; yet with a manifest partiality, in
favour of papists ; it being a maxim, among all who favoured king James's interests, to
serve papists, especially those whose estates were confiscated for adhering to him. One
motion was carried, not without difficulty, in favour of those who had purchased under the
grantees, and had made great improvements, that they should be admitted to purchase with
an abatement of two years1 value of the estates : the earl of Athlone, whose case was singu-
lar, as was formerly set out, having sold his grant to men, who had reason to think they
had purchased under -a secure title, a special clause was offered in their favour; but the party
had studied so far to inflame the nation against the Dutch, that in this the votes were equal,
and the speaker's vote being to turn the matter, he gave it against the purchasers. Many
bills were brought in relating to Irish forfeitures, which took up the greatest part of the
session.
The commons, after a long delay, sent up the bill, abjuring the prince of "Wales. In the
house of lords the tories opposed it all they possibly could : it was a new bill, so the debate
was entirely open ; they first moved for a clause, excusing the peers from it : if this had
been received, the bill would have been certainly lost, for the commons would never have
yielded to it : when this was rejected, they tried to have brought it back to be voluntary;
it was a strange piece of inconsistency in men to move this, who had argued even against the
lawfulness of a voluntary oath : but it was visible they intended by it only to lose, or at
least to delay, the bill : when this was over-ruled by the house, not without a mixture of j
indignation in some against the movers, they next offered all those clauses that had been i
rejected in the house of commons, with some other very strange additions, by which they j
discovered both great weakness and an inveterate rancour against the government ; but all j
the opposition ended in a urutestation of nineteen or twenty peers against the bill.
And now I am arrived at tne fatal period of this reign. The king seemed all this winter
in a very fair way of recovery ; he had made the royal apartments in Hampton-court very
noble, and he was so much pleased with the place, that he went thither once a week, and
rode often about the park : in the end of February, the horse he rode on stumbled, and he,
being then very feeble, fell off and broke his collar-bone : he seemed to have no other hurt j
by it, and his strength was then so much impaired, that it was not thought necessary to let;
him blood, no symptom appeared that required it: the bone was well set, and it was!
thought there was no danger ; so he was brought to Kensington that night: he himself hadi
apprehended all this winter that he was sinking ; he said to the earl of Portland, both before
and after this accident, that he was a dead man : it was not in his legs, nor now in his collar-]
OF KING WILLIAM III 701
bone, that he felt himself ill, but all was decayed within, so that he believed he should not
be able to go through the fatigue of another campaign. During his illness, he sent a message
to the two houses, recommending the union of both kingdoms to them. The occasion of this,
was a motion that the earl of Nottingham had made, in the house of lords, when the act of
abjuration was agreed to : he said, though he had differed from the majority of the house in
many particulars relating to it, yet he was such a friend to the design of the act, that in order
to the securing a protestant succession, he thought an union of the whole island was very
necessary ; and that therefore they should consider how both kingdoms might be united ;
but in order to this, and previous to it, he moved, that an address should be made to the king,
that he \vould be pleased to dissolve the parliament now sitting in Scotland, and to call a
new one : since the present parliament was at first a convention, and then turned to a parlia-
ment, and was continued ever since, so that the legality of it might be called in question ;
and it was necessary that so important a thing as the union of both kingdoms, should be
treated in a parliament against the constitution of which no exception could lie. The motion
was warmly opposed ; for that nation was then in such a ferment, that the calling a new
parliament would have been probably attended with bad consequences ; so that project was
let fall, and no progress was made upon the king's message. On the third of March, the king
had a short fit of an ague, which he regarded so little, that he said nothing of it : it returned
on him next day : I happened to be then near him, and observed such a visible alteration, as
gave me a very ill opinion of his condition ; after that he kept his chamber till Friday :
every day it was given out that his fits abated ; on Friday, things had so melancholy a face,
that his being dangerously ill was no longer concealed ; there was now such a difficulty of
breathing, and his pulse was so sunk, that the alarm was given out every where ; he had
sent the earl of Albemarle over to Holland to put things in a readiness for an early campaign.
He came back on the 7th of March in the morning, with so good an account of every thing,
that, if matters of that kind could have wrought on the king, it must have revived him ; but
the coldness with which he received it showed how little hopes were left : soon after, he said,
" Je tire vers ma fin, (I draw towards my end.") The act of abjuration, and the money
bill, were now prepared for the royal assent ; the council ordered all things to be in a readi-
ness for the passing of those bills by a special commission, which according to form must be
signed by the king, in the presence of the lord keeper and the clerks of the parliament : they
came to the king, when his fit began, and stayed some hours before they were admitted ;
some in the house of commons moved for an adjournment, though the lords had sent to them
not to adjourn for some time ; by this means they hoped the bill of abjuration should be lost ;
but it was contrary to all rules to adjourn, when such a message was sent them by the lords,
HO they waited till the king had signed the commission and the bills, and thus those acts
passed in the last day of the king's life.
The king's strength and pulse was still sinking, as the difficulty of breathing increased, so
1 that no hope was left. The archbishop of Canterbury and I went to him on Saturday niorn-
| ing, and did not stir from him till he died. The archbishop prayed on Saturday some time
I with him, but he was then so weak that he could scarcely speak, but gave him his hand, as
a sign that he firmly believed the truth of the Christian religion, and said, he intended to
I receive the sacrament : his reason and all his senses were entire to the last minute : about
i iive in the morning he desired the sacrament, and went through the office with great appear-
j ance of seriousness, but could not express himself; when this was done, he called for the earl
•f Albemarle, and gave him a charge to take care of his papers. He thanked Mr. Auver-
querque for his long and faithful services. He took leave of the duke of Ormond, and called
for the earl of Portland, but before he came, his voice quite failed, so he took him by the
li ml, and carried it to his heart with great tenderness. He was often looking up to heaven,
ii many short ejaculations. Between seven and eight o'clock the rattle began, the commen-
<i tory prayer was said for him, and as it ended he died, in the fifty-second year of his age,
1 ving reigned thirteen years and a few days. When his body was opened, it appeared that,
notwithstanding the swelling of his legs, he had no dropsy; his head and heart were sound ;
there was scarcely any blood in his body ; his lungs stuck to his bide, and by the fall from
Ms liorae, a part of them was torn from it. which occasioned an inflammation, that was
702 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
believed to be the immediate cause of his death, which probably might have been prevented
for some time, if he had been then let blood. His death would have been a great stroke at
any time, but in our circumstances, as they stood at that time, it was a dreadful one. The
earl of Portland told me, that when he was once encouraging him, from the good state his
affairs were in, both at home and abroad, to take more heart ; the king answered him, that
he knew death was that which he had looked at on all occasions without any terror ; some-
times he would have been glad to have been delivered out of all his troubles, but he con-
fessed now he saw another scene, and could wish to live a little longer. He died with a
clear and full presence of mind, and in a wonderful tranquillity. Those who knew it was
his rule, all his life long, to hide the impressions that religion made on him as much as pos-
sible, did not wonder at his silence in his last minutes, but they lamented it much ; they
knew what a handle it would give to censure and obloquy.
Thus lived and died William the Third, king of Great Britain, and prince of Orange. He
had a thin and weak body, was brown haired, and of a clear and delicate constitution ; he
had a Roman eagle nose, bright and sparkling eyes, a large front, and a countenance com-
posed to gravity and authority : all his senses were critical and exquisite. He was always
asthmatical, and the dregs of the small pox falling on his lungs, he had a constant deep cough.
His behaviour was solemn and serious, seldom cheerful, and but with a few : he spoke little
and very slowly, and most commonly with a disgusting dryness, which was his character at
all times, except in a day of battle ; for then he was all fire, though without passion : he
was then every where, and looked to every thing. He had no great advantage from his
education ; De Wit's discourses were of great use to him, and he, being apprehensive of the
observation of those who were looking narrowly into every thing he said or did, had brought
himself under an habitual caution that he could never shake off, though in another scene it
proved as hurtful as it was then necessary to his affairs : he spoke Dutch, French, English
and German equally well ; and he understood the Latin, Spanish and Italian, so that he was
well fitted to command armies composed of several nations. He had a memory that amazed
all about him, for it never failed him ; he was an exact observer of men and things ; his
strength lay rather in a true discerning and a sound judgment, than in imagination, or inven-
tion : his designs were always great and good ; but it was thought he trusted too much to
that, and that he did not descend enough to the humours of his people to make himself, and
his notions, more acceptable to them : this, in a government that has so much of freedom in
it as ours, was more necessary than he was inclined to believe : his reservedness grew on him,
so that it disgusted most of those who served him ; but he had observed the errors of too
much talking, more than those of too cold a silence. He did not like contradiction, nor to
have his actions censured, but he loved to employ and favour those who had the arts of com-
plasaince : yet he did not love flatterers. His genius lay chiefly to war, in which his courage
was more admired than his conduct : great errors were often committed by him, but his
heroical courage set things right, as it inflamed those who were about him : he was too lavish j
of money on some occasions, both in his buildings, and to his favourites, but too sparing in
rewarding services, or in encouraging those who brought intelligence : he was apt to take ill !
impressions of people, and these stuck long with him, but he never carried them to indecent
revenges ; he gave too much way to his own humour almost in every thing, not excepting
that which related to his own health ; he knew all foreign affairs well, and understood the
state of every court in Europe very particularly ; he instructed his own ministers himself, but
he did not apply enough to affairs at home : he tried how he could govern us by balancing
the two parties one against another, but he came at last to be persuaded that the tories were
irreconcilable to him, and he was resolved to try and trust them no more. He believed the
truth of the Christian religion very firmly, and he expressed a horror at atheism and bias- j
phemy ; and though there was much of both in his court, yet it was always denied to him, ;
and kept out of sight. He was most exemplarily decent and devout in the public exer- j
cises of the worship of God, only on week days he came too seldom to them : he was an I
attentive hearer of sermons, and was constant in his private prayers, and in reading the scrip-
tures : and when he spoke of religious matters, which he did not often, it was with a
becoming gravity. He was much possessed with the belief of absolute decrees : he said to
OF KING WILLIAM III. 703
me, he adhered to these, .because he did not see how the belief of Providence could be main-
tained upon any other supposition ; his indifference as to the forms of church government,
and his being zealous for toleration, together with his cold behaviour towards the clergy,
gave them generally very ill impressions of him ; in his deportment towards all about him,
he seemed to make little distinction between the good and the bad, and those who served
well, or those who served him ill : he loved the Dutch, and was much beloved among them ;
but the ill returns he met from the English nation, their jealousies of him, and their per-
verseness towards him, had too much soured his mind, and had in a great measure alienated
him from them, which he did not take care enough to conceal, though he saw the ill effects
this had upon his business. lie grew, in his last years, too remiss and careless as to all
affairs ; till the treacheries of France awakened him, and the dreadful conjunction of the
monarchies gave so loud an alarm to all Europe ; for a watching over that court, and. a
bestirring himself against their practices, was the prevailing passion of his whole life. Few
men had the art of concealing and governing passion more than he had ; yet few men had
stronger passions, which were seldom felt but by inferior servants, to whom he usually made
such recompenses, for any sudden, or indecent, vents he might give his anger, that they were
glad at every time that it broke upon them : he was too easy to the faults of those about
him, when they did not lie in his own way, or cross any of his designs ; and he was so apt
to think that his ministers might grow insolent, if they should find that they had much
credit with him, that he seemed to have made it a maxim, to let them often feel how little
power they had, even in small matters : his favourites had a more entire power, but h.9 accus-
tomed them only to inform him of things, but to be sparing in offering advice, except when
it was asked ; it was not easy to account for the reasons of the favour that he shewed, in the
highest instances, to two persons beyond all others, the earls of Portland and Albemarle ;
they being in all respects men, not only of different, but of opposite characters ; secrecy and
fidelity were the only qualities in which it could be said, that they did in any sort agree. I
have now run through the chief branches of his character ; I had occasion to know him well,
having observed him very carefully in a course of sixteen years : I had a large measure of his
favour, and a free access to him all the while, though not at all times to the same degree :
the freedom that I used with him was not always acceptable ; but he saw that I served him
faithfully, so, after some intervals of coldness, he always returned to a good measure of con-
fidence in me ; I was, in many great instances, much obliged by him ; but that was not my
chief bias towards him ; I considered him as a person raised up by God to resist the power
of France, and the progress of tyranny and persecution; the series of the five princes of
Orange, that was now ended hi him, was the noblest succession of heroes that we find in
any history; and the thirty years, from the year 1672 to his death, in which he acted so
i;Tcat a part, carry in them so many amazing steps of a glorious and distinguishing Provi-
dence, that in the words of David, he may be called, " The man of God's right hand, whom
he made strong for himself." After all the abatements that may be allowed for his errors and
faults, he ought still to be reckoned among the greatest princes that our history, or indeed
that any other, can afford. He died in a critical time for his own glory ; since he had
formed a great alliance, and had projected the whole scheme of the war ; so that if it suc-
ceeds, a great part of the honour of it will be ascribed to him ; and if otherwise, it will be
said he was the soul of the alliance, that did both animate and knit it together, and that it
was natural for that body to die and fall asunder, when he who gave it life was withdrawn.
Upon his death, some moved for a magnificent funeral ; but it seemed not decent to run into
unnecessary expense, when we were entering on a war, that must be maintained at a vast
harge ; so a private funeral was resolved on. But for the honour of his memory, a noble
monument and an equestrian statue were ordered. Some years must shew whether these
liings were really intended, or if they were only spoken of to excuse the privacy of his
uneral, which was scarcely decent, so far was it from being magnificent.
704
UOOK VII.
OF THE LIFE AND REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.
Y tlie death of king William, pursuant to the act that had settled
the succession of the crown, it devolved on Anne, the youngest
daughter of king James, by his first marriage ; she was then
entered on the thirty-eighth year of her age. Upon the king's
death, the privy council came in a body to wait on the new
queen : she received them with a well considered speech *. She
expressed great respect to the memory of the late king, in whose
steps she intended to go, for preserving both church arid state, in
opposition to the growing power of France, and for maintaining
the succession in the protestant line : she pronounced this as she
did all her other speeches, with great weight and authority, and with a softness of voice, and
sweetness in the pronunciation, that added much life to all she spoke. These, her first
expressions, were heard with great and just acknowledgments : both houses of parliament
met that day, and made addresses to her, full of respect and duty : she answered both very
favourably, and she received all that came to her in so gracious a manner, that they went
from her highly satisfied with her goodness, and her obliging deportment ; for she hearkened
with attention to every thing that was said to her. Two days after, she went to the parlia-
ment, which, to the great happiness of the nation, and to the advantage of her government,
was now continued to sit, notwithstanding the king's demise, by the act, that was made five
years before, upon the discovery of the assassination plot. In her speech she repeated, but
more copiously, what she had said to the council, upon her first accession to the throne.
There were two passages in this speech that were thought not so well considered : she
assured them her heart was " entirely English ;" this was looked on as a reflection on the
late king : she also added, that they might " depend on her word." Both these expressions
had been in her father's first speech, how little soever they were afterwards minded by him.
The city of London, and all the counties, cities, and even the subaltern bodies of cities, came
up with addresses ; in these a very great diversity of style was observed ; some mentioned
the late king in terms full of respect and gratitude ; others named him very coldly ; some
took no notice of him, nor of his death, and simply congratulated her coming to the crown ;
and some insinuated reflections on his memory, as if the queen had been ill used by him.
The queen received all civilly ; to most she said nothing, to others she expressed herself in
general words, and some things were given out in her name, which she disowned.
Within a week after her coming to the crown, she sent the earl of Marlborough to Hol-
land, to give the States full assurances of her maintaining the alliances that had been con-
cluded by the late king, and of doing every thing that the common concerns of Europe
required. She gave notice also of her coming to the crown to all the princes and states of
Europe, except France and Spain. The earl of Marlborough stayed some days in Holland,
to very good purpose ; the king's death had struck them all with such a damp, that they
needed the encouragement of such a message, as he brought them : when they had the first
news of the king's death, they assembled together immediately ; they looked on one another
as men amazed ; they embraced one another, and promised they would stick together, and
adhere to the interests of their country : they sat up most of the night, and sent out all the
See Chandler's Debates, House of Commons, iii. 197.
THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. 705
orders that were necessary upon so extraordinary an emergency. They were now much
revived by the earl of Marlborough's presence, and by the temper that both houses of parlia-
ment were in with relation to the alliances, and the war with France ; and they entered
into such confidence with the earl of Marlborough, that he came back as well satisfied with
them, as they were with him. The queen in her first speech had asked of the commons the
continuance of that revenue, which supported the civil list, and it was granted to her for
life, very unanimously, though many seemed to apprehend that so great a revenue might be
applied to uses, not so profitable to the public, in a reign that was likely to be frugal, and
probably would not be subject to great accidents. When the queen came to pass the act,
and to thank the parliament for it, she said, she intended to apply one hundred thousand
pounds of it to the public occasions of the present year : this was received with great
applause, and particular notice was taken of it in all the addresses that came up afterwards.
At the same time, the queen passed a bill for receiving and examining the public accounts ;
and in her speech she expressed a particular approbation of that bill. A commission to the
same effect had been kept up for six or seven years, during the former reign, but had been
let fall for some years ; since the commissioners had never been able to make any discovery
whatsoever, and so had put the public to a considerable charge, without reaping any sort of
fruit from it. Whether this flowed from the weakness or corruption of the commissioners,
or from the integrity or cunning of those who dealt in the public money, cannot be deter-
mined. The party that had opposed the late king had made this the chief subject of their
complaints all the nation over, that the public was robbed, and that private men lived high,
and yet raised large estates out of the public treasure. This had a great effect over England ;
for all people naturally hearken to complaints of this kind, and very easily believe them : it
was also said, to excuse the fruitlessness of the former commissions, that no discoveries could
be made under a ministry that would surely favour their under- workmen, though they wrere
known to be guilty. One visible cause of men's raising great estates, who were concerned
in the administration, was this, that for some years the parliament laid the taxes upon very
remote funds, so that, besides the distance of the term of payment, for which interest was
illowed, the danger the government itself seemed to be often in (upon the continuance of
irhich the continuance and assignment of these funds was grounded) made that some tallies
vere sold at a great discount, even of the one half, to those who would employ their money
hat way, by which great advantages were made. The gain that was made, by robbing the
oin, in which many goldsmiths were believed to be deeply concerned, contributed not a
ittle to the raising those vast estates, to which some had grown, as suddenly as unaccount-
bly. All these complaints were easily raised, and long kept up, on design to cast the
leavier load on the former ministry : this made that ministry, who were sensible of the mis-
iiief this clamour did them, and of their own innocence, promote the bill with much zeal,
nd put the strongest clauses in it that could be contrived to make it effectual. The com-
uissioners named in the bill were the hottest men in the house, who had raised, as well as
:ept up, the clamour, with the greatest earnestness. One clause put in the act, was not
•'?ry acceptable to the commissioners ; for they were rendered incapable of all employments
uring the commission ; the act carried a retrospect quite back to the revolution ; it was
iven out that great discoveries would be made by them, and the art and industry with
vhich this was spread over England, had a great effect in the elections to the succeeding
arliament. The coronation was on the 23rd of April, on St. George's day ; it was per-
>rmed with the usual magnificence : the archbishop of York (Dr. Sharp) preached a good
nd wise sermon on the occasion; the queen immediately after that gave orders for naming
he electoress of Brunswick, in the collect for the royal family, as the next heir of the crown,
nd she formed a ministry.
The coldness had continued between the king and her, to such a degree, that though
here was a reconciliation after the queen's death, yet it went not much farther, than
hat civility and decency required : she was not made acquainted with public affairs *.
he was not encouraged to recommend any to posts of trust and advantage ; ncr
:id the ministry orders to inform her how matters went, nor to oblige those about
See Duchess of MarlborougU'a Letters to and from Queen Anne.
Z Z
706 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
her : only pains had been taken to please the earl of Marlborougti, with which he was
fully satisfied : nothing had contented him better than the command he had the formei
year of the troops, which were sent to the assistance of the States. The whigs had
lived at a great distance with the queen all the former reign : the tories had made
much noise with their zeal .for her, chiefly after the death of the duke of Glocester,
though they came seldom to her : her court was then very thin, she lived in due abstrac-
tion from business, so that she neither gave jealousy, nor encouraged faction : yet these
things had made those impressions on her, that had at first ill effects, which were soon
observed and remedied. The late king had sent a message to the earl of Rochester some
weeks before he died, letting him know that he had put an end to his commission of lord
lieutenant of Ireland, but that was not executed in form ; so the commission did still sub-
sist in his person : he was upon that now declared lord lieutenant of Ireland. The lord
Godolphin was made lord treasurer ; this was very uneasy to himself, for he resisted the
motion long ; but the earl of Marlborough pressed it in so positive a manner, that he said
he could not go beyond sea to command our armies, unless the treasury was put in his hands ;
for then he was sure that remittances would be punctually made him. He was declared
captain-general, and the prince * had the title of generalissimo of all the queen's forces by
sea and land. It was for some time given out, that the prince intended to go beyond sea,
to command the armies of the alliance, but this report soon fell ; and it was said, the Dutch
were not willing to trust their armies to the command of a prince, who might think it below
him to be limited by their instructions, or to be bound to obey their orders. The late king
had dissolved the commission for executing the office of the lord admiral, and had committed
that great trust to the earl of Pembroke : the secrets of that board were so ill kept, and there
was such a faction in it, that the king resolved to put it in a single person ; the earl of Pem-
broke was not easily brought to submit to it : he saw it would draw a heavy load on him,
and he was sensible that by his ignorance of sea affairs, he might commit errors ; yet he
took good officers to his assistance : he resolved to command the fleet in person, and he took
great pains to put things in such order that it might be soon ready. A land army was
designed to go with the fleet, to the command of which the duke of Ormond had been
named : but upon new measures, the earl of Pembroke was first sent to, not to go to sea ia
person, and soon after he was dismissed from his post, with the offer of a great pension,
which he very generously refused, though the state of his affairs and family seemed to require
it. The prince was made lord high admiral, which he was to govern by a council ; the
legality of this was much questioned, for it was a new court, which could not be authorized
to act, but by an act of parliament ; yet the respect paid the queen made that no public
question was made of this, so that objections to it never went beyond a secret murmur.
The earl of Nottingham and sir Charles Hedges were made secretaries of state : the tories
would trust none but the earl of Nottingham, and he would serve with none but Hedges f :
the maxim laid down at court, was, to put the direction of affairs in the hands of the tones.
The earl of Marlborough assured me this was done, upon the promises they made to carry
on the war, and to maintain the alliances ; if they kept these, then affairs would go on j
smoothly in the house of commons, but if they failed in this, the queen would put her
business in other hands, which at that time few could believe. The marquis of Normanby
was, to the admiration of all men, made lord privy seal, and soon after duke of Bucking-
ham J. The earl of Abingdon, viscount Weymouth, lord Dartmouth, Seymour, Musgrave,
Greenvil, How, Lugon § Grower, Harcourt, with several others, who had, during the last
reign, expressed the most violent and unrelenting aversion to the whole administration, were
now brought to the council board, and put in good posts.
* Prince George of Denmark, the queen's husband, his colleague ; although he gave out as a more honourable I
Unlike the same relation of her sister, he was not reason, that sir Charles ought to be restored because he had;
acknowledged as king. lost his place for a conscientious vote in the house of com- j
f Sir Charles Hedges was secretary of state to king mons. — Earl of Dartmouth in Oxford edition of this work, j
William, and lost his office a sliort time before this £ Duke of Normanby and Buckinghamshire. There
monarch's death ; but was restored under queen Anne, being suspected to be somewhere latent a claim to the
owing to the earl of Nottingham refusing to be secretary title of Buckingham Johnson's Lives of the Poets.
unless he was so reinstated. This was to prevent Vernon § Spelt Levison, though still often pronounced as spelt
taking the office, whom the earl did not wish to have for by Burnet.
OF QUEEN ANNE. 707
Before the king's death, it -was generally thought, that some in both houses, and many
more over the nation, would refuse the abjuration : they had opposed it so vehemently, that
no less could be expected from them. Some went out of town when the day came, in which
the houses resolved to try all their members ; but they soon came to other resolutions, and
with them almost the whole party came and took the oath, and professed great zeal for the
queen, and an entire satisfaction in her title. Some suspected this was treachery, on design
to get the government once into their hands, that so they might deliver it up, or at least that
they might carry a parliament so to their mind, that the act might be repealed ; and they
might think, that then the oath would fall with it. Distinctions were set about among
them, which heightened these suspicions ; for though in the oath they declared that the pre-
tended prince of Wales had not any right whatsoever to the crown ; yet in a paper (which I
saw) that went about among them, it was said that " right" was a term of law, which had
only relation to " legal rights," but not to a " divine right," or to " birth right : " so since
that right was condemned by law, they, by abjuring it, did not renounce the " divine right,"
that he had by his birth. They also supposed that this abjuration could only bind, during
the present state of things, but not in case of another revolution, or of a conquest : this was
too dark a thing to be inquired after, or seen into, in the state matters were then in. The
queen continued most of the great officers of the household, all the judges except two, and
most of the lords lieutenants of counties ; nor did she make any change in the foreign ministry.
It was generally believed that the earl of Rochester and his party were for severe methods,
and for a more entire change, to be carried quite through all subaltern employments ; but
that the lord Godolphin and the earl of Marlborough were for moderate proceedings ; so that
though no whigs were put into employments, yet many were kept in the posts they had
been put into, during the former reign. Repeated assurances were sent to all the allies, that
the queen would adhere firmly to them.
The queen in her first speech to her parliament, had renewed the motion, made by the late
king, for the union of both kingdoms ; many of those who seemed now to have the greatest
share of her favour and confidence, opposed it with much heat, and not without indecent
reflections on the Scotch nation ; yet it was carried by a great majority, that the queen
should be impowered to name commissioners for treating of an union ; it was so visibly the
interest of England, and of the present government, to shut that back door against the prac-
tices of France, and the attempts of the pretended prince of Wales, that the opposition made
to this first step towards an union, and the indecent scorn with which Seymour and others
treated the Scots, were clear indications that the posts they were brought into had not
changed their tempers ; but that, instead of healing matters, they intended to irritate them
farther by their reproachful speeches. The bill went through both houses, notwithstanding
the rough treatment it met with at first * .
Upon the earl of Marlborough's return from Holland, and in pursuance of the concert at
the Hague, the queen communicated to both houses her design to proclaim war with France ;
they approving of it, war was proclaimed on the fourth day of May : the house of commons
made an address to thank the queen for ordering the princess Sophia to be prayed for ; and
as the right, that recommended her, was in her own blood, she was designed by her Christian
name, and not by her title : it came to be known that this was opposed in council by the
marquis of Normanby, but that it was promoted by the lord treasurer (Godolphin).
A report was spread about town, and over the nation, with such a seeming assurance, that
many were inclined to believe it, that a scheme had been found among the king's papers for
sotting aside the queen ; some added, for imprisoning her, and for bringing the house of
Hanover immediately into the succession; and that, to support this, a great change was to
1-e made in all the employments and offices over the whole kingdom; this, many of those
who were now in posts, had talked of in so public a manner, that it appeared they intended
t ) possess the whole nation with a belief of it ; hoping thereby to alienate the people from
those who had been in the late king's confidence, and disgrace all that side, in order to the
currying all elections of parliament for men of their party. Five lords had been ordered by
* In the compass of restricted notes, it is not possible to detail the proceedings connected with this most important
The reader is therefore referred to De Foe's excellent " History of the Union."
z z 2
708 4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the queen to visit the late king's papers, and bring her such of them as related to the alli-
ances, or other affairs, of the crown ; these were the dukes of Somerset and Devonshire, and
the earls of Marlborough, Jersey, and Albemarle : the whigs saw the design which was
driven at by those false reports ; so a motion was made in the house of lords by the earl of
Carlisle, and seconded by the lords Wharton, Halifax, and others, that an inquiry should bo
made into the truth of that report, and of all other stories of that kind, that so, if there was
any truth in them, such as had been concerned in those wicked designs might be punished ;
and if they were found to be false, that those who spread ^them about might be chastised.
Upon this the house desired that those lords who had visited the late king's papers, would
let them know if they had met with any among them relating to the queen's succession, or
to the succession of the house of Hanover. Four of them were then in the house, only the
earl of Marlborough was ill that day, so the four who were present said, they had found nothing
that did in any sort relate to that matter, and this was confirmed by the earl of Marlborough
to some peers, who were sent by the house to ask him the same question. Upon which a
vote passed, that these reports were false and scandalous ; and an order was made for prose-
cuting the spreaders of them. Some books had been published, charging the late ministry
and the whole whig party with the like designs : these books were censured, and the authors
of them were ordered to be prosecuted ; though both the marquis of Normanby and the earl
Nottingham did all they could to excuse those writers. When the falsehood of those
calumnies was apparent, then it was given out, with an unusual confidence, that no such
reports had been ever set about ; though the contrary was evident, and the thing was boldly
asserted in those books ; so that a peculiar measure of assurance was necessary to face down
a thing which they had taken such pains to infuse into the minds of the credulous vulgar,
all England over. The earl of Nottingham, to divert this inquiry, moved, that another
might be made into those T>obks, in which the murder of king Charles the First was justi-
fied ; though the provocation given to some of these, was, by a sermon preached by Dr. Binks
before the convocation, on the 30th of January, in which he drew a parallel between king
Charles's sufferings and those of our Saviour ; and, in some very indecent expressions, gave
the preference to the former. When the business of the session of parliament was all clone,
the queen dismissed them, with thanks for the money they had given, recommending
earnestly to them a good agreement among themselves, assuring them that as on the one
hand she would maintain the toleration, so on the other hand, her own principles would
oblige her to have a particular regard to those who expressed the truest zeal for the church
of England : thus the session ended, and the proclamation dissolving the parliament, with
the writs for a new one, came out not long after.
During some part of this parliament, a convocation sat ; the faction raised in the lower
house had still the majority; several books were written to show that, by our constitution,
the power of adjourning was wholly in the archbishop : the original book of the convocation
that sat in the year 1661, being happily found, it showed the practice of that convocation
agreed with the bishops in every particular ; but though it was communicated to the lower
house, that had no effect on them ; for when parties are once formed, and a resolution is
taken up on other considerations, no evidence can convince those who have beforehand
resolved to stick to their point. But the prolocutor dying, and the king's death following,
the convocation was by that dissolved ; since in the act, that impowered the parliament to
sit after the king's death, no provision was made to continue the convocation. The earl of
Rochester moved in the house of lords, that it might be considered whether the convocation
was not a part of the parliament, and whether it was not continued in consequence of the
act that continued the parliament ; but that was soon let fall, for the judges were all of
opinion that it was dissolved by the king's death.
Upon the queen's accession to the crown, all these angry men that had raised this flame
in the church, as they treated the memory of the late king with much indecent Contempt,
so they seemed very confident, that for the future all preferments should be distributed
among them (the queen having superseded the commission for ecclesiastical preferments) and
they thought they were full of merit, and were as full of hopes.
Such an evil spirit as is now spread among the clergy, would be a sad speculation at any
4-i»nr» lAiif. 11
OF QUEEN ANNE. 709
line, but in our present circumstances, when we are near so great a crisis, it is a dreadful
thing ; but a little to balance this, I shall give an account of more promising beginnings and
appearances, which though they are of an elder date, yet of late they have been brought
into a more regulated form. In king James's reign, the fear of popery was so strong, as
well as just, that many, in and about London, began to meet often together, both for devo-
tion, and for their further instruction : things of that kind had been formerly practised, only
among the puritans and the dissenters ; but these were of the church, and came to their
ministers to be assisted with forms of prayer and other directions : they were chiefly con-
ducted by Dr. Beveridge and Dr. Horneck. Some disliked this, and were afraid it might
be the original of new factions and parties ; but wiser and better men thought it was not fit
nor decent to check a spirit of devotion, at such a time : it might have given scandal, and
it seemed a discouraging of piety, and might be a mean to drive well-meaning persons over
to the dissenters. After the revolution, these societies grew more numerous, and for a
greater encouragement to devotion, they got such collections to be made, as maintained
many clergymen to read prayers in so many places, and at so many different hours, that
devout persons might have that comfort at every hour of the day : there were constant sacra-
ments every lord's day in many churches : there were both great numbers and greater
appearances of devotion at prayers and sacraments than had been observed in the memory
of man *. These societies resolved to inform the magistrates of swearers, drunkards, pro-
faners of the lord's day, and of lewd houses ; and they threw in the part of the fine, given
by law to informers, into a stock of charity ; from this they were called societies of reforma-
tion : some good magistrates encouraged them, but others treated them roughly. As soon
as queen Mary heard of this, she did, by her letters and proclamations, encourage these good
designs, which were afterwards prosecuted by the late king. Other societies set themselves
to raise charity schools for teaching poor children, for clothing them and binding them out
to trades : many books were printed, and sent over the nation by them, to be freely distri-
buted ; these were called societies for propagating Christian knowledge : by this means some
thousands of children are now well educated and carefully looked after. In many places
of the nation, the clergy met often together, to confer about matters of religion and learning ;
and they got libraries to be raised for their common use. At last a corporation was created
by the late king, for propagating the gospel among infidels, for settling schools in our plan-
tations, for furnishing the clergy that were sent thither, and for sending missionaries among
such of our plantations as were not able to provide pastors for themselves. It was a glorious
conclusion of a reign that was begun with preserving our religion, thus to create a corpo-
ration for propagating it to the remoter parts of the earth, and among infidels : there were
very liberal subscriptions made to it by many of the bishops and clergy, who set about it
with great care and zeal ; upon the queen's accession to the crown, they had all possible
assurances of her favour and protection, of which, upon every application, they received very
eminent marks.
The affairs of Scotland began to be somewhat embroiled ; by an act made soon after the
revolution, it was provided, that all princes succeeding to the crown should take the corona-
tion oath before they entered upon their regal dignity ; but no direction was given concern-
ing those who should tender it, or the manner in which it should be taken : so this being
left undetermined, the queen called together all the late king's ministers for that kingdom,
and in the presence of about twelve of them, she took the coronation oath ; men who were
disposed to censure every thing, said, that this ought not to be done, but in the presence of
some, deputed for that effect, either by the parliament, or at least by the privy council of
that kingdom. Another point occasioned a more important debate.
Upon the assassination plot, an act had passed in Scotland for continuing the parliament.
that should be then in being, six months after the death of the king, with twro special
clauses in it ; the first was, that it should meet twenty days after the death of the king ;
but the queen did, by several prorogations, continue the parliament almost three months
after the king's death before it was opened. Some said the parliament was by this dis-
* St>o " An Account of the Societies for the Reformation of Manners, &e.," published in 1GJ)0, \vith a portrait
of King William.
710 THE HISTORY OF THE
solved, since it did not meet upon the day limited by the act to continue it ; but t!:ere wnt
another proviso in the act, that saved to the crown the full prerogative of adjourning, or di -
solving, it within that time ; yet in opposition to that, it was acknowledged, that as to
all subsequent days of meeting, the prerogative was entire, but the day that was limited,
that is the twenty-first after the king's death, seemed to be fixed for the first opening the
session.
The second clause was, a limitation on the power of the parliament, during their sitting,
that it should not extend to the repealing laws ; they were empowered only to maintain the
protestant religion, and the public peace of the country ; it was therefore said, that the
queen was peaceably obeyed, and the country now in full quiet, so there was no need of
assembling the parliament : the end of the law being compassed, it was said, the law fell of
itself, and therefore it was necessary to call a new parliament ; for the old one, if assembled,
could have no authority but to see to the preservation of religion, and the peace of the country,
their power being limited to those two heads by the act that authorized their sitting. In
opposition to this, it was said, that the act which gave them authority to sit as a parliament
for six months, gave them the full authority of a parliament : the directing them to take care
of some more important matters, did not hinder their meddling with other matters, since no
parliament can limit a subsequent one : it was also said, that, since the queen was now
engaged in a war, the public peace could not be secured without such a force and such taxes
to maintain it as the present state of affairs required. The duke of Queensbury, and his
party, were for continuing the parliament ; but duke Hamilton, and the others, who had
opposed that duke in the last parliament, complained highly of this way of proceeding : they
said, they could not acknowledge this to be a legal parliament, they could not submit to it,
but must protest against it ; this was ominous ; a reign was to be begun with a parlia-
ment liable to a dispute ; and from such a breach it was easy to foresee a train of mischief
likely to follow. These lords came up, and represented to the queen and those in favour
with her, their exceptions to all that was intended to be done ; every thing they said was
heard very calmly : but the queen was a stranger to their laws, and could not take it upon
her to judge of them, so she was determined by the advice of the privy council of that king-
dom. The lords that came up to oppose the duke of Queensbury continued to press for a
new parliament, in which they promised to give the queen all that she could ask of them,
and to consent to an act of indemnity for all that was past in the former reign. But it was
thought that the nation was then in too great a heat to venture on that, and that some more
time was necessary to prepare matters, as well as men's minds, before a new parliament should
be summoned. Both parties went down, and both being very sensible that the presbyte-
rian interest would, with its weight, turn that scale into which it should fall, great pains were
taken by both sides to gain that party. On the one hand, they were made to apprehend
what a madness it would be for them to provoke the queen in the beginning of her reign,
who might be enough disposed to entertain prejudices against them ; these would be much
heightened, if in a point, in which conscience could not be pretended, they should engage
in a faction against her, especially when they could not say that any cause of jealousy was
given ; on the contrary, the queen had, in all her public letters, promised to maintain pres-
byterian government ; and though that gave great offence in the late king's time, when those
public letters were printed, yet now this passed without censure. The other party was as
busy to inflame them ; they told them the queen was certainly in her heart against them :
all those who were now in her confidence, the earls of Rochester and Nottingham in par-
ticular, were enemies to presbyterian government : good words were now given them to
separate them from a national interest, knowing well that if they went off from that, and so
lost the hearts of the nation, they lost that in which their chief strength lay : the party that
now governed, as soon as they should have carried the present point by their help, and
rendered them odious by their concurring in it, would strengthen themselves at court
by entering into the episcopal interest, and trying to introduce episcopacy into Scotland ;
which would be soon brought about, if the presbyterians should once lose their popularity :
these were the methods and reasonings that were used on both hands.
The parliament was brought together on the 9th of June ; at the opening the session duke
OF QUEEN ANNE. 711
Hamilton read a paper, importing, that this was not a legal parliament, since the only ends
for which they were impowered to meet, were already obtained ; the queen was obeyed,
religion was secured, and the peace of the country was settled ; so there seemed to be no
occasion for their continuance. Upon which he and seventy-four more withdrew ; but one
hundred and twelve members continued to sit, and voted themselves to be a free and legal
parliament, and declared, that pursuant to their ancient laws, it was high treason to impugn
their authority. They ratified all acts made in favour of presbyterian government, in which
they proceeded with such violence, that sir Alexander Bruce moving, that all those acts
might be read, for he believed some of them might be found inconsistent with monarchy, he
was for that expelled the house. They by one act recognized the queen's title ; by another,
they impowered her to name commissioners to treat of the union of the two kingdoms : and
by a third, they gave a tax sufficient to keep up the force that wras then in Scotland for two
years longer ; and so the parliament was brought to a quiet conclusion.
Ireland was put under lords justices, named by the earl of Rochester, and the trustees
continued still in their former authority.
While our affairs were in this posture at home, the first step that was made beyond sea,
was by the house of Hanover ; it had been concerted with the late king before his sickness,
and was set on foot the week he died. The design was well laid, and the execution was
managed with great secrecy : the old duke of Zell, and his nephew the elector of Brunswick,
went in person with an army that was rather inferior in strength to that of the dukes of
Wolfenbuttel ; they entered their country, while their troops were dispersed in their quar-
ters ; they surprised some regiments of horse, and came and invested both Wolfenbuttel
and Brunswick at once, and cut off all communication between them ; having them at this
disadvantage, they required them to concur in the common councils of the empire, to furnish
their quota for its defence, and to keep up no more troops than were consistent with the
safety of their neighbours ; for it was well known, that the greatest part of their men were
subsisted with French pay, and that they had engaged themselves to declare for France, as
toon as it should be required. Duke Rodolph, the elder brother, was a learned and pious
prince ; but as he was never married, so he had turned over the government to the care of
his brother duke Anthony, who was a prince of a temper very much different from his
brother's : he could not bear the advancement of the house of Hanover ; so in opposition to
them, he went into the interests of France ; but being thus surprised, he went away in dis-
content, and his brother broke through all those measures in which he had involved himself;
in conjunction with duke Anthony, the duke of Saxe Gotha had entered into the same
engagements with France ; but was now forced to fall into the common interests of the
empire.
Thus all the north of Germany was united, and ready to declare against France ; only the
war in Poland was so near them, that they were obliged to continue armed, and see the issue
of that war : the king of Sweden was engaged in it, with such a determined opposition to
king Augustus, that there was no hope of treating a peace, though it was endeavoured both
by England and the States : the king of Sweden seemed to have accustomed himself to
fatigue and danger, so that he grew to love both ; and though the Muscovites had fallen
upon the frontiers of Sweden, where they had gained some advantages, yet even that could
not divert him from carrying on the war in Poland. A diet was summoned there, but it
broke up in confusion, without coming to any conclusion, only they sent ambassadors to the
king of Sweden to treat of a peace. The king of Prussia was very apprehensive of the
consequences of this war, which was now in the neighbourhood of Prussia ; and the king of
Sweden threatened to invade Saxony with the troops that he had in Pomerania, which coijld
not be done, but through his territories. The king of Sweden delayed giving audience to the
ambassadors of Poland ; and marched on to Warsaw ; so the king of Poland retired to Cra-
cow, and summoned those palatines who adhered to him, to come about him : when the king
of Sweden came to Warsaw, he sent to the cardinal to summon a diet for choosing a new
king ; this went further than the resentments of the Poles yet carried them : but the rest of
tliis matter will appear hereafter.
All Germany was now united, only the two brothers of Bavaria. The court of Vienna
712 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
set on foot several negotiations with the elector of Bavaria, but all to no purpose : for that
elector seemed only to hearken to their propositions, that he might make the hetter terms
with France : the elector of Cologne put Liege, and all the places that he had on the Rhine,
except Bonn, into the hands of the French ; it was said, that he kept Bonn, hoping to be
able to make his peace with the emperor, by putting that into his possession ; but he was
prevailed on afterwards to deliver that likewise to the French. In this the elector acted
against the advice of all his council ; and as the dean of Liege was making some opposition
to him, he was seized on, and carried away prisoner in a barbarous manner ; the elector, to
excuse his letting the French into his country, pretended, he only desired the assistance of
some of the troops of the circle of Burgundy to secure his dominions ; for as France was not
ashamed of the slightest pretences, so she taught her allies to make excuses unbecoming the
dignity of princes.
The first step of this war was to be made in the name of the elector Palatine, in the siege
of Keiserwert, which, whilst in the enemy's hands, exposed both the circle of Westphalia,
and the States' dominions ; for their places on the Waal, being in no good condition, were
laid open to the excursions of that garrison. Negotiations were still carried on in several
courts : Methuen was sent to try the court of Portugal ; he came quickly back with full
assurances of a neutrality, and a freedom of trade in their ports ; insinuations were given of
a disposition to go further, upon a better prospect and better terms ; so he was presently sent
back to drive that matter as far as it would go. The pope pretended he would keep the
neutrality of a common father, but his partiality to the French appeared on many occasions ;
yet the court of Vienna had that veneration for the see, that they contented themselves
with expostulating, without carrying their resentments further. The Venetians and the
great duke followed the example set them by the pope, though the former did not escape so
well, for their country suffered on both hands.
The Prince of Baden drew together the troops of the empire ; he began with blocking up
Landau, and that was soon turned to a siege ; Catinat was sent to command the French
army in Alsace, but it was so weak, that he was not able to make head with it. In the end
of April, the Dutch formed three armies ; one under the prince of Nassau, undertook the
siege of Keiserwert ; another was commanded by the earl of Athlone, and lay in the duchy
of Cleve, to cover the siege ; a third, commanded by Cohorn, broke into Flanders, and put
a great part of that country under contribution. Mareschal Boufflers drew his army together,
and having laid up great magazines in Ruremonde and Venlo, he passed the Maes with his
whole army. The duke of Burgundy came down post from Paris to command it ; the States
apprehended that so great a prince would, at his first appearance, undertake somewhat
worthy of him, and thought the design might be upon Maestricht ; so they put twelve
thousand men in garrison there ; the auxiliary troops from Germany did not come so soon
as was expected, and cross winds stopped a great part of our army ; so that the earl of Ath-
lone was not strong enough to enter into action with Mareschal Boufflers ; but he lay about
Cleve, watching his motions. The siege of Keiserwert went on slowly ; the Rhine swelling
very high, so filled their trenches, that they could not work in them. Mareschal Tallard
was sent to lie on the other side of the Rhine, to cannonade the besiegers, and to send fresh
men into the town : the king of Prussia came to Wezel, from whence he furnished the
besiegers with all that was necessary. There was one vigorous attack made, in which many
were killed on both sides : in conclusion, after a brave defence, the counterscarp was carried,
and then the town capitulated, and wras rased according to agreement. When the duke of
Burgundy saw that the siege could not be raised, he tried to get between the earl of Ath-
lone and Nimeguen : the design was well laid, and wanted little of being punctually exe-
cuted ; it must have had fatal effects had it succeeded ; for the French would either have got
into Nimeguen, or have forced the earl of Athlone to fight at a great disadvantage. But the
earl of Athlone so carefully watched their motions, that he got before them, under the
cannon of Nimeguen ; yet by this means he was forced to abandon Cleve. The French dis-
charged their fury upon that town, and on the park, and all the delicious walks of tliat
charming place, little to the honour of the prince who commanded the army ; for upon such
occasions, princes are apt to be civil to one another, and not to make havoc of such einbei-
OF QUEEN ANNE. 71$
/
lisliments as can be of no use to them. The earl of Athlone'.s conduct on this occasion raised
his credit as much as it sunk Bo'iifflers', who, though he had the superior army, animated
by the presence of so great a prince, yet was able to do nothing, but was unsuccessful in
every thing that he designed ; and his parties, that at any time were engaged with those of
the earl of Athlone, were beaten almost in every action*.
Soon after this the earl of Marlborough came over and took the command of the army.
The earl of Athlone was set on by the other Dutch generals to insist on his quality of velt
marshal, and to demand the command by turns : he was now in high reputation by his late
conduct, but the States obliged him to yield this to the earl of Marlborough, who indeed
used him so well that the command seemed to be equal between them. The earl of Athlone
was always inclined to cautious and sure, but feeble, counsels ; but the earl of Marlborough,
when the army was brought together, finding his force superior to the duke of Burgundy,
passed the Maes at the Grave, and marched up to the French. They retired as ho
advanced: this made him for venturing on a decisive action; but the Dutch apprehended
the putting things to such a hazard, and would not consent to it. The pensioner, and those
who ordered matters at the Hague, proceeded the more timorously, because, upon the king^s
death, those who had always opposed him were beginning to form parties, in several of their
towns, and were designing a change of government : so that a public misfortune in their
conduct, would have given great advantages to those who were w^atching for them. The
pensioner was particularly aimed at : this made him more unwilling to run any risk. Good
judges thought that if the earl of Maryborough's advices had been followed, matters might have
been brought to a happy decision ; but as he conducted the army prudently, so he was
careful not to take too much upon him. The duke of Burgundy finding himself obliged to
retreat as the confederate army advanced, thought this was not suitable to his dignity ; so he
left the army, and ended "his first campaign very ingloriously : and it seems the king was
not satisfied with mareschal Bouffiers, for he never commanded their armies since that timef.
The earl of Marlborough went on, taking several places, which made little or no resistance ;
and seeing that mareschal Boufflers kept at a safe distance, so that there was no hope of an
engagement with him, he resolved to fall into the Spanish Guelder : he began with Venlo.
There was a fort on the other side of the river that commanded it, which was taken by the
lord Cutts in so gallant a manner, that it deserved to be much commended by every body
but himself: but he lost the honour that was due to many brave actions of his, by talking
too much of them. The young earl of Huntington showed upon this, as upon many other
occasions, an extraordinary heat of courage. He called to the soldiers, who had got over the
pallisades, to help him over, and promised them all the money he had about him, which he
>ei formed very generously, and led them on with much bravery and success. Upon the
'<>rt being taken, the town capitulated. Ruremonde and Stevenzwert were taken in a few
'lays after ; for mareschal Boufflers did not come to their relief. Upon these successes, that
'•aine quicker than was expected, the earl of Marlborough advanced to Liege, which was a
;>luce of more importance, in which he might put a great part of his army in winter quarters.
The town quickly capitulated, the citadel was carried by storm, and another fort in the town
likewise surrendered. Here was a very prosperous campaign : many places were taken with
little resistance, and an inconsiderable loss, either of time or of men. The earl of Marl-
* Louis Francis, due de Boufflers, is so frequently 10,000 soldiers." He defended Lille for four months
mentioned in this work, that some notice of the dates against prince Eugene, and the latter told him, " I am
of his life is required. He was born in 1644, and vain of taking the town, but I would rather have the
was a soldier from boyhood. Before he was twenty-five, glory of defending it as you have." For this service it
he was a colonel of dragoons, under Crequi and Tu- was that Boufflers was raised to the peerage ; and on
icnne. His exploits as commander-in-chief were worthy entering the parliament, surrounded by his officers, he
<>f a great general, and drew forth appropriate com- turned and said to them, " It is to you I am indebted
i'liments from his opponents. It has been stated in a for all these favours ; I have nothing to glory in but the
previous part of this work, that when king William took honour of having commanded so many heroes." He died
•Vatnur, he detained Boufflers in retaliation for the French in 17J 1. — Moreri's Hist. Dictionary.
imving detained the garrison of Dixmude. " Then," said f HC did subsequently, as is noticed in tb« previous
Honfflers, "my garrison, not myself, should be detained." note, and, with M. Villars at the battle of Malp'aquet, in
Sir," it was answered, «' you are of more value than 1709.
7H THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
borough's conduct and deportment gained him the hearts of the army. The States were
highly satisfied with every thing he did, and the earl of Athlone did him the justice to own
that he had differed in opinion from him in every thing that was done, and that therefore the
honour of their success was wholly owing to 'him *.
The campaign was kept open till November, and at the end of it, an accident happened,
that had almost lost the advantages and honour got in it. The earl of Marlborough thought
the easiest and quickest, as well as the safest way of returning to the Hague, was by some
of those great boats that pass on the Maes. There was one company in the boat in which
he went, and two companies went in another, that was to be before him. There were also
some troops ordered to ride along the banks for their guard. The great boat that went
before sailed away too quick, and the horse mistook their way in the night. The French
had yet the town of Guelder in their hands, which was indeed all they had of the Spanish
Guelder. A party from thence was lying on the banks of the river, waiting for an adven-
ture, and they seized this boat, the whole company being fast asleep. So they had now
both the earl of Marlborough and Opdam, one of the Dutch generals, and Gueldermalsen,
one of the States' deputies, in their hands. They did not know the earl of Marlborough, but
they knew the other two. They both had passes, according to a civility usually practised
among the generals of both sides. The earl of Marlborough's brother had a pass, but his ill
health made him leave the campaign, so his pass was left with his brother's secretary, and
that was now made use of for himself. It is true the date of the pass was out, but they
being in haste, and in the night, that was not considered. The boat was rifled, and they
took presents from those who they believed were protected by their passes. So, after a stop
of some hours, they were let go, and happily escaped the danger. The news of their being
taken got before them to the Hague ; upon which the States immediately met under no
small consternation. They sent orders to all their forces to march immediately to Guelder,
and to threaten the garrison with all extremities, unless they should deliver the prisoners ;
and never to leave the place till they had either taken it, or had the generals delivered to
them. But before these orders could be dispatched, the earl of Marlborough came to the
Hague, where he was received with inexpressible joy, not only by the States, but by all the
inhabitants : for he was beloved there to a high degree. Soon after his return to England
the queen made him duke of Marlborough ; and both houses of parliament sent some of their
number to him, with their thanks for the great services he had done this campaign.
The campaign likewise ended happily on the Upper Rhine. Landau was taken after a
long siege : the king of the Romans came in time to have the honour of taking it : but with
so great a train, and so splendid an equipage, that the expence of it put all the emperor's
affairs in great disorder; the most necessary things being neglected, while a needless piece of
pomp devoured so great a part of their treasure. The siege was stopped some weeks for
want of ammunition, but in conclusion the place was taken.
The necessities of the king of France's affairs forced him at this time to grant the elector
of Bavaria all his demands. It is not yet known what they were. But the court of France
did not agree to what he asked, till Landau was given for lost ; and then seeing that the
prince of Baden might have overrun all the Hondruck, and carried his winter quarters into
the neighbourhood of France : it was necessary to gain this elector on any terms. If this
agreement had been sooner made, probably the siege, how far soever it was advanced, must
have been raised. The elector made his declaration when he possessed himself of Ulm,
which was a rich free town of the empire. It was taken by a stratagem that, how successful
soever it proved to the elector, was fatal to him who conducted it ; for he was killed by an
accident, after he was possessed of the town. This gave a great alarm to the neighbouring
circles and princes, who called away their troops from the prince of Baden to their own
defence ; by this means his army was much diminished : but, with the troops that were left
him, he studied to cut off the communication between Strasburg and Ulm. The emperor
with the diet proceeded according to their forma against the elector; but he was now
* For the fullest particulars of these events, and all others in the life of this great commander, reference mar be
made to Coxc's " Memoirs, &c. of the duke of Marlborough."
OF QUEEN ANNE. 715
engaged, and continued firm to the interests of France. Mareschal Villars*, who com-
manded the French army in Alsace, had orders to break through the Black Forest, and join
the Bavarians. His army was much superior to the prince of Baden, but the latter
had so posted himself that, after an unsuccessful attempt, Villars was forced to return to
Strasburg.
In Italy the duke of Vendome began with the relief of Mantua, which was reduced to
great extremities by tho long blockade prince Eugene had kept about it. He had so fortified
the Oglio, that the duke of Vendomet, apprehending the difficulty of forcing his posts,
marched through the Venetian territories (notwithstanding the protestations of the republic
against it), and came to Goito, with a great convoy for Mantua. Prince Eugene drew his
army all along the Mantuan Fossa, down to Borgofortes : he was forced to abandon a great
many places ; but apprehending that Bresello might be besieged, and considering the import-
ance of that place, he put a strong garrison in it. He complained much that the court of
Vienna seemed to forget him, and did not send him the reinforcements they had promised.
It was thought that his enemies at that court, under colour of supporting the king of the
; Romans in his first campaign, were willing to neglect every thing that related to him ; by
| this means the best army the emperor ever had was left to moulder away to nothing.
King Philip took a very extraordinary resolution of going over to Italy, to pos-
isess himself of the kingdom of Naples, and to put an end to the war in Lombardy :
' 1 e was received at Naples with outward splendour, but he made little progress in
ruieting the minds of that unruly kingdom. He did not obtain the investiture of it
f'om the pope, though he sent him a cardinal legate with a high compliment. The
Germans thought this was too much, while the French thought it was not enough;
ret upon it the emperor's ambassador left Rome. King Philip w<is conducted from
Naples to Final by the French fleet that had carried him from Barcelona to Naples.
As he was going to command the duke of Vendome's army, he was met by the duke of
Kavoy, of whom there was some jealousy, that, having married his two daughters so greatly,
ho began now to discern his own distinct interest, which called upon him to hinder the
1'rcnch from being masters of the Milanese. King Philip wrote to the duke of Vendome
[rot to fight prince Eugene till he could join him. He seemed jealous lest that prince should
il'3 driven out of Italy before he could come to share in the honour of it; yet, when he came,
',1.3 could do nothing, though prince Eugene was miserably abandoned by the court of Vienna.
|('ount Mansfield, president of the council of war, was much suspected as corrupted by
(France. The supplies promised were not sent into Italy. The apprehensions they were
tender of the elector of Bavaria's declaring, some time before he did it, gave a colour to those
ivho were jealous of prince Eugene's glory, to detain the recruits and troops that had been
•remised him for the emperor's own defence. But though he was thus forsaken, yet he
lanaged the force he had about him with great skill and conduct. When he saw Luzara
was in danger, he marched up to the king of Spain, and, as that king very oddly expressed
t, in a letter to the king of France, he had the boldness (audace) to attack him ; but, which
was worse, he had the boldness likewise to beat him ; and, if he had not been shut in by
rivers, and the narrowness of the ground, very probably he would have carried the advan-
tage he had in that engagement much further. The ill state of his affairs forced him upon
hat desperate action in which he succeeded beyond expectation. It put the French to such
stand, that all they could do after this was only to take Luzara, and some other incon-
derable places ; but prince Eugene still kept his posts. King Philip left the army and
•turned, after an inglorious campaign, into Spain, where the grandees were much disgusted
> see themselves so much despised, and their affairs wholly conducted by French councils.
'he French tried, by all possible methods, to engage the Turks in a new war with the
uperor : and it was believed that the grand vizier was entirely gained, though the mufti,
* Louis Hector, due de Villara, was born in 1653, and f Of Lewis Joseph, due de Vendome, there is a gr.od
ciin 1734. He wrote his own "Memoirs," which memoir in the Dictionnaire Historiqje. He was born in
ivo been published with a continuation, and give much 1654. and died in 17 12.
formation concerning ^his continental war.
716 THE HISTORY Of THE REIGN
and all who had any credit in that court, were against it. The grand vizier was strangled,
and so this design was prevented.
The court of France was in a management with the cardinal primate of Poland to keep
that kingdom still embroiled. The king of Sweden marched on to Cracow, which was
much censured as a desperate attempt, since a defeat there must have destroyed him and his
army entirely, being so far from home. He attacked the king of Poland, and gave him
such an overthrow, that, though the army got off, he carried both their camp and artillery.
He possessed himself of Cracow, where he stayed some months, till he had raised all the
money they could produce ; and though the Muscovites with the Lithuanians destroyed
Livonia, and broke into Sweden, yet that could not call him back. The duke of Holstein,
who had married his eldest sister, was thought to be gained by the French to push on this
young king to prosecute the war with such an unrelenting fury, in which he might have a
design for himself, since the king of Sweden's venturing his own person so freely might make
Mray for his duchess to succeed to the crown. That duke was killed in the battle of Cracow.
There was some hopes of peace this winter, but the two princes were so exasperated against
one another, that it seemed impossible to compose that animosity. This was very unaccept-
able to the allies ; for both kings were well inclined to support the confederacy, and to
engage in the war against France, if their own quarrels could have been made up. The king
of Sweden continued still so virtuous and pious in his whole deportment, that he seemed
formed to be one of the heroes of the Reformation. This was the state of affairs on the con-
tinent during this campaign.
One unlocked for accident sprung up in France. An insurrection happened in the
Cevennes in Languedoc ; of which I can say nothing that is very particular, or well assured.
When it first broke out, it was looked on as the effect of oppression and despair, which would
quickly end in a scene of blood ; but it had a much longer continuance than was expected ; and
it had a considerable effect on the affairs of France : for an army of ten or twelve thousand
men, w7ho were designed either for Italy or Spain, was employed without any immediate
success in reducing them.
I now change the element, to give an account of our operations at sea. Rook had the
command. The fleet put to sea much later than we hoped for. The Dutch fleet came over
about a month before ours was ready : the whole consisted of fifty ships of the line, and a
land army was put on board, of twelve thousand men, seven thousand English and five ]
thousand Dutch. Rook spoke so coldly of the design he went upon before he sailed, that I
those who conversed with him were apt to infer that he intended to do the enemy as little i
harm as possible. Advice was sent over from Holland of a fleet that sailed from France, '
and was ordered to call in at the Groyne. Munden was recommended by Rook to be sent j
against this fleet ; but, though he came up to them with a superior force, yet he behaved ;
himself so ill, and so unsuccessfully, that a council of war was ordered to sit on him. They j
indeed acquitted him, some excusing themselves, by saying, that if they had condemned i
him, the punishment was death ; whereas they thought his errors flowed from a want of
sense : so that it would have been hard to condemn him for a defect in that which nature
had not given him. Those who recommended him to the employment seemed to be more i
in fault. This acquittal raised such an outcry that the queen ordered him to be broke, j
Rook, to divert the design that he himself was to go upon, wrote from St. Helen's that the I
Dutch fleet was victualled only to the middle of September. So that, being then in July, j
no great design could be undertaken, when so large a part of the fleet was so ill provided, i
When the Dutch admiral heard of this, he sent to their ambassador, to complain to the
queen of this misinformation ; for he was victualled till the middle of December. They
were for some time stopped by contrary winds, accidents, and pretences, many of which
were thought to be strained and sought for ; but the wind being turned wholly favourable ;
after some cross winds, which had rendered their passage slow and tedious, they came, on
the 12th of August, into the bay of Cadiz. Rook had laid no disposition beforehand how i
to proceed upon his coming thither. Some days were lost on pretence of seeking for intelli- !
gence. It is certain our court had false accounts of the state the place was in, both with
OF QUEEN ANNE. 717
relation to the garrison and the fortifications : the garrison was much stronger, and the forti-
fications were in a better condition, than was represented. The French men of war and the
galleys that lay in the bay retired within the puntals. In the first surprise it had been easy
to have followed them, and to have taken or burnt them, which Fairborn offered to execute,
but Rook and the rest of his creatures did not approve of this. Some days were lost before
a council of war was called. In the meanwhile the duke of Ormond sent some engineers
and pilots to sound the south side of Cadiz, near the island of St. Pedro ; but while this was
doing, the officers, by the taking of some boats, came to know that those of Cadiz had sent
over the best of their goods and other effects to the port of St. Maries, an open village over
against it, on the continent of Spain ; so that here was good plunder to be had easily,
whereas the landing on the isle of Cadiz was likely to prove dangerous, arid, as some made
them believe, impracticable. In the council of war, in which their instructions were read,
it was proposed to consider how they should put them in execution. O'Baro, one of the
general officers, made a long speech against landing : he showed how desperate an attempt
it would prove, and how different they found the state of the place from the representation
made of it in England. The greater number agreed with him j and all that the duke of
Ormond could say to the contrary was of no effect. Rook seemed to be of the same mind
with the duke, but all his dependents were of another opinion, so this was thought to be a
piece of craft in him. In conclusion, the council of war came to a resolution not to make a
descent on the island of Cadiz ; but, before they broke up, those whom the duke had sent
to sound the landing places on the south side came and told them that, as they might land
safely, so the ships might ride securely on that side : yet they had no regard to this, but
adhered to their former resolution : nor were there any orders given for bombarding the
town. The sea was for the most part very high while they lay there, but it was so calm
for one day, that the engineers believed they could have done rnuch mischief, but they had
no orders for it ; and indeed it appeared very evidently that they intended to do nothing
but rob St. Maries.
A landing on the continent was resolved on, and though the sea was high, and the danger
^reat, yet the hope of spoil made them venture on it. They landed at Rota : a party of
Spanish horse seemed to threaten some resistance, but they retired, and so our men came
to St. Maries, which they found deserted, but full of riches. Both officers and soldiers set
themselves with great courage against this tempting but harmless enemy. Some of the
general officers set a very ill example to all the rest, chiefly O'Haro and Bellasis. The duke
of Ormond tried to hinder it, but did not exert his authority ; for, if lie had made some
examples at first, he might have prevented the mischief that was done. But the whole
army running so violently on the spoil, he either was not able, or, through a gentleness of
temper, was not willing, to proceed to extremities. He had published a manifesto, accord-
ing to his instructions, by which the Spaniards were invited to submit to the emperor ; and
he offered his protection to all that came in to him : but the spoil of St. Maries was thought
an ill commentary on that text. After some days of unfruitful trials on the forts of that
side it appeared that nothing could be done ; so about the middle of September they all
embarked. Some of the ships' crews were so employed, in bringing and bestowing the
plunder, that they took not the necessary care to furnish themselves with fresh water. Rook,
without prosecuting his other instructions, in case the design on Cadiz miscarried, gave
orders only for a squadron to sail to the West Indies with some land forces ; and though he
had a fleet of victuallers that had provisions to the middle of December, he ordered them to
sail home : by this means the men of war were so scantily furnished, that they were soon
forced to be put on short allowance. Nor did Rook send advice boats, either to the ports
of Algarve or to Lisbon, to see what orders or advices might be lying for him, but sailed in
a direct course for England ; but some ships, not being provided with water for the voyage
to England, touched on the coast of Algarve to take in water.
They met with intelligence there that the Spanish plate fleet, with a good convoy of
French men of war, had put in at Vigo, a port in Galicia, not far from Portugal, where the
< in trance was narrow and capable of a good defence. It widened within land into a bay or
mouth of a river, where the ships lay very conveniently. He who commanded the French
718 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
fleet ordered a boom to be laid across the entrance, and forts to be raised on both sides : he
had riot time to finish what he designed, otherwise the place had been inaccessible ; but, aa
it was, the difficulty in forcing this port was believed to be greater than any they would
have met with if they had landed on the isle of Cadiz. As soon as this fleet had put in at
Vigo, Methuen, the queen's minister at Lisbon, sent advertisements of it to all the places
where he thought our advice1boats might be ordered to call. Rook had given no orders for
any to call, and so held on his course towards Cape Finisterre. But one of his captains,
Hardy, whilst he watered in Algarve, heard the news there ; upon which he made all the
sail he could after Rook, and overtook him. Rook, upon that, turned his course towards
Vigo, very unwillingly as was said, and, finding the advice was true, he resolved to force
his way in.
The duke of Ormond landed with a body of the army, and attacked the forts with great
bravery, while the ships broke the boom and forced the port. When the French saw what
was done, they left their ships, and set some of the men-of-war and some of the galleons on
fire. Our men came up with such diligence that they stopped the progress of the fire ; yet
fifteen men-of-war and eight galleons were burnt or sunk: but our men were in time to save
five men-of-war and five galleons, which they took. Here was a great destruction made,
and a great booty taken, with very little loss on our side. One of our ships was set on fire
by a fire-ship, but she too was saved, though with the loss of some men, which was all the
loss we sustained in this important action. The duke of Ormond marched into the country
and took some forts, and the town of Ritondella, where much plunder was found : the
French seamen and soldiers escaped, for we, having no horse, were not in a condition to
pursue them. The Spaniards appeared at some distance in a great body, but they did not
offer to enter into any action with the duke of Ormond. It appeared that the resentments
of that proud nation, which was now governed by French councils, were so high, that they
would not put themselves in any danger, or to any trouble, even to save their own fleet,
when it was in such hands.
After this great success, it came under consultation, wjiether it was not advisable to leave
a good squadron of ships, with the land forces, to winter at Vigo. The neighbourhood
Portugal made that they could be well furnished with provisions and all other necessarie
from thence. This might also encourage that king to declare himself, when there was sucl
a force and fleet lying so near him. It might likewise encourage such of the Spaniards as ,
favoured the emperor to declare themselves, when they saw a safe place of retreat and a
force to protect them. The duke of Ormond, upon these considerations, offered to stay if
Rook would have consented ; but he excused it : he had sent home the victuallers with the
stores, and so he could not spare what was necessary for such as would stay there : and
indeed he had so ordered the matter, that he could not stay long enough to try whether they
could raise and search the men-of-war and the galleons that were sunk. He was obliged to
make all possible haste home ; and if the wind had turned to the east, which was ordinary
in that season, a great part of our ships' crews must have died of hunger.
The wind continued favourable, so they got home safe, but half starved. Thus ended
this expedition, which was ill projected, and worse executed. The duke of Ormond told
me he had not half the ammunition that was necessary for the taking Cadiz, if they had
defended themselves well ; though he believed they would not have made any great resist-
ance, if he had landed on his first arrival, and not given them time to recover from the
disorder into which the first surprise had put them. A great deal of the treasure taken at
Yigo was embezzled, and fell into private hands*. One of the galleons foundered at sea.
The public was not much enriched by this extraordinary capture, yet the loss our enemies
made by it was a vast one; and, to complete the ruin of the Spanish merchants, their king
seized on the plate that was taken out of the ships, upon their first arrival at Vigo. Tints
the campaign ended ; very happily for the allies, and most gloriously for the queen, whose
first year, being such a continued course of success, gave a hopeful presage of what might bo
hereafter expected.
* At Stovve, the seat of the duke of Buckingham, is a large chest, inlaid with mother of pearl, and called " The Vigo
Che&t." It is siii.l to have contained treasure, and was brought here by sir Peter Temple, one of quceu Anne's generals.
OF QUEEN ANNE. 710
The session of parliament comes next to be related. The queen did not openly interpose
in the elections, but her inclination to the tories appearing plainly, all people took it for
granted that she wished they might be the majority. This wrought on the inconstancy
and servility that is natural to multitudes ; and the conceit, which had been infused and
propagated with much industry, that the whigs had charged the nation with great taxes, of
which a large share had been devoured by themselves, had so far turned the tide, that the
tories in the house of commons were at least double the number of the whigs. They met
full of fury against the memory of the late king, and against those who had been employed
by him. The first instance wherein this appeared was in their address to the queen, con-
gratulating her great successes : they added, that, by her wise and happy conduct, the
honour of the kingdom was " retrieved." The word " retrieved" implying that it was
formerly lost : all that had a just regard to the king's memory opposed it. He had carried
the honour of the nation further than had been done in any reign before his. To him they
owed their preservation, their safety, and even the queen's being on the throne. He had
designed and formed that great confederacy, at the head of which she was now set. In
opposition to this, it was now said that, during his reign, things had been conducted by
strangers, and trusted to them ; and that a vast treasure had been spent in unprofitable
campaigns in Flanders. The Partition Treaty, and every thing else wTith which the former
reign could be loaded, was brought into the account, and the keeping the word "retrieved"
in the address was carried by a great majority ; all that had favour at court, or hoped for
;my, going into it*. Controverted elections were judged in favour of tories with such a
1 >arefaced partiality, that it shewed the party was resolved on every thing that might serve
their ends.
Of this I shall only give two instances. The one was of the borough of Hindon, near me
at Salisbury, where, upon a complaint of bribery, the proof was so full and clear, that they
( rdered a bill to disfranchise the town for that bribery ; and yet, because the bribes were
given by a man of their party, they would not pass a vote on him as guilty of it : so that a
borough was voted to lose its right of electing, because many in it were guilty of a corrup-
tion, in wiiich no man appeared to be the actor. The other was of more importance ; and,
Because it may be set up for a precedent, I will be more particular in the report. Mr. John
1 low had been vice-chamberlain to the late queen, but missing some of those advantages that
le had proposed to himself, he had gone into the highest opposition that was made in the
pouse of commons to the court during the last reign ; not without many indecent reflections
on the person of the late king, and a most virulent attacking of all his ministers. He was
a man of some wit, but of little judgment, and of small principles of religion: he stood
|k night of the shire for Gloucestershire, and had drawn a party in that county to join with
liim in an address to the queen, in which reflections were made on the danger and ill usage
|he had gone through in the former reign. This address was received by the queen in so
.particular a manner, that it looked like the owning that the contents of it were true : but
Vue made such an excuse for this, when the offence it gave was laid before her, that probably
Ilie was not acquainted with the matter of the address when she so received it. Upon this,
j:i eat opposition was made to his election. When it came to the poll, it appeared he had
pst it ; so the sheriff was moved for a scrutiny, to examine whether all those who had sworn
(that they were freeholders of forty shillings a-year had sworn true. By the act of parlia-
Mnent the matter was referred to the party's oath, and their swearing false was declared
j)( rjury ; therefore such as had sworn falsely were liable to a prosecution : but, by all laws,
-ti oath is looked upon as an end of controversy, till he who swore is convicted of perjury :
nd the sheriff, being an officer named by the court, if he had a power to review the poll,
his put the election of counties wholly in the power of the crown : yet, upon this occasion,
ie heat of a party prevailed so far, that they voted How duly elected t.
* It was proposed to substitute the word "maintained,"' of William and Anne. In the latt r, he was a privy
it, after a stormy debate, this was negatived by 180 to councillor, and vice-admiral of Gloucestershire. His
> — Chandler's Debates, House of Commons, iii. 205. other preferment will be notice 1 in a future page. He
•f Mr. John How was a native of Nottinghamshire, died in '721. He w;is the author of "A Panegyric on
.(-' represented Cirencester in the convention parliament, King William," and several minor productions. — Co.lins *
id was a member in every parliament during the reigns Peerage.
720 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The house of commons very unanimously, and with great dispatch, agreed to all the
demands of the court, and voted all the supplies that were necessary for carrying on the
war. Upon the duke of Maryborough's coming over, a new demand for an additional force
was made, since the king of France had given out commissions for a great increase of his
armies. Upon that, the States moved the queen for ten thousand more men. This was
consented to, but with a condition, which, how reasonable soever it might be in itself, yet
the manner in which it was managed showed a very ill disposition towards the Dutch ; and
in the debate they were treated very indecently. It was insisted on that, before the pay
of these new troops should begin, the States should prohibit all trade with France, and break
off all correspondence with that kingdom. It was indeed true, that France could not have
supplied their armies in Italy but by the means of this secret trade ; so it was reasonable to
break it : but the imposing it on the Dutch, in the manner in which this was pressed, carried
in it too high a strain of authority over them. Theirs is a country that subsists not by any
intrinsic wealth of their own, but by their trade : some seemed to hope that the opposition,
which would be raised on this head, might force a peace, at which many among us were
driving so indecently, that they took little care to conceal it. The States resolved to
comply with England in every thing ; and though they did not like the manner of demanding
this, yet they readily consented to it. The ordinary business of a session of parliament was
soon dispatched, no opposition being made to the supply, at which, in the former reign,
things stuck longest.
When those matters were settled, a bill was brought in by the tories against occasional
conformity, which produced great and long debates *. By this bill, all those who took the
sacrament and test (which, by the act passed in the year 1 073, was made necessary to those
who held offices of trust, or were magistrates in corporations, but was only to be taken once
by them), and did after that go to the meetings of dissenters, or any meeting for religious
worship, that was not according to the liturgy or practice of the church of England, where
five persons were present more than the family, were disabled from holding their employ-
ments, and were to be fined in 100/., and in bl. a day for every day in which they continued
to act in their employments, after their having been at any such meeting. They were also made
incapable to hold any other employment till after one whole year's conformity to the church,
which was to be proved at the quarter session. Upon a relapse, the penalty and the time of
incapacity were doubled : no limitation of time was put in the bill, nor of the way in which I
the offence was to be proved. But, whereas the act of the test only included the magistrates i
in corporations, all the inferior officers or freemen in corporations, who were found to have j
some interest in the elections, were now comprehended within this bill. The preamble of :
the bill asserted the toleration, and condemned all persecution for conscience' sake in a high i
strain. Some thought the bill was of no consequence, and that, if it should pass into a law, J
it would be of no effect ; but that the occasional conformists would become constant ones. >
Others thought that this was such a breaking in upon the toleration as would undermine it, ;
and that it would have a great effect on corporations ; as indeed the intent of it was believed!
to be the modelling of elections, and by consequence of the house of commons.
On behalf of the bill, it was said the design of the test act was, that all in office should
continue in the communion of the church : that coming only once to the sacrament for an!
office, and going afterwards to the meetings of dissenters, was both an eluding the intent oil
the law and a profanation of the sacrament, which gave great scandal, and was abhorred by!
the better sort of dissenters. Those who were against the bill said, the nation had beenj
quiet ever since the toleration, the dissenters had lost more ground and strength by it than,'
the church. The nation was now engaged in a great war ; it seemed therefore unseasonable
to raise animosities at home in matters of religion, at such a time, and to encourage a trib<
of informers who were the worst sort of men. The fines were excessive, higher than an}
laid on papists by law ; and since no limitation of time, nor concurrence of witnesses, >va
provided for in the bill, men would be for ever exposed to the malice of a bold swearer, o
wicked servant. It was moved, that since the greatest danger of all was from atheists iin
papists, that all such as received the sacrament for an office, should be obliged to receive i<
* See these proceedings in Chandler's Debates, House of Commons, iii.
OF QUEEN ANNE 721
three times a- year, which all were bylaw required to do ; and to keep to their parish church
at least one Sunday a month, but this was not admitted. All who pleaded for the bill did
in words declare for the continuance of the toleration, yet the sharpness with which they
treated the dissenters in all their speeches showed as if they designed their extirpation. The
bill was carried in the house of commons by a great majority. The debates held longer in
the house of lords : many were against it, because of the high penalties : some remembered
the practice of informers in the end of king Charles's reign, and would not consent to the
reviving such infamous methods : all believed that the chief design of this bill was to model
corporations and to cast out of them all those who would not vote in elections for tories.
The toleration itself was visibly aimed at, and this was only a step to break in upon it.
Some thought the design went yet further, to raise such quarrels and distractions among us
as would so embroil us at home, that our allies might see they could not depend upon us ;
and that we, being weakened by the disorders occasioned by those prosecutions, might be
disabled from carrying on the war, which was the chief thing driven at by the promoters of
the bill. So that many of the lords, as well as the bishops, agreed in opposing this bill,
though upon different views ; yet they consented to some parts of it, chiefly that such as
went to meetings, after they had received the sacrament, should be disabled from holding
any employments, and be fined in twenty pounds. Many went into this, though they were
against every part of the bill, because they thought this the most plausible way of losing it ;
since the house of commons had of late set it up for a maxim, that the lords could not alter
the fines that they should fix in a bill, this being a meddling with money, which they
thought was so peculiar to them, that they would not let the lords on any pretence break in
upon it.
The lords hereupon appointed a very exact search to be made into all the rolls that lay in
the clerk of the parliament's office, from the middle of king Henry the Seventh's reign down
to the present time ; and they found, by some hundreds of precedents, that in some bills the
lords began the clauses that set the fines ; and that when fines were set by the commons
sometimes they altered the fines, and at other times they changed the use to which they
were applied. The report made of this was so full and clear, that there was no possibility
of replying to it, and the lords ordered it to be entered in their books. But the commons
were resolved to maintain their point without entering into any debate upon it. The lords
also added clauses requiring proof to be made by two witnesses, and that the information
should be given in within ten days, and the prosecution commenced within three months
after the fact. The commons agreed to this, but would not alter the penalties that they had
set. The thing depended long between the two houses ; both sides took pains to bring up
the lords that would vote with them, so that there were above a hundred and thirty lords in
the house, the greatest number that had ever been together.
The court put their whole strength to carry the bill. Prince George, who had received
the sacrament as lord high admiral, and yet kept his chapel in the Lutheran way, so that he
was an occasional communicant, came and voted for the bill. After some conferences,
wherein each house had yielded some smaller differences to the other, it came to a free con-
ference in the painted chamber, which was the most crowded upon that occasion that had
ever been known ; so much weight was laid on this matter on both sides.
When the lords retired, and it came to the final vote " of adhering," the lords were so
equally divided, that in three questions, put on different heads, the u adhering" was carried
but by one voice in every one of them ; and it was a different person that gave it in all the
three divisions. The commons likewise adhered, so the bill was lost. This bill seemed to
favour the interests of the church, so hot men were for it ; and the greater number of the
bishops being against it, they were censured as cold and slack in the concerns of the church,
a reproach that all moderate men must expect when they oppose violent motions. A great
part of this fell on myself ; for I bore a large share in the debates, both in the house of lords
and at the free conference. Angry men took occasion from hence to charge the bishops as
enemies to the church, and betrayers of its interests, because we would not run blindfold
into the passions and designs of ill-tempered men; though we can appeal to all the world,
vnd, which is more, to God himself, that we did faithfully and zealously pursue the true
3 A
722 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
interests of the church, the promoting religion and learning, the encouraging of all good men
and good designs, and that we did apply ourselves to the duties of our function and to the
work of the gospel. Having this quiet within ourselves, we must bear the cross and submit
to the will of God. The less of our reward that we receive from men, we have so much the
more to look for from Him.
While the bill that had raised so much heat was in agitation, the queen sent a message to
the commons, desiring them to make some suitable provision for prince George, in case ho
should outlive her. He was many years elder than the queen, and was troubled with an
asthma that every year had very ill effects on his health ; it had brought him into great
danger this winter, yet the queen thought it became her to provide for all events. Howe
moved that it should be 100,000/. a-year. This was seconded by those who knew how
acceptable the motion would be to the queen, though it was the double of what any queen
in England ever had in jointure ; so it passed without any opposition. But while it was
passing, a motion was made upon a clause in the act, which limited the succession to the
Hanover family, which provided against strangers, though naturalized, being capable to hold
any employments among us. This plainly related only to those who should be naturalized
in a future reign, and had no retrospect to such as were already naturalized, or should be
naturalized during the present reign. It was, however, proposed as doubtful whether, when
that family might reign, all who were naturalized before should not be incapacitated by that
clause from sitting in parliament, or holding employments ; and a clause was offered to
except the prince from being comprehended in that incapacity. Against this two objections
lay : one was, that the lords had resolved by a vote, to which the greater number had set
their hands, that they would never pass any money bill sent up to them by the commons, to
which any clause was tacked that was foreign to the bill. They had done this to prevent
the commons from fastening matters of a different nature to a money bill, and then pretend-
ing that the lords could not meddle with it ; for this was a method to alter the government
and bring it entirely into their own hands. By this means, when money was necessary for
preserving the nation, they might force not only the lords, but the crown, to consent to
every thing they proposed by tacking it to a money bill. It was said that a capacity for
holding employments, and for sitting in the house of lords, were things of a different nature
from money ; so that this clause seemed to many to be a tack, whereas others thought it
was no tack, because both parts of the act related to the same person. The other objection
was, that this clause seemed to imply, that persons already naturalized, and in possession of
the rights of natural born subjects, were to be excluded in the next reign ; though all people
knew that no such thing was intended when the act of succession passed. Great opposition
was made for both these reasons to the passing this clause ; but the queen pressed it with
the greatest earnestness she had yet shewed in any thing whatsoever : she thought it became
her, as a good wife, to have the act passed ; in which she might be the more earnest, because
it was not thought adviseable to move for an act that should take prince George into a
consortship of the regal dignity. This matter raised a great heat in the house of lords :
those who had been advanced by the late king, and were in his interests, did not think it
became them to consent to this, which seemed to be a prejudice, or at least a disgrace to
those whom he had raised. The court managed the matter so dexterously that the hill
passed, and the queen was highly displeased with those who had opposed it, among whom
I had my share. The clause was put in the bill by some in the house of commons, only
because they believed it would be opposed by those against whom they intended to irritate
the queen.
Soon after this the commons sent up a bill in favour of those who had not taken the oath,
abjuring the prince of Wales, by the day that was named, granting them a year longer to
consider of it .; lor it was said, that the whole party was now come entirely into the queens
interests : though, on the other hand, it was given out that agents were come from France,
on design to persuade all persons to take the abjuration, that they might become capable of
employments, and so might in time be a majority in parliament, and by that means the act
of succession, and the oath imposed by it, might be repealed. When the bill for thus pro-
longing the time was brought up to the lords, a clause was added, qualifying those persons
OF QUEEN ANNE. ^2-3
\vho should in the new extent of time take the oaths, to return to their benefices or employ-
ments, unless they were already legally filled. When this was agreed, two clauses of much
greater consequence were added to the bill. One was, declaring it high treason to endeavour
to defeat the succession to the crown, as it was now limited by law, or to set aside the next
successor. This had a precedent in the former reign, so it could not be denied now. It
seemed the more necessary, because there was another person who openly claimed the
crown, so that a further security might well be insisted on. This was a great surprise to
many, who were visibly uneasy at the motion, but were not prepared for it, and did not see
how it could be resisted. The other clause was for sending the abjuration to Ireland, and
obliging all there (in the same manner as in England) to take it. This seemed the more
reasonable, considering the strength of the popish interest there. Both clauses passed in the
house of lords without any opposition ; but it was apprehended that the house of commons
would not be so easy : yet, wh^u it was sent to them, they struggled only against the first
clause, that barred the return of persons, upon their taking the oaths, into places that were
already filled. The party tried their strength upon this, and upon their success in it they
seemed resolved to dispute the other clause ; but it was carried, though only by one voice,
to agree with the lords. When the clause relating to the succession was read, Musgrave
tried if it might not be made a bill by itself, and not put as a clause in another bill ; but he
saw the house was resolved to receive both clauses, so he did not insist on his motion. All
people were surprised to see a bill that was begun in favour of the Jacobites turned so terribly
! upon them, since by it we had a new security given, both in England and Ireland, for a
protestant successor.
At this time, the earl of Rochester quitted his place of lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He
was uneasy at the preference which the duke of Marlborough had in the queen's confidence,
and at the lord Godolphin's being lord treasurer. It was generally believed he was endea-
vouring to embroil our affairs, and that he was laying a train of opposition in the house of
| commons. The queen sent a message to him, ordering him to make ready to go to Ireland ;
for it seemed very strange, especially in a time of war, that a person in so great a post
should not attend upon it ; but he^ after some days advising about it, went to the queen, and
desired to be excused from that employment. This was readily accepted, and upon that he
| withdrew from the councils. It was immediately offered to the duke of Ormond, and he
was made lord-lieutenant of Ireland. The duke of Ormond, upon his first arrival from the
expedition to Cadiz, complained very openly of Rook's conduct, and seemed resolved to
carry the matter to a public accusation ; but the court found the party that prevailed in the
liouse of commons determined to justify Rook : so, to comply with this, the queen made
"aim a privy councillor ; and much pains were taken on the duke of Ormond to stifle his
resentments. He was in a great measure softened, yet he had made his complaints to so
many lords, that they moved the house to examine both his instructions and the journals
relating to that expedition. A committee of the house of peers sat long upon the matter :
they examined all the admirals and land officers, as well as Rook himself, upon the whole
progress of that affair. Rook was so well supported by the court, and by his party in the
Louse of commons, that he seemed to despise all that the lords could do. Some who under-
stood sea matters said that it appeared, from every motion that he made during the expedi-
tion, that he intended to do nothing but amuse and make a show. They also concluded,
m the protection that the ministry gave him, that they intended no other. He took
much pains to show how improper a thing a descent on Cadiz was, and how fatal the
attempt must have proved ; and, in doing this, he arraigned his instructions, and the design
he was sent on, with great boldness, and showed little regard to the ministers, who took
more pains to bring him off than to justify themselves. The lords of the committee pre-
pared a report, which was hard upon Rook, and laid it before the house ; but so strong a
party was made to oppose every thing that reflected on him, that though every particular
in the report was well proved, yet it was rejected, and a vote was carried in his favour,
justifying his whole conduct. The great employment given to the duke of Ormond so effec-
tually prevailed on him, that though the enquiry was set on by his means, and upon his
suggestions., yot he came not to the house when it was brought to a conclusion. So Rook,
3x2
724 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
being but faintly pushed by him, and most zealously supported by his party, was justified
by a vote, though universally condemned by more impartial judges. The behaviour of the
ministry in this matter heightened the jealousies with which many were possessed, for it
was inferred that they were not in earnest in his whole expedition ; since the conduct
being so contrary to the instructions, the justifying the one was plainly condemning the
other.
The report made by the commissioners appointed to take the public accounts was another
business that took up much time in this session, and occasioned many debates. They pre-
tended that they had made great discoveries : they began with the earl of Ranelagh, who
had been in great posts, and had all the arts that were necessary to recommend a man in a
court, who stuck at nothing that could maintain his interest with those whom he served :
he had been paymaster of the army in king James's time, and, being very fit for the post, he
had been continued all the last reign : he had lived high, and so it was believed his appoint-
ments could not support so great an expense : he had an account of one and twenty millions
lay upon him. It was given out that a great deal of the money, lodged in his office for the
pay of the army, was diverted to other uses, distributed among favourites, or given to
corrupt members of parliament ; and that some millions had been sent over to Holland. It
had been often said, that great discoveries would be made, whensoever his accounts were
looked into ; and that he, to save himself, would lay open the ill practices of the former
reign. But now, when all was brought under a strict examination, a few inconsiderable
articles of some hundreds of pounds was all that could be found to be objected to him ; and
even to these he gave clear and full answers. At last they found that, upon the breaking of
a regiment, a sum which he had issued out for its pay had been returned to his office, the
regiment being broke sooner than that pay was exhausted ; and that no entry of this was
made in his accounts. To this he answered, that his officer, who received the money, was
within three days after taken so ill of a confirmed stone, that he never again came to the
office, but died in great misery, and, during those three days, he had not entered that sum
in the books. Lord Ranelagh acknowledged that he was liable to account for all the money
that was received by his under officers, but here was no crime or f.aud designed ; yet this
was so aggravated, that he saw his good post was his greatest guilt ; so he quitted that,
which was divided into two : one was appointed to be paymaster of the guards and garri-
sons at home, and another of the forces that were kept beyond sea. Howe had the first, as
being the more lasting post*. With this all the clamour raised against the earl of Rane-
lagh was let fall ; yet, to make a show of severity, he was expelled the house. But he
appeared, upon all this canvassing, to be much more innocent than even his friends had
believed him-f-.
The clamour that had been long kept up against the former ministry, as devourers of the
public treasure, was of such use to the party, that they resolved to continue it by all possible
methods. So a committee of the house of commons prepared a long address to the queen,
reflecting on the ill management of the funds, upon which they laid the great debt of the
nation, and not upon the deficiencies. This was branched out into many particulars, which
were all heavily aggravated. Yet, though a great part of the outcry had been formerly
* The second was given to Mr. Fox. — Mackay's Cha- and turned of 60 years old." It is certain that the earl
racters. had not honesty sufficient to resist availing himself of any
f Richard Jones, earl of Ranelagh, has heen styled resources that enabled him to live in the splendid extrava-
" one of the ablest men Ireland ever bred." Mackay's gance that delighted him, but this must have been sustained
"Characters" describes him as having "a great deal of by considerable ability, or he could not have succeeded in
•wit, having originally no great estaie, yet hath spent more pleasing such opposite characters as the licentious Charles,
money, built more fine houses, and laid out more on the bigotted James, the phlegmatic William, and the
household furniture and gardening than any other noble- pious Anne. But his talents were not rendered amiable
man in England. He is a great epicure, and prodigious by a Christian spirit. He never forgave his daughter,
expensive ; was paymaster all the last war, and is above lady Coningsby, for marrying contrary to his wishes, and
100,000/. sterling in arrear, which several parliaments gave the fortune he intended for her to Greenwich Hoa-
have been calling him to account for, yet he escapes with pital. He died in 1711. His house and gardens at
the punishment only of losing his place. He is a bold Chelsea became the public place of amusement, formerly
man, and very happy in jests and repartees, and hath often so well known as Ranelagh. — Clarendon Ccrrespon-
turned the humour of the house of commons, when they dence ; Peerages ; Noble's Contin. of Grainger,
have dc&igned to be very severe. He is very fut, black,
OF QUEEN ANNE. 725
made against Russel, treasurer of tlie navy, and his office, they found not so much as a
colour to fix a complaint there ; nor could they charge any thing on the chancery, the
treasury, or the administration of justice. Great complaints were made of some accounts
that stood long out, and they insisted on some pretended neglects, the old methods of the
exchequer not having been exactly followed ; though it did not appear that the public
suffered in any sort by those failures. They kept up a clamour likewise against the com-
missioners of the prizes, though they had passed their accounts as the law directed, and no
objection was made to them. The address was full of severe reflections and spiteful insinua-
tions ; and thus it was carried to the queen, and published to the nation, as the sense of the
commons of England.
The lords, to prevent the ill impressions this might make, appointed a committee to
examine all the observations that the commissioners of accounts had offered to both houses.
They searched all the public offices, and were amazed to find that there was not one article
in all the long address that the commons had made to the queen, or in the observations then
before them, that was of any importance, but was false in fact. They found the deficiencies
in the former reign were of two sorts ; the one was of sums that the commons had voted, but
for which they had made no sort of provision ; the other was where the supply that was
given came short of the sum it was estimated at : and between these two the deficiencies
amounted to fourteen millions : this was the root of the great debt that lay on the nation.
They examined into all the pretended mismanagement, and found that what the commons
had stated so invidiously was mistaken. So far had the late king and his ministers been
from misapplying the money that was given for public occasions, that he applied three
millions to the public service that by law was his own money, of which they made up the
account. They also found that some small omissions in some of the forms of the exchequer
were of no consequence, and neither had nor could have any ill effect : and whereas a great
clamour was raised against passing of accounts by privy seals, they put an end to that effect-
ually, when it appeared on what ground this was done. By the ancient methods of the
exchequer, every account was to be carried on, so that the new officer was to begin his
account with the balance of the former account. Sir Edward Seymour, wrho had been trea-
surer of the navy, owed by his last account 180,000/., and he had received after that
]40,000/., for which the accounts were never made up. Now it was not possible for those
who came after him to be liable for his accounts. Therefore the treasurers of the navy in
the last reign were forced to take out privy seals for making up their accounts. These
imported no more than that they were to account only for the money that they themselves
had received ; for, in all other respects, their accounts were to pass according to the ordinary
methods of the exchequer. Complaints had been also made of the remissness of the lords
of the treasury, or their officers, appointed to account with the receivers of counties for the
aids that had been given : but, when this wras examined, it appeared that this had been done
with such exactness that, of the sum of twenty-four millions for which they had accounted,
there was not owing above 60,0007., and that was for the most part in "Wales, where
it was not thought advisable to use too much rigour in raising it ; and of that sum there was
not above ] 4,0007. that was to be reckoned as lost. The collectors of the customs likewise
answered all the observations made on their accounts so fully, that the house of commons
was satisfied with their answers, and dismissed them without so much as a reprimand. All
this was reported to the house of lords, and they laid it before the queen in an address, which
was afterwards printed with the vouchers to every particular. By this means it was made
out, to the satisfaction of the whole nation, how false those reports were which had been so
industriously spread, and were so easily believed by the greater part. For the bulk of man-
kind will be always apt to think that courts and ministers serve their own ends, and study
to enrich themselves at the public cost. This examination held long, and was followed with
great exactness, and had all the effect that could be desired from it ; for it silenced that
noise which the late king's enemies had raised to asperse him and his ministers. TVith this
the session of parliament ended. In it the lords had rendered themselves very considerable,
and had gained an universal reputation over tiie whole nation. It is true, those who had
opposed the persons that had carried matters before them in this session were so near them
i
7:20 THE HISTORY OF TtfE REIGN
in number, that things of the greatest consequence were carried only by one or two voices ,
therefore, as they intended to have a clear majority in both houses in the next session, they
prevailed with the queen, soon after the prorogation, to create four new peers, who had been
the most violent of the whole party : Finch, Gower, Granville, and young Seymour were
made barons. Great reflections were made upon this promotion. When some severe things"
had been thrown out in the house of commons upon the opposition that they met with from
the lords, it was insinuated, that it would be easy to find men of merit and estate to make a
clear majority in that house. This was an open declaration of a design to put every thing
in the hands and power of that party. It was also an encroachment on one of the tenderest
points of the prerogative to make motions of creating peers in the house of commons.
Herveys though of the other side, wras at the same time made a baron by private favour.
Thus the session of parliament was brought to a much better conclusion than could have
been reasonably expected by those, who knew of whom it was constituted and how it had
begun. No harm was done in it : the succession was fortified by a new security, and the
popular clamours of corruption and peculation, with which the nation had been so much
possessed, were in a great measure dissipated.
The proceedings of the convocation, which sat at the same time, are next to be related.
At the first opening of it there was a contest between the two houses, that lasted some days,
concerning an address to the queen. The lower house intended to cast some reflections on
the former reign, in imitation of what the house of commons had done, and these were
worded so invidiously, that most of the bishops were pointed at by them ; but the upper
house refusing to concur, the lower house receded, and so they both agreed in a very decent
address. The queen received it graciously, promising all favour and protection to the
church, and exhorting them all to peace and union among themselves. After this, the lower
house made an address to the bishops, that they might find an expedient for putting an end
to those disputes, that had stopped the proceedings of former convocations. The bishops
resolved to offer them all that they could, without giving up their character and authority;
so they made a proposition that, in the intervals of sessions, the lower house might appoint
committees to prepare matters, and when business was brought regularly before them, that
the archbishop should so order the prorogations, that they might have convenient and
sufficient time to sit and deliberate about it. This fully satisfied many of that body ; but
the majority thought this kept the matter still in the archbishop's power, as it was indeed
intended it should. So they made another application to the bishops, desiring them to refer
the points in question to the queen's decision, and to such as she should appoint to hear and
settle them. To this the bishops answered, that they reckoned themselves safe and happy
in the queen's protection, and would pay all due submission to her pleasure and orders. But
the rights, which the constitution of the church and the law had vested in them, were trusts
lodged with them., which they were to convey to their successors as they had received them
from their predecessors, and that it was not in their power to refer them. It would have
been a strange sight, very acceptable to the enemies of the church, chiefly to papists, to see
the two houses of convocation pleading their authority and rights before a committee of
council that was to determine the matter. This failing, the lower house tried what they
could obtain of the. house of commons ; but they could not be carried further than a general
vote, which amounted to nothing, that they would stand by them in all their just rights
and privileges. They next made a separate address to the queen, desiring her protection,
praying her to hear and determine the dispute. She received this favourably ; she said she
would consider of it, and send them her answer. The matter was now brought into the
hands of the ministers. The earl of Nottingham was of their side, but confessed that he
understood not the controversy. The judges and the queen's council were ordered to j
examine how the matter stood in point of law, which was thus stated to them. The I
constant practice, as far as we had books or records, was, that the archbishop prorogued the ;
convocation by a schedule : of this the form was so fixed, that it could not be altered but by j
act of parliament. There was a clause in the schedule that continued all matters before the '
convocation, in the state in which they then were, to the day to which he prorogued them . t
this made it evident that there could be no intermediate session ; for a session of the lower ;
OF QUEEN ANNE. 72?
house could, by passing a vote in any matter, alter the state in which it was. It was kept
I a secret what opinion the lawyers came to in this matter. It was not doubted but they
were against the pretensions of the lower house. The queen made no answer to their
I address ; and it was believed that the reason of this was because the answer must, according
to the opinion of lawyers, have been contrary to what they expected ; and therefore the
i ministers chose rather to give no answer, and that it should seem to be forgotten, than that
such an one should be given as would put an end to the debate, which they intended to
cherish and support.
The lower house finding that, by opposing their bishops in so rough, as well as in so
unheard-of, a manner, they were represented as favourers of presbytery, to clear themselves
of that imputation, caine suddenly into a conclusion that episcopacy was of divine and apos-
tolical right. The party that stuck together in their votes, and kept their intermediate
sessions, signed this, and brought it up to the bishops, desiring them to concur in settling the
matter, so that it might be the standing rule of the church. This was a plain attempt to
make a canon, or constitution, without obtaining a royal licence, which, by the statute con-
, firming the submission of the clergy in king Henry the Eighth's time, made both them, and
, all who chose them, incur a premunire. So the bishops resolved not to entertain the propo-
; sition, and a great many of the lower house apprehending what the consequence of such
I proceedings might be, by a petition to the bishops, prayed that it might be entered in their
i books, that they had not concurred in that definition, nor in the address made pursuant to
it. The lower house looked on what they did in this matter as a masterpiece : for if the
bishops concurred with them, they reckoned they gained their point ; and, if they refused it,
i they resolved to make them who would not come up to such a positive definition pass for
| secret favourers of presbytery. But the bishops saw into their designs, and sent them for
j answer, that they acquiesced in the declaration that was already made on that head in the
i preface to the book of ordinations ; and that they did not think it safe either for them or for
; the clergy, to go further in that matter without a royal licence. To this a dark answer was
made, and so all these matters were at a full stand when the session came to an end, by the
i prorogation of the parliament ; which was become necessary, the two houses being fixed in
I an opposition to one another.
From those disputes in convocation, divisions ran through the whole body of the clergy,
| and to fix these, new names were found out ; they were distinguished by the names of HIGH
i CHURCH and LOW CHURCH. All that treated the dissenters with temper and moderation,
and were for residing constantly at their cures, and for labouring diligently in them ; that
i expressed a zeal against the prince of Wales, and for the revolution ; that wished well to the
j present war, and to the alliance against France, were represented as secret favourers of pres-
bytery, and as ill affected to the church, and were called '''low churchmen:11 it was said
that they were in the church only while the law and preferments were on its side ; but that
they were ready to give it up as soon as they saw a proper time for declaring themselves.
With these false and invidious characters did the high party endeavour to load all those who
could not be brought into their measures and designs. When the session wras at an end, the
court was wholly taken up with the preparations for the campaign.
The duke of Marlborough had a great domestic affliction at this time. He lost his only
son, a graceful person and a very promising youth : he died at Cambridge of the small-pox.
This, as may be imagined, went very deep in his father's heart, and stopped his passing the
seas some days longer than he had intended. Upon his arrival on the other side, the Dutch
brought their armies into the field. The first thing they undertook was the siege of Bonn.
In the meanwhile all men's eyes were turned towards Bavaria. The court of Vienna had
given it out all the former winter that they would bring such a force upon that elector, as
would quickly put an end to that war, and seize his whole country. But the slowness of
that court appeared on this as it had done on many other occasions; for though they
brought two armies into the field, yet they were not able to deal with the elector's forces.
Villars, who lay with his army at Strasburg, had orders to break through and join the
elector : so he was to force his way to him at all adventures. He passed the Rhine, and sot
728 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
down before Fort Keil, which lay over against Strasburg, and took it in a few days. Prince
Lewis was in no condition to raise the siege, for the best part of his army was called away
to the war in Bavaria ; he therefore posted himself advantageously at Stollhoffen ; yet he
could not have maintained it if the States had not sent him a good body of foot, which came
seasonably a few days before mareschal Villars attacked him with an army that was more
than double his number. But his men, chiefly the Dutch battalions, received them with so
much courage, that the French were forced to quit the attack after they had lost about four
thousand men in it. Yet, upon repeated orders from France, mareschal Villars resolved to
venture the loss of his whole army, rather than abandon the elector ; who, though he had
taken Newburg and had surprised Ratisbon, and had several advantages in little eno-age-
ments with the imperialists, yet was likely to be overpowered by a superior force if he was
not relieved in time. The Black Forest was thought impracticable in that season, which
was a very wet one. This was too much trusted to, so that the passes were ill looked after,
and therefore Villars overcame all difficulties, .and joined the elector ; but his troops were so
harassed with the march, that he was obliged to put them for some time into quarters of
refreshment.
The duke of Marlborough carried on the siege of Bonn with such vigour, that they
capitulated within ten days after the trenches were opened. The French reckoned upon a
longer resistance, and hoped to have diverted this by an attempt upon Liege. The States
had a small army about Maastricht, which the French intended to fall upon, being much
superior to it; but they found the Dutch in so good order, and so well posted, that they
retired within their lines as soon as they saw the duke of Marlborough, after the siege of
Bonn, was marching towards them. The winter had produced very little action in Italy.
The country was under another very heavy plague, by a continued succession of threatening,
and of some very devouring earthquakes : Rome itself had a share in the common calamity :
but it proved to them more dreadful than it was mischievous. Prince Eugene found that
his letters and the most pressing representations he could send to the court of Vienna had
no effect ; so at last he obtained leave to go thither.
The motions of the Dutch army made it believed there was a design on Antwerp. Cohorn
was making advances in the Dutch Flanders, and Opdam commanded a small army on the
other side of the Scheld, while the duke of Marlborough lay with the main army near the
lines in Brabant. Boufflers was detached from Villeroy's army with a body double in
number to Opdam's, to fall on him. He marched so quick that the Dutch, being surprised
at Eckeren, were put in great disorder ; and Opdam, apprehending all was lost, fled with a
body of his men to Breda. But the Dutch rallied, and maintained their ground with such
firmness, that the French retired, little to their honour ; since though they were much supe-
rior in number, yet they let the Dutch recover out of their first confusion, and keep their
ground, although forsaken by their general, who justified himself in the best manner he could,
and cast the blame on others.
Boufflers's conduct was so much censured, that it was thought this finished his disgrace ;
for he was no more put at the head of the French armies ; nor was the duke of Marlborough
without some share of censure on this occasion, since it was pretended that he ought to have
sent a force to support Opdam, or have made an attempt on Villeroy's army, when it was
weakened by the detachment sent with Boufflers.
The French lines were judged to be so strong that the forcing them seemed impracticable,
so the duke of Marlborough turned towards Huy, which was soon taken ; and after that to
Limburg, which he took with no loss but that of so much time as was necessary to bring
up a train of artillery ; and, as soon as that was done, the garrison were made prisoners of
war, for they were in no condition to maintain a siege. Guelder was also blocked up, so
that before the end of the campaign it was brought to capitulate. Thus the Lower Rhine
was secured, and all that country, called the Coudras, was entirely reduced. This was all
that our troops, in conjunction with the Dutch, could do in Flanders. We had the superior
army, but, what by reason of the cautious maxims of the States, what by reason of the
factions among them (which were rising very high between those who had been of the late
OF QUEEN ANiNE. 729
kings party, and were now for having a captain general, and those of the Lovestein party,
who were for governing all by a deputation from the States), no great design could be under-
taken by an army so much distracted.
In the Upper Rhine matters went much worse. Villars lay for some time on the Danube,
while the elector of Bavaria marched into Tirol, and possessed himself of Inspruck. The
emperor's force was so broken into many small armies, in different places, that he had not
one good army any where ; he had none at all in Tirol : and all that the prince of Baden
could do was to watch Villars's motions ; but he did not venture on attacking him during
this separation. Many blamed his conduct : some called his courage, and others his fidelity,
in question ; while many excused him, since his army was both weak and ill furnished in all
respects. The duke of Vendome had orders to march from the Milanese to Tirol, there to
join the elector of Bavaria : upon which junction the ruin of the house of Austria would
have probably followed ; but the boors in Tirol rose and attacked the elector with so much
resolution, that he was forced to retire out of the country with considerable loss, and was
driven out before the duke of Vendome could join him, so that he came too late. He
seemed to have a design on Trent, but the boors were now so animated with their successes,
and were so conducted and supported by officers and troops sent them by the emperor, that
Vendome was forced to return back, without being able to effect any thing.
Nothing passed this summer in Italy. The imperialists were too weak, and too ill
supplied from Germany to be able to act offensively ; and the miscarriage of the design upon
Tirol lost the French so much time, that they undertook nothing, unless it were the siege of
Ostiglia, in which they failed. Bresello, after a long blockade, was forced to capitulate, and
by that means the French possessed themselves of the duke of Modena's country. The duke
of Burgundy came to Alsace and sat down before Brisac, of which he was soon master, by
the cowardice, or treachery, of those who commanded, for which they were condemned by a
council of war.
The emperor's misfortunes grew upon him Cardinal Calonitz and Esterhasi had the
government of Hungary trusted chiefly to them. The former was so cruel, and the other so
ravenous, that the Hungarians took advantage from this distraction in the emperor's affairs
to rim together in great bodies, and in many places, setting prince Ragotski at their head.
They demanded that their grievances should be redressed, and that their privileges should be
restored. They were much animated in this by the practices of the French, and the elector
of Bavaria's agents. Some small assistance was sent them by the way of Poland. They
were encouraged to enter upon no treaty, but to unite and fortify themselves ; assurances
being given them that no peace should be concluded, unless they were fully restored to all
their ancient liberties.
The court of Vienna was much alarmed at this, fearing it might be secretly set on by the
Turks; though that court gave all possible assurances that they would maintain the peace
of Carlowitz most religiously, and that they would in no sort encourage or assist the mal-
contents. A revolution happening in that empire, in which a new sultan wras set up, raised
new apprehensions of a breach on that side. But the sultan renewed the assurances of
maintaining the peace so solemnly, that all those fears were soon dissipated. There was a
great faction in the emperor's court, and among his ministers ; and it did not appear that he
had strength of genius enough to govern them. Count Mansfield was much suspected of
being in the interests of France. The prince of Baden and prince Eugene both agreed in
charging his conduct, though they differed almost in every thing else. Yet he was so
possessed of the emperor's favour and confidence, that it was not easy to get him set aside.
In conclusion, he was advanced to a high post in the emperor's household, and prince Eugene
was made president of the council of war.
But what effect soever this might have in succeeding campaigns, it was then too late in
the year to find remedies for the present disorders : and all affairs on the south of the
Danube were falling into great confusion. Things went a little better on the north side of
that river. The upper palatinate was entirely conquered ; but near the end of the year
Augsburg was forced to submit to the elector of Bavaria, and Landau was besieged by the
730 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
French. Tallard, who commanded the siege, took it in fewer weeks than it Tiad cost the
Germans months to take it in the former year. Nor was this all ; an army of the confede-
rates was brought together to raise the siege : the young prince of Hesse commanded, but
the prince of Nassau Welburg, as a man of more experience in war, was chiefly depended
on, though his conduct showed how little he deserved it. The emperor's birthday was a
day of diversion, and the German generals, then at Spire, allowed themselves all the idle
liberties used in courts on such days, without the ordinary precaution of having scouts or
parties abroad, in the same careless state as if no enemy had been near them. Tallard,
having intelligence of this, left a part of his army to make a show, and maintain the works
before Landau, and marched with his best troops against the Germans. He surprised and
routed them ; upon which Landau capitulated. With this the warlike operations of this
campaign ended very gloriously, and with great advantage to the French.
But two great negotiations, then brought to a conclusion, very much changed the face of
affairs. All the confederates pressed the king of Portugal to come into the alliance, as his
own interest led him to it ; since it was visible that, as soon as Spain was once united to the
crown of France, he could not hope to continue long in Portugal. The almirante of Castile
•was believed to be in the interests of the house of Austria, therefore, to send him out of the
way, he was appointed to go ambassador to France. He seemed to undertake it, and made
the necessary preparations ; he saw this embassy was intended for an exile, and that it put
him in the power of his enemies : so, after he had raised what was necessary to defray his
expense, he secretly changed his course, and escaped with the wealth he had in his hands to
Lisbon ; where he entered into secret negotiations with the king of Portugal and the
emperor. He gave great assurances of the good dispositions in which both the people and
garndees of Spain were, who were grown sick of their new masters. The risk he himself
ran seemed a very full credential. He assured them the new king was despised, and that
the French about him were universally hated : the Spaniards could not bear the being made
a province, either to France, or to the emperor.
He therefore proposed that the emperor and the king of the Romans should renounce all
their pretensions and transfer them to the archduke, and declare him king of Spain ; and
that he should be immediately sent thither ; for he assured them the Spaniards would not
revolt from a king that was in possession, till they saw another king who claimed hia
right ; and, in that case, they would think they had a right to adhere to the king they
liked best. The king of Portugal likewise demanded an enlargement of his frontiers, and
some new accessions to his crown, which were reasonable, but could not be stipulated but
by a king of Spain.
In the treaty that the emperor had made with the late king, and with the States, one
article was, that they should be at liberty to possess themselves of the dominions which the
crown of Spain had in the West Indies, and he vested in them the right that their arms
should give them in these acquisitions ; upon which the king had designed to send a great
fleet, with a land army, into the bay of Mexico, to seize some important places there, wTith
a design of restoring them to the crown of Spain, upon advantageous articles for a free
trade, as soon as the Spaniards should receive a king of the house of Austria. This design
was now laid aside, and the reason that the ministers gave for it was, that the almirante
had assured them that, if we possessed ourselves of any of their places in the West Indies,
the whole nation would by that means become entirely French ; they would never believe
our promises of restoring them ; and, seeing they had no naval power of their own to recover
them they would go into the French interest very cordially, as the only way left to recover
these places.
An entire credit was given to the almirante ; so the queen and the States agreed to send
over a great fleet, with a land army of twelve thousand men, together with a great supply
of money and arms to Portugal ; that king undertaking to have an army of twenty-eight
thousand men ready to join ours. In this treaty an incident happened, that had almost
spoiled the whole; the king of Portugal insisted on demanding the flag, and the other
respects to be paid by our admiral, when he was in his ports : the earl of Nottingham
OF QUEEN ANNE. 731
insisted it was a dishonour to England to strike, even in another king's ports ; this was not
demanded of the fleet that was sent to bring over queen Katharine ; so, though Methuen,
our ambassador, had agreed to this article, he pressed the queen not to ratify it.
Methuen *, in his own justification, said, he consented to the article, because he saw it
was insisted on so much, that no treaty could bo concluded, unless that point were yielded ;
the low state of their affairs, in the year 1602, when the protection of England was all they
had in view, for their preservation, made such a difference between that and the present time,
that the one was not to be set up for a precedent to govern the other ; besides, even then
the matter was much contested in their councils, though the extremities to which they were
reduced made them yield it. The lord Godolphin looked on this as too inconsiderable to be
insisted on, the whole affairs of Europe seemed to turn upon this treaty, and so important a
matter ought not to be retarded a day for such punctilios as a salute, or striking the flag ;
and it seemed reasonable that every sovereign prince should claim this acknowledgment,
unless where it was otherwise stipulated by express treaties. The laying so much weight
on such matters very much heightened jealousies ; and it was said, that the earl of Notting-
ham, and the tories, seemed to lay hold on every thing that could obstruct the progress of
the war ; while the round proceeding of the lord Godolphin reconciled many to him. The
queen confirmed the treaty t ; upon which the court of Vienna was desired to do their part.
But that court proceeded with its ordinary slowness, the mildest censure passed on these delays
was, that they proceeded from an unreasonable affectation of magnificence in the ceremonial,
which could not be performed soon, nor easily, in a poor but a haughty court ; it was done
at last, but so late in the year, that the new declared king of Spain could not reach Holland
before the end of October. A squadron of our fleet was lying there to bring him over ;
such as was wont to convoy the late king when he crossed the seas. But the ministers of
the king of Spain thought it was not strong enough ; they pretended they had advertise-
ments that the French had a stronger squadron in Dunkirk, which might be sent out to
intercept him ; so an additional strength was sent ; this lost some time, and a fair wind.
It had like to have been more fatal ; for about the end of November the weather grew
very boisterous, and broke out on the 27th of November, in the most violent storm, both by
sea and land, that had been known in the memory of man : the city of London was so
shaken with it, that people were generally afraid of being buried in the ruins of their houses.
Some houses fell and crushed their masters to death ; great hurt was done in the southern
parts of England ; little happening in the north, where the storm was not so violent. There
was a great fall of trees, chiefly of elms, that were blown down by the wind. We had, at
that time, the best part of our naval force upon the sea ; which filled all people with great
apprehensions of an irreparable loss ; and indeed, if the storm had not been at its height at
full flood, and in a spring tide, the loss might have proved fatal to the nation. It was so
considerable, that fourteen or fifteen men of war were cast away, in which one thousand five
hundred seamen perished ; few merchantmen were lost ; such as were driven to sea were
safe : some few only were over-set. Thus the most threatening danger, to which the nation
could be exposed, went off with little damage : we saw all our hazard, since the loss of our
fleet must hi ve been the loss of the nation. If this great hurricane had come at low water,
or in a quarter tide, our ships must have been driven out upon the banks of sand that lie
before the coast, and have stuck and perished there, as some of the men of war did ; but
the sea being so full of water, all but some heavy ships got over these safe : our squadron,
which was then in the Maes, suffered but little, and the ships were soon refitted, and ready
to sail.
* Jonathan MethtieYi was the representative in parlia- Dean Swift unite in giving him a very degrading charac-
ment of Devizes from 1690 to 1702. Educated for the ter. The first says " he was a man of intrigue, but very
profession of the law, he practised with success, and rose muddy in his conceptions, and not quickly understood in
to the dignity of lord chancellor of Ireland. According any thing;" the latter, still more virulent, describes him
to Muckay's " Characters," he was nearly promoted to as " a profligate rogue, without religion, or morals, but
the same high office in England. It is an instance of the cunning enough, though without abilities of any kind."
ill government to whnh Ireland has for centuries been He was buried in Westminster abbey. His letters do not
subjected, that whilst he held the station of its highest show any deficiency of sense. — Clarendon Correspondence ,
law offices, he was employed as ambassador to Portugal; Oxford edition of this work ; Noble's Contin. of Grainger,
where he died in 1706. Markay's " Characters" and f But the obr sxious clawe was expunged. — Noble.
732 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
About the end of December, tbe king of Spain landed at Portsmouth ; the duke of
Somerset was sent by the queen to receive him, and to bring him to an interview, which was
to be at Windsor * ; prince George went and met him on the way, and he was treated
with great magnificence : the court was very splendid, and much thronged ; the queen's
behaviour towards him was very noble and obliging : the young king charmed all that were
there ; he had a gravity beyond his age, tempered with much modesty ; his behaviour was
in all points so exact, that there was not a circumstance in his whole deportment that was
liable to censure ; he paid an extraordinary respect to the queen, and yet maintained a due
greatness in it. He had an art of seeming well pleased with every thing, without so much
as smiling once all the while he was at court, which was only three days : he spoke but
little, and all he said was judicious and obliging. All possible haste was made in fitting
out the fleet, so that he set sail in the beginning of January, and for five days he had a fair •
wind with good weather, but then the wind changed, and he was driven back to Portsmouth.
He lay there above three weeks, and then he had a very prosperous navigation. The forces
that were ordered to go over to his assistance were by this time got ready to attend on him,
so he sailed with a great fleet, both of men of war and transport ships : he arrived happily
at Lisbon, where he was received with all the outward expressions of joy and welcome, and
at an expence, in a vain magnificence, which that court could not well bear ; but a national
vanity prevailed to carry this too far, by which other things that were more necessary were
neglected : that court was then very melancholy ; for the young infanta, whom the king
of Spain was to have married, as had been agreed, died a few days before his arrival.
While this negotiation with Portugal was carried on, the duke of Savoy began to see his
own danger, if the two crowns should come to be united ; and he saw, that if the king of
France drove the imperialists out of Italy, and became master of the Milanese, he must lie
exposed, and at mercy ; he had married his two daughters to the duke of Burgundy, and to
king Philip of Spain ; but as he wrote to the emperor, he was now to take care of himself
and his son ; his alliance with France was only for one year, which he had renewed from
year to year, so he offered, at the end of the year, to enter into the great alliance ; and he
demanded for his share, the Novarize, and the Montferrat. His leaving the allies, as he had
done in the former war, showed that he maintained the character of his family, of changing
sides, as often as he could expect better terms, by a new turn ; yet his interest lay so visibly
now on the side of the alliance, that it was very reasonable to believe he was resolved to
adhere firmly to it. So when the demands he made were laid before the court of Vienna,
and from thence transmitted to England, and Holland, all the assistance that he proposed
was promised him : the court of Vienna had no money to spare, but England and the States
were to pay him twenty thousand pounds a month, of which England was to pay him two
thirds, and the States the rest.
Since I am to relate the rest of this transaction, I must look back, and give some account
of his departing from the alliance in the former war, which I had from Monsieur Herval,
who was then the king's envoy in Switzerland, a French refugee, but originally of a German
* Charles Seymour, commonly known as " tne proud liveries were the same as those worn by the royal foot-
duke of Somerset." He was horn in 1662, and died in men. His servants were directed by signs, and couriers
1748. He was interred in Salisbury cathedral. Noble preceded him to clear the country roads, that he might
relates several anecdotes, fully justifying the popular epi- pass without obstruction or observation. A countryman
thet applied to him. Under queen Anne he was master driving a pig, instead of obeying the mandate, held up
of the horse, privy councillor, and a commissioner for the the hog by the ears, indignantly exclaiming, " I see him,
union ; but upon the change of ministry he was super- and so shall my pig." He had two wives ; Eliza, only
seded. Indignant, he, with the duke of Argyle, forced child of the earl of Northumberland ; and Charlotte,
himself into the council at Kensington, summoned to daughter of the earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham,
deliberate upon the situation of the nation, the queen The latter once tapped him upon the shoulder with her
lying dead at the time. This disconcerted all the plans Ian, upon which he indignantly rebuked her by observing,
of the tory party. George the First restored him to all " My first duchess was a Percy, and she never took such
his honours, but from these he was removed again for a liberty." His two youngest daughters were accustomed
expressing himself with indecorous warmth, because bail to stand and watch him by turns as he slept in the after-
was refused for his son-in-law, sir William Wyndham, noon. One of them being wearied, sat down, which he
suspected of treasonable correspondence with the exiled observing as he suddenly awaked, declared she should
court. Upon this he had all his servants' liveries taken remember. By his will he left her '20,000/. less than
in a cart arid thrown into the yard of the palace. These her sister. Such a proud brute must have been a fool.
OF QUEEN ANNE. 733
family of Augsburg, settled but lately in France. In January, ]69(>, when the plot for
assassinating the king and invading the nation was thought so surely laid, that it could not
miscarry, the king of France sent M. Chanley very secretly to the duke of Savoy, with a
full credence to the propositions he was to make, demanding a positive answer within six
hours ; with that the duke of Orleans wrote very warmly to him ; he said, he had employed
all his interest with the king his brother, to get these offers made to him, which he conjured
him to accept of, otherwise he must look for utter ruin, without remedy, or recovery. Chan-
ley told him, that at that present time, he was to reckon that king James was repossessed of
the throne of England, and that the prince of Orange was either dead, or in his hands ; so
he offered to restore Cazal and Pigneroll, and all that was afterwards agreed to by the treaty,
if he would depart from the alliance. The duke of Savoy being thus alarmed with a revo-
lution of England, and being so straitened in time, thought the extreme necessity, to which
he would be reduced, in case that was true, must justify his submitting, when otherwise his
ruin was unavoidable. The worst part of this was, that he got leave to pretend to continue
in the alliance, till he had drawn all the supplies he was to expect for that year from
England, and the States, and then the whole matter was owned, as has been related in the
transactions of that year. I leave this upon the credit of him from whom I had it, who
assured me he was well informed concerning it.
The duke of Savoy having now secretly agreed to enter into the alliance, did not declare
it, but continued still denying it to the French, that so when the duke of Vendome sent
back his troops to him, at the end of the campaign, he might more safely own it. The
French had reason to suspect a secret negotiation, but could not penetrate into it, so they
took an effectual, though a very fraudulent method to discover it, which was told me soon
after by the earl of Pembroke. They got the elector of Bavaria to write to him, with all
seeming sincerity, and with great secrecy, for he sent it to him by a subject of his own, so
well disguised and directed, that the duke of Savoy was imposed on by this management :
in this letter, the elector complained bitterly of the insolence and perfidiousness of the French,
into whose hands he had put himself: he said, he saw his error now, when it was too late to
see how he could correct it ; yet if the duke of Savoy, who was almost in as bad a state as
himself, would join with him, so that they might act by concert, they might yet not only
recover themselves, but procure a happy peace for all the rest of Europe. The duke of
Savoy, mistrusting nothing, wrote him a frank answer, in which he owned his own designs,
and encouraged the elector to go on, and offered all offices of friendship on his behalf, with
the rest of the allies. The French, who knew by what ways the Savoyard was to return,
seized him, without so much as acquainting the elector with the discovery that they had
made : they saw now into this secret ; so when the time came, in which the duke of Ven-
dome ought to have sent back his troops to him, they were made prisoners of war, contrary
to all treaties ; and with this the war began in those parts. It was much apprehended that,
considering the weak and naked state in which the duke of Savoy then was, the French
would have quickly mastered him ; but count Staremberg ventured on a march, which mili-
tary men said was the best laid, and the best executed of any in the whole war : he marched
from the Modenese, in the worst season of the year, through ways that, by reason of the
rains that had fallen, seemed impracticable, having in many places the French both before
and behind him ; he broke through all, and in conclusion joined the duke of Savoy, with a
good body of horse. By this he was rendered safe in Piedmont ; it is true the French made
themselves quickly masters of all Savoy, except Montmelian, where some small actions hap-
pened, much to the duke's advantage. The Switzers interposed to obtain a neutrality for
Savoy, though without effect.
The rising in the Cevennes had not been yet subdued, though mareschal Montravel was
sent with an army to reduce or destroy them : he committed great barbarities, not only on
those he found in arms, but on whole villages, because they, as he was informed, favoured
them : they came often down out of their hills in parties, ravaging the country, and they
engaged the king's troops with much resolution, and sometimes with great advantage : th*y
seemed resolved to accept of nothing less than the restoring their edicts to them ; for it COL.
7?J4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
nivance at tlieir own way of worship was offered them : they had many among them who
seemed qualified in a very singular manner, to be the teachers of the rest ; they had a great
measure of zeal without any learning ; they scarcely had any education at all ; I spoke with
the person who, by the queen's order, sent one among them to know the state of their affairs ;
I read some of the letters, which he brought from them, full of a sublime zeal and piety,
expressing a courage and confidence that could not be daunted ; one instance of this was,
that they all agreed, that if any of them was so wounded in an engagement with the enemy,
that he could not be brought off, he should be shot dead, rather than be left alive to fall into
the enemy's hands ; it was not possible then to form a judgment of that insurrection, the
reports about it were so various and uncertain, it being as much magnified by some, as it was
undervalued by others : the whole number that they could reckon on was four thousand men,
but they had not arms and clothes for half that number, so they used these by turns, while
the rest were left at home, to follow their labour : they put the country all about them in a
great fright, and to a vast expence ; while no intelligence could be had of their designs, and
they broke out in so many different places, that all who lay within their reach were in a
perpetual agitation ; it was a lamentable thing that they lay so far within the country, that
it was not possible to send supplies to them unless the duke of Savoy should be in a con-
dition to break into Dauphiny ; and therefore advices were sent them, to accept of such
terms as could be had, and to reserve themselves for better times.
In Poland, the scene was more embroiled than ever ; there was some appearance of peace
this summer, but it went off in winter : the old fierce cardinal drew a diet to Warsaw ;
there it was declared that their king had broken all their laws : upon that, they, by a formal
sentence, deposed him, and declared the throne vacant. This was done in concert with the
king of Sweden, who lay with his army at some distance from them, in the neighbourhood
of Dantzic, which alarmed the citizens very much : it was believed that they designed to
choose Sobieski, the eldest son of the late king, who then lived at Breslau, in Silesia, and
being in the emperor's dominions, he thought himself safer than he proved to be ; the king
of Poland retired into Saxony in some haste, which made many conclude, that he resolved to
abandon Poland ; but he laid another design, which was executed to his mind, though in
the sequel it proved not much to his advantage ; Sobieski and his brother were in a corres-
pondence with the party in Poland that opposed the king, upon which they ought to have
looked to their own security with more precaution : they, it seems, apprehended nothing
where they then were, and so diverted themselves at hunting, and otherwise in their usual
manner ; upon this some, sent by the king of Poland, took them both prisoners, and brought
them to Dresden, where they were safely kept ; and all the remonstrances that the emperor
could make upon such an act of hostility had no effect. This for a while broke their
measures at Warsaw ; many forsook them, while the king of Sweden seemed implacable in
his opposition to Augustus, whose chief confidence was in the czar : it was suspected that
the French had a management in this matter ; since it was certain that, by the war in
Poland, a great part of that force was diverted which might otherwise have been engaged
in the common cause of the great alliance. All the advices that we had from thence agreed
in this, that the king of Sweden himself was in no understanding with the French, but it
was visible that what he did contributed not a little to serve their ends. This was the state
of affairs at land.
I turn next to another element, and to give an account of the operations at sea, where
things were ill designed, and worse executed : the making prince George our lord high
admiral, proved in many instances very unhappy to the nation : men of bad designs imposed
on him, he understood those matters very little, and they sheltered themselves under his
name, to which a great submission was paid ; but the complaints rose the higher for that ;
our main fleet was ready to go out in May, but the Dutch fleet was not yet come over ; so
Rook was sent out to alarm the coast of France ; he lingered long in port, pretending ill
health ; upon that Churchill was sent to command the fleet ; but Rook's health returned
happily for him, or he thought fit to lay aside that pretence, and went to sea, where he con-
tinued a month ; but in such a station as if his design had been to keep far from meeting
OF QUEEN ANNE. 755
the French fleet, which sailed out at that time ; and to do the enemy no harm, not so much
as to disturb their quiet, by coming near their coast ; at last he returned without having
attempted any thing *.
It was after this resolved to send a strong fleet into the Mediterranean : it was near the
end of June before they were ready to sail, and they had orders to come out of the streights
by the end of September : every thing was so ill laid in this expedition as if it had been
intended that nothing should be done by it besides the convoying our merchant ships, which
did not require the fourth part of such a force. Shovel was sent to command; when he saw
his instructions he represented to the ministry that nothing could be expected from this
voyage ; he was ordered to go, and he obeyed his orders : he got to Leghorn by the begin-
ning of September. His arrival seemed to be of great consequence, and the allies began to
take courage from it ; but they were soon disappointed of their hopes when they understood
that by his orders he could only stay a few days there ; nor was it easy to imagine what the
design of so great an expedition could be, or why so much money was thrown away on such
a project, which made us despised by our enemies, whilst it provoked our friends, who might
justly think they could not depend upon such an ally who managed so great a force with so
poor a conduct, as neither to hurt their enemies, nor protect their friends by it.
A squadron was sent to the West Indies, commanded by Graydon, a man brutal in his
way, and not well affected to the present state of affairs. The design wras, to gather all the
forces that wre had, scattered up and down the plantations, and with that strength to go and
take Placentia, and so to drive the French out of the Newfoundland trade : but the secret of
this was so ill kept, that it was commonly talked of before he sailed : the French had timely
notice of it, and sent a greater force to defend the place than he could bring together to attack
it. His orders were pressing, in particular, that he should not go out of his way to pursue
any of the enemy^s ships whom he might see ; these he observed so punctually, that when
he saw a squadron of four French men of war sailing towards Brest, that were visibly foul,
and in no condition to make any resistance, he sent indeed one of his ships to view them,
who engaged them, but Graydon gave the signal to call him off", upon which they got safe
into Brest. This was afterwards known to be Du Casse's squadron, who was bringing
treasure home from Carthagena, and other ports of the West Indies, reported to be four
millions of pieces of eight ; but though here was a good prey lost, yet so careful was the
prince's council to excuse every thing, done by such a man, that they ordered an advertise-
ment to be put in the gazette, to justify Graydon ; in which it was said that, pursuant to
his orders, he had not engaged that fleet. The orders were indeed strangely given, yet our
admirals had never thought themselves so bound down to them, but that, upon great occa-
sions, they might make stretches ; especially where the advantage was visible, as it was in
i this case ; for since they were out of the way of new orders, and new occasions might
1 happen, which could not be known, when their orders were given, the nature of the service
! seemed to give them a greater liberty than was fit to be allowed in the land service. When
• he came to the plantations, he acted in so savage a manner, as if he had been sent rather
I to terrify than to protect them : when he had drawn the forces together that were in the
I plantations, he went to attack Placentia : but he found it to be so well defended, that he
'lid not think fit so much as to make any attempt upon it : so this expedition ended
•ery ingloriously, and many complaints of Graydon's conduct were sent after him.
Sir George Rooke was not a supporter of the whig between Sweden and Denmark, but the latter being
y in parliament, which appears to be the only reason refractory, he bombarded Copenhagen, and compelled
actuated Burnet in always disparaging this gallant them to be reasonable. The king of Sweden urged him.
man. William the Third had more magnanimity, for, to be more rigorous towards them, but Rooke very calmly
urged by his ministry to discharge Rooke for opposing replied, " Sir, I was sent hither to serve your majesty
m in the house of commons, the king replied — " No ; not to ruin the king of Denmark." Party spirit eventu-
rou have anything to allege against his conduct in the ally prevailed, and in 1705 he was removed from the
y, I may comply with your request; but I will never command of the fleet. When making his will, a friend
barge a brave and experienced officer, wlio hath always remarked that his fortune was less than might have been
'• aved well in my service, for no other reason than his expected, to which sir George answered — " True ; I do
duct in parliament." He was a native of Kent, born not leave much, but what I do leave was honestly gotten ;
1650, and dying in 1709. Two or three anecdotes it never cost a sailor a tear, or the nation a farthing." —
place his character in a true light. In 1700, when Campbell's Lives of the Admirals; Noble's Contin. of
ving in the Bailie, and endeavouring to mediate a peace Grainger.
730 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
There was also a great complaint through the whole fleet of their victualling ; we Vast
many of our seamen, who, as was said, were poisoned by ill food ; and though great com-
plaints were made of the victuallers before the fleet went out, yet there was not such care
taken to look into it as a matter of that .consequence deserved : the merchants did also
complain that they were ill served with convoys, and so little care had been taken of the
Newcastle fleet, that the price of coals rose very high ; it was also said, that there was not
a due care had of our seamen that were taken by the privateers, many of them died by
reason of their ill usage, while others, to deliver themselves from that, went into the French
service. Thus all our marine affairs were much out of order, and these disorders were
charged on those who had the conduct of them ; every thing was unprosperous, and that
will always be laid heavily on those who are in the management of affairs : it is certain that,
in the beginning of this reign, all those who hated the late king and his government, or had
been dismissed the service by him, were sought out, and invited into employments : so it was
not to be expected that they could be faithful, or cordial, in the war against France.
The affairs of Scotland come next to be related : a new parliament was called, and many
were chosen to serve in it, who were believed to be in secret engagements with the court at
St. Germains : the lords, who had hitherto kept out of parliament, and were known to be
Jacobites, came and qualified themselves by taking the oaths to vote in parliament : it was
set up for a maxim by the new ministry, that all the Jacobites were to be invited home ; so
a proclamation was issued out, of a very great extent, indemnifying all persons, for all
treasons committed before April last, without any limitation of time for their coming home
to accept of this grace, and without demanding any security of them for the future. The
duke of Queensbury was sent down the queen's commissioner to the parliament ; this
inflamed all those who had formerly opposed him : they resolved to oppose him still in every
thing, and the greater part of the Jacobites joined v/ith them, but some of them were bought
off, as was said, by him : he, seeing so strong an opposition formed against him, studied to
engage the presbyterian party to stick to him : and even the party that united against him
were so apprehensive of the strength of that interest, that they likewise studied to court
them, and were very careful not to give them any umbrage. By this, all the hopes of the
episcopal party were lost, and every thing relating to the church did not only continue in
the same state in which it was during the former reign, but the presbyterians got a new law
in their favour, which gave them as firm a settlement, and as full a security, as law could
give ; for an act passed, not only confirming the claim of rights, upon which the crown had
been offered to the late king, one of its articles being against prelacy, and for a parity in the
church, but it was declared high treason to endeavour any alteration of it. It had been
often proposed to the late king to pass this into an act, but he would never consent to it ;
he said, he had taken the crown on the terms in that claim, and that therefore he wouM
never make a breach on any part of it ; but he would not bind his successors by making it j
a perpetual law. Thus a ministry that carried all matters relating to the church to so great j
a height ; yet, with other views, gave a fatal stroke to the episcopal interest in Scotland, to ]
which the late king would never give way. The great debates in this session were concern-
ing the succession of the crown, in case the queen should die without issue. They resolved !
to give the preference to that debate before they would consider the supplies ; it was soon j
resolved that the successor to the crown after the queen, should not be the same person !
that was king, or queen, of England, unless the just rights of the nation should be declared j
in parliament, and fully settled in an independence upon English interests and councils.
A fter this they went to name particulars, which by some were carried so far, that those expe-
dients were indeed the setting up a commonwealth, with the empty name of a king ; for it
was proposed that the whole administration should be committed to a council, named by
1/arliament, and that the legislature should be entirely in the parliament, by which no shadow I
of power was left with the crown, and it was merely a nominal thing ; but the further enter-
ing upon expedients was laid aside for that time, only one act passed that went a great way j
towards them : it was declared, that no succeeding king should have the power to engage i
the nation in a war, without consent of parliament. Another act of a strange nature passed, .
allowing the importation of French goods, which, as was pretended, were to be imported ml
OF QUEEN ANNE. 737
the ships of a neutral state. The truth was, the revenue was so exhausted, that they had
not enough to support the government without such help : those who desired to drink good
wine, and all who were concerned in trade, ran into it ; so it was carried, though with great
opposition ; the Jacobites also went into it, since it opened a free correspondence with France ;
it was certainly against the public interest of the government in opposition to which private
interest will often prevail. The court of St. Germains, perceiving such a disjointing in Scot-
land, and so great an opposition made in parliament, was from thence encouraged to set all
their emissaries in that kingdom at work, to engage both the chief of the nobility, and the
several tribes in the Highlands, to be ready to appear for them. ' One Frazer had gone
through the Highlands the former year, and from thence he went to France, where he pre-
tended he had authority from the Highlanders, to undertake to bring together a body of
twelve thousand men, if they might be assisted by some force, together with officers, arms,
ammunition, and money from France. After he had delivered this message to the queen at
St. Germains, she recommended him to the French ministers : so he had some audiences of
them. He proposed that five thousand men should be sent from Dunkirk to land near
Dundee, with arms for twenty thousand men ; and that five hundred should be sent from
Brest, to seize on Fort William, which commanded the great pass in the Highlands. The
French hearkened to all this, but would not venture much upon slight grounds, so they sent
him back with some others, in whom they confided more, to see how much they might
depend on, and what the strength of the Highlanders was ; they were also ordered to try
whether any of the great nobility of that kingdom would engage in the design.
When these came over, Frazer got himself secretly introduced to the duke of Queensbury,
to whom he discovered all that had been already transacted ; and he undertook to discover
the whole correspondence between St. Germains and the Jacobites : he also named many of
the lords who opposed him most in parliament, and said, they were already deeply engaged.
The duke of Queensbury hearkened very willingly to all this, and he gave him a pass to go
through the Highlands again, where he found some were still very forward, but others were
more reserved. At his return, he resolved to go back to France, and promised to make a
more entire discovery : he put one letter in the duke of Queensbury's hands, from the queen
at St. Germains, directed on the back (but by another hand) to the Marquis of Athol : the
letter was written in such general terms, that it might have been directed to any of the great
nobility ; and probably he who was trusted with it had power given him to direct it to any,
to whom he found it would be most acceptable : for there was nothing in the letter that was
particular to any one person or family ; it only mentioned the promises and assurances sent
to her by that lord. This Frazer had been accused of a rape, committed on a sister of the
lord Athol's, for which he was convicted and outlawed ; so it might be supposed, that he, to
be revenged of the lord Athol, who had prosecuted him for that crime, might put his name
on the back of that letter. It is certain that the others, who were more trusted, and were
sent over with him, avoided his company, so that he was not made acquainted with that pro-
eeding. Frazer came up to London in winter, and had some meetings with the practising
Jacobites about the town, to whom he discovered his negotiation ; he continued still to per-
uade the duke of Queensbury of his fidelity to him : his name was not told the queen, for
hen the duke of Queensbury wrote to her an account of the discovery, he added, that
inless she commanded it, he had promised not to name the person, for he was to go back to
t. Germains, to complete the discovery. The queen did not ask his name, but had more
'gard to what he said, because in the main it agreed with the intelligence, that her minis-
ITS had from their spies at Paris. The duke of Queensbury procured a pass for him to go
o Holland, but by another name ; for he opened no part of this matter to the earl of Not-
ingham, who gave the pass. The Jacobites in London suspected Frazer's correspondence
•vith the duke of Queensbury, and gave advertisement to the lord Athol, and by this means
he whole matter broke out, as shall be told afterwards. What influence soever this, or any
>ther practice might have in Scotland, it is certain the opposition in parliament grew still
>ter ; and since the duke of Queensbury would not suffer them to proceed, in those strange
irritations upon the crown, that had been proposed, though the queen ordered him to pass
lie other bills, they would give no supply; so that the pay of the army, wifh the charge of
3 B
7^8 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the government, was to run upon credit, and by this means matters there were likely to conio
to extremities. A national humour of rendering themselves a free and independent kino-dom
did so inflame them, that as they had a majority of seventy in parliament, they seemed
capable of the most extravagant things that could be suggested to them : the greatest part
of the ministry forsook the duke of Queensbury in parliament ; both the earl of Seafield,
lord chancellor, the marquis of Athol, the lord privy seal, and lord Tarbet, the secretary of
State, with all that depended on them, broke off from him : yet upon the conclusion of the
session, Athol was made a duke, and Tarbet was made earl of Cromarty, which looked like
rewarding them for their opposition *. Soon after that, the queen resolved to revive the
order of the thistle, that had been raised by her father, but was let fall by the late king: it
was to be carried in a green ribbon, as the George is in a blue, and the glory was in the form
of a St. Andrew's cross, with a thistle in the middle. Argyle, Athol, Annandale, Orkney,
and Seafield were the first that had it, the number being limited to twelve j". And to such
a height did the disorders in that kingdom rise, that great skill and much secret practice
seemed necessary to set matters right there : the aversion and jealousy towards those who
had been most active in the last reign, and the favour showed to those who were in king
James's interests, had an appearance of bringing matters out of an excess, to a temper : and
it was much magnified by those who intended to flatter the queen, on design to ruin her.
Though the same measures were taken in England, yet there was less danger in following
them here than there : errors might be sooner observed, and easier corrected, where persona
are in view, and are watched in all their motions : but this might prove fatal at a greater
distance, where it was more easy to deny, or palliate, things, with great assurance. The
duke of Queensbury's engrossing all things to himself, increased the disgust, at the credit he
was in : he had begun a practice of drawing out the sessions of parliament to an unusual
length, by which his appointments exhausted so much of the revenue, that the rest of the
ministers were not paid, and that will always create discontent ; he trusted entirely to
a few persons, and his conduct was liable to just exceptions : some of those who had the
greatest credit with him were believed to be engaged in a foreign interest, and his passing, or
rather promoting the act, that opened a correspondence with France, was considered as a
design, to settle a commerce there ; and upon that, his fidelity, or his capacity, were much
questioned.
There were still high discontents in Ireland, occasioned by the behaviour of the trustees j
there. The duke of Ormond was the better received when he went to that government, [
because he came after the earl of Rochester ; till it appeared that he was in all things j
governed by him ; and that he pursued the measures which he had begun to take, of raising
new divisions in that kingdom ; for, before that time, the only division in Ireland was, that j
* James Douglas, second duke of Queensbury, was one of the secretaries of state for the united kingdoms, j
born in 1662. When returned from travelling, Charles His political opponents represent him in very odious lights, j
the Second appointed him a privy councillor for Scotland, but there is no doubt that he was a talented, virtuous
but these and other appointments he resigned when James man Noble's Contin. of Grainger; Lockhart Papers —
succeeded to the throne. William restored him to all Peerages.
his offices, appointed him a lord of the bedchamber, a George Mackenzie, lord Macleod, and Castlehaven, (
captain in the Dutch guard, made him a lord of the trea- viscount Tarbet, and earl of Cromartie, was distinguished j
sury, permitted him to vote in the house of lords as a for his loyalty in the reigns of Charles, James, and Wil- j
Scotch peer, though his father was living, and appointed liam. Besides the other appointments mentioned by Bur- j
him to the lord treasurership of Scotland. In 1695, upon net, queen Anne appointed him justice-general, an office*!
the death of his father, he resigned all his military em- he resigned in 1710. He died in 1714, in his eighty
ployments, but was made lord privy seal, an extraordinary fourth year. — Noble.
lord of session, knight of the garter, and for two sessions "h The order of the thistle was instituted by James the
lord high commissioner. In this post he was retained by Fifth of Scotland, in the year 1554; revived by our
queen Anne, and she named him a commissioner of the James the Second in 1697, and re-established, as men-
union, of which he was a chief promoter, and for which tioned in the text, by queen Anne. The order consist
he received extraordinary marks of public favour. He of the sovereign, and twelve brethren, or knights. Thfj
was elected one of the sixteen representative peers of star is a St. Andrew's cross of silver embroidery, wit!
Scotland. In 1704 he was obliged to retire from office rays emanating between the points of the cross, on th
by the superior numbers of his political opponents, but centre of which is a thistle of green and gold upon a fiel'
the next year returned to power as first lord of the trea- green, round which is a circle of gold, and on this th
sury. and privy seal. He was raised to the English peer- motto " Nemo me impune lacessit," (No one provoke
age as duke of Dovor, marquis of Beverley, and baron me with impunity.) The jewel aud collar correspond.
Rippon. From 1710 until his death in 1711, he was
OF QUEEN" ANNE. 739
of English and Irish, protestants and papists ; but of late an animosity came to be raised
there, like that we labour under in England, between whig and tory. The wiser sort of the
English resolved to oppose this all they could, and to proceed with temper and moderation:
the parliament there was opened with speeches and addresses, that carried the compliments
to the duke of Ormond so far, as if no other person besides himself could have given them
that settlement which they expected from his government. The trustees had raised a
scandal upon that nation, as if they designed to set up an independence upon England ; so
they began the session with a vote, disclaiming that as false and injurious. They expressed
on all occasions their hatred of the trustees and of their proceedings, yet they would not pre-
sume to meddle with any thing they had done, pursuant to the act that had passed in
England, which vested the trust in them. They offered the necessary supplies, but took
exceptions to the accounts that were laid before them, and observed some errors in them.
This begat an uneasiness in the duke of Ormond ; for though he was generous, and above
all sordid practices, yet being a man of pleasure, he was much in the power of those who
acted under him, and whose intregrity was not so clear. One great design of the wiser
among them was, to break the power of popery, and the interest, that the heads of the Irish
families had among them : they enacted the succession of the crown, to follow the pattern
set them by England in every particular. They also passed an act concerning papists, some-
what like that which had passed in England three years before ; but with some more effect-
ual clauses, for the want of which we have not yet had any fruit from our act : the main
difference was that which made it look less invidious, and yet was more effectual, for break-
ing the dependence on the heads of families ; for it was provided, that all estates should be
equally divided among the children of papists, notwithstanding any settlements to the con-
trary, unless the persons on whom they were settled qualified themselves by taking the oaths,
and coming to the communion of the church : this seemed to carry no hardship to the family
in general, and yet gave hopes of weakening that interest so considerably, that the bill was
offered to the duke of Ormond, pressing him with more than usual vehemence, to intercede
so effectually, that it might be returned back under the great seal of England. They under-
stood that the papists of Ireland had raised a considerable sum, to be sent over to England,
to support their practices, in order to the stopping this bill : it came over, warmly recom-
mended by the duke of Ormond ; but it was as warmly opposed by those who had a mind
to have a share in the presents, that were ready to be made. The pretence for opposing it
was, that while the queen was so deeply engaged with the emperor, and was interceding
for favour to the protestants in his dominions, it seemed not seasonable, and was scarcely
decent, to pass so severe a law against those of his religion : though this had the less
strength, since it was very evident that all the Irish papists were in the French interest,
so there was no reason to apprehend that the emperor could be much concerned for
them. The parliament of England was sitting when this bill came over, and men's eyes
were much set on the issue of it; so that the ministers judged it was not safe to deny
it : but a clause was added, which they hoped would hinder its being accepted in Ireland.
That matter was carried on so secretly, that it was known to none, but those who were
at the council, till the news of it came from Ireland, upon its being sent thither; the
clause was to this purpose, that none in Ireland should be capable of any employment,
>r of being in the magistracy in any city, who did not qualify themselves by receiving
the sacrament, according to the test-act passed in England, which before this time had never
been offered to the Irish nation. It was hoped by those who got this clause to be added
to the bill, that those in Ireland who promoted it most, would now be the less fond of
it, when it had such a weight hung to it : the greatest part of Ulster was possessed by the
Scotch, who adhered stiffly to their first education in Scotland ; and they were so united in
that way, that it was believed they could not find such a number of men who would qualify
themselves, as" was necessary by this clause, to maintain the order and justice of the country.
Yet upon this occasion the Irish parliament proceeded with great caution and wisdom ; they
reckoned that this act, so far as it related to papists, would have a certain and great effect
tor their common security ; and that when it was once passed, it would never be repealed ;
whereas if great inconveniences did arise upon this new clause, it would be an easier thing to
3 B 2
740 .THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
obtain a repeal of it, in a subsequent parliament, either of England or Ireland. So the act
was passed, and those who thought they had managed the matter with a master-piece of
cunning, were outwitted by an Irish parliament. However this artifice, and some other
things in the Duke of Ormond's conduct, put them into such an ill humour, that the supply
bill was clogged and lessened by many clauses added to it. The session ended in so much
heat, that it was thought that parliament would meet no more, if the duke of Ormond was
continued in the government.
Thus the parts of the government that were thought the most easily managed, Scotland
and Ireland, had of late been put into so much disorder, that it might prove no easy work to
set them again in order ; the government was every where going, as it were, out of joint ; its
nerves and strength seemed to be much slackened ; the trusting and employing not only vio-
lent tories, but even known Jacobites, as it brought a weakness on the management, so it
raised a jealousy that could not be easily cured. Stories were confidently vented, and by
some easily believed, that the queen was convinced of the wrong done her pretended brother,
and that she was willing to put affairs in the hands of persons who favoured his succession ;
it was also observed, that our court kept too cold civilities with the house of Hanover, and
did nothing that was tender or cordial looking that way ; nor were any employed who had
expressed a particular zeal for their interests. These things gave great jealousy : all that
was said in excuse for trusting such persons, was, that it was fit once to try if good usage
could soften them, and bring them entirely into the queen's interests; and assurances
were given, that, if upon a trial, the effect hoped for did not follow, they should be again
dismissed.
This was the state of our affairs when a new session of parliament was opened in Novem-
ber : the queen, in her speech, expressed a great zeal for carrying on the war, and with rela-
tion to the affairs of Europe ; she recommended union and good agreement to all her people ;
she said she wanted words to express how earnestly she desired this. This was understood
as an intimation of her desire, that there should be no further proceedings in the bill against
occasional conformity : addresses full of respect were made to the queen, in return to her
speech ; and the lords, in theirs, promised to avoid every thing that should occasion dis-
union, or contention : but nothing could lay the heat of a party, which was wrought on by
some who had designs that were to be denied, or disguised, till a proper time for owning
them should appear. A motion was made in the house of commons for bringing in the bill
against occasional conformity : great opposition was made to it ; the court was against it,
but it was carried by a great majority that such a bill should be brought in. So a new
draught was formed ; in it the preamble, that was in the former bill, was left out. The
number, besides the family, that made a conventicle, was enlarged from five to twelve : and
the fine set on those, who went to conventicles, after they had received the sacrament,
besides the loss of their employment, was brought down to fifty pounds : these were arti-
fices by which it was hoped, upon such softenings, once to carry the bill on any terms ; and
when that point was gained, it would be easy afterwards to carry other bills of greater
severity. There was now such a division upon this matter, that it was fairly debated in the
house of commons ; whereas, before, it went there with such a torrent, that no opposition to
it could be hearkened to. Those who opposed the bill went chiefly upon this ground, that
this bill put the dissenters in a worse condition than they were before : so it was a breach
made upon the toleration, which ought not to be done, since they had not deserved it by any j
ill behaviour of theirs, by which it could be pretended that they had forfeited any of the j
benefits, designed by that act : things of this kind could have no effect, but to embroil us |
with new distractions, and to disgust persons well affected to the queen and her government : j
it was necessary to continue the happy quiet that we were now in, especially in this time of ,
war, in which even the severest of persecutors made their stops, for fear of irritating ill
humours too much. The old topics of hypocrisy, and of the danger the church was in, were j
brought up again on behalf of the bill, and the bill passed in the house of commons by a j
great majority : and so it was sent up to the lords, where it occasioned one debate of many
hours, whether the bill should be entertained, and read a second time, or be thrown out : j
the prince appeared no more for it, nor did he come to the house upon this occasion ; some
OF QUEEN ANNE. 741
\vlio had voted for it, in the former session, kept out of the house, and others owned they saw
farther into the design of the bill, and so voted against it. Upon a division it was carried,
by a majority of twelve, not to give it a second reading, but to reject it.
The bishops were almost equally divided : there were two more against it than for it ;
among these, I had the largest share of censure on me, because I spoke much against the
bill : I knew how the act of test was carried, as has been already shown in its proper place ;
I related that in the house, and the many practices of the papists, of setting us of the church
against the dissenters, and the dissenters against us by turns, as it might serve their ends ;
I ventured to say, that a man might lawfully communicate with a church that he thought
had a worship and a doctrine uncorrupted, and yet communicate more frequently with a
church that he thought more perfect : I myself had communicated with the churches of
Geneva and Holland : and yet at the same time communicated with the church of England :
so, though the dissenters were in a mistake, as to their opinion, which was the more perfect
church, yet allowing them a toleration in that error, this practice might be justified. I was
desired to print what I said upon that occasion, which drew many virulent pamphlets upon
me, but I answered none of them : I saw the Jacobites designed to raise such a flame among
us, as might make it scarcely possible to carry on the war ; those who went not so deep, yet
designed to make a breach on the toleration by gaining this point ; and I was resolved never
to be silent, when that should be brought into debate ; for I have long looked on liberty of
conscience as one of the rights of human nature, antecedent to society, which no man could
give up because it was not in his own power : and our Saviour's rule, of doing as we would
be done by, seemed to be a very express decision to all men who would lay the matter home
to their own conscience, and judge as they would willingly be judged by others.
The clergy over England, who were generally inflamed with this matter, could hardly for-
jive the queen and the prince the coldness that they expressed on this occasion : the lord
odelphin did so positively declare, that he thought the bill unseasonable, and that he had
done all he could to hinder its being brought in, that though he voted to give the bill a
second reading, that did not reconcile the party to him : they set up the earl of Rochester as
the only man to be depended on who deserved to be the chief minister.
The house of commons gave all the supplies that were necessary for carrying on the war :
some tried to tack the bill against occasional conformity to the bill of supply, but they had
not strength to carry it : the commons showed a very unusual neglect of all that related to
ihe fleet, which was wont to be one of their chief cares ; it was surmised, that they saw that
if they opened that door, discoveries would be made of errors that could neither be justified,
nor palliated, and that these must come home chiefly to their greatest favourites ; so they
avoided all examinations that would probably draw some censure on them.
The lords were not so tender ; they found great fault with the counsels, chiefly with the
sending Shovell to the Mediterranean, and Graydon to the West Indies ; and laid all the
discoveries that were made to them, with their own observations on them, before the queen,
in addresses that were very plain, though full of all due respect : they went on likewise in
their examinations of the outcry made of the waste of the public treasure in the last reign ;
they examined the earl of Orford's accounts, which amounted to seventeen millions, and
upon which some observations had been made by the commissioners, for examining the public
accounts ; they found them all to be false in fact, or ill grounded, and of no importance.
The only particular that seemed to give a just colour to exception was very strictly
examined : he had victualled the fleet while they lay all winter at Cadiz : the purser's
receipts for the quantity that was laid into every ship were produced, but they had no
receipts of the Spaniards, from whom they had bought the provisions ; but they had entered
the prices of them in their own books, and these were given in upon oath. This matter had
l»een much canvassed in the late king's time, and it stood thus : Russel, now earl of Orford,
when he had been ordered to lie at Cadiz, wrote to the board of victualling, to send one over
to provide the fleet : they answered, that their credit was then so low, that they could not
undertake it : so he was desired to do it upon his own credit. It appeared that no fleet nor
Dingle ship had ever been victualled so cheap as the fleet was then by him : it was not the
<ustom in Spain to give receipts; but if any fraud had been intended, it would have been
742 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
easy to have got the Spaniards, after they had their money, to have signed any receipts that
could have been offered them for swelling up the accounts ; for the practices of swelling
accounts in their dealings with their own court, were well known there. Upon these reasons
the lords of the treasury had passed his accounts, and wrere of opinion that he had done a
great service to the government in that whole transaction. The house of lords did now
confirm this, and ordered an account of that whole matter to be printed.
The commons made no progress in any discoveries of ill practices in the earl of Ranelagh's
office, but concluded that matter with an address to the queen, that she would order a pro-
secution. This was an artifice to make the nation still think, that great discoveries of cor-
ruption might be made, if carefully looked after : it was expected, after such an outcry as
they had made, and after the expence the nation was put to, for this commission, and the
extraordinary powers that were lodged with the commissioners, that at least some important
discoveries should have been made by them.
The commons sent up a bill to the lords for continuing the commission another year : it
was observed that an alteration was made of the persons ; some who expected better places
got their names to be left out. The lords excepted to one Bierly, who was named to be one
of the commissioners, because he had been a colonel, and had not yet cleared the accounts of
his own regiment ; so they struck out his name, and named another ; and they added two
more, who were not members of the house of commons. The reason of this was, because the
members of that house would not appear before them to explain some particulars ; they only
sent their clerk to inform them, and when the lords sent a message to the house of commons
to desire them to order their members to attend on their committee, all the return they had
was, that they would send an answer, by messengers of their own ; but this was illusory,
for they sent no such message. So the lords thought it necessary, in order to their being
better informed, to put some in the commission for the future who should be bound to attend
upon them as oft as they should be called for. The commons rejected these amendments,
and pretended that this was of the nature of a money-bill, and that therefore the lords could
make no alterations in it. The message that the commons sent the lords upon this head,
came so near the end of the session, that the lords could not return an answer to it, writh the
reasons for which they insisted on their amendments ; so that bill fell.
The charge of this commission amounted to eight thousand pounds a-year ; the commis-
sioners made much noise, and brought many persons before them to be examined, and gave
great disturbance to all the public offices, what by their attendance on them, what by copy-
ing out all their books for their perusal, and yet in a course of many years, they had not
made any one discovery ; so a full stop was put to this way of proceeding.
An incident happened during this session, which may have great consequences, though in
itself it might seem inconsiderable ; there have been great complaints long made, and these
have increased much within these few years, of great partiality and injustice in the elections
of parliament-men,, both by sheriffs in counties, and by the returning officers in boroughs.
In Aylesbury, the return was made by four constables, and it was believed that they made
a bargain with some of the candidates, and then managed the matter, so as to be sure that
the majority should be for the person, to whom they had engaged themselves ; they can-
vassed about the town, to know how the voters were set, and they resolved to find some
pretence for disabling those who were engaged to vote for other persons than their friends,
that they might be sure to have the majority in their own hands. And when this matter
came to be examined by the house of commons, they gave the election always for him who
was reckoned of the party of the majority, in a manner so barefaced, that they were scarcely
out of countenance when they were charged for injustices in judging elections. It was not
easy to find a remedy to such a crying abuse, of which all sides in their turns, as they hap-
pened to be depressed, had made great complaints ; but when they came to be the majo-
rity, seemed to have forgot all that they had formerly cried out on. Some few excused this
on the topic of retaliation ; they said they dealt with others as they had dealt with them,
or their friends. At last an action was brought against the constables of Aylesbury, at the
buit of one who had been always admitted to vote in former elections, but was denied it in
the kst election. This was tried at the assizes, and it was found there by the jury, that the
OF QUEEN ANNE. 743
constables had denied him a right of which he was undoubtedly in possession, so they were
to be cast in damages ; but it was moved in the Q,ueen's Bench to quash all the proceedings
in that matter, since no action did. lie, or had ever been brought, upon that account. Powel,
Gould and Powis were of opinion, that no hurt was done the man ; that the judging of
elections belonged to the house of commons ; that as this action was the first of its kind, so
if it was allowed, it would bring on an infinity of suits, and put all the officers concerned in
that matter upon great difficulties : lord chief justice Holt, though alone, yet differed from
fche rest ; he thought this was a matter of the greatest importance, both to the whole nation
in general, and to every man in his own particular ; he made a great difference between an
election of a member, and a right to vote in such an election ; the house of commons were
the only judges of the former, whether it was rightly managed or not, without bribery,
fraud or violence ; but the right of voting in an election was an original right, founded either
on a freehold of forty shillings a-year in the county, or on burgageland, or upon a prescrip-
tion, or by charter, in a borough : these were all legal titles, and as such were triable in a
court of law. Acts of parliament were made concerning them, and by reason of these, every
thing relating to those acts was triable in a court of law ; he spoke long and learnedly, and
with some vehemence upon the subject : but he was one against three, so the order of the
court went in favour of the constables *. The matter was upon that brought before the
house of lords by a writ of error ; the case was very fully argued at the bar, and the judges
were ordered to deliver their opinions upon it, which they did very copiously.
Chief justice Trevor insisted much on the authority that the house of commons had to
judge of all those elections ; from that he inferred that they only could judge who were the
electors : petitions were often grounded on this, that in the poll some were admitted to a
vote who had no right to it, and that others were denied it who had a right ; so that in some
cases they were the proper judges of this right ; and if they had it in some cases, they must
have it in all. From this he inferred that every thing relating to this matter was triable by
them, and by them only ; if two independent jurisdictions might have the same case brought
before them, they might give contrary judgments in it ; and this must breed great distrac-
tion in the execution of those judgments.
To all this it was answered, that a single man, who was wronged in this matter, had no
other remedy but by bringing it inxo a court of law : for the house of commons could not
examine the right of every voter, if the man, for whom he would have voted, was returned,
he could not be heard to complain to the house of commons, though in his own particular he
was denied a vote, since he could not make any exceptions to the return ; so he must bear
his wrong without a remedy, if he could not bring it into a court of law. A right of voting
in an election was the greatest of all the rights of an Englishman, since by that he was
represented in parliament ; the house of commons could give no relief to a man wronged in
this, nor any damages ; they could only set aside one, and admit of another return ; but this
was no redress to him that suffered the wrong ; it made him to be the less considered in his
borough, and that might be a real damage to him in his trade ; since this was a right inhe-
rent in a man, it seemed reasonable that it should be brought, where all other rights were
tried, into a court of law ; the abuse was new, and was daily growing, and it was already
swelled to a great height ; when new disorders happen, new actions must lie, otherwise there
is a failure in justice, which all laws abhor ; practices of this sort were enormous and crying ;
and if the judgment in the Queen's Bench was affirmed, it would very much increase these
disorders, by this indemnity that seemed to be given to the officers, who took the poll.
After a long debate it was carried by a great majority to set aside the order in the
Queen's Bench, and to give judgment according to the verdict given at the assizes. This
gave great offence to the house of commons, who passed very high votes upon it, against the
man oi Aylesbury, as guilty of a breach of their privileges, and against all others who should
for the future bring any such suits into courts of law ; and likewise against all counsel, attor-
neys and others, who should assist in any such suits ; and they affirmed that the whole
matter relating to elections belonged only to them ; yet they did not think fit to send for the
" The arguments of the judges are given very fully in Lord Raymond's Reporf* ii. 938 — 958, and in Salkeld't
Reports, 19.
744 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
man who had sued, or rather in whose name the suit was carried on ; so they let the matter
as to him fall, under a show of moderation and pity, and let it rest upon those general votes.
The lords on their part ordered the whole state of the case to be drawn up and printed,
which was done with much learning and judgment ; they also asserted the right that all the
people of England had, to seek for justice in courts of law, upon all such occasions ; and that
the house of commons, by their votes, struck at the liberties of the people, at the law of
England, and at the judicature of the house of lords ; and they ordered the lord keeper to
send a copy of the case and of their votes to all the sheriffs of England, to be communicated
to all the boroughs in their counties. The house of commons was much provoked with this,
but they could not hinder it ; the thing was popular, and the lords got great credit by the
judgment they gave, which let the people of England see how they might be redressed for
the future, if they should meet with the injustice, partiality, and other ill practices that had
appeared of late in elections, even beyond the examples of former times. This may prove
a restraint on the officers, now that they see they are liable to be sued, and that a vote of
the house of commons cannot cover them *.
During the session and on her own birth-day, which was the sixth of February, the queen
sent a message to the house of commons, signifying her purpose to apply that branch of the
revenue that was raised out of the first-fruits and tenths, paid by the clergy, to the increase
of all the small benefices in the nation : this branch was an imposition, begun by the popes,
in the time of the holy wars, and it was raised as a fund to support those expeditions : but
when taxes are once raised by such an arbitrary power as the popes then assumed, and after
there has been a submission, and the payments have been settled into a custom, they are
always continued, even after the pretence, upon which they were at first raised, subsists no
more : so this became a standing branch of the papal revenue, until Henry the Eighth
seemed resolved to take it away : it was first abolished for a year, probably to draw in the
clergy, to consent the more willingly to a change, that delivered them from such heavy impo-
sitions : but in the succeeding session of parliament, this revenue was again settled as part
of the income of the crown for ever. It is true, it was the more easily borne, because the
rates were still at the old value, which in some places was not the tenth, and in most not
above the fifth part of the true value : and the clergy had been often threatened with a new
valuation, in which the rates should be rigorously set to their full extent.
The tenths amounted to about 11,000£. a-year, and the first-fruits, which were more
casual, rose one year with another, to 5,000/., so the whole amounted to between sixteen
and seventeen thousand pounds a-year : this was not brought into the treasury, as the other
branches of the revenue ; but the bishops, who had been the pope's collectors, were now the
king's, so persons in favour obtained assignations on them, for life, or for a term of years :
this had never been applied to any good use, but was still obtained by favourites, for them-
selves and their friends : and in king Charles the Second's time, it went chiefly among his
women and his natural children. It seemed strange, that while the clergy had much credit
at court, they had never represented this as sacrilege, unless it was applied to some religious
purpose, and that during archbishop Laud's favour with king Charles the First, or at the
restauration of king Charles the Second, no endeavours had been used to appropriate this
* The decision of the court of queen's bench, in this Scarcely any judicial decision ever occasioned such a dis-
most important case, was reversed in the house of lords turbance in the houses of parliament. The commons
by a majority of fifty, opposed by only sixteen. Besides made strong resolutions vindicatory of their right alone to
sir John Trevor, the chief justice of the common pleas, determine all matters relative to elections ; which were
baron Price was the only judge that coincided with the met by counter resolutions of the peers, quite as strong,
three judges of the queen's bench. Chief baron "Ward, declaring that to assert a person deprived of his vote wrong-
baron Bury, baron Smith, and justice Tracy agreed with fully, was without a remedy by the ordinary course of
Holt. Justices Neville and Blencowe were absent. Holt law, is destructive of the property of the subject, &c,
emphatically and justly said upon this re-argument, " Jf This occasioned a free conference between the houses,
such an action comes to be tried before me, I will direce but as neither would yield, the queen soon after dissolved
the jury to make the defendant pay well for it. It is the parliament. — Brown's Cases in Parliament, i. 45;
denying the plaintiff his English right, and if this action Chandler's Debates House of Commons, iii. 308, 388,
be not allowed, a man may be for ever deprived of it. It 395 ; House of Lords, ii. 74, 98 ; Raymond's Rep.
is a great privilege to choose such persons as are to bind ii. 958.
a man's life and property by the laws they make."
OF QUEEN ANNE. 745
to better uses : sacrilege was charged on other things, on very slight grounds ; but this,
which was more visible, was always forgotten *.
When I wrote the history of the reformation, I considered this matter so particularly,
that I saw here was a proper fund for providing better subsistence to the poor clergy ; we
having among us some hundreds of cures that have not of certain provision, twenty pounds
a-year; and some thousands that have not fifty : where the encouragement is so small, what
can it be expected clergymen should be ? It is a crying scandal that at the restauration of
king Charles the Second, the bishops and other dignitaries who raised much above a million
in fines, yet did so little this way : I had possessed the late queen with this, so that she was
fully resolved, if ever she had lived to see peace and settlement, to have cleared this branch
of the revenue of all the assignations that were upon it, and to have applied it to the aug-
mentation of small benefices. This is plainly insinuated in the essay that I wrote on her
memory, some time after her death. I laid the matter before the late king, when there was
a prospect of peace, as a proper expression both of his thankfulness to Almighty God, and
of his care of the church ; I hoped that this might have gained the hearts of the clergy : it
might at least have put a stop to a groundless clamour raised against him, that he was an
! enemy to the clergy, which began to have a very ill effect on all his affairs. He entertained
this so well, that he ordered me to speak to his ministers about it : they all approved it,
j the lord Somers and the lord Halifax did it in a most particular manner ; but the earl of
1 Sunderland obtained an assignation, upon two dioceses, for two thousand pounds a-year for
two lives ; so nothing was to be hoped for after that. I laid this matter very fully before
the present queen, in the king's time, and had spoken often of it to the lord Godolphin.
This time was perhaps chosen to pacify the angry clergy, who were dissatisfied with the
court, and began now to talk of the danger the church was in, as much as they had done
•luring the former reign : this extraordinary mark of the queen's piety and zeal for the church
produced many addresses, full of compliments, but it has not yet had any great effect in
softening the tempers of peevish men. When the queen's message was brought to the house
of commons, some of the whigs, particularly sir John Holland and sir Joseph Jekyll t,
moved that the clergy might be entirely freed from that tax, since they bore as heavy a share
of other taxes ; and that another fund might be raised of the same value, out of which small
benefices might be augmented ; but this was violently opposed by Musgrave, and other
tones, who said the clergy ought to be kept still in a dependence on the crown.
Upon the queen's message, a bill was brought in, enabling her to alienate this branch of
the revenue, and to create a corporation by charter, to apply it to the use for which she now
* The first-fruits, primitive, or annates, were the first t Sir Joseph Jekyll, the son of a Northamptonshire
year's entire profits of a living, or other spiritual prefer- clergyman, was born in 1663. Adopting the profession
inent, according to a valuation made under the direction of the law, he speedily rose to eminence, was made a
of Pope Innocent the Fourth, by Walter, bishop of Nor- sergeant in 1700, and in a few years after became chief
n-ich, in 1254 (38 Henry III.) and afterwards increased justice of Chester. At the death of William he was urged
during the pontificate of Nicholas the Third, in 1292 to resign this office, but no threats could induce him to
(20 Edward I.). This last valuation is still preserved in comply with this wish of the court party. In the reign
I the Exchequer. Tenths, or decimce, were the tenth part of of Anne, as indeed throughout life, he was a truly consis-
! the annual profit of such preferment, according to the tent whig. It will be noticed hereafter, that he was a
same valuation, claimed also by the popes under no more manager of the trial of Dr. Sacheverel. At the accession
valid title than the command to the Levites, contained in of George the First, he was knighted, and in 1717, upon
Numbers xviii. 26. This claim met with a vigorous the death of sir John Trevor, he was raised to the master-
resistance from the English parliament, and a variety of ship of the rolls. Of the jurisdiction of this court he had
statutes we re made to restrain it. That passed in 1405 a dispute with lord chancellor King, and published an essay
(6 Henry IV. c. 5) calls it " a horrible mischief and on the subject. He died in 1738, meriting the character
damnable custom." Yet the clergy continued to pay of " a gentleman who meant well, a lover of liberty and
t.iis tax to the papal see as the head of the church, until his country, an useful subject, an upright lawyer, and an
the statute 26 Henry VIII. c. 3, in 1535, made the king, amiable man.'' His wife, a sister of the great lord
for the time being, head of the church, and transferred to Somers, was fond of puzzling the learned Whiston, by
him the above payments. They continued to be paid to asking him odd questions connected with revelation.
the crown until queen Anne, as mentioned by Burnet, Once, she enquired of him " why Eve was made of one
gave them for the improvement of small livings, vesting of Adam's ribs?" He seemed to evade the question.
the funds in trustees by statute 2 Anne, c. 11. It has but when she persisted with it, he replied, that he knew
ever since been known as queen Anne's bounty. — Black- no better reason than " because it was the most crooked
"tome's Commentaries, i. 284 ; Burn's Eccle's. Law, h. bone he had.'' — Gen. Biog. Diet.; Noble's Contiu. of
I>2fi0. Graiager; Woolrych's Life of Jeffreys.
746 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
gave it ; they added to this a repeal of the statute of mortmain, so far as that it might he
free to all men, either by deed, or by their last wills, to give what they thought fit towards
the augmenting of benefices ; it was suggested, how truly I cannot tell, that this addition
was made in hope that it would be rejected by the lords, and that the scandal of losing the
bill might lie on them. It occasioned a great debate in the house of lords : it was said, that
this law was made, and kept up, even during the times of popery, and it seemed not reason-
able to open a door to practices upon dying men. It was answered, that we had not the
arts of affrighting men by the terrors of purgatory, or by fables of apparitions ; where these
were practised, it was very reasonable to restrain priests from those artifices by which they
had so enriched their church, that without some such effectual checks they would have
swallowed up the whole wealth of the world, as they had indeed in England, during popery,
made themselves masters of a full third part of the nation. The bishops were so zealous and
unanimous for the bill, that it was carried and passed into a law. The queen was pleased to
let it be known, that the first motion of this matter came from me ; such a project would
have been much magnified at another time ; and those who had promoted it would have
been looked on as the truest friends of the church ; but this did not seem to make any
great impression at that time ; only it produced a set of addresses from all the clergy of
England, full of thanks and just acknowledgments.
I come now in the last place to give the relation of the discoveries made of a plot which
took up much of the lords1 time, and gave occasion to many sharp reflections that passed
between the two houses in their addresses to the queen. About the same time that the story
of Frazer's pass, and negotiations began to break out, sir John Macclean, a papist, and the
head of that tribe, or clan, in the Highlands and western isles of Scotland, came over from
France in a little boat, and landed secretly at Folkstone, in Kent ; he brought his lady with
him, though she had been delivered of a child but eleven days before. He was taken, and
sent up to London ; and it seemed, by all circumstances, that he came over upon some
important design : he pretended at first, that he came only to go through England and Scot-
land, to take the benefit of the queen's general pardon there ; but when he was told that the
pardon in Scotland was not a good warrant to come into England, and that it was high-treason
to come from France, without a pass, he was not willing to expose himself to the severity of
the law : so he was prevailed on to give an account of all that he knew, concerning the nego-
tiations between France and Scotland. Some others were at the same time taken up upon
his information, and some upon suspicion : among these there was one Keith, whose uncle
was one of those who was most trusted by the court of St. Germains, and wlnom they had
sent over with Frazer to bring them an account of the temper the Scotch were in, upon
which they might depend. Keith had been long at that court, he had free access both to
that queen and prince, and hoped they would have made him under secretary for Scotland ;
for some time he denied that he knew any thing, but afterwards he confessed he was made
acquainted with Frazer's transactions, and he undertook to deal with his uncle to come and
discover all he knew, and pretended there was no other design among them but to lay matters
so, that the prince of Wales should reign after the queen. Ferguson offered himself to
make great discoveries : he said Frazer was employed by the duke of Queerisbury to decoy
some into a plot which he had framed and intended to discover as soon as he had drawn
many into the guilt ; he affirmed that there was no plot among the Jacobites, who were glad
to see one of the race of the Stuarts on the throne ; and they designed when the state of the
war might dispose the queen to a treaty with France to get such terms given her, as king
Stephen and king Henry the Sixth had, to reign during her life. "When I heard this, I could
not but remember what the duke of Athol had said to myself, soon after the queen's coming
to the crown ; I said, " I hoped none in Scotland thought of the prince of Wales :" he
answered, " he knew none that thought of him as long as the queen lived :" I replied,
" that if any thought of him after that, I was sure the queen would live no longer than till
they thought their designs for him were well laid : " but he seemed to have no apprehen-
sions of that. I presently told the queen this, without naming the person, and she
answered me very quick, there was no manner of doubt of that ; but though I could not but
reflect often on that discourse, yet since it was said to me in confidence, I never spoke of it
OF QUEEN ANNE. 747
to any one person, during all the enquiry that was now on foot : but I think it too material
not to set it down here. Ferguson was a man of a particular character ; upon the revolu-
tion he had a very good place given him, but his spirit was so turned to plotting, that within
a few months after he turned about, and he has been ever since the boldest and most active
man of the Jacobite party ; he pretended he was now for high church, but many believed
him a papist ; there was matter of treason sworn both against him and Keith, but there was
only one witness to it.
At the same time Lindsey was taken up, he had been under-secretary first to the earl of Mel-
fort, and then to the earl of Middleton ; he had carried over from France the letters and orders
that gave rise to the earl of Dundee's breaking out, the year after the revolution ; and he had
been much trusted at St. Germains ; he had a small estate in Scotland, and he pretended
that he took the benefit of the queen's pardon, and had gone to Scotland to save that, and
being secured by this pardon, he thought he might come from Scotland to England ; but he
could pretend no colour for his coming to England ; so it was not doubted but that he came
hither to manage their correspondence and intrigues. He pretended he knew of no designs
against the queen and her government ; and that the court of St. Germains, and the earl of
Middleton in particular, had no design against the queen ; but when he was shewed Frazer's
commission to be a colonel, signed by the pretended king, and countersigned Middleton, he
seemed amazed at it ; he did not pretend it was a forgery, but he said that things of that
kind were never communicated to him.
At the same time that these were taken up, others were taken on the coast of Sussex ;
one of these, Boucher, was a chief officer in the duke of Berwick's family, who was then
going to Spain, but it was suspected that this was a blind to cover his going to Scotland ;
the house of lords apprehended that this man was sent on great designs, and suspecting a
remissncss in the ministry, in looking after and examining those who came from France, they
made an address to the queen, that Boucher might be well looked to ; they did also order
sir John Macclean to be brought before them ; but the queen sent them a message, that Mac-
e-lean's business was then in a method of examination, and that she did not think fit to alter
that for some time ; but as for Boucher, and those who were taken with him, the earl of
Nottingham told the house, that they were brought up, and that they might do with them
as they pleased ; upon that the house sent back Macclean, and ordered the usher of the black
rod to take the other prisoners into his custody, and they named a committee of seven lords
to examine them. At this time the queen came to the parliament, and acquainted both
houses that she had unquestionable proofs of a correspondence between France and Scotland,
with which she would acquaint them, when the examinations were taken.
The commons were in an ill humour against the lords, and so they were glad to find occa-
sions to vent it. They thought the lords ought not to have entered upon this examination :
they complained of it, as of a new and unheard-of thing, in an address to the queen : they
said it was an invasion of her prerogative, which they desired her to exert. This was a
proceeding without a precedent : the parliamentary method was, when one house was
offended with any thing done in the other, conferences were demanded, in which matters
were freely debated. To begin an appeal to the throne was new, and might be managed
by an ill-designing prince, so as to end in the subversion of the whole constitution ; and it
was an amazing thing to see a house of commons affirm, in so public a manner and so posi-
tively, that the lords taking criminals into their own custody, in order to an examination,
was without warrant or precedent ; when there were so many instances fresh in every man's
memory, especially since the time of the popish plot, of precedents in both houses, that
went much further ; of which a full search has been made, and a long list of them was read
in the house of lords. That did not a little confound those among them, who were believed
to be in a secret correspondence with the house of commons ; they were forced to confess
that they saw the lords had clear precedents to justify them in what they had done, of which
they were in great doubt before.
The lords upon this made a very long address to the queen, in which they complained of
the ill usage they had met with from the house of commons : they used none of those bard
words that were in the address made against them by the house of commons, yet they
T48 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
justified every step they had taken, as founded on the law and practice of parliament, and
no way contrary to the duty and respect they owed the queen. The behaviour of the house
of commons was such, on this occasion, as if they had no mind that plots should be narrowly
looked into : no house of parliament, and indeed no court of judicature, did examine any
person without taking him into their own custody, during such examination; and if a
person's being in custody must restrain a house of parliament from examining him, here was
a maxim laid down, by which bad ministers might cover themselves from any enquiry into
their ill practices, only by taking the persons who could make discoveries into custody. The
lords also set forth the ill consequences that might follow upon one house of parliament
carrying their complaints of another to the throne, without taking first the proper method
of conferences. This address was drawn with the utmost force, as well as beauty and
decency of style ; and was reckoned one of the best pieces of its kind that were in all the
records of parliament. The queen, in her answer, expressed a great concern to see such a
dispute between the two houses.
Boucher, when he was examined, would confess nothing. He said he was weary of living
so long out of his country, and that having made some attempt to obtain a pass, when that
was denied him, he chose, rather than to live always abroad, to come and cast himself upon
the queen's mercy. It did not seem reasonable to believe this : so the lords made an address
to the queen, that he might have no hopes of pardon till he was more sincere in his disco-
veries ; and they prayed that he might be prosecuted on the statute. He confessed his
crime, and was condemned, but continued still denying that he knew anything. Few
could believe this ; yet, there being no special matter laid against him, his case was to be
pitied. He proved that he had saved the lives of many prisoners during the war of Ireland,
and that, during the war in Flanders, he had been very careful of all English prisoners.
When all this was laid before the lords, they did not think fit to carry the matter farther,
so he was reprieved,, and that matter slept.
About the end of January the queen sent the examinations of the prisoners to the two
houses. The house of commons heard them read, but passed no judgment upon them, nor
did they offer any advice to the queen upon this occasion ; they only sent them back to the
queen, with thanks for communicating them, and for her wisdom and care of the nation.
It was thought strange, to see a business of this nature treated so slightly by a body that
had looked, in former times, more carefully to things of this kind ; especially since it had
appeared, in many instances, how dexterous the French were in raising distractions in their
enemies' country. It was evident that a negotiation was begun, and had been now carried
on for some time, for an army that was to be sent from France to Scotland : upon this,
which was the main of the discovery, it was very amazing to see that the commons neither
offered the queen any advice, nor gave her a vote of credit, for any extraordinary expense
in which the progress of that matter might engage her : a credit so given might have had a
great effect towards defeating the design, when it appeared how well the queen was furnished
to resist it. This coldness in the house of commons gave great and just ground of suspicion,
that those who had the chief credit there did not act heartily, in order to the defeating all
such plots, but were willing to let them go on, without check or opposition.
The lords resolved to examine the whole matter narrowly. The earl of Nottingham laid
before them, an abstract of all the examinations the council had taken ; but some took great
exceptions to it, as drawn on design to make it appear more inconsiderable than they
believed it to be. The substance of the whole was, that there went many messages between
the courts of St. Germains and Versailles, with relation to the affairs of Scotland : the court
of Versailles was willing to send an army to Scotland, but they desired to be well assured of
the assistance they might expect there ; in order to which some were sent over, according to
what Frazer had told the duke of Queensbury : some of the papers were written in gibberish,
so the lords moved that a reward should be offered to any who should decipher these.
When the lords asked the earl of Nottingham if every thing was laid before them, he
answered that there was only one particular kept from them ; because they were in hopes |
of a discovery, that was likely to be of more consequence than all the rest. So after tlie
delay of a few days to see the issue of it, which was Keith's endeavouring to persuade his !
OF QUEEN ANNE. 710
uncle (who knew every step that had been made in the whole progress of this affair) to
come in and discover it, when they were told there was no more hope of that, the lords ordered
the committee, which had examined Boucher, to examine into all these discoveries. Upon
this the commons, who expressed a great uneasiness at every step the lords made in the
matter, went with a new address to the queen, insisting on their former complaints against
the proceedings of the lords, as a wresting the matter out of the queen's hands and
the taking it wholly into their own : and they prayed the queen to resume her prero-
gative, thus violated by the lords, whose proceedings they affirmed to be without a
precedent.
The seven lords went on with their examinations, and after some days they made a report
to the house. Macclean's confession was the main thing, it was full and particular : he
named the persons that sat in the council at St. Germains : he said the command was offered
to the duke of Berwick, which he declined to accept till trial was made whether duke
Hamilton would accept of it, who he thought was the proper person : he told likewise wnat
directions had been sent to hinder the settling the succession in Scotland ; none of which
particulars were in the paper that the earl of Nottingham had brought to the house of his
confession. It was further observed that all the rest, whose examinations amounted to little*
were obliged to write their own confessions, or at least to sign them. But Macclean had
not done this ; for after he had delivered his confession by word of mouth to the earl of
Nottingham, that lord wrote it all from his report, and read it to him the next day ; upon
which he acknowledged it contained a full account of all he had said. Macclean's discovery
to the lords was a clear series of all the counsels and messages, and it gave a full view of the
debates and opinions in the council at St. Germains, all which was omitted in that which
was taken by the earl of Nottingham, and his paper concerning it was both short and dark :
there was an appearance of truth in all that Macclean told, and a regular progress was set
forth in it.
Upon these observations, those lords who were not satisfied with the earl of Nottingham's
paper, intended to have passed a censure upon it as imperfect. It was said, in the debate
that followed upon this motion, either Macclean was asked who was to command the army
to be sent into Scotland, or he was not. If he was asked the question, arid had answered
it, then the earl of Nottingham had not served the queen or used the parliament well, since
ho had not put it in the paper : if it was not asked, here was a great remissness in a
minister, when it was confessed that the sending over an army was in consultation, not to
ask who was to command that army. Upon this occasion the earl of Torringtoii made
some reflections that had too deep a venom in them : he said the earl of Nottingham did
prove that he had often read over the paper, in which he had set down Macclean's confes-
sion, in his hearing, and had asked him if all he had confessed to him was not fully set down
in that paper ; to which he always answered, that every thing he had said was contained
in it. Upon this, that earl observed, that Macclean, having perhaps told his whole story to
the earl of Nottingham, and finding afterwards that he had written such a defective account
of it, he had reason to conclude (for he believed, had he been in his condition, he should
have concluded so himself,) that the earl of Nottingham had no mind that he should mention
any thing but what he had written down, and that he desired that the rest might be sup-
pressed. He could not judge of others but by himself : if his life had been in danger, and
if he were interrogated by a minister of state, who could do him either much good or much
hurt, and if he had made a full discovery to him, but had observed that this minister in
taking his confession in writing had omitted many things, he should have understood that
as an intimation that he was to speak of these things no more ; and so he believed he
should have said it was all, though at the same time he knew it was not all, that he had
said. It was hereupon moved that Macclean might be sent for and interrogated, but the
party was not strong enough to carry any thing of that kind ; and by a previous vote it was
carried, to put no question concerning the earl of Nottingham's paper.
The lords were highly offended with Ferguson's paper, and passed a severe vote against
those lords who had received such a scandalous paper from him, and had not ordered him
750 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
to be prosecuted upon it, which they directed the attorney-general to do. It was apparent
there was a train of dangerous negotiations that passed between Scotland and St. Germains,
thouo-h they could not penetrate into the bottom and depth of it ; and the design of Keith's
bringing in his uncle was managed so remissly, that it was generally concluded that it was
not in earnest desired it should succeed. During these debates, one very extraordinary
thing happened. The earl of Nottingham did, upon three or four occasions, affirm that some
things had been ordered in the cabinet council, which the dukes of Somerset and Devonshire,
who were likewise of that council, did not agree with him in.
After all these examinations and debates, the lords concluded the whole matter with
voting that there had been dangerous plots between some in Scotland and the court of
France and St. Germains ; and that the encouragement of this plotting came from the not
settling the succession to the crown of Scotland in the house of Hanover. These votes they
laid before the queen, and promised, that when this was done, they would endeavour to pro-
mote the union of the two kingdoms, upon just and reasonable terms.
This being ended, they made a long and vigorous address, in answer* to that which the
commons had made against them. They observed how uneasy the commons had been at
the whole progress of their inquiry into this matter, and had taken methods to obstruct it
all they could ; which did not show that zeal for the queen's safety, and the preservation of
the nation, to which all men pretended. They annexed to their address a list of many pre-
cedents, to show what good warrants they had for every step they had made. They took
not the examination to themselves, so as to exclude others who had the same right, and
might have done it as well as they if they had pleased. Their proceedings had been regular
and parliamentary, as well as full of zeal and duty to the queen. They made severe
observations on some of the proceedings in the house of commons, particularly on their not
ordering writs to be issued out for some boroughs, to proceed to new elections, when they,
upon pretence of corruption, had voted an election void ; which had been practised of late,
when it was visible that the election would not fall on the person they favoured. They
charged this as a denial of justice, and of tht -ght that such boroughs had to be represented
in parliament, and as an arbitrary and illegal way of proceeding. This address was penned
with great care and much force. These addresses were drawn by the lord Somers, and were
read over and considered and corrected very critically by a few lords, among whom I had
the hono-ar to be called for one. This, with the other papers that were published by the
lords, made a great impression on the body of the nation : for the difference that was
between these, and those published by the house of commons, was indeed so visible, that
it did not admit of any comparison, and was confessed even by those who were the most
partial to them.
An act passed in this session, which may be of great advantage to the nation, if well
executed ; otherwise, since it is only enacted for one year, it will not be of much use. It
empowers the justices of peace, or any three of them, to take up such idle persons as have
no callings nor means of subsistence, and to deliver them to the officers of the army, upon
paying them the levy money that is allowed for making recruits. The methods of raising
these hitherto by drinking and other bad practices, as they were justly odious, so they were
now so well known that they were no more of any effect : so that the army could not be
recruited, but by the help of this act. And if this is well managed it will prove of great
advantage to the nation ; since, by this means, they will be delivered from many vicious
and idle persons, who are become a burden to their country. And indeed there was of late
years so great an increase of the poor, that their maintenance was become in most places a
very heavy load, and amounted to the full half of the public taxes. The party in both houses,
that had been all along cold and backward in the war, opposed this act with unusual vehe-
mence ; they pretended zeal for the public liberty and the freedom of the person, to which, by
the constitution, they said every Englishman had a right ; which they thought could not be
given away but by a legal government, and for some crime. They thought this put a power
in the hands of justices of peace, which might be stretched and abused to serve bad ends.
Thus men that seemed engaged to an interest that was destructive to all liberty, could yet
OF QUEEN ANNE. 751
make use of that specious pretence, to serve their purpose. The act passed, and has been
continued from year to year with a very good effect ; only a visible remissness appears in
some justices, who are secretly influenced by men of ill designs*.
The chief objection made to it in the house of lords was, that the justices of peace had
been put in and put out in so strange a manner, ever since Wright had the great seal, that
they did not deserve so great a power should be committed to them. Many gentlemen of
good estates and ancient families had been of late put out of the commission, for no other
visible reason, but because they had gone in heartily to the revolution, and had continued
zealots for the late king. This seemed done on design to mark them, and to lessen the
interest they had in the elections of members of parliament : and at the same time, men of
no worth nor estate, and known to be ill-affected to the queen's title, and to the protestant
succession, were put in, to the great encouragement of ill-designing men. All was managed
by secret accusations and characters that were very partially given. Wright was a zealot to
the party, and was become very exceptionable in all respects. Money, as was said, did
every thing with him ; only in his court I never heard him charged for any thing but great
slowness, by which the chancery was become one of the heaviest grievances of the nation.
An address was made to the queen, complaining of the commissions of the peace, in which the
lords delivered their opinion, that such as would not serve or act under the late king, were
not fit to serve her majesty.
With this the session of parliament was brought to a quiet conclusion, after much heat
and a great deal of contention between the two houses. The queen, as she thanked them foi
the supplies, so she again recommended union and moderation to them. These words, which
had hitherto carried so good a sound, that all sides pretended to them, were now become so
odious to violent men, that even in sermons, chiefly at Oxford, they were arraigned as
importing somewhat that was unkind to the church, and that favoured the dissenters. The
house of commons had, during this session, lost much of their reputation, not only with fair
and impartial judges, but even with those who were most inclined to favour them. It is
true, the body of the freeholders began to be uneasy under the taxes, and to cry out for
i peace : and most of the capital gentry of England, who had the most to lose, seemed to be
ill-turned, and not to apprehend the dangers we were in, if we should fall under the power
of France, and into the hands of the pretended prince of Wales ; or else they were so fatally
blinded, as not to see that these must be the consequences of those measures in which they
were engaged.
The universities, Oxford especially, have been very unhappily successful in corrupting
*Jie principles of those who were sent to be bred among them : so that few of them escaped
the taint of it, and the generality of the clergy were not only ill-principled but ill-tempered.
They exclaimed against all moderation, as endangering the church, though it is visible that
the church is in no sort of danger from either the numbers or the interest that the dissenters
have among us, which by reason of the toleration is now so quieted, that nothing can keep up
any heat in those matters but the folly and bad humour that the clergy are possessed with,
and which they infuse into all those with whom they have credit. But at the same time,
though the great and visible danger that hangs over us is from popery, which a miscarriage
in the present war must let in upon us, with an inundation not to be either resisted or
recovered, they seem to be blind on that side, and to apprehend and fear nothing from that
quarter.
The convocation did little this winter, they continued their former ill practices ; but little
opposition was made to them, as very little regard was had to them. They drew up a repre-
sentation of some abuses in the ecclesiastical discipline, and in the consistorial courts ; but
took care to mention none of those greater ones, of which many among themselves were
eminently guilty, such as pluralities, non-residence, the neglect of their cures, and the irre-
gularities in the lives of the clergy, which were too visible.
Soon after the session was ended, the duke of Marlborough went over to Holland. He
had gone over for some weeks, at the desire of the States, in January, and then there was a
scheme formed for the operations of the next campaign. It was resolved that, instead 01 a
statute, 2 & 3 Anne, c. xix. was allowed to expire.
*52 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
fruitless one in the Netherlands, they would have a small army there, to lie only on the
defensive, which was to be commanded by M. Auverquerque ; but that, since the Rhine was
open, by the taking of Bonn, all up to the Moselle, their main army, that was to be com-
manded by the duke of Marlborough, should act there. More was not understood to be
designed, except by those who were taken into the confidence. Upon this all the preparations
for the campaign were ordered to be carried up to the Rhine ; and so every thing was in a
readiness when he returned back to them in April. The true secret was in few hands, and
the French had no hint of it, and seemed to have no apprehensions about it.
The earl of Nottingham was animated by the party, to press the queen to dismiss the
dukes of Somerset and Devonshire from the cabinet council, at least that they might be
called thither no more. He moved it often, but finding no inclination in the queen to
comply with his motion, he carried the signet to her, and told her he could not serve any
longer in councils to which these lords were admitted ; but the queen desired him to consider
better of it. He returned next day, fixed in his first resolution, to which he adhered the
more steadily, because the queen had sent to the earl of Jersey for the lord chamberlain's
staff, and to sir Edward Seymour for the comptroller's. The earl of Jersey was a weak
man, but crafty and well practised in the arts of a court : his lady was a papist : and it was
believed that, while he was ambassador in France, he was secretly reconciled to the court of
St. Germains ; for after that he seemed in their interests. It was one of the reproaches of
the last reign that he had so much credit with the late king, who was so sensible of it, that
if he had lived a little while longer, he would have dismissed him. He was considered as
the person that was now in the closest correspondence with the court of France ; and though
he was in himself a very inconsiderable man, yet he was applied to by all those who wished
well to the court of St. Germains. The earl of Kent had the staff : he was the first earl
of England, and had a great estate. Mansell, the heir of a great family in Wale&, was
made comptroller. And, after a month's delay, Harley, the speaker, was made secretary
of state.
But now I turn to give an account of the affairs abroad. The emperor was reduced to
the last extremities ; the elector of Bavaria was master of the Danube all down to Passau ;
and the mal-contents in Hungary were making a formidable progress. The emperor was
not in a condition to maintain a defensive war long on both hands, so that when these should
come to act by concert, no opposition could be made to them. Thus his affairs had a very
black appearance, and utter ruin was to be apprehended. Vienna would be probably
besieged on both sides, and it was not in a condition to make a long defence; so the
house of Austria seemed lost. Prince Eugene proposed that the emperor should implore the
queen's protection : this was agreed to, and count Wratislaw managed the matter at our
court with great application and secrecy. The duke of Marlborough saw the necessity of
undertaking it, and resolved to try, if it was possible, to put it in execution. When lie
went into Holland in the winter, he proposed it to the pensioner and other persons of the
greatest confidence ; they approved of it : but it was not advisable to propose it to the
States : at that time many of them would not have thought their country safe, if their army
should be sent so far from them ; nothing could be long a secret that was proposed to such
an assembly, and the main hope of succeeding in this design lay in the secresy with which
it was conducted. Under the blind of the project of carrying the war to the Moselle, every-
thing was prepared that was necessary for executing the true design. When the duke went
over the second time, that which was proposed in public related only to the motions towards
the Moselle : so he drew his army together in May. He marched towards the Moselle ;
but he went further ; and, after he had gained the advance of some days of the French
troops, he wrote to the States, from Ladenburg, to let them know that he had the queen's
order, to march to the relief of the empire, with which he hoped they would agree, and allow
of his carrying their troops to share in the honour of that expedition. He had their answer
as quick as the courier could carry it, by which they approved of the design, and of his
carrying their troop with him.
So he inarched with all possible expedition from the Rhine to the Danube ; which yvas a
great surprise to the court of France, as well as to the elector of Bavaria. The king (>
OF QUEEX ANNE. 753
France sent orders to mareschal Tallard to march in all haste with the best troops they hnd
to support the elector, who apprehended that the duke of Maryborough would endeavour to
pass the Danube at Donawert, and so to break into Bavaria. To prevent that, he posted
about sixteen thousand of his best troops at Schellenberg, near Donawert, which was looked
on as a very strong and tenable post. The duke of Marlborough joined the prince of Baden,
with the imperial army, in the beginning of July, and after a long march, continued from
three in the morning, they came up to the Bavarian troops towards the evening. They were
so well posted that our men were repulsed in the three first attacks, with great loss : at last
the enemy were beaten from their posts, which was followed with a total rout, and we
became masters of their camp, their artillery, and their baggage. Their general, Arco, with
many others, swam over the Danube : others got into Donawert, which they abandoned
next morning with that precipitation, that they were not able to execute the elector's
cruel orders, which were, to set fire to the town, if they should be forced to abandon it ;
i>reat quantities of straw were laid in many places as a preparation for that, in case of a
misfortune.
The best half of the Bavarian forces were now entirely routed, about five thousand of
them were killed. We lost as many, for the action was very hot, and our men were much
exposed ; yet they went still on, and continued the attack with such resolution, that it let
the generals see how much they might depend on the courage of their soldiers. Now we
were masters of Donawert, and, thereby, of a passage over the Danube, which laid all
Bavaria open to our army. Upon that the elector, with mareschal Marsin, drew the rest of
Ms army under the cannon of Augsburg, where he lay so well posted, that it was not possible
to attack him, nor to force him out of it. The duke of Marlborough followed him, and got '
between him and his country, so that it was wholly in his power. When he had him at
this disadvantage, he entered upon a treaty with him, and offered him what terms he could
lesirc, either for himself or his brother, even to the paying him the whole charge of the war,
upon condition that he would immediately break with the French and send his army into
Italy, to join with the imperialists there. His subjects, who were now at mercy, pressed
him vehemently to accept of those terms : he seemed inclined to hearken to them, and mes-
sengers went often between the two armies : but this was done only to gain time, for he sent
courier after courier, with most pressing instances, to hasten the advance of the French army.
When he saw he could gain no more time, the matter went so far that the articles were
'•rdered to be made ready for signing. In conclusion, he refused to sign them; and then
^evere orders were given for military execution on his country. Every thing that was within
the reach of the army, that was worth taking, was brought away, and the rest was burnt
;ind destroyed.
The two generals did after that resolve on further action, and since the elector's camp
could not be forced, the siege of Ingolstad was to be carried on : it was the most important
]>lace he had, in which his great magazines were laid up. The prince of Baden went to
besiege it, and the duke of Marlborough was to cover the siege, in conjunction with prince
Kugene, who commanded a body of the imperial army, which was now drawn out of the
pOrta in which they had been put, in order to hinder the march of the French : but they
were not able to maintain them against so great a force as was now coming up ; these formed
•\ great army. Prince Eugene, having intelligence of the quick motions of the French,
posted his troops, that were about eighteeen thousand, as advantageously as he could, and
went to concert matters with the duke of Marlborough, who lay at some distance. He
upon that marched towards the prince's army with all possible haste, and so the two armies
joined. It was now in the beginning of August. The elector, hearing how near M. Tallard
was, marched with M. Marsin and joined him. Their armies advanced very near ours, and
were well posted, having the Danube on one side and a rivulet on the other, whose banks
were high, and in some places formed a morass before them. The two armies were now in
view one of another. The French were superior to us in foot by about ten thousand ; but
\vc had three thousand more horse than they. The post of which they were possessed wa*
Capable of being, in a very little time, put out of all danger of future attacks. So the duke
"f Marlborough and prince Eugene saw how important it was to lose no time, and resolved
3 c
754 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
to attack them the next morning. They saw the danger of being forced otherwise to lie
idle in their camp, until their forage should be consumed, and their provisions spent. They
had also intercepted letters from mareschal Villeroy to the elector, by which it appeared that
he had orders to march into Wirtemberg, to destroy that country, and to cut off the com-
munication with the Rhine, which must have been fatal to us. So the necessary dispositions
were made for the next morning's action. Many of the general officers came and represented
to the duke of Marlborough the difficulties of the design. He said he saw these well, but
the thing was absolutely necessary. So they were sent to give orders everywhere, which
was received all over the army with an alacrity that gave a happy presage of the success
that followed.
I will not venture on a particular relation of that great day : I have seen a copious
account of it, prepared by the duke of Marlborough's orders, that will be printed some time
or other ; but there are some passages in it, which make him not think it fit to be published
presently. He told me he never saw more evident characters of a special providence than
appeared that day ; a signal one related to his own person : a cannon-ball went into the
ground so near him, that he was some time quite covered with the cloud of dust and earth
that it raised about him. I will sum up the action in a few words.
Our men quickly passed the brook, the French making no opposition. This was a fatal
error, and was laid wholly to Tallard's charge. The action that followed was for some time
very hot, many fell on both sides : ten battalions of the French stood their ground, but were
in a manner mowed down in their ranks ; upon that the horse ran many of them into the
Danube, most of these perished : Tallard himself was taken prisoner. The rest of his troops
were posted in the village of Blenheim : these, seeing all lost, and that some bodies were
advancing upon them, which seemed to them to be thicker than indeed they were, and
apprehending that it was impossible to break through, they did not attempt it, though bivive
men might have made their way. Instead of that, when our men came up to set fire to the
village, the earl of Orkney first beating a parley, they hearkened to it very easily, and were
all made prisoners of war : there were about thirteen hundred officers and twelve thousand
common soldiers, who laid down their arms, and were now in our hands. Thus all Tallard's
army was either killed in the action, drowned in the Danube, or become prisoners by capitu-
lation. Things went not so easily on prince Eugene's side, where the elector and Marsin
commanded : he was repulsed in three attacks, but carried the fourth, and broke in ; and so
he was master of their camp, cannon, and baggage. The enemy retired in some order, and
he pursued them as far as men wearied with an action of about six hours, in an extremely
hot day, could go. Thus we gained an entire victory. In this action there were on our side
about twelve thousand killed and wounded : but the French and the elector lost about forty
thousand killed, wounded, and taken*.
The elector marched with all the haste he could to Ulm, where he left some troops, and
then with a small body got to Villeroy's army. Now all Bavaria was at mercy : the
electress received the civilities due to her sex, but she was forced to submit to such terms
as were imposed on her : Ingolstad and all the fortified places in the electorate, with the
magazines that were in them, were soon delivered up : Augsburg, Ulm, and Meming,
quickly recovered their liberty : so now our army, having put a speedy conclusion to the
%var that was got so far into the bowels of the empire, marched quickly back to the Rhine.
The emperor made great acknowledgments of this signal service which the duke of Marl-
borough had done him, and upon it offered to make him a prince of the empire. He very
decently said he could not accept of this till he knew the queen's pleasure : and, upon her
consenting to it, he was created a prince of the empire, and about a year after Mindleheim
was assigned him for his principality.
Upon this great success in Germany, the duke of Savoy sent a very pressing message for'
a present supply. The duke of Vendome was in Piedmont, and after a long siege had taken,
Verceil, and was likely to make a further progress. The few remains of the imperial array
* It was for this victory of Blenheim that the honour of Woodstock, now known as Blenheim House, &c. were;
bestowed upon the duke of Marlborough. For particulars of this and others of the duke's exploits, the reader is again!
referred to Coxe's " Memoirs and Correspondence " of that great general.
OF QUEEN ANNE. ft>£
that lay in the Modenese gave but a small diversion : the grand prior had so shut them up,
that they lay on a feeble defensive. Baron Leiningen was sent with another small army
into the Brescian ; but he was so ill supplied, that he could do nothing but eat up the
country : and the Venetians were so feeble and so fearful, that they suffered their country to
be eat up by both sides, without declaring for or against either. The prince of Baden
insisted on undertaking the siege of Landau, as necessary to secure the circles, Suabia in
particular, from the excursions of that garrison. This was popular in Germany, and though
the duke of Marlborough did not approve it, he did not oppose it, with all the authority that
his great success gave him. So the prince of Baden undertook it, while the duke with his
army covered the siege. This was universally blamed, for, while France was in the con-
sternation which the late great loss brought them under, a more vigorous proceeding was
likely to have greater effects ; besides that the imperial army was ill provided, the great
charge of a siege was above their strength. The prince of Baden suffered much in his repu-
tation for this undertaking : it was that which the French wished for, and so it was suspected
that some secret practice had prevailed on that prince to propose it. It is certain that he
was jealous of the glory the duke had got, in which he had no share ; and it was believed
that if he had not gone to besiege Ingolstadt, the battle had never been fought. He was
indeed so fierce a bigot in religion, that he could not bear the successes of those he called
heretics, and the exaltation which he thought heresy might have upon it.
While the duke of Marlborough lay covering the siege, Villeroy with his army came and
looked on him ; but, as our soldiers were exalted with their success, so the French were too
much dispirited with their losses to make any attack, or to put any thing to hazard, in order
to raise the siege. They retired back, and went into quarters, and trusted to the bad state
of the imperial army, who were ill provided and ill supplied : the garrison made as vigorous
a defence, and drew out the siege to as great a length as could be expected. The prince of
Baden had neither engineers nor ammunition, and wanted money to provide them ; so that
if the duke had not supplied him, he must have been forced to give it over. The king of
the Romans came again to have the honour of taking the place : his behaviour there did
not serve to raise his character : he was not often in the placps of danger, and was content
to look on at a great and safe distance : he was always beset with priests, and such a face
of superstition and bigotry appeared about him, that it very much damped the hopes that
were given of him.
AVhen it appeared that there was no need of an army to cover the siege, and that the place
'•ould not hold out many days, the duke of Marlborough resolved to possess himself of Triers,
us a good winter quarter, that brought him near the confines of France, from whence he
might open the campaign next year with great advantage ; and he reckoned that the taking
of Tracrback, even in that advanced season, would be soon done, and then the communica-
I tion with Holland, by water, was all clear : so that during the winter, every thing that was
necessary could be brought up thither from Holland safe and cheap. This he executed with
that diligence, that the French abandoned every place as he advanced with such precipita-
tion, that they had not time given them to burn the places they forsook, according
to the barbarous method which they had long practised. The duke got to Triers, and
that being a large place he posted a great part of his army in and about it, and left a
sufficient force with the prince of Hesse for the taking of Traerback, which held out
jsnne weeks, but capitulated at last. Landau was not taken before the middle of
November.
Thus ended this glorious campaign, in which England and Holland gained a very unusual
-lory ; for as they had never sent their armies so far by land, so their triumphant return
helped not a little to animate and unite their counsels. Prince Eugene had a just share in
the honour of this great expedition, which he had chiefly promoted by his counsels, and did
so nobly support by his conduct. The prince of Baden had no share in the public joy :
his conduct was as bad as could be, and the fret he was possessed with, upon the glory that
the other generals carried from him, threw him, as was believed, into a languishing, of which
l:o never quite recovered, and of which he died two years after.
3 c 2
76G THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
At the conclusion of the campaign, the duke of Mwrlboroogh went to Berlin, when- ho
concerted the measures for the next campaign, and agreed with the king of Prussia 'or eight
thousand of his troops, which were to l>e scut to Italy upon the queen's pay. lie had settled
matters with the emperor's ministers, so that they undertook to send prince Eugene with an
army of twenty thousand men, who should begin their march into Italy as soon as it was
possible to pass the mountains : of these, the queen and the States were to pay sixteen
thousand. lie returned by the court of Hanover, where he was treated with all the honour
that the success of the campaign well deserved. lie met with the same reception in Holland,
and was as much considered and submitted to as if he had been their stadth older. The
credit he was in among them was very happy to them, and was indeed necessary at that
time for keeping down their factions and animosities, which were rising in every province and
in most of their towns. Only Amsterdam, as it was the most sensible of the common
danger, so it was not only quiet within itself, but it contributed not a little to keep all the
rest so, which was chiefly maintained by the duke of Marlborough's prudent management.
England was full of joy, and addresses of congratidation were sent up from all parts of the
nation ; but it was very visible that, in many places, the torics went into these very coldly,
and perhaps that made the whigs more zealous and affectionate.
I now turn to the other element, where our affairs were carried on more doubtfully.
Rook sailed into the Straits, where he reckoned he was strong enough for the Toulon
squadron, which was then abroad in the Mediterranean. Soon after that, a strong squadron
from Brest passed by Lisbon into the Straits. Methuen, our ambassador there, apprehending
that if these two squadrons should join to attack Rook, it would not be possible for him to
fight against so great a force, sent a man-of-war, that Rook had left at Lisbon, with some
particular orders, which made him very unwilling to carry the message, but Methuen pro-
mised to save him harmless. lie upon that sailed through the French fleet, and brought
this important advertisement to Rook, who told him, that on this occasion he would pass by
his not observing his orders, but that, for the future, he would find the safest course was to
obey orders. Upon this, Rook stood out of the way of the French, towards the mouth of
the Straits, and there he met Shovel with a squadron of our best ships ; so, being thus
reinforced, he sailed up the Straits, being now in a condition, if need were, to engage the
French. He came before Barcelona, where the prince of Hesse Darmstadt assured him there
was a strong party ready to declare for king Charles, as it was certain that there was a great
disposition in many to it. But Rook would not stay above three days before it : so that the
motions within the towrn, and the discoveries that many made of their inclinations, had
almost proved fatal to them. lie answered, when pressed to stay a few days more, that his
orders were positive ; he must make towards Nice ; which it was believed the French intended i
to besiege.
But, as he was sailing that way, he had advice that the French had made no advances in j
that design : so he turned his course westward, and came in sight of the French fleet, sailing ;
from Brest to Toulon. The advantage he had was so visible, that it was expected he would '
have made towards them : he did it not : what orders he had was not known, for the matter
never came under examination. They got to Toulon, and he steered another way. The
whole French fleet was then together in that harbour ; for though the Toulon squadron had
been out before, it was then in port.
A very happy accident had preserved a rich fleet of merchant ships from Scanderoon
under the convoy of three or four frigates, from falling into their hands. The French fleet
lay in their way in the bay of Tunis, and nothing could have saved them from being taken
but that which happened in the critical minute in which they needed it : a thick fog covered
them all the while that they were sailing by that bay, so that they had no apprehension of
the danger they were in till they had passed it. 1 know it is not possible to determine,
when such accidents rise from a chain of second causes in the course of nature, and whenj
they are directed by a special providence ; but my mind has always carried me so strongly tci
acknowledge the latter, that I love to set these reflections in the way of others, that the)
may consider them with the same serious attention that I feel in myself.
OF QUEEN ANNE. 707
Rook, as he sailed back, full in upon Gibraltar, where he spent much powder, bombarding
it to very little purpose, that he might seem to attempt somewhat, though there was no
reason to hope that he could succeed : some bold men ventured to go ashore in a place where
it was not thought possible to climb up the rocks, yet they succeeded in it : when they got
up, they saw all the women of the town were come out, according to their superstition, to
a chapel there, to implore the virgin's protection : they sciecd on them, and that contributed
not a little to dispose those in the town to surrender. They had leave to stay, or go, as
they pleased ; and, in case they stayed, they were assured of protection in their religion,
and in every thing else ; for the prince of Hesse, who was to be their governor, was a papist.
But they all went away with the small garrison that had defended the place. The prince
of Hesse, with the marines that were on board the fleet, possessed himself of the place, and
they were furnished out of the stores, that went with the fleet, with every thing that was
necessary for their subsistence or defence ; and a regular method was laid down of supplying
them constantly from Lisbon.
It has been much questioned, by men who understand these matters well, whether our
possessing ourselves of Gibraltar, and our maintaining ourselves in it so long, was to our
advantage or not. It has certainly put us to a great charge, and we have lost many men in
it ; but it seems the Spaniards, who should know the importance of the place best, think it
BO valuable, that they have been at a much greater charge, and have lost many more men,
while they have endeavoured to recover it, than the taking or keeping it has cost us. And
it is ceitain that in war, whatsoever loss on one side occasions a greater loss of men, or of
treasure, to the other, must be reckoned a loss only to the side that suffers most.
Our expedition in Portugal, and our armies there, which cost us so dear, and from which
we expected so much, had not hitherto had any great effect. The king of Portugal expressed
the best intentions possible; but he was much governed by his ministers, who were all in
the French interests : they had a great army, but they had made no preparations for taking
the field; nor could they bring their troops together for want of provisions and carriages ;
the forms of their government made them very slow, and not easily accessible. They were
too proud to confess that they wanted anything when they had nothing, and too lazy to
bestir themselves to execute what was in their power to do; and the king's ill health
furnished them with an excuse for every thing that was defective and out of order. The
priests both in Spain and Portugal were so universally in the French interest, that even the
louse of Austria, that had been formerly so much in their favour, was now in disgrace with
them. Their alliance with heretics, and their bringing over an army of them to maintain
their pretensions, had made all their former services be forgotten. The governing body at
Rome did certainly engage all their zealots everywhere to support that interest which is
no\v so set on the destruction of heresy. King Philip advanced towards the frontiers of
Portugal, his army being commanded by the duke of Berwick, who began to shine there,
though he had passed elsewhere for a man of no very great character. They had several
| advantages of the Portuguese : some of the English and Dutch battalions, which were so
I posted that they could not be relieved, and in places that were not tenable, fell into tho
enemy's hands, and were made prisoners of war. Some of the general officers who came
!>V<T said to me, that, if the duke of Berwick had followed his advantages, nothing could have
hindered his coming to Lisbon. The duke of Schomberg was a better officer in the field
than in the cabinet ; he did not enough know how to prepare for a campaign, he was both too
inactive and too haughty ; so it was thought necessary to send another to command. The
•arl of Gal way was judged the fittest person for that service : he undertook it, more in sub-
mission to the queen's commands than out of any great prospect or hopes of success. Things
went on very heavily there : the distraction that the taking Gibraltar put the Spaniards
in, as it occasioned a diversion of some of the Spanish forces that lay on their frontier, so it
lurni.shcd them with advantages, which they took no care to improve.
Rook, after he had supplied Gibraltar, sailed again into the Mediterranean, and there ho
met the count of Thoulouse with the whole French fleet. Tiny were superior to tho
English in number, and had many galleys with them that were of great use. Rook called
758 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
a council of war, in which it was resolved to engage them. Thero was not due care taken
to furnish all the ships with a sufficient quantity of powder, for some had wasted a great
part of their stock of ammunition before Gibraltar, yet they had generally twenty-five
rounds, and it had seldom happened that so much powder was spent in an action at sea. On
the 12th of August, just ten days after the battle of Hocksted, the two fleets engaged.
Shovel advanced with his squadron to a close fight, for it was the maxim of our seamen to
fight as near as they could : he had the advantage, and the squadron before him gave way.
Rook fought at a greater distance ; many broadsides passed, and the engagement continued
till night parted them : some ships, that had spent all their ammunition, were forced on that
account to go out of the line, and if the French had come to a new7 engagement next day, it
might have been fatal, since many of our ships were without powder, whilst others had
enough and to spare.
In this long and hot action there was no ship of either side that was either taken, sunk,
or burnt. We made a show the next day of preparing for a second engagement, but the
enemy bore off, to the great joy of our fleet. The French suffered much in this action, and
went into Toulon so disabled, that they could not be put in a condition to go to sea again in
many months. They left the sea, as the field of battle, to us ; so the honour of the action
remained with us : though the nation was not much lifted up with the news of a drawn
battle at sea with the French. We were long without a certain account of this action ; but
the modesty in which the king of France wrote of it to the archbishop of Paris put us out
of all fears ; for whereas their style was very boasting of their successes, in this it was only
said that the action was to his advantage : from that cold expression we concluded the victory
was on our side.
When the full account was sent home from our fleet, the partiality on both sides appeared
very signally. The tories magnified this as a great victory, and in their addresses of congra-
tulation to the queen, they joined this with that which the duke of Marlborough had gained
at Hocksted. I understand nothing of sea matters, and therefore cannot make a judgment
in the point. I have heard men, skilled in those affairs, differ much in their sentiments of
Rook's conduct in that action : some not only justifying but extolling it, as much as others
condemned it. It was certainly ridiculous to set forth the glory of so disputable an engage-
ment in the same words with the successes we had by land. The fleet soon after sailed home
for England, Leak* being left with a squadron at Lisbon.
The Spaniards drew all the forces they had in Andalusia and Estremadura together, to
retake Gibraltar : that army was commanded by the duke of Villadarias ; he had with him
some French troops, with some engineers of that nation, who were chiefly relied on, and
were sent from France to carry on the siege. This gave some disgust to the Spaniards, who
were so foolish in their pride, that though they could do nothing for themselves, and indeed
kuc\v not how to set about it, yet could not bear to be taught by others, or to see themselves
outdone by them. The siege was continued for above four months, during which time the
prince of Hesse had many occasions given him to distinguish himself very eminently, both
as to his courage, conduct, and indefatigable application. Convoys came frequently from
Lisbon with supplies of men and provisions, which the French were not able to hindt r, or to
intercept. Pointy at last came, with a squadron of twenty French ships, and lay long in
the bay, trying what could be done by sea, while the place was pressed by land : upon that
a much stronger squadron was sent from Lisbon, with a great body of men and stores of all
sorts, to relieve the place and to raise the siege : and the court of France, not being satisfied
with the conduct of the Spanish general, sent mareschal Tesse to carry on the siege with
greater expedition. The Portuguese all this while made no use of the diversion given by the
siege of Gibraltar : they made great demands on us ; for England was now considered as a
source that could never be exhausted. We granted all their demands, and a body of horse
was sent to them at a vast charge. The king was in a very ill state of health, occasioned
by disorders in his youth ; he had not been treated skilfully, so he was often relapsing, and
* The life of this brave seaman, sir John Lrake, was printed for private circulation by Mr. Stephen Martin Leako,
Baiter king at arms. — Xoble's Contin. of Grainger.
OF QUEEN ANNE. 769
was not in a condition to apply himself much to business. For some time our queen
dowager * was set at the head of their councils : her administration was much commended,
and she was very careful of the English and all their concerns.
In Italy the duke of Savoy had a melancholy campaign, losing place after place ; but he
supported his affairs with great conduct, and showed a firmness in his misfortunes beyond
what could have been imagined. Verceil and Yvrea gave the duke of Vendome the trouble
of a tedious siege ; they stood their ground as long as possible : the duke of Savoy's army
was not strong enough to raise these sieges, so both places fell in conclusion. The French
had not troops both to carry on the war and to leave garrisons in those places, so they
demolished the fortifications : after they had succeeded so far, they sat down before Verue
in the end of October. The duke of Savoy posted his army at Crescentino, over against it,
on the other side of the Po : he had a bridge of communication : he went often into the
place during the siege, to see and animate his men, and to give all necessary orders : the
sick and wounded were carried away, and fresh men put in their stead. This siege proved
the most famous of all that had been during the late wars ; it lasted above five months, the
garrison being often changed, and always well supplied. The French army suffered much
by continuing the siege all the winter, and they were at a vast charge in carrying it on ; the
bridge of communication was, after many unsuccessful attempts, at last cut off: and the
duke of Savoy, being thus separated from the place, retired to Chivaz, and left them to
defend themselves as long as they could, which they did beyond what could in reason have
been expected. The duke of Savoy complained much of the emperor's failing to make good
his promises ; but, in a discourse upon that subject with the queen's envoy, he said, though
he was abandoned by his allies, he would not abandon himself.
The poor people in the Cevennes suffered much this summer. It was not possible to come
to them with supplies till matters should go better in Piedmont, of which there was then no
prospect ; they were advised to preserve themselves the best they could. Marshal Villars
was sent into the country to manage them with a gentler hand. The severe methods taken
by t:ioSL' formerly employed being now disowned, he was ordered to treat with their leaders,
and to offer them full liberty to serve God in their own way without disturbance. They
generally inclined to hearken to this, for they had now kept themselves in a body much
longer than was thought possible in their low and helpless state : some of them capitulated,
and took service in the French army ; but as soon as they came near the armies of the allies
they deserted and went over to them, so that by all this practice that fire was rather covered
up at present than quite extinguished.
The disorders in Hungary had a deeper root and a greater strength : it was hoped that
the ruin of the elector of Bavaria would have quite disheartened them, and have disposed
them to accept of reasonable terms, if the emperor could have been prevailed on to offer them
frankly, and immediately upon their first consternation after the conquest of Bavaria. There
were great errors in the government of that kingdom : by a long course of oppression and
injustice the Hungarians were grown savage and intractable : they saw they were both
| hated and despised by the Germans. The court of Vienna seemed to consider them as so
many enemies, who were to be depressed, in order to their being extirpated ; upon any pre-
i u-nce of plots, their persons were seized on and their estates confiscated. The Jesuits were
jl-elieved to have a great share in all those contrivances and prosecutions; and it was said,
i that they purchased the confiscated estates upon very easy terms. The nobility of Hungary
°erned irreconcileable to the court of Vienna. On the other hand, those of that court who
1 ad these confiscations assigned them, and knew that the restoring these would certainly bo
I insisted on as a necessary article in any treaty that might follow, did all they could to
'."bstruct such a treaty. It was visible that Ragotski, who was at their head, aimed at the
I [ rincipality of Transylvania : and it was natural for the Hungarians to look on his arriving
!-'t that dignity, by which he could protect and assist them, as the best security they could
pave. On the other hand, the court of Vienna, being possessed of that principality, would
pot easily part with it. In the midst of all this fermentation, a revolution happened in the
irkish empire : a new sultan was set up. So all things were at a stand till it might be
* Widow of Charles the Second,
760 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGX
known what was to be expected from him. They were soon delivered from this anxietr,
for he sent a chiaus to the court of Vienna, to assure them that he was resolved to maintain
the peace in all points, and that he would give no assistance to the malcontents. The court
of Vienna being freed from those apprehensions, resolved to carry on the war in Hungary as
vigorously as they could. This was imputed to a secret practice from France on some of
that court, and there were so many there concerned in the confiscations, that every proposi-
tion that way was powerfully supported. Thus Italy was neglected, and the siege of Landau
was ill supported, their chief strength being employed in Hungary. Yet when the ministers
of the allies pressed the opening a treaty with the malcontents, the emperor seemed willing
to refer the arbitration of that matter to his allies. But though it was fit to speak in that
style, yet no such thing was designed. A treaty was opened, but when it was known that
Zeiher had the chief management of it, there was no reason to expect any good effect of it.
He was born a protestant, a subject of the palatinate, and was often employed by the elector
Charles Lewis, to negotiate affairs at the court of Vienna : he, seeing a prospect of rising in
that court, changed his religion, and became a creature of the Jesuits, and adhered steadily
to all their interests. He managed that secret practice with the French in the treaty of
Ryswick, by which the protestants of the palatinate suffered so considerable a prejudice.
The treaty in Hungary stuck at the preliminaries, for indeed neither side was then inclined
to treat : the malcontents were supported from France ; they were routed in several engage-
ments, but these were not so considerable as the court of Vienna gave out in their public
news. The malcontents suffered much in them, but came soon together again, and they sub-
sisted so well, what by the mines of which they had possessed themselves, what by the
incursions they made, and the contributions they raised from the emperor's subjects, that
unless the war were carried on more vigorously, or a peace were offered more sincerely, that
kingdom was long likely to be a scene of blood and rapine.
So was its neighbouring kingdom of Poland. It was hoped that the talk of a new election
was only a loud threatening to force a peace the sooner ; but it proved otherwise. A diet
was brought together of those who were irreconcileable to king Augustus, and after many
delays Stanislaus, one of the palatines, was chosen and proclaimed their king ; and he was
presently owned by the king of Sweden. The cardinal seemed at first unwilling to agree to
this, but he suffered himself to be forced to it : this was believed to be only an artifice of his
to excuse himself to the court of France, whose pensioner he was, and to whom he had
engaged to carry the election for the prince of Conti. The war went on this year with
various success on both sides. King Augustus made a quick march to Warsaw, where he
surprised some of Stanislauses party, he himself escaping narrowly ; but the king of Sweden
followed so close that, not beinof able to fight him, he was forced to retreat into Saxony,
where he continued for some months. There he ruined his own dominions, by the great
preparations he made to return with a mighty force : the delay of that made many forsake
his party, for it was given out that he would return no more, and that he was weary of the
war, and he had good reason so to be. Poland, in the meanwhile, was in a most miserable
condition : the king of Sweden subsisted his army in it, and his temper grew daily more
fierce and gothic : he was resolved to make no peace till Augustus was driven out. In the
meanwhile his own country suffered much. Livonia was destroyed by the Muscovites:
they had taken Narva, and made some progresses into Sweden. The pope espoused the
interests of king Augustus ; for, to support a new convert of such importance, was thought
a point worthy the zeal of that see : so he cited the cardinal to appear at Rome, and to give
an account of the share he had in all that war.
The pope was now wholly in the French interest, and maintained the character they pre-
tend to, of a common father, with so much partiality, that the emperor himself, how tame
and submissive soever to all the impositions of that see, yet could not bear it, but made loud
complaints of it. The pope had threatened that he would thunder out excommunications
against all those troops that should continue in his dominions. The emperor was so implicit i
in his faith, and so ready in his obedience, that he ordered his troops to retire out of the j
ecclesiastical state ; but all the effect that this had was to leave that state entirely in the
hands of the French, against whom the pope did not think fit to fulminate ; yet the pope
OF QUEEN ANN*:. 7(H
still pretended that he would maintain a neutrality, and both the Venetians and the great
duke adhered to him in that resolution, and continued neutral during the war.
Having now given a view of the state of affairs abroad, I return back to prosecute the
relation of those at home, and begin with Scotland. A session of parliament was held there
this summer. The duke of Queensbury's management of the plot was so liable to exception,
that it was not thought fit to employ him ; and it seems he had likewise brought himself
under the queen's displeasure, for it was proposed by some of his friends in the house of
lords, to desire the queen to communicate to them a letter, which he had written to her of
such a date. This looked like an examination of the queen herself, to whom it ought to
have been left to send what letters she thought fit to the house, and they ought not to call
for any one in particular, The matter of that letter made him liable to a very severe censure
in Scotland ; for in plain words he charged the majority of the parliament as determined in
their proceedings by an influence from St. Germains. This exposed him in Scotland to the
fury of a parliament ; for, how true soever this might be, by the laws jf that kingdom, such
a representation of a parliament to the queen, especially in matters which could not be proved,
was leasing-making, and was capital.
The chief design of the court in this session was to get the succession of the crown to be
declared, and a supply to be given for the army, which was run into a great arrear. In the
debates of the former session those who opposed every thing, more particularly the declaring
the succession, had insisted chiefly on motions to bring their own constitution to such a settle-
ment, that they might suffer no prejudice by their king's living in England. Mr. Johnstoui
was now taken in by the ministers into a new management. It was proposed by him, in
concert with the marquess of of Tweedale and some others in Scotland, that the queen should
empower her commissioner to consent to a revival of the whole settlement made by king
Charles the First in the year 1641.
By that the king named a privy council and his ministers of state in parliament, who had
a power to accept of, or to except to, the nomination, without being bound to give the reason
for excepting to it. In the intervals of parliament, the king was to give all employments with
the consent of the privy council. This was the main point of that settlement, which was
looked on by the wisest men of that time as a full security to all their laws and liberties.
It did indeed divest the crown of a great part of the prerogative; and it brought the parlia-
ment into some equality with the crown.
The queen, upon the representation made to her by her ministers, offered this as a limita-
tion on the successor, in case they would settle the succession, as England had done ; and,
for doing this, the marquess of Tweedale was named her commissioner. The queen did also
signify her pleasure very positively to all who were employed by her, that she expected they
should concur in settling the succession, as they desired the continuance of her favour. Both
the duke of Maryborough and the lord Godolphin expressed themselves very fully and posi-
tively to the same purpose ; yet it was dexterously surmised, and industriously set about by
the Jacobites, and too easily believed by jealous and cautious people, that the court was not
sincere in this matter, and that at best they were indifferent as to the success. Some went
further, and said that those who were in a particular confidence at court did secretly oppose
it, and entered into a management on design to obstruct it. I could never see any good
ground for this suggestion ; yet there was matter enough for jealousy to work on, and this
was carefully improved by the Jacobites, in order to defeat the design. Mr. Johnstouu
was made lord register, and was sent down to promote the design. The Jacobites were
put in hopes, in case of a rupture, to have a considerable force sent to support them from
Dunkirk.
A session of parliament being opened, and the speeches made, and the queen's letter read,
all which tended to the settling the succession, that was the first debate. A great party
was now wrought on, when they understood the security that was to be offered to them :
for the wisest patriots in that kingdom Lad always magnified that constitution, as the best
contrived scheme that could be desired : so they went in with great zeal to the accepting of
it. But those who in the former session had rejected all the motions of treating with
England with some scoir. and had made this their constant topic, that they must in the first
7C2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
place secure their own constitution at home, and then they might trust the rest to timo and
to such accidents as time might bring forth ; now, when they saw that every thing that
could be desired was offered with relation to their own government, they (being resolved to
oppose any declaration of the succession, what terms soever might be granted to obtain it,)
turned the argument wholly another way, to show the necessity of a previous treaty with
England. They were upon that told that the queen was ready to grant them every thing
that was reasonable, with relation to their own constitution, yet without the concurrence of
the parliament of England she could grant nothing in which England was concerned ; for
they were for demanding a share of the plantation trade, and that their ships might be com-
prehended within the act of navigation.
After a long debate the main question was put, whether they should then enter upon the
consideration of the limitations of the government, in order to the fixing the succession of the
crown, or if that should be postponed till they had obtained such a security, by a treaty with
England, as they should judge necessary. It was carried, by a majority of forty, to begin
with a treaty with England : of these, about thirty were in immediate dependence on the
court, and were determined according to the directions given them. So, notwithstanding a
long and idle speech of the earl of Cromarty'X which was printed, running into a distinction
among divines, between the revealed and secret will of God, showing that no such distinc-
tion could be applied to the queen ; she had but one will, and that was revealed ; yet it was
still suspected that at least her ministers had a secret will in the case. They went no further
in this vote for a treaty with England, for they could not agree among themselves who should
be the commissioners ; and those who opposed the declaring the succession, were concerned
for no more when that question was once set aside. So it was postponed, as a matter about
which they took no further care.
They offered to the court six months' cess, for the pay of the army ; but they tacked to
this a great part of a bill which passed the former session of parliament, but was refused by
the throne. By that it was provided, that if the queen should die without issue, a parlia-
ment should presently meet, and they were to declare the successor to the crown, who should
not be the same person that was possessed of the crown of England, unless before that time
there should be a settlement made in parliament, of the rights and liberties of the nation
independent on English councils. By another clause in the act, it was made lawful to arm
the subjects, and to train them, and put them in a posture of defence. This was chiefly
pressed in behalf of the best affected in the kingdom, who were not armed ; for the High-
landers, who were the worst affected, were well armed : so, to balance that, it was moved
that leave should be given to arm the rest. All was carried with great heat and much
vehemence ; for a national humour, of being independent on England, fermented so strongly
among all sorts of people without doors, that those who went not into every hot motion that
was made, were looked on as the betrayers of their country ; and they were so exposed to
a popular fury, that some of those who studied to stop this tide were thought to be in
danger of their lives. The presbyterians were so overawed with this, that, though
they wished well to the settling the succession, they durst not openly declare it. The
dukes of Hamilton and Athol led all those violent motions, and the whole nation was
strangely inflamed.
The ministers were put to a great difficulty with the supply bill, and the tack that was
joined to it. If it was denied the army could be no longer kept up : they had run so far
in arrear, that, considering the poverty of the country, that could not be carried on much
longer. Some suggested that it should be proposed to the English ministry, to advance the
subsistence money, till better measures could be taken ; but none of the Scotch ministry
would consent to that. An army is reckoned to belong to those who pay it : so an army
paid from England would be called an English army : nor was it possible t(> manage such a
thing secretly. It was well known that there was no money in the Scotch itc&saiy to pay
them, so if money were once brought into the treasury, how secretly soever, all men must
conclude that it came from England : and men's minds were then so full of the conceit of
independency, that if a suspicion arose of any such practice, probably it would have occa
eioned tumults. Even the army was so kindled with this, that it was believed that neitliei
OF QUEEN ANNE 703
officers nor soldiers would have taken their pay, if they had believed it came from England.
It came then to this, that either the army must be disbanded, or the bill must pass. It is
true, the army was a very small one, not above three thousand ; but it was so ordered, that
it was double or treble officered ; so that it could have been easily increased to a much
greater number, if there had been occasion for it. The officers had served long, and were
men of a good character. So, since they were alarmed with an invasion, which both sides
looked for, and the intelligence which the court had from France assured them it was
intended ; they thought the inconveniences arising from the tack might be remedied after-
wards. But the breaking of the army was such a pernicious thing, and might end so fatally,
that it was not to be ventured on. Therefore, by common consent, a letter was written to
the queen, which was signed by all the ministers there, in which they laid the wrhole matter
before her, every thing was stated and balanced ; all concluded in an humble advice to pass
the bill. This was very heavy on the lord Godolphin, on whose advice the queen chiefly
relied. He saw the ill consequences of breaking the army and laying that kingdom open to
an invasion, would fall on him if he should, in contradiction to the advice given by the
ministry of Scotland, have advised the queen to reject the bill. This was under consultation
in the end of July, when our matters abroad were yet in a great uncertainty ; for though
the victory at Schellemberg was a good step, yet the great decision was not then come. So
he thought, considering the state of affairs, and the accidents that might happen, that it was
the safest thing for the queen to comply with the advices of those to whom she trusted the
affairs of that kingdom.
The queen sent orders to pass the bill. It passed on the 6th of August, after the great
battle was over, but several days before the news of it came to us. When the act passed,
copies of it were sent to England, where it was soon printed by those who were uneasy at
the lord Godolphin's holding the white staff, and resolved to make use of this against him,
for the whole blame of passing it was cast on him. It was not possible to prove that he
had advised the queen to it : so some took it by another handle, and resolved to urge it
against him, that lie had not persuaded the queen to reject it : though that seemed a great
stretch, for he being a stranger to that kingdom, it might have been liable to more objection,
if he had presumed to advise the queen to refuse a bill, passed in the parliament of Scotland,
which all the ministry there advised her to pass.
Severe censures passed on this. It was said, that the two kingdoms were now divided
by law, and that the Scotch were putting themselves in a posture to defend it ; and all saw by
whose advices this was done. One thing, that contributed to keep up an ill humour in the
parliament of Scotland, was more justly imputed to him. The queen had promised to send
down to them all the examinations relating to the plot : if these had been sent down, pro-
bably in the first heat the matter might have been carried far against the duke of Queens-
bury. But he, who staid all the while at London, got it to be represented to the queen, that
the sending down these examinations, with the persons concerned in them, would run the
session into so much heat, and into such a length, that it would divert them quite from con-
sidering the succession, and it might produce a tragical scene. Upon these suggestions, the
queen altered her resolution of sending them down ; though repeated applications were made
to her, both by the parliament and by her ministers, to have them sent ; yet no answer was
made to these, nor was so much as an excuse made for not sending them. The duke of
Queensbury, having gained this point, got all his friends to join with the party that opposed
the new ministry. This both defeated all their projects and softened the spirits of those
who were so set against him, that, in their first fury, no stop could have been put to their
proceedings. But now the party that had designed to ruin him was so much wrought
< n by the assistance that his friends gave them in this session, that they resolved to pre-
serve him.
This was the state of that nation, which was aggravated very odiously all England ovejr
ft was confidently, though, as was afterwards known, very falsely, reported, that great
•juantities of arms were brought over and dispersed through the whole kingdom : and it
heing well known how poor the nation was at that time, it was said, that those arms were
paid for by other hands, in imitation of what it was believed cardinal Richelieu did in tho
704 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
year 1638. Another thing was given out very maliciously by the lord treasurers' enemies,
that he had given directions under hand to hinder the declaring the succession, and that
the secret of this was trusted to Johnstoun, who, they said, talked openly one way, and
acted secretly another; though I could never see a colour of truth in those reports.
Great use was to be made of the affairs of Scotland, because there was no ground of
complaint of any thing in the administration at home. All the duke of Marlborough's
enemies saw his chief strength lay in the credit that the lord Godolphin was in at home,
\vhile he was so successful abroad. So, it being impossible to attack him in such a course of
glory, they laid their aims against the lord treasurer. The tories resolved to attack him,
and that disposed the whigs to preserve him : and this was so managed by them, that it gave
a great turn to all our councils at home.
In the beginning of November, the session of parliament was opened. It might well be
expected that, after such a summer, the addresses of both houses would run in a very high
strain. The house of commons, in their address, put the successes by sea and land on a
level, and magnified both in the same expressions ; but the house of lords, in their address,
took no notice of Rook, nor of the sea. The lower house of convocation were resolved to
follow the example of the house of commons, and would have the sea and land both men-
tioned in the same terms ; but the bishops would not vary from the pattern set them by the
house of lords : so no address was made by the convocation. The commons agreed to every
thing that the court proposed for supporting the war another year : this was carried through
•with great dispatch and unanimity. So that the main business of the session was soon over :
all the money bills were prepared and carried on in the regular method without any obstruc-
tion. Those who intended to embroil matters saw it was not advisable to act above board,
but to proceed more covertly.
The act against occasional conformity was again brought in, but moderated in several
clauses ; for those who pressed it were now resolved to bring the terms as low as was possible,
in order once to carry a bill upon that head. The opposition in the house of commons made
to it was become so considerable (for the design was now more clearly discerned), that it was
carried in that house only by a majority of fifty. When the bill was to be committed, it
was moved that it should be committed to the same committee which was preparing the bill
for the land-tax. The design of this was, that the one should be tacked to the other, and
then the lords would have been put under a great difficulty. If they should untack the bill,
and separate one from the other, then the house of commons would have insisted on a maxim
that was now settled among them, as a fundamental principle never to be departed from,
that the lords cannot alter a money bill, but must either pass it or reject it, as it is sent to
them. On the other hand, the lords could not agree to any such tack, without departing
from that solemn resolution which was in their books, signed by most of them, never to admit
of a tack to a money bill. If they yielded now, they taught the house of commons the way
to impose any thing 'on them at their pleasure.
The party in the house of commons put their whole strength to the carrying this point :
they went further in their design. That which was truly aimed at, by those in the secret,
was to break the war and to force a peace. They knew a bill with this tack could not pass
in the house of peers. Some lords of their party told myself that they would never pass the
bill with this tack, so by this means money would be stopped. This would put all matters
in great confusion both at home and abroad, and dispose our allies, as despairing of any help
from vis, to accept of such terms as France would offer them. So here was an artful design
formed to break, at least to shake, the whole alliance. The court was very apprehensive of
this, and the lord Godolphin opposed it with much zeal. The party disowned the design
for some time, until they had brought up their whole strength, and thought they were sure
of a majority.
The debate held long. Those who opposed it said, this now aimed at was a change of
the whole constitution, and was in effect turning it into a commonwealth ; for it imported
the denying, not only to the lords, but to the crown, the free use of their negative in the
legislature. If this was once settled, then, as often as the public occasions made a money
bill necessary, every thing that the majority in their house had a mind to would be tacked
OF QUEEN ANNE. 705
to it. It is true some tacks had been made to money bills in king Charles's time ; but oven
these had still some relation to the money that was given. But here a bill, whose operation
was only for one year, and which determined as soon as the four shillings in the pound was
paid, was to have a perpetual law tacked to it, that must continue still in force after the
greatest part of the act was expired and dead. To all this, in answer, some precedents were
opposed, and the necessity of the bill for the preservation of the church was urged, which
they saw was not likely to pass, unless sent to the lords so accompanied ; which some
thought was very wittingly pressed, by calling it a portion annexed to the church, as in a,
marriage ; and they said they did not doubt but those of the court would bestir themselves
to get it passed, when it was accompanied with two millions as its price.
Upon the division, one hundred and thirty-four were for the tack, and two hundred and
fifty were against it : so that design was lost by those who had built all their hopes upon it,
and were now highly offended with some of their own party, who had by their opposition
wrought themselves into good places, and forsook that interest to which they owed their
advancement : these, to redeem themselves with their old friends, seemed still zealous for
the bill, which after went on coldly and slowly in the house of commons, for they lost
all hopes of carrying it in the house of lords, now that the mine they had laid was sprung.
While this was going on in the house of commons, the debate about the Scotch act was
taken up with great heat in the house of lords. The ill effects that were likely to follow
upon it were opened in very tragical strains : it was, after much declaiming, moved that the
lords might pass some votes upon it. The tories who pressed this, intended to add a
severe vote against all those who had advised it ; and it was visible at whom this was aimed.
The whigs diverted this : they said, the putting a vote against an act passed in Scotland
looked like the claiming some superiority over them, which seemed very improper at that
time, since that kingdom was possessed with a national jealousy on this head, that would be
much increased by such a proceeding. More moderate methods were therefore proposed and
agreed to, in order to the making up of a breach in this island, with which they seemed to
be then threatened. So an act was brought in, empowering the queen to name commis-
sioners, to treat of a full union of both kingdoms, as soon as the parliament of Scotland
should pass an act to the same purpose. But if no such union should be agreed on, or if the
same succession to the crown, with that of England, should not be enacted by a day prefixed,
then it wa*s enacted, that after that day no Scotchman, that was not resident in England
or in Ireland, or employed in the queen's service by sea or land, should be esteemed a
natural-born subject of England : they added to this a prohibition of the importation of
Scotch cattle, and the manufactures of Scotland. All this fell in the house of commons, when
sent down to them, because of the money-penalties, which were put in the several clauses
of the bill. The commons were resolved to adhere to a notion, that had now taken such root
among them that it could not be shaken, that the lords could not put any such clause in a
bill begun with them. This was wholly new : penalties upon transgressions could not be
construed to be a giving of money. The lords were clearly in possession of proceeding thus ;
so that the calling it in question was an attempt on the share which the lords had in the
legislature. The commons let this bill lie on the table, and began a new one to the same
purpose : it passed ; and the following Christmas was the day prefixed for the Scotch to
enact the succession, or, on failure thereof, then this act was to have its effect. A great
coldness appeared in many of the commons, who used to be hot on less important occasions :
they seemed not to desire that the Scotch should settle the succession ; and it was visible
that some of them hoped that the lords would have used their bill as they had used that
sent down by the lords. Many of them were less concerned in the fate of the bill, because
it diverted the censure which they had intended to fix on the lord treasurer. The lords were
aware of this, and passed the bill.
Those who wished well to the union were afraid that the prohibition, and the declaring
the Scots aliens after the day prefixed, would be looked on as threatenings. And they saw
cause to apprehend that ill-tempered men in that kingdom would use this as a handle to
divert that nation, which was already much soured, from hearkening to any motion that
might tend to promote the union or the declaring the succession. It was given out by these,
7C6 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
that this was an indignity done their kingdom, and that they ought not so much as to treat
with a nation that threatened them in such a manner. The marquis of Tweedale excused
himself from serving longer : so the duke of Argyle, whose father was lately dead, was
named to he sent down commissioner, to hold a parliament in Scotland. He was then very
young, and was very brave.
This being dispatched easier than was expected, the parliament went on to other business.
Complaints of an ill management, both at the board of the prince's council and at sea, rose
very high. This house of commons, during the whole continuance of the parliament, never
appointed a committee to look into those matters which had been formerly a main part of
their care. They saw things were ill conducted, but the chief managers of sea affairs were
men of their party, and that atoned for all faults, and made them unwilling to find them
out, or to censure them. The truth was, the prince was prevailed on to continue still in the
admiralty, by those who sheltered themselves under his name : though this brought a great
load on the government. The lords went on as they had done the former session, examining
into all complaints. They named two committees, the one to examine the books of the
admiralty, the other to consider the proceedings at sea. No progress was made in the first
of these ; for though there was a great deal suggested in private, yet, since this seemed to
be complaining of the prince, none would appear directly against him ; but the other afforded
matter enough both for enquiry and censure : the most important, and that which had the
worst consequences, was, that though there were twenty-two ships appointed for cruising,
yet they had followed that service so remissly, and the orders sent them were so languid
and so little urgent, that three diligent cruising ships could have performed all the services
done by that numerous fleet. This was made out in a scheme, in which all the days of
their being out at sea were reckoned up, which did not exceed what three cruisers might
have performed. It did not appear whether this was only the effect of sloth or ignorance,
or if there lay any designed treachery at bottom. It seemed very plain that there was
treachery somewhere, at least among the under-ofncers ; for, a French privateer being taken,
they found among his papers instructions sent him by his owners, in which he was directed
to lie in some stations, and to avoid others : and it happened that this agreed so exactly
with the orders sent from the admiralty, that it seemed that could not be by chance, but
that the directions were sent upon sight of the orders. The queen began this winter to come
to the house of lords upon great occa3ions to hear their debates, which, as it was of good
use for her better information, so it was very serviceable in bringing the house into better
order. The first time she came was when the debate was taken up concerning the Scotch
act. She knew the lord treasurer was aimed at by it, and she diverted the storm by her
endeavours, as well as she restrained it by her presence.
She came likewise thither to hear the debates upon the bill against occasional conformity,
which was sent up by the commons ; if it had not been for the queen's being present, there
would have been no long debate on that head, for it was scarcely possible to say much that
had not been formerly said : but to give the queen full information, since it was supposed
that she had heard that matter only on one side, it was resolved to open the whole matter
in her hearing : the topics most insisted on were, the quiet that we enjoyed by the toleration,
on which head the severities of former reigns were laid open, both in their injustice, cruelty,
and their being managed only to advance popery, and other bad designs ; the peaceable
behaviour of the dissenters, and the zeal they expressed for the queen, and her government,
was also copiously set forth ; while others showed a malignity to it. That which was chiefly
urged was, that every new law made in the matter, altered the state of things from what it
was when the act for toleration first passed ; this gave the dissenters an alarm, they might
from thence justly conclude, that one step would be made after another, until the whole
effect of that act should be overturned. It did not appear from the behaviour of any among
them, that they were not contented with the toleration they enjoyed, or that they were
carrying on designs against the church ; in that case it might be reasonable to look for a
farther security, but nothing tending that way was so much as pretended ; all went on
jealousies and fears, the common topics of sedition. On the other hand, to support the bill,
old stories were brought up to show how restless and unquiet that sort of men had been in
OF QUEEN ANNE. 707
former times. When it came to the question, whether the bill should be read a second time,
or not, it went for the negative by a majority of twenty lords.
Another debate, that brought the queen to the house, was concerning Watson, late lord
bishop of Sto David's : his business had been kept long on foot in the courts below by all the
methods of delay that lawyers could invent ; after five years' pleading, the concluding judg-
ment was given in the exchequer, that he had no right to the temporalities of that bishopric ;
and that being affirmed in the exchequer-chamber, it was now by a writ of error, brought
before the lords, in the last resort ; but as the house seemed now to be set, he had no mind
to let it go to a final decision ; so he delayed the assigning the errors of the judgment until
the days were lapsed in which, according to a standing order, errors ought to be assigned
upon a writ of error ; in default of which the record was to be sent back. He suffered the
time to lapse, though particular notice was ordered to be given him, on the last day in which,
according to the standing order, he might have assigned his errors ; and the house sat that
day some hours on purpose waiting for it. Some weeks after that, when the session was so
near an end that he thought his cause could not be heard during the session, and so must in
course have been put off to another session, he petitioned for leave to assign his errors ; this
was one of the most solemn orders that related to the judicature of the lords, and had been
the most constantly stood to : it was not therefore thought reasonable to break through it,
in favour of so bad a man, of whom they were all ashamed, if parties could have any shame ;
he had affected, in every step he had made, to seek out all possible delays for keeping the see
still void, which by reason of a bad bishop and a long vacancy, was fallen into great dis-
order ; yet after all this, he had still by law the benefit of a writ of error, which he might
bring in any subsequent session of parliament.
Upon this the queen resolved to fill that see ; and she promoted to it the celebrated
Dr. Bull, who had written the most learned treatise that this age had produced, of the
doctrine of the primitive church concerning the Trinity ; this had been so well received all
Europe over, that in an assembly general of the clergy of France, the bishop of Meaux was
desired to write over to a correspondent he had in London, that they had such a sense of the
service he had done their common iaith, that upon it they sent him their particular thanks ;
I read the letter, arid so I can deliver it for a certain truth, how uncommon soever it may
seem to be *. The queen had a little before this promoted Dr. Beveridge to the see of
St. Asaph, who had showed himself very learned in ecclesiastical knowledge. They were
both pious and devout men, but were now declining ; both of them being old, and not likely
to hold out long t. Soon after this the see of Lincoln became vacant by that bishop's death :
Dr. Wake was after some time promoted to it : a man eminently learned, an excellent writer,
a good preacher, and, which is above all, a man of an exemplary life J.
* In the church of Brecknock is this inscription: and firmness. He was always ready to maintain the charac-
II Here lieth the right reverend father in God, Dr. George ter of our church ; supported the union with Scotland,
Bull, late bishop of this diocese ; who was excellently and every liberal measure that was proposed. He had one
learned, pious, and charitable; and who departed this life maxim to guide him as a statesman, worthy of his inte-
Fcbruary the 17th, 1705, aged seventy-five." Dr. Bull, grity — " I am apt to think," he said, " that justice is a
born at Wells, in Somersetshire, losing his parents whilst better rule than convenience." — Nelson's Life of Dr.
a child, devolved to the care of a sister much his senior. Bull, prefixed to his works ; Wood's Athense Qx6n. ;
Submitting to the drudgery of instructing infancy, and Biog. Britannica; Noble's Contin. of Grainger.
nobly resolving to fulfil the duty devolved upon her, she t" Dr. William Beveridge, who has been styled " the
fully supplied the place of a mother to the orphan boy. great reviver and restorer of primitive piety,*' was bora
Her guardianship did not cease with infancy, for when at at Barrow, in Leicestershire, in 1638. His learning was
Exeter college, Oxford, and afterwards, he was guilty of made publicly known at an early period of his life, and
^everal indiscretions, she lured him back to virtue and continued, as well as his Christian practice, to characterize
learning, gardens of pure delight, whose produce is thorn- him throughout his career. He died bishop of St. Asaph,
less. From these he never strayed again. That Dr. Bull in 17<>8, and one of his episcopal brethren remarked as
was a good man, we have the testimony that the excellent Beveridge's eyes were closing — " There goes one of the
Mr. Nelson was his friend and biographer. Of bis eccle- greatest, and one of the best men that ever England
xiastical learning, we have the testimony of the foreign bred." — Biog. Britannica; Noble's Contin. of Grainger.
'Hvines, mentioned in the text The work there alluded J Dr. William Wake was descended from one of the most
to was his " Doctrine of the Primitive Church concern- ancient families of our gentry ; a family distinguished for
ng the Trinity." " Few have exceeded Dr. Bull in the its courage and loyalty. His father, with boyish heroism,
performance of the duties of his profession, from the plain suffered the punishment that ought to have been inflicted
• '11*11 priest to the prelate." In his place as a peer of upon his friend Nicholls, and this in after-life was more
parliament he conducted himself with becoming calmness than repaid. NicholU had risen to a judgeship, in the
f
7»;S THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
A design was formed in this session of parliament, but there was not strength enough to
carry it on at this time, the earl of Rochester gave a hint of it in the house of lords, by say-
ing that he had a motion of great consequence to the security of the nation, which he would
not make at this time, but would do it when next they should meet together. He said no
more to the house, but in private discourse he owned it was for bringing over the electoress
of Hanover to live in England ; upon this I will digress a little, to open the design and the
views, which he, and some others, might have in this motion.
It seemed not natural to believe that a party, which had been all along backward at best,
and cold in every step that was made in settling the succession in that family, should become
all on the sudden such converts as to be zealous for it ; so it was not an unreasonable jealousy
to suspect that somewhat lay hid under it : it was thought that they either knew, or did
apprehend, that this would not be acceptable to the queen; and they, being highly dis-
pleased with the measures she took, went into this design both to vex her, and in hopes that
a faction might arise out of it, which might breed a distraction in our councils, and some of
them might hope thereby to revive the prince of Walcs's pretensions. They reckoned such
a motion would be popular ; and if either the court or the whigs, on whom the court was
now beginning to look more favourably, should oppose it, this would cast a load on them as
men, who after all the zeal they had expressed for that succession, did now, upon the hopes
of favour at court, throw it up ; and those who had been hitherto considered as the enemies
of that house, might hope by this motion to overcome all the prejudices that the nation had
taken up against them ; and they might create a merit to themselves in the minds of that
family, by this early zeal, which they resolved now to express for it.
This was set on foot among all the party ; but the more sincere among them could not
be prevailed on to act so false a part, though they were told this was the likeliest way to
advance the pretended prince of Wales's interests.
I now come to give an account of the last business of this session, with which the parlia-
ment ended : it was formerly told what proceedings had been at la\v upon the election at
Aylesbury; the judgment that the lords gave in that matter was executed, and upon that
five others of the inhabitants -brought their actions against the constables upon the same
grounds. The house of commons looked on this as a great contempt of their votes, and they
voted this a breach of privilege, to which they added a new, and until then unheard-of
crime, that it was contrary to the declaration that they had made ; upon that they sent their
messenger for these five men, and committed them to Newgate, where they lay three months
prisoners : they were all the while well supplied, and much visited ; so they lay without
making any application to the house of commons : it was not thought advisable to move in
such a matter until all the money-bills were passed ; then motions were made in the interval
between the terms, upon the statute for a habeas corpus ; but the statute relating only to
commitments by the royal authority, this did not lie within it.
When the term came, a motion was made in the queen's bench upon the common-law, in
behalf of the prisoners for a habeas corpus ; the lawyers who moved it produced the commit-
ment, in which their offence was set forth, th.it they had claimed the benefit of the law in
opposition to a vote of the house of commons to the contrary ; they said the subjects were
governed by the laws, which they might, and were bound to know, and not by the votes of
a house of parliament, which they were neither bound to know, nor to obey ; three of the
judges were of opinion, that the court could take no cognizance of that matter; the chief
justice was of another mind ; he thought a general warrant of commitment for breach of
privilege was of the nature of an execution ; and since the ground of the commitment was
specified in the warrant, he thought it plainly appeared that the prisoners had been guilty
*
time of the protectorate, and Mr. Wake was tried before many effective passes of the pen at Bossuet, Attcrbiiry,
him and condemned for disaffection to the existing govern- and others. One of his most admirable, though misre- :
ment, but the judge did not rest until he obtained the presented efforts, was the union of the Gallican and j
prisoner's pardon from Cromwell. This is told in the English churches. He died in 1737, archbishop of |
383rd number of the Spectator ; but the names, there Canterbury, to which metropolitical see he had been I
omitted, are mentioned by Dr. Grey, in his edition of advanced in 1715. — Biog. Britanmca; Noble's Contiu.
Hudibrag. Dr. Wake was a native of Blandford, and born of Grainger,
m 1657. He was a talented controversialist, aud made
OF QUEEN ANNE. 769
of no legal offence, and that therefore they ought to be discharged ; he was but one against
three, so the prisoners were remanded.
Upon that they moved for a writ of error, to bring the matter before the lords ; that was
only to be come at by petitioning the queen to order it : the commons were alarmed at this,
and made an address to the queen, setting forth, that they had passed all the money-bills,
therefore they hoped her majesty would not grant this. Ten judges agreed, that in civil
matters a petition for a writ of error was a petition of right, and not of grace ; two of them
only were of another mind ; it was therefore thought a very strange thing which might have
most pernicious consequences, for a house of commons to desire the queen not to grant a
petition of right, which was plainly a breach of law and of her coronation oath ; they also
took on them to affirm, that the writ did not lie ; though that was clearly the work of the
judicature to declare, whether it lay or not, and that was unquestionably the right of the
lords ; they only could determine that ; the supplying the public occasions was a strange
consideration to be offered the queen, as an argument to persuade her to act against law ; as
if they had pretended that they had bribed her to infringe the law, and to deny justice ;
money given for public service was given to the country, and to themselves, as properly as
to the queen.
The queen answered their address, and in it said, that the stopping proceedings at law,
was a matter of such consequence, that she must consider well of it ; this was thought so
cold, that they returned her no thanks for it ; though a well-composed house of commons
would certainly have thanked her for that tender regard to law and justice. The house of
commons carried their anger farther ; they ordered the prisoners to be taken out of New-
gate, and to be kept by their Serjeant ; they also ordered the lawyers and the solicitors to
be taken into custody, for appearing in behalf of the prisoners ; these were such strange and
unheard-of proceedings, that by them the minds of all people were much alienated from the
house of commons. But the prisoners were under such management, and so well sup-
ported, that they would not submit nor ask pardon of the house ; it was generally believed,
that they were supplied and managed by the lord Wharton ; they petitioned £he house of
lords for relief ; arid the lords resolved to proceed in the matter by sure and regular steps ;
they first came to some general resolutions, that neither house of parliament could assume
or create any new privilege that they had not been formerly possessed of ; that subjects
claiming their rights in a course of law, against those who had no privilege, could not be a
breach of privilege of either house ; that the imprisoning the men of Aylesbury for acting
contrary to a declaration made by the house of commons, was against law ; that the com-
mitting their friends and their counsel for assisting them, in order to the procuring their
liberty in a legal way, was contrary to law ; and that the writ of error could not be denied
without breaking the magna charta and the laws of England. These resolutions were com-
municated to the house of commons at a conference.
They made a long answer to them : in it they set forth, that the right of determining elec-
tions was lodged only with them, and that therefore they only could judge who had a right
to elect ; they only were the judges of their own privileges, the lords could not intermeddle
in it ; they quoted very copiously the proceedings in the year ] 675, upon an appeal brought
against a member of their house ; they said their prisoners ought only to apply themselves
to them for their liberty ; and that no motion had ever been made for a writ of error in such
a case. Upon this second conference according to form, the matter was brought to a free
conference, where the point was fully argued on both sides ; the city and the body of the
nation were on the lords' side in the matter. Upon this the lords drew up a full representa-
tion of the whole thing, and laid it before the queen, with an earnest prayer to her majesty,
to give order for the writ of error ; this was thought so well drawn, that some preferred it to
those of the former sessions ; it contained a long and clear deduction of the whole affair, with
groat decency of style, but with many heavy reflections on the house of commons.
By this time the whole business of the session was brought to a conclusion ; for the lords,
who had the money-bills, would not pass them, until this was ended : they carried their
representation to the queen, who in answer to it told them, that she would have granted the
writ of error, but she saw it was necessary to put a present conclusion to the session. This
3 D
770 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
being reported to the house, was looked on by them as a clear decision in their favour ; there-
fore they ordered their humble thanks to be immediately returned to her majesty for it : an
hour after that the queen came to the house of lords, and passed all the bills, and ended the
session with a speech full of thanks for the supplies so readily granted ; she took notice with
regret of the effects of the ill humour and animosity that had appeared ; and spoke of the
narrow escape we had made, which she hoped would teach all persons to avoid such danger-
ous experiments for the future ; this was universally understood to be meant of the tack, as
indeed it could be meant of nothing else.
Thus this session, and with it this parliament came to an end ; it was no small blessing to
the queen, and to the nation, that they got well out of such hands ; they had discovered, on
many occasions, and very manifestly, what lay at bottom with most of them ; but they had
not skill enough to know how to manage their advantages, and to make use of their numbers ;
the constant successes with which God had blessed the queen's reign, put it out of their
power to compass that which was aimed at by them ; the forcing a peace, and of conse-
quence the delivering all up to France. Sir Christopher Musgrave, the wisest man of the
party, died before the last session ; and by their conduct after his death, it appeared, that
they wanted his direction ; he had been at the head of the opposition that was made in the
last reign from the beginning to the end : but he gave up many points of great importance
in the critical minute, for which I had good reason to believe, that he had twelve thousand
pounds from the late king, at different times : at his death it appeared, that he was much
richer than by any visible computation he could be valued at; which made some cast an
imputation on his memory, as if he had received great sums even from France *.
I shall conclude the relation of this parliament with an account of some things that were
begun, but not perfected by them ; there was a bill offered for the naturalization of some
hundreds of Frenchmen, to which the commons added a clause, disabling the persons so
naturalized from voting in elections of parliament; the true reason of this was, because it
was observed that the French among us gave in all elections their votes for those who were
most zealous against France ; and yet, with an apparent disingenuity, some gave it as a
reason for such a clause, that they must be supposed so partial to the interests of their own
country, that it was not fit to give them any share in our government. The lords looked on
this as a new attempt, and the clause added was a plain contradiction to the body of the bill,
which gave them all the rights of natural-born subjects ; and this took from them the chief
of them all, the choosing their representatives in parliament ; they would not agree to it, and
the commons resolved not to depart from it ; so without coming to a free conference, the bill
fell with the session.
Another bill was begun by the lords against the papists : it was occasioned by several
complaints brought from many parts of the kingdom, chiefly from Cheshire, of the practices
and insolence of those of that religion : so a bill was ordered to be brought in, with clauses
in it, that would have made the act, passed against them four years before, prove effectual,
which for want of these has hitherto been of no effect at all ; this passed in the house of lords,
and was sent to the commons. They had no mind to pass it ; but to avoid the ill effects of
their refusing such a bill, they added a clause to it, containing severe penalties on papists
who should once take the oaths, and come into the communion of our church, if they should
be guilty of any occasional conformity with popery afterwards : they fancied that this of
occasional conformity was so odious to the lords, that every clause that condemned it would
be rejected by them ; but when they came to understand that the lords were resolved to
agree to the clause, they would not put it to that hazard ; so the bill lay on their table, and
slept until the prorogation.
A general self-denying bill was offered in the house of commons by those very men, who
I
* Sir Christopher Musgrave, of Hartley, in West- Carlisle, and lieutenant-general of the ordnance. In the ;
moreland, was, whilst a young man, very active in the first year of Anne, he had the office of one of the four i
cause of the Stuarts. For this he was imprisoned and tellers of the exchequer. " He always demonstrated j
otherwise suffered during the protectorate, having engaged himself a loyal subject, an able statesman, and singular
in Sir George Booth's attempt to restore the ex-king, patriot to his country." He died in June, 1704, an ' was ,
After the restoration he obtained the appointment of a buried in a chapel of the Minories in London. — Collins'* i
Captain of the guard, was knighted, made governor of Baronetage.
OF QUEEN ANNE. 771
in the first session of parliament, when they hoped for places themselves, had opposed the
motion of such a bill with great indignation ; now the scene was a little altered, they saw
they \»-rere not likely to be favourites, so they pretended to be patriots. This looked so
strangely in them, that it was rejected ; but another bill of a more restrained nature passed,
disabling some officers, particularly those that were concerned in the prize- office, from serving
in parliament ; to this a general clause was added, that disabled all who held any office that
had been created since the year 1684, or any office that should be created for the future,
from sitting in parliament ; this passed among them, and was sent to the lords ; who did
no think fit to agree to so general a clause, but consented to a particular disability, put on
some offices by name : the commons did not agree to this alteration, they would have all, or
nothing, so the bill fell.
The conclusion of the parliament set the whole nation in a general ferment ; both sides
studied how to dispose people's minds in the new elections, with great industry and zeal : all
people looked on the affairs of France as reduced to such a state, that the war could not run
beyond the period of the next parliament; a well-chosen one must prove a public blessing,
not only to England, but to all Europe ; as a bad one would be fatal to us at home, as well
as to our allies abroad : the affairs of France were run very low ; all methods of raising
money wero now exhausted, and could afford no great supplies ; so, in imitation of our
exchequer-bills, they began to give out mint-bills ; but they could not create that confidence
which is justly put in parliamentary credit. The French had hopes from their party here in
England, and there was a disjointing in the several provinces of the United Netherlands ;
but as long as we were firm and united, we had a great influence on the States, at least to
keep things entire during the war; so it was visible that a good election in England,
must give such a prospect for three years as would have a great influence on all the affairs
of Europe.
I must, before I end the relation of the parliament, say somewhat of the convocation that
attended upon it, though it was then so little considered, that scarcely any notice was taken
of them, and they deserved that no mention should be made of them. The lower house con-
tinued to proceed with much indecent violence : they still held their intermediate sessions,
and brought up injurious and reflecting addresses to the upper house, which gave a very
large exercise to the patience, and forbearance, of the archbishop and bishops : the arch-
bishop, after he had borne long with their perverseness, and saw no good effect of it, pro-
ceeded to an ecclesiastical monition against their intermediate meetings ; this put a stop to
that, for they would not venture on the censures that must in course follow, if no regard was
had to the monition. At the final prorogation, the archbishop dismissed them with a wise,
well-composed speech ; he laid open to them their indecent behaviour, and the many wrong
steps they had made ; to this he added a severe, but grave reprimand, with much good
advice. The governing men among them were headstrong and factious, and designed to
force themselves into preferments, by the noise they made, and by the ill humour that they
endeavoured to spread among the clergy, who were generally soured, even with relation to
the queen herself, beyond what could be imagined possible.
Now having given a full relation of our counsels and other affairs at home, I shall next
consider the progress of those abroad. The first operation of the campaign was before
Gibraltar : Leak was sailing from Lisbon thither, and as he went out he met Dilks, who
was sent from England to increase his force ; by this addition he had a strong fleet of thirty
men of war, so he held on his course with all expedition, hoping to find Pointy in the bay
of Gibraltar ; but a great storm had blown all, but five ships, up the Mediterranean. Pointy
remained only with these, when he was surprised by Leak, who did quickly overpower him,
and took three capital ships ; the other two, that were the greatest of them, were run ashore,
and burnt near Marbella. Leak sailed to the Levant, to see if he could overtake those ships,
that the wind had driven from the rest ; but after a fruitless pursuit for some days, he
returned back to Gibraltar : that garrison was now so well supplied, that the Spaniards lost
all hopes of being able to take it; so they raised the siege, turning it into a very feeble
blockade. This advantage came at the same time that Verue was lost, to balance it.
Now the campaign was to be opened, the duke of Marlborough designed that the Moselle
3 D 2
!
772 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
should be the scene of action, and care had been taken to lay up magazines of all sorts in
Triers : the States consented that he should carry the greatest part of their army to the
Moselle, and resolved to lie on the defensive upon their own frontiers ; for they reckoned
that how strong soever the elector of Bavaria's army was at that time, yet whensoever
France should be pressed, with so great a force as they reckoned would be on the Moselle,
he would be ordered to send such detachments thither, that his army would be quickly dimi-
nished, and so would not have the superior strength long. Prince Lewis of Baden seemed
to like this scheme of the campaign so well, and had concurred so cordially in the concert of
it. during the winter, that no doubt was made of his being both able and willing to enter
upon this new scene of the war : but as the duke of Marlborough was setting out, depending
on his concurrence, he received an express from him, excusing himself both on his own want
of health, and because the force he had about him was not considerable, nor was that which
he expected likely to come to him so soon as might be wished for. This could not stop the
duke of Marlborough, who had set his heart on opening the campaign in those parts, and
had great hopes of success ; so he resolved to push the matter as far as he could. He went
to the prince of Baden to concert matters with him, whose ill health seemed only to be a
pretence : it was true that the princes, and circles, of the empire had not sent in their quotas,
but it appeared that there was already strength enough, in conjunction with the army, that
the duke of Marlborough was to bring, to advance, and open the campaign writh great advan-
tage, at least until detachments should come from other parts : the prince of Baden at last
consented to this, and promised to follow with all the forces he could bring.
The duke of Marlborough was so satisfied with these assurances, that he came back to his
army, and quickened their march, so that he brought them to Triers ; and he advanced eight
leagues further, through so many defiles, that the French might easily have made his march
both dangerous and difficult. He posted himself very near mareschal Villars's camp, not
doubting but that the prince of Baden would quickly follow him ; instead of that, he
repeated his former excuse of want of health and force. That wrhich gave the worst sus-
picions of him was, that it appeared plainly that the French knew what he intended to do,
and their management showed they depended on it ; for they ordered no detachments to
increase M. Villars's army ; on the contrary, the elector of Bavaria, having the superior
force, pressed the States on their frontier. Huy was besieged and taken, after it had beyond
all expectation held out ten days : Liege was attacked next ; the town was taken, but the
citadel held out. Upon this, the States sent to the duke of Marlborough to march back with
all possible haste ; he had then eat up the forage round about him, and was out of all hope
of the prince of Baden's coming to join him ; so he saw the necessity of marching back, after
he had lost some weeks in a fruitless attempt : he made such haste in his march, that he lost
many of his men in the way, by fatigue, and desertion ; the French gave him no trouble,
neither while he lay so near their camp, nor when he drew ofF, to march away with so much
haste. To complete the ill conduct of the Germans, those who were left with the magazines
at Triers, pretending danger, destroyed them all, and abandoning Triers, retired back to the
Rhine.
The prince of Baden's conduct through this whole matter was liable to great censure ; the
worst suspicion was, that he was corrupted by the French. Those who did not carry their
censure so far, attributed his acting as he did to his pride, and thought he, envying the duke
of Marlborough, and apprehending that the whole glory of the campaign would be ascribed to
him, since he had the stronger army, chose rather to defeat the whole design, than see another
carry away the chief honour of any successes that might have happened. The duke of
Marlborough came back in good time to raise the siege of the citadel of Liege ; and he
retook Huy in three days : after that, in conjunction with tho Dutch army, he advanced
towards the French lines; he for some days amused them with feints; at last he made
the attack, where he had designed it, and broke through the lines, and gave a great defeat
to the body of the French that defended them, with the loss only of seven men on his side ;
and so without more opposition he came very near Louvain, the Dyle running between his
camp and the town ; a deluge of rain fell that night, and swelled the Dyle so, that it was
not possible to pass it. This gave the French time to recover themselves out of the first con-
OF QUEEN ANNE. 773
sternation, that the advantages he had gained put them in : after a few days, when the
passing the Dyle was practicable, the duke of Marlborough gave orders for it ; but the
French were posted with so much advantage on the other side, that the Dutch generals
persuaded the deputies of the States, that they must run a great risk, if they should venture
to force the passage. The duke of Marlborough was not a little mortified with this, but he
bore it calmly, and moved another way. After some few motions, another occasion was
offered, which he intended to lay hold on : orders were given to force the passage ; but a
motion through a wood, that was thought necessary to support that, was not believed prac-
ticable ; so the deputies of the States were again possessed with the danger of the attempt :
and they thought their affairs were in so good a condition, that such a desperate undertaking
as that seemed to be, was not to be ventured on.
This was very uneasy to the duke, but he was forced to submit to it, though very unwil-
lingly : all agreed that the enterprise was bold and doubtful ; some thought it must have
succeeded, though with some loss at first ; and that if it had succeeded, it might have proved
a decisive action ; others indeed looked on it as too desperate. A great breach was likely
to arise upon this, both in the army, and among the States at the Hague, and in the towns
of Holland, in Amsterdam in particular ; where the burghers came in a body to the Stadt-
house, complaining of the deputies, and that the duke of Marlborough had not fuller
powers.
I can give no judgment in so nice a point, in which military men were of very different
opinions, some justifying ths duke of Marlborough as much as others censured him : he
showed great temper on this occasion, and though it gave him a very sensible trouble, yet
he set himself to calm all the heat that was raised upon it. The campaign in Flanders pro-
duced nothing after this but fruitless marches, while our troops were subsisted in the enemy's
country until the time came of going into winter quarters. Prince Lewis's backwardness,
and the caution of the deputies of the States, made fchis campaign less glorious than was
expected ; for I never knew the duke of Marlborough go out so full of hopes as in the begin-
ning of it ; but things had not answered his expectation.
This summer the emperor Leopold died : he was the most knowing, and the most virtuous,
prince of his communion : only he wanted the judgment that was necessary for conducting
great affairs in such critical times : he was almost always betrayed, and yet he was so firm
to those who had the address to insinuate themselves into his good opinion and confidence,
that it was not possible to let him see those miscarriages that ruined his affairs so often, and
brought them sometimes near the last extremities : of these every body else seemed more sen-
sible than he himself. He was devout and strict in his religion, and was so implicit in his
submission to those priests, who had credit with him, the Jesuits in particular, that he owed
all his troubles to their counsels. The persecution they began in Hungary raised one great
war, which gave the Turks occasion to besiege Vienna, by which he was almost entirely
swallowed up ; this danger did not produce more caution ; after the peace of Carlowitz,
there was so much violence and oppression in the government of Hungary, both of papists
and protestants, that this raised a second war there, which, in conjunction with the revolt
of the elector of Bavaria, brought him a second time very near utter ruin : yet he could
never be prevailed on, either to punish, or so much as to suspect those who had so fatally
entangled his affairs : that without foreign aid nothing could have extricated them. He
was naturally merciful to a fault, for even the punishment of criminals was uneasy to him :
yet all the cruelty in the persecution of heretics seemed to raise no relenting in him. It
could not but be observed by all protestants, how much the ill influence of the popish religion
appeared in him, who was one of the mildest and most virtuous princes of the age, since
cruelty in the matters of religion had a full course under him, though it was as contrary to
his natural temper as it was to his interests, and proved oftener than once almost fatal to all
his affairs. His son Joseph, elected king of the Romans, succeeded him both in his here-
ditary and elective dignities : it was given out, that he would apply himself much to business,
and would avoid tho^e rocks on which his father had struck, and almost split ; and correct
those errors to which his father's easiness had exposed him : he promised to those ministers,
that the queen and the States had in his court, that he would offer all reasonable terms to
774 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the Hungarians . and he consented to their setting a treaty on foot, in which they were to
be the mediators, and become the guarantees for the observance of such articles as should be
agreed on ; and he gave great hopes that he would not continue in that subjection to the
priests, with which his father had been captivated.
He desired to confer with the duke of Marlborough, and to concert all affairs with him :
the queen consented to this, and the duke went to Vienna, where he was treated with great
freedom and confidence, and he had all assurances given him that could be given in words ;
he found that the emperor was highly dissatisfied with the prince of Baden, but he had such
credit in the empire, especially with the circles of Suabia and Franconia, that it was neces-
sary to bear with that, which could not be helped. The duke of Marlborough returned
through the hereditary dominions to Berlin, where he had learned so perfectly to accommo-
date himself to that king's temper, that he succeeded in every thing he proposed, and
renewed all treaties for one year longer. He came from thence to the court of Hanover, and
there he gave them full assurances of the queen's adhering firmly to their interests, in main-
taining the succession to the crown' in their family, with which the elector was fully satis-
fied ; but it appeared that the electoress had a mind to be invited over to England. From
thence he came back to Holland, and it was near the end of the year before he came over to
England. Thus I have cast all that relates to him, in one continued series, though it ran
out into a course of many months.
The German army was not brought together before August ; it was a very brave one, yet
it did not much : the French gave way, and retired before them : Haguenau and some other
places were left by the French, and possessed by the imperialists : a blockade was laid to
Fort Lewis ; but nothing was done by that noble army, equal either to their numbers and
strength, or to the reputation that the prince of Baden had formerly acquired. This was
contrary to the general expectation : for it was thought, that being at the head of so great
an army, he would have studied to have signalized himself, if it had been but to rival the
glory that the duke of Marlborough and prince Eugene had acquired.
Prince Eugene had a hard time in Italy; he had a weak army, and it was both ill-pro-
vided and ill-paid; he was long shut up within the country of Bergamo; at last he broke
through to Cusano, where there was a very hot action between him and the duke of Yen-
dome ; both sides pretended they had the victory ; yet the duke of Vendome repassed the
river, and the imperialists kept the field of battle. The French threatened Turin with a
siege, but they began with Chivas, which held out some months, and was at last abandoned ;
the duke of Feuillade commanded the army near Turin, and seemed to dispose every thing
in order to a siege ; but the design was turned upon Nice, though late in the year : they
made a brave resistance for many weeks ; in December they were forced to capitulate, and
the place was demolished by the French.
The firmness that the duke of Savoy expressed under all these losses, was the wonder of
all Europe ; he had now but a small army of eight thousand foot and four thousand horse,
and had scarcely territory enough to support these ; he had no considerable places left him
but Turin and Coni ; but he seemed resolved to be driven out of all rather than abandon the
alliance. His duchess, with all the clergy, and indeed all his subjects, prayed him to sub-
mit to the necessity of his affairs ; nothing could shake him ; he admitted none of his
bishops nor clergy into his councils, and as his envoy, the count Brian9on, told me, he had
no certain father confessor, but sent sometimes to the Dominicans, and sometimes to the
Franciscans for a priest, when he intended to go to confession.
I turn next to Spain, which was this year a scene of most important transactions : the first
campaign in Portugal, before the hot season, produced nothing : the second campaign seemed
to promise somewhat, but the conduct was so feeble, that though the earl of Galway did all
that was possible to put things in a good posture, yet he saw a disposition in the ministers,
and in their whole management, that made him often despair, and wish himself out of the
service. Fagel, that commanded the Dutch forces, acted in every thing in opposition to
him, and it was visible that the ministers did secretly encourage that by which they excused
themselves.
King Charles was so disgusted with these proceedings, that he was become quite weary
OF QUEEN ANNE. 776
of staying in Portugal ; so when the fleet of the allies came to Lisbon with an army on
board, of above five thousand men, commanded by the earl of Peterborough, he resolved to
go aboard, and to try his fortune with them. The almirante of Castile died about that time ;
some thought that was a great loss, though others did not set so high a value upon him, rior on
any of the intrigues that were among the grandees at Madrid ; they were indeed offended with
several small matters in king Philip's conduct, and with the ascendant that the French had
in all their councils ; for they saw every thing was directed by orders sent from Versailles,
and that their king was really but a viceroy : they were also highly provoked at some inno-
vations made in the ceremonial, which they valued above more important matters : many
seemed disgusted at that conduct, and withdrew from the court. The marquis of Leganes
was considered as most active in infusing jealousies and a dislike of the government into the
other grandees, so he was seized on, and sent prisoner to Navarre ; the grandees, in all their
conduct, showed more of a haughty sullenness in maintaining their own privileges, than of a
generous resolution to free their country from the slavery under which it was fallen ; they
seemed neither to have heads capable of laying any solid designs for shaking off the yoke,
nor hearts brave enough to undertake it.
Our fleet sailed from Lisbon with king Charles ; they stopped at Gibraltar, and carried
along with them the prince of Hesse, who had been so long governor of Barcelona, that he
knew both the tempers, and the strength, and importance of the place. The first design of
this expedition was concerted with the duke of Savoy ; and the forces they had on board
were either to join him, or to make an attempt on Naples or Sicily, as should be found most
advisable : there were agents employed in different parts of Spain to give an account of the
disposition people were in, and of what seemed most practicable. A body of men rose in
Catalonia about Tick ; upon the knowledge king Charles had of this, and upon other adver-
tisements that were sent to our court, of the dispositions of those of that principality, the
orders which king Charles desired were sent : and brought by a runner, that was dispatched
from the queen to the fleet ; so the fleet steered to the coast of Catalonia, to try what could
be done there. The earl of Peterborough, who had set his heart on Italy and on prince
Eugene, was not a little displeased with this, as appeared in a long letter from him, which
the lord treasurer shewed me.
They landed not far from Barcelona, and were joined with many Miquelets and others of
the country ; these were good at plundering, but could not submit to a regular discipline,
nor were they willing to expose themselves to dangerous services. Barcelona had a garrison
of five thousand men in it ; these were commanded by officers who were entirely in the
interests of king Philip ; it seemed a very unreasonable thing to undertake the siege of such
a place, with so small a force ; they could not depend on the raw and undisciplined multi-
tudes that came in to join them, who if things succeeded not in their hands, would soon
abandon them, or perhaps study to merit a pardon, by cutting their throats. A council of
war was called, to consult on what could be proposed and done ; Stanhope, who was one of
them, told me, that both English and Dutch were all of opinion, that the siege could not be
undertaken with so small a force ; those within being as strong as they were, nor did they
see any thing else worth the attempting : they therefore thought that no time was to be lost,
but that they were all to go again on board, and to consider what course was next to be
taken, before the season were spent, when the fleet would be obliged to return back again,
and if they could not fix themselves any where before that time, they must sail back with
the fleet. The prince of Hesse only was of opinion, that they ought to sit down before
Barcelona ; he said, he had secret intelligence of the good affections of many in the town,
who were well known to him, and on whom he relied, and he undertook to answer for their
success ; this could not satisfy those who knew nothing of his secrets, and so could only judge
of things by what appeared to them.
The debate lasted some hours ; in conclusion, the king himself spoke near half an hour ;
he resumed the whole debate, he answered all the objections that were made against the siege,
and treated every one of those who had made them, as he answered them, with particular
civilities ; he supported the truth of what the prince of Hesse had asserted, as being known
to himself ; he said, in the state in which his affairs then stood, nothing could be proposed
770 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
that had net great difficulties in it, all was doubtful, and much must be put to hazard ; but
this seemed less dangerous than any other thing that was proposed : many of his subjects
had come and declared for him, to the hazard of their lives ; it became him therefore to let
them see, that he would run the same hazard with them ; he desired that they would stay
so long with him, until such attempts should be made, that all the world might be convinced
that nothing could be done, and he hoped that till that appeared, they would not leave him ;
he added, that if their orders did oblige them to leave him, yet he could not leave his own
subjects : upon this they resolved to sit down before Barcelona. They were all amazed to
see so young a prince, so little practised in business, argue in so nice a point, with so much
force, and conclude with such heroical resolutions. This proved happy in many respects ; it
came to be known afterwards, that the Catalans and Micjuelets, who had joined them, hear-
ing that they were resolved to abandon them and go back to their ships, had resolved, either
out of resentment, or that they might merit their pardon, to murder as many of them as
they could. When this small army sat down before Barcelona, they found they were too
weak to besiege it : they could scarcely mount their cannon : when they came to examine
their stores, they found them very defective ; and far short of the quantities that by their
lists they expected to find ; whether this flowed from treachery, or carelessness, I will not
determine ; there is much of both in all our offices. It soon appeared that the intelligence
was true concerning the inclinations of those in the town, their affections were entire for king
Charles ; but they were over-awed by the garrison, and by Velasco, who as well as the duke
of Popoli, who had the chief command, was devoted to the interests of king Philip. Deserters
came daily from the town and brought them intelligence : the most considerable thing was,
that fort Montjuy was very ill guarded, it being thought above their strength to make an
attempt on it ; so it was concluded that all the hopes of reducing Barcelona lay in the success
of their design on that fort. Two bodies were ordered to march secretly that night, and to
move towards the other side of Barcelona, that the true design might not be suspected, for
all the hopes of success lay in the secrecy of the march. The first body consisted of eight
hundred, and both the prince of Hesse and the earl of Peterborough led them : the other
body consisted of six hundred, who were to follow these at some distance, and were not to
come above half way up the hill till further order : Stanhope led this body, from whom I
had this account. They drew up with them some small field-pieces and mortars ; they had
taken a great compass, and had marched all night, and were much fatigued by the time that
they had gained the top of the hill ; three hundred of them, being commanded to another
side of the fort, were separated from the rest, and mistaking their way, fell into the hands of
a body of men, sent up from the town to reinforce the garrison in the fort ; before they were
separated, the whole body had attacked the out- works, and carried them ; but while the
prince of Hesse was leading on his men he received a shot in his body, upon which he fell ;
yet he would not be carried off, but continued too long in the place giving orders, and died
in a few hours, much and justly lamented. The governor of the fort, seeing a small body in
possession of the out- works, resolved to sally out upon them, and drew up four hundred men
in order to it ; these would soon have mastered a small and wearied body, disheartened by
so great a loss ; so that if he had followed his resolution all was lost, for all that Stanhope
could have done, was, to receive, and bring off such as could get to him ; but one of those
newly taken, happening to cry out, " O poor prince of Hesse," the governor hearing this,
called for him, and examined him, and when he learned that both the prince of Hesse and
the earl of Peterborough were with that body, he concluded that the whole army was cer-
tainly coming up after them ; and reflecting on that, he thought it was not fit for him to
expose his men, since he believed the body they were to attack would be soon much superior
to him ; so he resolved not to risk a sally, but to keep within and maintain the fort against
them. Thus the earl of Peterborough continued quiet in the out- works, and being rein-
forced with more men, he attacked the fort, but with no great hopes of succeeding : he threw
a few bombs into it, one of these fell happily into the magazine of powder, and blew it up :
by this the governor and some of the best officers were killed, which struck the rest with
such a consternation, that they delivered up the place. This success gave them great hopes,
the town lying just under the hill, which the fort stood on; upon this the party in Barce-
OF QUEEN ANNE. 777
lona, that was well affected to king Charles, began to take heart, and to show themselves ;
and after a few days' siege, another happy bomb fell with so good an effect, that the garrison
was forced to capitulate.
King Charles was received into Barcelona with great expressions of joy : in the first trans-
port, they seemed resolved to break through the articles granted to the garrison, and to make
sacrifices of the chief officers at least. Upon that the earl of Peterborough, with Stanhope
and other officers, rode about the streets to stop this fury, and to prevail with the people to
maintain their articles religiously ; and in doing this, Stanhope said to me, they ran a greater
hazard, from the shooting and fire that was flying about in that disorder, than they had
during the whole siege : they at last quieted the people, and the articles of capitulation were
punctually observed. Upon this unexpected success, the whole principality of Catalonia
declared for king Charles : I will not prosecute this relation so minutely in other parts
of it, having set down so particularly that which I had from so good a hand, chiefly to set
forth the signal steps of Providence that did appear in this matter.
Soon after, our fleet sailed back to England, and Stanhope was sent over in it, to give a
full relation of this great transaction * : by him king Charles wrote to the queen a long and
clear account of all his affairs ; full of great acknowledgments of her assistance, with a high
commendation of all her subjects, more particularly of the earl of Peterborough ; the queen
was pleased to show me the letter : it was all written in his own hand, and the French of it
was so little correct, that it was not like what a secretary would have drawn for him : so
from that I concluded he penned it himself. The lord treasurer had likewise another long
letter from him, which he showed me ; it was all in his own hand ; one correction seemed to
make it evident that he himself composed it. He wrote towards the end of the letter, that
he must depend on his " protection ;" upon reflection, that word seemed not fit for him to
use to a subject, so it was dashed out, but the letters were still plain, and instead of it,
" application" was written over head : these letters gave a great idea of so young and inex-
perienced a prince, who was able to write with so much clearness, judgment, and force. By
all that is reported of the prince of Lichtenstein, that king could not receive any great
assistance from him ; he was spoken of as a man of a low genius, who thought of nothing but
the ways of enriching himself, even at the hazard of ruining his master's business.
Our affairs at sea were more prosperous this year than they had been formerly ; in the
beginning of the season our cruisers took so many of the French privateers, that we had
some thousands of their seamen in our hands : we kept such a squadron before Brest, that
the French fleet did not think fit to venture out, and their Toulon squadron had suffered so
much in the action of the former years, that they either could not, or would not venture out ;
by this means our navigation was safe, and our trade was prosperous.
The second campaign in Portugal ended worse than the first : Badajos was besieged, and
the earl of Galway hoped he should have been quickly master of it ; but his hopes were not
well grounded, for the siege was raised : in one action the earl of Galway's arm was broken
by a cannon ball : it was cut off, and for some days his life was in great danger ; the mis-
carriage of the design heightening the fever that followed his wound, by the vexation that it
gave him. But now, upon the news from Catalonia, the councils of Portugal were quite
changed ; they had a better prospect than formerly, of the reduction of Spain ; the war was
* James Stanhope, baron and viscount Mahon, and filled, with equal reputation, the offices of first lord of the
earl Stanhope, descended from the earls of Chesterfield, treasury, and chancellor of the exchequer. As a negtv-
was born in Herefordshire during the year 1673. Whilst ciator he was never surpassed, as was acknowledged at
a youth he resided for several years with his father in Paris, Madrid, the Hague, and Berlin, whither and else-
Spain, and acquired a perfect knowledge of its language, where he went, as ambassador and plenipotentiary. His
It is impossible in the compass of a note to follow him own sovereigns highly esteemed him, and the chief con-
through all his services, for England has given birth to tinental monarchs respected and personally valued him.
few who can compete with him in the successful exercise He died' suddenly. While speaking with great animation
of great and various talents. Entering the army, he 'in the house of lords, he was seized with'a giddiness that
became, in 170A, a brigadier-general. His military ser- was the prelude of death, which supervened the following
vices are associated with the histories of Namur, Cadiz, day, February the 5th, 1721. When George the First
Rodedello, Barcelona, Minorca, and Madrid. In the senate, received this mournful announcement he burst into tears,
whether as a commoner, or peer, he greatly distin- and retired for some hours into his closet. His funeral
guished himself. On the accession of George the First, was accompanied with the greatest honours. — British
he was appointed secretary of state; and, in 1716, Peerage ; Noble's Contin. of Grainger.
778 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
now divided, which lay wholly upon them before ; and the French party in that court hrd
no more the old pretence to excuse their councils by, which was, that it was not fit for
them to engage themselves too deep in that war, nor to provoke the Spaniards too much, and
so expose themselves to revenges, if the allies should despair and grow weary of the war,
and recall their troops and fleets. But now that they saw the war carried on so far, in the
remotest corner of Spain, which must give a great diversion to king Philip's forces, it
seemed a much safer, as well as it was an easier thing to carry on the war, with more
vigour for the future. Upon this, all possible assurances were given the earl of Galway,
that things should be conducted hereafter fully to his content. So that by two of his dis-
patches, which the lord treasurer showed me, it appeared that he was then fully convinced
of the sincerity of their intentions, of which he was in great doubt, or rather despairing
formerly.
In Hungary matters went on very doubtfully ; Transylvania was almost entirely reduced ;
Ragotzi had great misfortunes there, as the court of Vienna published the progress of the
new emperor's arms, but this was not to be much depended on ; they could not conceal on
the other hand the great ravages that the malcontents made in other places : so that Hungary
continued to be a scene of confusion and plunder.
Poland was no better : king Augustus's party continued firm to him, though his long stay
in Saxony gave credit to a report spread about, that he was resolved to abandon that king-
dom, and to return to it no more ; this summer passed over in motions, and actions of no
great consequence ; what was gained in one place was lost in another. Stanislaus got him-
self to be crowned : the old cardinal, though summoned to Rome, would not go thither ; he
suffered himself to be forced to own Stanislaus, but died before his coronation, and that cere-
mony was performed by the bishop of Cujavia : the Muscovites made as great ravages in
Lithuania, as they had done formerly in Livonia : the king of Sweden was in perpetual
motion ; but though he endeavoured it much, he could not bring things to a decisive
action. In the beginning of winter, king Augustus, with two persons only, broke through
Poland in disguise, and got to the Muscovite army, which was put under his command
The campaign went on all the winter season, which, considering the extreme cold in those
parts, was thought a thing impracticable before. In the spring after, Reinschihl, a Swedish
general, fell upon the Saxon army, that was far superior to his in number : he had not above
ten thousand men, and the Saxons were about eighteen thousand : he gave .them a total
defeat, killed about seven thousand, and took eight thousand prisoners, and their camp, bag-
gage, and artillery : numbers upon such occasions are often swelled, but it is certain this was
an entire victory ; the Swedes gave it out, that they had not lost a thousand men in the
action ; and yet even this great advantage was not likely to put an end to the war, nor to
the distractions into which that miserable kingdom was cast. In it the world saw the mis-
chiefs of an elective government, especially when the electors have lost their virtue, and set
themselves to sale. The king of Sweden continued rn an obstinate aversion to all terms of
peace ; his temper, his courage, and his military conduct were much commended ; only all
said he grew too savage, and was so positive and peremptory in his resolutions, that no appli-
cations could soften him ; he would scarcely admit them to be made ; he was said to be
devout almost to enthusiasm, and he was severely engaged in the Lutheran rigidity, almost
equally against papists and calvinists : only his education was so much neglected, that he
had not an equal measure of knowledge to direct his zeal.
This is such a general view of the state of Europe this summer, as may serve to show how
things went on in every part of it. I now return to England. The election of the mem-
bers of the house of commons was managed with zeal and industry on both sides : the clergy*
took great pains to infuse into all people, tragical apprehensions of the danger the church was
in : the universities were inflamed with this, and they took all means to sprea-d it over the
nation with much vehemence : the danger the church of England was in, grew to be as the
word given in an army ; men were known as they answered it : none carried this higher
than the Jacobites, though they had made a schism in the church : at last, even the papists,
both at home and abroad, seemed to be disturbed, with the fears that the danger our church
was in, put them under; and this was supported by the Paris Gazette, though the party
OF QUEEN ANNE.
770
seemed concerned and ashamed of that. Books were written and dispersed over the nation
with great industry, to possess all people with the apprehensions that the church was to be
given up, that the bishops were betraying it, and that the court would sell it to the dissenters.
They also hoped that this campaign, proving less prosperous than had been expected, might
put the nation into ill humour, which might furnish them with some advantages. In oppo-
sition to all this, the court acted with such caution and coldness, that the whigs had very
little strength given them by the ministers, in managing elections : they seemed rather to
look on as indifferent spectators, but the whigs exerted themselves with great activity and
zeal. The dissenters, who had been formerly much divided, were now united, entirely in tht.
interests of the government, and joined with the whigs every where.
When the elections were all over, the court took more heart ; for it appeared, that they
were sure of a great majority, and the lord Godolphin declared himself more openly than he
had done formerly in favour of the whigs : the first instance given of this, was the dismiss-
ing of Wright, who had continued so long lord-keeper, that he was fallen under a high
degree of contempt with all sides ; even the tories, though he was wholly theirs, despising
him : he was sordidly covetous, and did not at all live suitably to that high post : he became
extremely rich, yet I never heard him charged with bribery in his court, but there was a foul
rumour, with relation to the livings of the crown, that were given by the great seal, as if
they were set to sale, by the officers under him.
The seals being sent for, they were given to Cowper, a gentleman of a good family, of
excellent parts, and of an engaging deportment, very eminent in his profession, and who had
for many years been considered as the man who spoke the best of any in the house of com-
mons : he was a very acceptable man to the whig party : they had been much disgusted
with the lord treasurer for the coldness he expressed, as if he would have maintained a
neutrality between the two parties ; though the one supported him, while the other designed
to ruin him : but this step went a great way towards the reconciling the whigs to him *.
- * William Cowper, viscount Fordwich, earl Cowper,
vas a native of Hertfordshire, and supposed to have been
born at Hertford Castle ; but neither in the registers of its
churches, nor in the church where he was buried, is there
any testimonial of his merits, or a record of his age.
There is in Hertingfordbury church a splendid mausoleum
for the Cowper family, and inscriptions to the memory
of some of its members ; but of lord chancellor Cowper,
the most talented, and most honoured of the race, there
is not a tributary line. He, and his brother Spencer,
devoted themselves to the law ; the latter was left behind
by his senior in the race for honourable distinction, yet
did not die unpromoted, for at his decease he was a justice
of the common pleas. The future lord chancellor soon
became distinguished for legal acquirements, for not long
after his admission to the bar, he was elected recorder of
Colchester. Our law records show how extensively he
was employed as an advocate^ and how much he merited
this success. His superior qualifications and his consistent
conduct as one of the whig party, gained him the seals, as
mentioned above. The duchess of Marlborough claims
credit for his promotion. She says, " I prevailed with
her majesty to take the great seal from sir -Nathan Wright,
a man despised by all parties, of no use to the crown, and
whose weak and wretched conduct in the court of chancery
had almost brought the office into contempt. His removal,
however, was a great loss to the church, for which he had
ever been a warm stickler ; and this loss was more sen-
sibly felt, as his successor, my lord Cowper, was not only
of the whig party, but of such abilities and integrity, as
brought a new credit to it in the countcy.'' (Account of
the Conduct of the Duchess of Mai Iborough.) Mrs. Masham
having superseded the duchess in the favour of Queen Anne,
by her intrigues, aided by Mr. Harley, and others of the
tory party, the whigs were removed from office, and lord
Cowper, notwithstanding the solicitation of the queen,
refused to retain the chancellorship connected with those
from whom he totally differed in politics. On the acces-
sion of George the First, he again was placed upon the
woolsack, but finally resigned office in 1718. He died in
1723. To Swift he was opposed in politics, therefore by
him his lordship was virulently abused. In numbers
18, 23, and 27 of " The Examiner" the dean attacks
him by the name of " Will Bigamy," alluding to a charge
that was made against his lordship of having had a ficti-
tious marriage with one lady, and then being legally united
to another. The truth, or falsehood of this charge, is not
certain. It may, perhaps, be admitted, that his abilities
were not of the highest cast, but the intrinsic value of his
character was sustained by the unimpeachable integrity he
possessed. This may be instanced by the objection which
he had to the easy enactment of private bills, and the
consequent fees he received ; and to the new year's gifts,
that it had become customary for the lord chancellors to
receive. As an orator at the bar, and in the senate, he
was generally admired ; yet his contemporary, lord Ches-
terfield, says, " his strength lay by no means in his reason-
ing, for he often ha/arded very weak ones. But such was
the purity and elegance of his style, that he never spoke
without universal applause. The ears and the eyes gave
him up the hearts and the understanding of the audience."
To elegance of style, and harmony of voice, he added tho
most graceful and urbane manners. This appeared very
eminently when he sat as chief judge at the trial of the
earl of Oxford and other noblemen. It was so character-
istic, that Pope, in detailing a complimentary dialogue
between two sergeants -at-law, puts into their mouths these
words : —
" 'Twas, sir, your law ;" and, " Sir, your eloquence,"
" Your's, Cowper's manner," and " Your's Talbot's sense.'*
One anecdote illustrative of his benevolent manner must
not be omitted. In 1705, Richard Cromwell, the ex-
protector, lost his only son, unmarried. By this, Richard
780 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
A session of parliament met this summer in Scotland : there was a change made in the
ministry there : those who were employed in the former session could not undertake to carry
a majority ; so all the duke of Queensbury's friends were again brought into employment.
The duke of Argyle's instructions were, that he should endeavour to procure an act, settling
the succession as it was in England, or to set on foot a treaty for the union of the two king-
doms : when he came to Scotland, and laid his instructions before the rest of the ministers
there, the marquis of Annandale pressed that they should first try that which was first named
in the instructions, and he seemed confident that if all who were in employments would con-
cur in it, they should be able to carry it. Those of another mind, who were in their hearts
for the pretended prince of Wales, put this by with great zeal ; they said they must not
begin with that which would meet with great opposition, and be perhaps rejected ; that would
beget such an union of parties, that if they miscarried in the one, they would not be able to
carry the other ; therefore they thought that the first proposition should be for the union ;
that was popular, and seemed to be a remote thing ; so there would be no great opposition
made to a general act about it. Those who intended still to oppose it, would reckon they
would find matter enough in the particulars to raise a great opposition, and so to defeat it.
This course was agreed on, at which the marquis of Annandale was so highly offended, that
he concurred no more in the councils of those who gave the other advice. Some did sin-
cerely desire the union, as that which would render the whole island happy ; others were in
their hearts against it ; they thought it was a plausible step, which they believed would run,
by a long treaty, into a course of some years ; that during that time they would be con-
tinued in their employments, and they seemed to think it was impossible so to adjust all
matters as to frame such a treaty as would pass in the parliaments of both kingdoms. The
Jacobites concurred all heartily in this ; it kept the settling the succession at a distance, and
very few looked on the motion for the union as any thing but a pretence, to keep matters
yet longer in suspense ; so this being proposed in parliament, it was soon and readily agreed
to, with little or no opposition. But that being over, complaints were made of the acts
passed, in the parliament of England ; which carried such an appearance of threatening,
that many thought it became them not to enter on a treaty till these should be repealed.
It was carried, but not without difficulty, that no clause relating to that should be in the
act that empowered the queen to name the commissioners ; but that an address should be
made to the queen, praying her that no proceedings should be made in the treaty till the act
that declared the Scotch aliens by such a day, should be repealed : they also voted, that none
of that nation should enter upon any such treaty till that were first done. This was popular,
and no opposition was made to it ; but those who had ill intentions hoped that all would
be defeated by it. The session run out into a great length, and in the harvest-time, which
put the country to a great charge.
In Ireland, the new heat among the protestants there, raised in the earl of Rochester's
time, and connived at, if not encouraged by the duke of Ormond, went on still : a body of
hot clergymen sent from England, began to form meetings in Dublin, and to have emissaries
and a correspondence over Ireland, on design to raise the same fury in the clergy of that
kingdom against the dissenters that they had raised here in England : whether this was only
the effect of an unthinking and ill-governed heat among them, or if it was set on by foreign
practices, was not yet visible. It did certainly serve their ends, so that it was not
to be doubted that they were not wanting in their endeavours to keep it up, and to
promote it, whether they were the original contrivers of it, or not ; for indeed hot men,
became entitled to a life estate in the manor of Hurstley, he had refreshments, and when in court he allowed him to
uear Winchester. He sent his youngest daughter to take be seated and covered. One of the opponent counsel ob-
possession of the estate, but instead of surrendering it to jecting to this was immediately stopped by the chancellor,
her father, she and her sisters endeavoured to retain it, who eventually decreed in his favour. The chancellor's
pleading that he was superannuated, and that they would conduct was approved by queen Anne. Mr. Bulstrode
allow him an annuity. Richard's advanced age did not Whitelocke being in court, observed, " This day so many
prevent him behaving with becoming spirit. He pro- years ago, I saw my father carry the great seal before that
ceeded against his rebellious children, and having to appear man (Cromwellj through Westminster Hall." — Biog.
in court, his sister, lady Fauconberg, sent him thither in Britannica by Kippis ; Miss Hawkins's Memoirs ; Noble'i
her coach. Lord Cowper, remembering Cromwell's Contin. of Grainger,
former elevation, conducted him into an apartment whero
OF QUEEN ANNE. 781
not practised in affairs, are apt enough of their own accord to run into >vild and unreasonable
extravagances.
The parliament of England met in the end of October : the first struggle was about the
choice of a speaker, by which a judgment was to be made of the temper and inclinations of
the members. The court declared for Mr. Smith ; he was a man of clear parts, and of a
good expression : he was then in no employment, but he had gone through great posts in
the former reign, with reputation and honour. He had been a commissioner of the treasury,
and chancellor of the exchequer : he had, from his first setting out into the world, been
thoroughly in the principles and interests of the whigs, yet with a due temper in all personal
things, with relation to the tories ; but they all declared against him for Mr. Bromley, a man
of a grave deportment, and good morals, but looked on as a violent tory, and as a great
favourer of Jacobites ; which appeared evidently in a relation he printed of his travels *.
No matter of that sort had ever been carried with such heat on both sides as this was :
so that it was just to form a judgment upon it of the temper of the house, it went for
Mr. Smith by a majority of four-and-forty.
The queen, after she had confirmed this choice, made a speech, in which she recommended
union to them, in a very particular manner : she complained of the reports that were spread
by ill-designing men, of the danger the church was in, who under these insinuations covered
that which they durst not own f . She recommended the care of the public supplies to the
commons, and spoke of the duke of Savoy in high and very obliging terms. This produced
addresses frqm both houses, in which they expressed a detestation of those practices of
infusing into her subjects groundless fears concerning the church : this went easily, for some
kept out of the way, from whom it was expected that they would afterwards open more
copiously on the subject. The chairmen of the several committees of the house of commons,
were men of whom the court was well assured.
The first matter with which they commonly begin is to receive petitions against the mem-
bers returned, so that gave a further discovery of the inclinations of the majority: the cor-
ruption of the nation was grown to such a height, and there was so much foul practice on
all hands, that there was, no doubt, great cause of complaint. The first election that was
judged was that of St. Albans, where the duchess of Marlborough had a house : she recom-
mended admiral Killigrew to those in the town, which was done all England over, by per-
sons of quality, who had any interest in the burghers ; yet though much foul practice was
proved on the other hand, and there was not the least colour of evidence to fix any ill prac-
tice on her, some reflected very indecently upon her : Bromley compared her to Alice Piers,
in king Edward the Third's time, and said many other virulent things against her; for
indeed she was looked upon by the whole party, as the person who had reconciled the whigs
to the queen, from whom she was naturally very averse. Most of the controverted elections
were carried in favour of the whigs : in some few they failed, more by reason of private
animosities, than by the strength of the other side. The house of commons came readily in
to vote all the supplies that were asked, and went on to provide proper funds for them.
The most important debates that were in this session began in the house of lords ; the
queen being present at them all. The lord Haversham opened the motions of the tory side ;
he arraigned the duke of Maryborough's conduct, both on the Moselle and in Brabant, and
reflected severely on the Dutch, which he carried so far as to say, that the war cost them
nothing ; and after he had wandered long in a rambling discourse, he came at last to the
point which was laid to be the debate of the day : he said we had declared a successor to the
crown, who was at a great distance from us ; while the pretender was much nearer ; and
Scotland was armed and ready to receive him ; and seemed resolved not to have the same
* The right honourable William Bromley appears to raised to the chair without opposition. He died in 1732.
j nave been the son of sir William Bromley, knight of the His " Travels," published when he was a young man,
Buth, resident at Baggington, in Warwickshire. Wealthy rendered him -distinguished for his Jacobinical opinions. —
and highly estimable in private life, he had great interest Noble's Contin. of Grainger.
with the party he supported. He represented the univer- f The debate upon this part of the queen's speech, \vai
«ity of Oxford in parliament from 1701 until 1727. very animated in the house of lords See Chandler's De-
Though he failed obtaining the speakership as mentioned bates, ii. 154 ; where Burnet's and other peers' speeches
above, yet when the ministry was changed, in 1710, he was are given.
782 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
successor, for whom England had declared ; these were threatening dangers that hung over
us, and might be near us. He concluded, that he did not see how they could be prevented,
and the nation made safe, by any other way, but by inviting the next successor to come arid
live amono- us. The duke of Buckingham, the earls of Rochester, Nottingham, and Angle-
sey carried on the debate, with great earnestness : it was urged, that they had sworn to
maintain the succession, and by that they were bound to insist on this motion, since there
was no means so sure to maintain it, as to have the successor upon the spot ready to assume
and maintain his right : it appeared, through our whole history, that whosoever came first
into England had always carried it : the pretending successor might be in England within
three days, whereas it might be three weeks before the declared successor could come : from
thence it was inferred that the danger was apparent and dreadful, if the successor should not
be brought over : if king Charles had been in Spain when the late king died, probably that
would have prevented all this war, in which we were now engaged *. With these lords, by
a strange reverse, all the tories joined ; and by another, and as strange a reverse, all the
whigs joined in opposing it. They thought this matter was to be left wholly to the queen;
that it was neither proper nor safe either for the crown, or for the nation, that the heir
should not be in an entire dependence on the queen ; a rivalry between two courts might
throw us into great distractions, and be attended with very ill consequences : the next suc-
cessor had expressed a full satisfaction, and rested on the assurances the queen had given her,
of her firm adherence to her title, and to the maintaining of it : the nation was prepared for
it by the orders the queen had given to name her in the daily prayers of the church : great
endeavours had been used to bring the Scotch nation to declare the same successor. It was
true, we still wanted one great security, we had not yet made any provision for carrying on
the government, for maintaining the public quiet^ for proclaiming and sending for the suc-
cessor, and for keeping things in order till the successor should come : it seemed therefore
necessary, to make an effectual provision against the disorders that might happen in such an
interval. This was proposed first by myself, and it was seconded by the lord Godolphin,
and all the whigs went into it ; and so the question was put upon tho other motion, as first
made, by a previous division, whether that should be put, or not, and was carried in the
negative by about three to one.
The queen heard the debate, and seemed amazed at the behaviour of some, who, when
they had credit with her, and apprehended that such a motion might be made by the whigs,
had possessed her with deep prejudices against it ; for they made her apprehend, that when
the next successor should be brought over, she herself would be so eclipsed by it, that she
would be much in the successor s power, and reign only at her, or his, courtesy : yet these
very persons, having now lost their interest in her, and their posts, were driving on that very
motion which they had made her apprehend was the most fatal thing that could befall.
This the duchess of Maryborough told me, but she named no person ; and upon it a very
black suspicion was taken up, by some, that the proposers of this matter knew, or at least
believed, that the queen would not agree to the motion, which way soever it might be
brought to her ; whether in an address, or in a bill ; and then they might reckon, that this
would give such a jealousy, and create such a misunderstanding between her and the parlia-
ment, or rather the whole nation, as would unsettle her whole government, and put all things
in disorder. But this was only a suspicion, and more cannot be made of it.
The lords were now engaged to go on in the debate for a regency ; it was opened by the
lord Wharton in a manner that charmed the whole house •(• : he had not been present at the
former debate, but he said he was much delighted with what he had heard concerning it;
* The speech of lord Haversham is given in Chand- religion — for to him nothing would be more appalling than
Ljr's Debates, House of Lords, ii. 148.- to be convinced of its truth. William employed him, but
f Thomas, marquis of Wharton, is described by those would never make him prime minister. Anne advanced
who knew him, as perfectly a gentleman in his manners, him, but could not trust him. George the First made him
of superior mental capacity, and highly courageous ; but lord privy seal. He died, aged sixty-six, in the year 1715.
he was the greatest libertine of his time. He gloried in He is believed to have written the ballad of " Lilli-
being vicious; he was a slave to women, wine, and every bullero." — Birch's Lives; Mackay's Characters ; Noble's
excess. To support the consequent expense, no bribery Contin. of Grainger.
was too barefaced. Such a man necessarily scoffed at
OF QUEEN ANNE. 783
he said, he had ever looked on the securing a protestant succession to the crown as that
which secured all our happiness : he had heard the queen recommend, from the throne, union
and agreement to all her subjects, with a great emotion in his own mind ; it was now evident
there was a divinity about her when she spoke ; the cause was certainly supernatural, for
•\ve saw the miracle that wras wrought by it ; now all were for the protestant succession ; it
had not been always so : he rejoiced in their conversion, and confessed it was a miracle : he
would not, he could not, he ought not to suspect the sincerity of those who moved for
inviting the next successor over ; yet he could not hinder himself from remembering what
had passed, in a course of many years ; and how men had argued, voted and protested all
that while. This confirmed his opinion that a miracle was now wrought, and that might
oblige some to show their change, by an excess of zeal, which he could not but commend,
though he did not fully agree to it. After this preamble he opened the proposition for the
regency, in all the branches of it ; that regents should be empowered to act, in the name of
the successor, till he should send over orders ; that besides those, whom the parliament
should name, the next successor should send over a nomination sealed up, and to be opened,
when that accident should happen, of persons who should act in the same capacity with
those who should be named by parliament ; so the motion being thus digested, was agreed
to by all the whigs, and a bill was ordered to be brought in, pursuant to these propositions.
But upon the debate on the heads of the bill, it did appear that the conversion, which the
lord Wharton had so pleasantly magnified, was not so entire as he seemed to suppose : there
was some cause given to doubt of the miracle ; for when a security, that was real and
visible, was thus offered, those who made the other motion, flew off from it. They pre-
tended, that it was because they could not go off from their first motion ; but they were
told, that the immediate successor might indeed, during her life, continue in England, yet it
was not to be supposed that her son, the elector, could be always absent from his OWTII domi-
nions, and throw off all care of them, and of the concerns of the empire, in which he bore so
great a share. If he should go over for ever so short a time, the accident might happen, in
which it was certainly necessary to provide such an expedient as was now offered. This
laid them open to much censure, but men engaged in parties are not easily put out of coun-
tenance. It was resolved that the regents should be seven and no more ; and they were
fixed by the posts they were in : the archbishop of Canterbury, the lord keeper, the lord
treasurer, lord president, lord privy seal, lord high admiral, and the lord chief justice for
the time being, were named for that high trust. The tories struggled hard, that the lord
treasurer should not be one, only to show their spite to the lord Godolphin, but the motion
was rejected with scorn ; for it seemed ridiculous, in a time, when there might be much
occasion for money, to exclude an officer from that high trust, who alone could furnish them
with it, or direct them how to be furnished. The tories moved, that the lord mayor of
London should be one, but that was likewise rejected ; for the design of the act was, that
the government should be carried on by those who should be at that time in the conduct and
secret of affairs, and were persons nominated by the queen ; whereas the lord mayor was
chosen by the city, and had no practice in business. These regents were required to pro-
claim the next successor, and to give orders for the like proclamation over England and Ire-
land : the next successor might send a triplicate of the persons, named by her or him ; one
of these was to be deposited with the archbishop of Canterbury, another with the lord
keeper, and a third with his own minister, residing at this court ; upon the producing whereof,
the persons nominated were to join with the regents, and to act in equality with them ; the
last parliament, even though dissolved, was to be presently brought together, and empowered
to continue sitting for six months ; and thus things were to be kept in order till the successor
should either come in person, or send over his orders.
The tories made some opposition to every branch of the act, but in that of the parliament's
sitting the opposition was more remarkable. The earl of Rochester moved that the parlia-
ment and the regents should be limited, to pass no act of repeal of any part of the act of
uniformity, and, in his positive way, said, if this was not agreed to, he should still think tho
church was in danger, notwithstanding what they had heard from the throne in the begin-
ning of the session. It was objected to this, that if the regal power was in the regents, and if
7B4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the parliament was likewise a legal one, then, by the constitution, the whole legislature was
in them, and that could not be limited : for they could repeal any law that limited them.
But the judges were of opinion that the power of regents might be limited. So that, as the
design of moving this might be to have a new colour to possess the clergy that there was a
secret design against the church, which might break out at such a time, the lords gave way
to it, though they thought it unreasonable, and proposed with no good design. The tories,
upon the yielding this to them, proposed a great many more limitations ; such as the
restraining the regents from consenting to a repeal of the act for triennial parliaments, the
acts for trials in cases of treason, and some others : and so extravagant were they in
their design of making the act appear ridiculous, that they proposed as a limitation that
they should not have power to repeal the acts of succession. All these were rejected with
scorn and indignation ; the lords seeing by this their error in yielding to that proposed
by the earl of Rochester. The bill passed in the house of lords, but the tories protested
against it.
I never knew any thing in the management of the tories by which they suffered more in
their reputation than by this. They hoped that the motion for the invitation would have
cleared them of all suspicions of inclinations towards the pretended prince of Wales, and
would have reconciled the body of the nation to them, and turned them against all who
should oppose it ; but the progress of the matter produced a contrary effect. The manage-
ment was so ill disguised, that it was visible they intended only to provoke the queen by it,
hoping that the provocation might go so far, that in the sequel all their designs might be
brought about, though by a method that seemed quite contrary to them, and destructive
of them.
The bill lay long in the house of commons, by a secret management that was against it.
The tories there likewise proposed that the next successor should be brought over, which
was opposed by the whigs, not by any vote against it, but by resolving -to go through the
lords' bill first. The secret management was from Hanover. Some indigent persons, and
others employed by the tories, had studied to infuse jealousies of the queen and her ministers
into the old electoress. She was then seventy-five, but had still so much vivacity, that, as
she was the most knowing and the most entertaining woman of the age, so she seemed
willing to change her scene, and to come and shine among us here in England *. They pre-
vailed with her to write a letter to the archbishop of Canterbury, intimating her readiness
to come over, if the queen and parliament should desire it. This was made public by the
intriguing persons in that court : and a colour was soon found to keep some whigs from
agreeing to the actf . In the act that first settled the succession, one limitation (as was told
in its proper place) had been, that when the crown should pass into that house, no man who
had either place or pension should be capable of sitting in the house of commons. The clause
in this bill, that empowered either the parliament that should be current at the queen's
death, or that which had sat last (though dissolved), to sit for six months, or till the suc-
cessor should dissolve it, seemed contrary to this incapacitating clause in the former act.
Great exceptions were taken to this by some zealous whigs, who were so possessed with the
notion of a self-denying bill, as necessary to preserve public liberty from the practices of a
designing court, that for some weeks there was cause to fear not only the loss of the bill, but
a breach among the whigs upon this head. Much pains were taken, and with very good
effect, to heal this. It was at last settled : a great many offices were enumerated, and it
* Sophia Hediwischia was the youngest of the twelve German, French, and Italian, and was a proficient in
children of Frederic, elector palatine, titular king of Latin. She was as great a worker with her needle as her
Bohemia, and Elizabeth, the only sister of Charles the contemporary, our queen Mary. These pureuits did not
First. She was born at the Hague in 1630, and married injure her health, for she constantly used the exercise of
Ernest Augustus, duke of Hanover, in 1R58. The agi- walking: age had not marked her with wrinkles, nor
tation of her mind, at the time of which Burnet treats in deprived her of teeth. — Noble's Contin. of Grainger,
the above page, is supposed to have hastened her death. f A pamphlet, recommending the visit to England of
She died suddenly in the gardens of Haurenhausen, in the electoress, was published,- entitled, "A Letter from
1714. Oueen Anne only survived her fifty-three days. Sir Rowland Gwynn to the eat'l of Stamford." The corn-
Sophia's long life was spotless. She had as many virtues, mons voted it seditious, &c. See Chandler's Debates of
and confessedly more accomplishments, than any of the H. of Commons, iii. 456.
princesses her contemporaries. She spoke Low Dutch,
OF QUEEN ANNE 785
was declared that every man who held any of these, was thereby incapacitated from sitting
in the house of commons ; and every member of the house, who did accept of any other
onioo, was upon that excluded the house, and a new writ was to go out to those whom he
represented to choose again : but it wTas left free to them to choose him or any other, as they
pleased. It was desired by those who pressed this matter most, that it should take place
only in the next reign ; but, to remove all jealousy, the ministers were content that these
clauses should take place immediately upon the dissolution of the present parliament. And
when the house of commons sent up these self-denying clauses to the lords, they added to
them a repeal of that clause, in the first act of succession, by which the succeeding princes
were limited to govern by the advice of their council, and by which all the privy coun-
sellors were to be obliged to sign their advices; which was impracticable, since it was
visible that no man would be a privy counsellor on those terms. The lords added the repeal
of this clause to the amendments sent up by the commons, and the commons readily agreed
to it.
After this act had passed, the lord Halifax, remembering what the earl of Rochester had
said concerning the danger the church might be in, moved that a day might be appointed to
enquire into those dangers, about which so many tragical stories had been published of late.
A day was appointed for this, and we were all made believe that wre should hear many
frightful things ; but our expectations were not answered. Some spoke of danger from the
presbytery that was settled in Scotland : some spoke of the absence of the next successor :
some reflected on the occasional bill that was rejected in that house : some complained
of the schools of the dissenters : and others reflected on the principles that many had drank
in, that were different from those formerly received, and that seemed destructive of the
church.
In opposition to all this, it was said that the church was safer now than ever it had been.
At the revolution, provision was made that our king must be of the reformed religion, nor
was this all ; in the late act of succession it was enacted, that he should be of the communion
of the church of England. It was not reasonable to object to the house the rejecting a bill
which was done by the majority, of whom it became not the lesser number to complain.
We had all our former laws left to us, not only entire, but fortified by late additions and
explanations ; so that we were safer in all these than we had been at any time formerly.
The dissenters gained no new strength, they were visibly decreasing ; the toleration had
softened their tempers, and they concurred zealously in serving all the ends of the govern-
ment : nor was there any particular complaint brought against them : they seemed quiet
and content with their toleration, if they could be but secure of enjoying it. The queen
was taking the most effectual means possible to deliver the clergy from the depression of
poverty, that brought them under much contempt, and denied them the necessary means and
helps of study. The bishops looked after their dioceses with a care that had not been known
in the memory of man. Great sums wrere yearly raised by their care and zeal, for serving
the plantations, better than had ever yet been done. A spirit of zeal and piety appeared in
our churches, and at sacrament, beyond the example of former times. In one respect it was
acknowledged the church was in danger : there was an evil spirit and a virulent temper
spread among the clergy : there were many indecent sermons preached on public occasions,
and those hot clergymen, who were not the most regular in their lives, had raised factions
in many dioceses against their bishops. These were dangers created by those very men who
filled the nation with this outcry against imaginary ones, while their own conduct produced
real and threatening dangers. Many severe reflections were thrown out on both sides in the
progress of this debate.
It ended in a vote, carried by a great majority, that the church of England, under the
queen's happy administration, was in a safe and flourishing condition ; and to this a severe
censure was added on the spreaders of these reports of dangers, that they were the enemies
of the queen and of her government. They also resolved to make an address to the queen,
in which, after this was set forth, they prayed her to order a prosecution, according to law,
of all who should be found guilty of this offence. They sent this down to the house of com-
mons, where the debate was brought over again, but it was run down with great force.
3 E
786 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
The commons agreed with the lords, and both houses went together to the queen with this
address. Such a concurrence of both houses had not been seen for some years. And indeed
there was in both so great a majority for carrying on all the interests of the government, that
the men of ill intentions had no hopes, during the whole session, of embroiling matters, but
in the debates concerning the self-denying clause above-mentioned.
But though the main designs and hopes of the party had thus not only failed them, but
turned against them, yet they resolved to make another attempt : it was on the duke of
Maryborough, though they spoke of him with great respect. They complained of the errors
committed this year in the conduct of the war. They indeed laid the blame of the miscar-
riage of the design on the Moselle on the prince of Baden, and the errors committed in
Brabant on the States and their deputies : but they said they could not judge of these
things, nor be able to lay before the queen those advices that might be fit for them to
offer to her, unless they were made acquainted with the whole series of those affairs : there-
fore they proposed, that by an address they might pray the queen to communicate to them
all that she knew concerning those transactions during the last campaign ; for they reckoned
that, if all particulars should be laid before them, they would find somewhat in the duke of
Marlborough's conduct, on which a censure might be fixed. To this it was answered, that
if any complaint was brought against any of the queen's subjects, it would be reasonable for
them to enquire into it, by all proper ways : but the house of lords could not pretend to
examine, or to censure, the conduct of the queen's allies : they were not subject to them, nor
could they be heard to justify themselves : and it was somewhat extraordinary, if they should
pass a censure, or make a complaint, of them. It was one of the trusts that was lodged
with the government, to manage all treaties and alliances ; so that our commerce with our
allies was wholly in the crown : allies might sometimes fail, being not able to perform what
they undertook : they are subject both to errors and to accidents, and are sometimes ill-
served : the entering into that matter was not at all proper for the house, unless it was
intended to run into rash and indiscreet censures, on design to provoke the allies, and by that
means to weaken, if not break, the alliance. The queen would no doubt endeavour to redress
whatsoever was amiss, and that must be trusted to her conduct.
So this attempt not only failed, but it happened upon this, as upon other occasions, that
it was turned against those who made it. An address was made to the queen, praying her
to go on in her alliances, and in particular to cultivate a perfect union and correspondence
with the states of the United Provinces. This had a very good effect in Holland, for the
agents of France were at the same time both spreading reports among us that the Dutch
were inclined to a peace ; and among them, that the English had very unkind thoughts of
them. The design was to alienate us from one another, that so both might be thereby
the better disposed to hearken to a project of peace ; which, in the state in which matters
were at that time, was the most destructive thing that could be thought on. And all
motions that looked that way gave very evident discoveries of the bad intentions of those
who made them.
The next business of a public nature that came before the parliament was carried very
unanimously. The queen laid before the two houses the addresses of the Scotch parliament
against any progress in the treaty of union, till the act, which declared them aliens by such
a day, should be repealed. The tories upon this occasion, to make themselves popular, after
they had failed in many attempts, resolved to promote this ; apprehending that the whigs,
who had first moved for that act, would be for maintaining their own work : but they
seemed to be much surprised, when, after they had prefaced their motions in this matter,
with such declarations of their intentions for the public good, that showed they expected
opposition and a debate, the whigs not only agreed to this, but carried the motion further,
to the other act relating to their manufacture and trade. This passed very unanimously in
both houses ; and, by this means, way was made for opening a treaty, as soon as the session
should come to an end. All the northern parts of England, which had been disturbed for
some years with apprehensions of a war with 'Scotland, that would certainly be mischievous
to them, whatsoever the end of it might prove, were much delighted with the prospect of
peace and union with their neighbours.
OF QUEEN ANNE 737
These were the most important debates during this session ; at all which the queen was
present : she stayed all the while, and hearkened to every thing with great attention. The
debates were managed on the one side by the lords Godolphin, Wharton, Somers, Halifax,
Sunderland, and Townshend* : on the other side, by the duke of Buckingham and the lords
Rochester, Nottingham, Anglesey, Guernsey, and Haversham. There was so much strength
and clearness on the one side, and so much heat and artifice on the other, that nothing but
obstinate partiality could resist so evident a conviction.
The house of commons went on in creating funds for the supplies they had voted for the
next year : and the nation was so well satisfied with the government, and the conduct of
affairs, that a fund being created for two millions and a half, by way of annuities for ninety-
nine years, at six and a half per cent., at the end of which the capital was to sink ; the
whole sum was subscribed in a very few days. At the same time, the duke of Marlborough
proposed the advance of a sum of 500,000/. to the emperor, for the use of prince Eugene and
the service of Italy, upon a branch of the emperor's revenue in Silesia, at eight per cent,
and the capital to be repaid in eight years. The nation did so abound, both in money and
zeal, that this was likewise advanced in a very few days. Our armies, as well as our allies,
were every where punctually paid. The credit of the nation was never raised so high in
any age, nor so sacredly maintained. The treasury was as exact and as regular in all pay-
ments as any private banker could be. It is true, a great deal of money went out of the
kingdom in specie : that which maintained the war in Spain was to be sent thither in that
manner, the way by bills of exchange not being yet opened. Our trade with Spain and the
West Indies, which formerly brought us great returns of money, was now stopped : by this
means there grew to be a sensible want of money over the nation. This was in a great
measure supplied by the currency of exchequer bills and bank notes : and this lay so obvious
to the disaffected party, that they were often attempting to blast, at least to disparage, this
paper credit ; but it was still kept up. It bred a just indignation in all who had a true love
to their country, to see some using all possible methods to shake the administration, which,
notwithstanding the difficulties at home and abroad, was much the best that had been in
the memory of man : and was certainly not only easy to the subjects in general, but gentle
even towards those who were endeavouring to undermine it.
The lord Somers made a motion in the house of lords to correct some of the proceedings
in the common law and in chancery, that were both dilatory and very chargeable. He
began the motion with some instances that were more conspicuous and gross; and he
managed the matter so, that both the lord keeper and judges concurred with him : though
it passes generally for a maxim, that judges ought rather to enlarge than contract their
jurisdiction. A bill passed the house that began a reformation of proceedings at law, which,
as things now stand, are certainly among the greatest grievances of the nation. When this
went through the house of commons, it was visible that the interest of under-officers, clerks,
and attorneys, whose gains were to be lessened by this bill, was more considered than the
interest of the nation itself. Several clauses, how beneficial soever to the subject, which
touched on their profit, were left out by the commons. But what fault soever the lords
* Charles, viscount Townsend, was in early life a tory, became Walpole and Townsend, than things went wrong,
but joined the whig party when he observed that it was and a separation ensued." When lord Townsend was
t he staunchest supporter of the protestant interest. Under solicited again to return to office, he at once replied,
queen Anne, he was lord-lieutenant of Norfolk, captain " No — for I may be hurried away by the impetuosity of
of her yeoman guard, &c. A t the accession of George my temper, and by personal resentment, to adopt a line
'lie First, he was made principal secretary of state. In of conduct, which in my cooler moments I may regret."
1717, he went as lord-lieutenant to Ireland, and three He retired to his seat, Rainham, in Norfolk, and died
yeai-s after became president of the council. George the there suddenly, aged sixty-four, in 1738. He rang the
I Second continued him in the secretary's place. He acted bell, and upon his servant obeying the summons, his lord-
tor many years in conjunction with his brother-in-law, ship was found without any symptom of life. Slow in
i \VVlpole, but they at length quarrelled, and Townsend decision, and perplexed in uttering his opinion, yet his
i retired from office. Of this quarrel, a descendant has judgment was sound and his foresight sagacious. In pri-
> »aid, "It is difficult to trace the causes of a dispute be- vate life, no one was more amiable ; and let it be remem-
uveen statesmen, but I will give you the history of this oered, to his credit, that he opposed the impeachment of
i in a few words. As long as the firm was Townsend and his political rival, the earl of Oxford. — Noble's Coutiru
j Walpole, the utmost harmony prevailed ; but it no sooner Grainger ; Coxe's Life, &c. of sir Robert Walpole.
188 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
might have found with these alterations, yet, to avoid all disputes with the commons, they
agreed to their amendments.
There was another general complaint made of the private acts of parliament, that passed
through both houses too easily, and in so great a number, that it took up a great part of the
session to examine them, even in that cursory way, that was subject to many inconveniences.
The fees that were paid for these to the speakers and clerks of both houses inclined them to
favour and promote them : so the lord Somers proposed such a regulation in that matter, as
will probably have a good effect for the future. The present lord keeper did indeed very
generously obstruct those private bills as much as his predecessor had promoted them. lie
did another thing of a great example : on the first day of the year it was become a custom,
for all those who practised in chancery, to offer a new-year's gift to the lord who had the
great seal : these grew to be so considerable, that they amounted to 1500/. a-year : on this
new-year's day, which was his first, he signified to all who, according to custom, were
expected to come with their presents, that he would receive none, but would break that
custom. He thought it looked like the insinuating themselves into the favour of the court ;
and that if it was not bribery, yet it came too near it, and looked too like it. This con-
tributed not a little to the raising his character. He managed the court of chancery with
impartial justice and great dispatch, and was very useful to the house of lords in the pro-
moting of business.
When the session was near an end, great complaints were made in both houses of the
progress of popery in Lancashire, and of many insolences committed there, both by the laity
and priests of that religion. Upon this, a bill was brought into the house of commons with
clauses that would have rendered the bill passed against papists, in the end of the last reign,
effectual. This alarmed all of that religion; so that they made very powerful (or, to follow
the raillery of that time, very weighty) intercessions with the considerable men of that house.
The court looked on and seemed indifferent in the matter, yet it was given out that so
severe a law would be very unreasonable, when we were in alliance with so many princes of
that religion, and that it must lessen the force of the queen's intercession in favour of the
protestants that lived in the dominions of those princes. The proceeding seemed rigorous, and
not suited to the gentleness that the Christian religion did so particularly recommend, and
was contrary to the maxims of liberty of conscience and toleration, that were then in great
vogue. It was answered that the dependence of those of that religion on a foreign jurisdic*
tion, and at present on a foreign pretender to the crown, put them out of the case of other
subjects who might differ from the established religion ; since there seemed to be good reason
to consider the papists as enemies, rather than as subjects. But the application was made
in so effectual a manner, that the bill was let fall. And though the lords had made some
steps towards such a bill, yet, since they saw what fate it was likely to have in the house
of commons, instead of proceeding farther in it, they dismissed that matter with an address
to the queen, that she would give orders, both to the justices of the peace and to the
clergy, that a return might be made to the next session of parliament of all the papists in
England.
There was another project set on foot at this time by the lord Halifax, for putting the
records and the public offices of the kingdom in better order. He had, in a former session,
moved the lords to send some of their number to view the records in the Tower, which were
m great disorder, and in a visible decay for want of some more officers, and by the neglect
of those we had. These lords, in their report, proposed some regulations for the future, which
have been since followed so effectually, though at a considerable charge, by creating several
new officers, that the nation will reap the benefit of all this very sensibly. But lord Halifax
carried his project much further. The famous library, collected by sir Robert Cotton, and |
continued down in his family, was the greatest collection of manuscripts relating to the j
public, that perhaps any nation in Europe could show. The late owner of it, sir John
Cotton, had, by his will, left it to the public, but in such words, that it was rather shut up,
than made any way useful : and indeed it was to be so carefully preserved, that none could
be the better for it : so that lord moved the house to entreat the queen that she would be
OF QUEEN ANNE. 780
pleased to buy Cotton-house, which stood j»»:it between the two houses of parliament ; so
that some part of that ground would furnish them with many useful rooms, and there would
be enough left for building a noble structure for a library. To which, besides the Cotton
library and the queen's library, the royal society, who had a very good library at Gresham
college, would remove and keep their assemblies there, as soon as it wTas made convenient for
them. This was a great design, which the lord Halifax, who set it first on foot, seemed
resolved to carry on till it were finished. It will set learning again on foot among us, and
be a great honour to the queen's reign *.
Thus this session of parliament came to a very happy conclusion. There was in it the
best harmony within both houses, and between them, as well as with the crown, and it was
the best applauded in the city of London, over the whole nation, and indeed over all Europe,
of any session that I had ever seen. And when it was considered that this was the first of
the three, so that we were to have two other sessions of the same members, it gave an uni-
versal satisfaction, both to our own people at home and our allies abroad, and afforded a
prospect of a happy end, that should be put to this devouring war, which in all probability
must come to a period, before the conclusion of the present parliament. This gave an
unspeakable satisfaction to all who loved their country and their religion, who now hoped
that we had in view a good and a safe peace.
The convocation sat at the same time : it was chosen as the former had been, and the
members that were ill-affected were still prevailed on to come up, and to continue in an
expensive but useless attendance in town. The bishops drew up an address to the queen, in
which, as the two houses of parliament had done, they expressed a just indignation at the
jealousies that had been spread about the nation of the danger of the church. When this
was communicated to the lower house, they refused to join in it, but would give no reason
for their refusal : they drew an address of their own, in which no notice was taken of these
aspersions. The bishops, according to ancient precedents, required them either to agree to
their address, or to offer their objections against it. They would do neither, so the address
was let fall ; and upon that a stop was put to all further communication between the two
houses. The lower house, upon this, went on in their former practice of intermediate
sessions, in which they began to enter upon business, to approve of some books, and to
censure others; and they resolved to proceed upon the same grounds that factious men
among them had before set up, though the falsehood of their pretensions had been evidently
made to appear. The archbishop had prorogued them to the first of March. 'When that
day came, the lower house was surprised with a protestation that was brought to the upper
house by a great part of their body, who, being dissatisfied with the proceedings of the
majority, and having long struggled against them, though in vain, at last drew up a protes*
tation against them. They sent it up and down through the whole province, that they
might get as many hands to it as they could ; but the matter was managed with such
caution, that though it was in many hands, yet it was not known to the other side till they
hoard it was presented to the president of the upper house. In it, all the irregular motions
of the lower house were reckoned up, insisting more particularly on that of holding interme-
diate sessions, against all which they protested, and prayed that their protestation might be
entered in the books of the upper house, that so they might not be involved in the guilt of
the rest. This was signed by above fifty, and the whole body was but a hundred and forty-
five : some were neutral ; so that hereby very near one half broke off from the rest and left
them, and sat no more with them. The lower house was deliberating how to vent their
Indignation against these, when a more sensible mortification followed. The archbishop
sent for them, and, when they came up, he read a letter to them, that was written to him
by the queen, in which she took notice that the differences between the two houses were
still kept up ; she was much concerned to see that they were rather increased than abated :
she was the more surprised at this, because it had been her constant care, as it should con-
tinue always to be, to preserve the constitution of the church as it was by law established,
and to discountenance all divisions and innovations whatsoever : she was resolved to main-
* This proposal did not succeed. The Cotton MSS. &c. are in the British Museum ; the library of the Royal
Society, at Some: set House, The library at the British Museum was opened to the public in 1759.
790 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
tain her supremacy, and the due subordination of presbyters to bishops, as fundamental parts
of it : she expected that the archbishop and bishops would act conformable to this resolu-
tion, and in so doing they should be sure of the continuance of her protection and favour,
which should not be wanting to any of the clergy, as long as they were true to the constitu-
tion, and dutiful to her and their ecclesiastical superiors, and preserved such a temper as
became those who were in holy orders. The archbishop, as he was required to read this to
them, so he was directed to prorogue them for such a time as should appear convenient to
him. They were struck with this, for it had been carried so secretly that it was a surprise
to them all. When they saw they were to be prorogued, they ran very indecently to the
door, and with some difficulty were kept in the room till the prorogation was intimated to
them. They went next to their own house, where,' though prorogued, they sat still in
form, as if they had been a house, but they did not venture on passing any vote. So factious
were they, and so implicitly led by those who had got an ascendant over them, that though
they had formerly submitted the matters in debate to the queen, yet now, when she declared
her pleasure, they would not acquiesce in it.
The session of parliament being now at an end, the preparations for the campaign were
carried on with all possible dispatch. That which was most pressing was first done. Upon
Stanhope's first coming over, in the beginning of January, orders were immediately issued
out for sending over five thousand men, with all necessary stores, to Spain. The orders
were given in very pressing terms, yet so many offices were concerned in the execution, that
many delays were made ; some of these were much censured : at last they sailed in March.
The fleet that had gone into the Mediterranean with king Charles, and was to return
and winter at Lisbon, was detained by westerly winds longer in those seas than had been
expected.
The people of Valencia seemed to hope that they were to winter in those seas, and by this
they were encouraged to declare for king Charles : but they were much exposed to those
who commanded in king Philip's name. All Catalonia had submitted to king Charles
except Roses : garrisons were put in Gironne, Lerida, and Tortosa : and the states of that
principality prepared themselves with great zeal and resolution for the next campaign, which
they had reason to expect would come both early and severely upon them. There was a
breach between the earl of Peterborough and the prince of Lichtenstein, whom he charged
very heavily, in the king's own presence, with corruption and injustice. The matter went
far, and the king blamed the earl of Peterborough, who had not much of a forbearing or
forgiving temper in him. There was no method of communication with England yet settled.
We did not hear from them, nor they from us, in five months ; this put them out of all
hope. Our men wanted every thing, and could be supplied there with nothing. The revolt
in Valencia made it necessary to send such a supply to them from Barcelona as could be
spared from thence. The disgust that was taken made it advisable to send the earl of Peter-
borough thither, and he willingly undertook the service. He marched towards that kingdom
with about fifteen hundred English and a thousand Spaniards : they were all ill equipped
and ill furnished, without artillery, and with very little ammunition : but, as they marched,
all the country either came in to them or fled before them. He got to Valencia without
any opposition, and was received there with all possible demonstrations of joy. This gave
a great disturbance to the Spanish councils at Madrid. They advised the king to begin
with the reduction of Valencia : it lay nearer, and was easier come at : and by this the dis-
position to revolt would be checked, which might otherwise go further. But this was over-
ruled from France, where little regard was had to the Spaniards. They resolved to begin
with Barcelona : in it king Charles himself lay ; and, on taking it, they reckoned all the
rest would fall.
The French resolved to send every thing that was necessary for the siege by sea, and the
count of Toulouse was ordered to lie with the fleet before the place, whilst it was besieged
by land. It was concerted to begin the siege in March, for they knew that if they begun it
so early our fleet could not come in time to relieve it. But two great storms, that came
soon one after another, did so scatter their tartanes and disable their ships of war, that as
were cast away and others were much shattered so they all lost a month's time, and
OF QUEEN ANNE. 791
the siege could not be formed before the beginning of April. King Charles shut himself up
in Barcelona, by which the people were both animated and kept in order. This gave all
the allies very sad apprehensions ; they feared not only the less of the place, but of his
person. Leak sailed from Lisbon in the end of March. He missed the galleons very
narrowly, but he could not pursue them ; for he was to lose no time, but haste to Barcelona.
His fleet was increased to thirty ships of the line by the time he got to Gibraltar ; but,
though twenty more were following him, he would not stay, but hastened on to the relief of
the place, as fast as the wind served.
At the same time the campaign was opened on the side of Portugal. The earl of Galway
had full powers, and a brave army of about twenty thousand men, well furnished in all
respects. He left Badajos behind him, and marched on to Alcantara. The duke of Berwick
had a very small force left him to defend that frontier. It seems the French trusted to the
interest they had in the court of Portugal. His troops were so bad, that he saw in one small
action that he could not depend on them. He put a good garrison in Alcantara, where
their best magazine was laid in. But when the earl of Galway came before the town,
within three days the garrison, consisting of four thousand men, delivered up the place and
themselves as prisoners of war. The Portuguese would have stopped there, and thought
they had made a good campaign, though they had done no more ; but the English ambas-
sador at Lisbon went to the king of Portugal, and pressed him that orders might be imme-
diately sent to the earl of Galway to march on : and when he saw a great coldness in some
of the ministers, he threatened a present rupture if it was not done : and he continued
waiting on the king till the orders were signed and sent away. Upon receipt of these, the
earl of Galway advanced towards Placentia, all the country declaring for him as soon as he
appeared ; and the duke of Berwick still retiring before him, not being able to give the
least interruption to his march.
The campaign was opened in Italy with great advantage to the French. The duke of
Yendome marched into the Brescian to attack the imperialists before prince Eugene could
join them, who was now come very near. He fell on a body of about twelve thousand of
them, being double their number : he drove them from their posts with the loss of about
three thousand men killed and taken ; but it was believed there were as many of the French
killed as of the imperialists. Prince Eugene came up within two days, and put all in order
again. He retired to a surer post, waiting till the troops from Germany should come up.
The slowness of the Germans was always fatal in the beginning of the campaign. The duke
of Savoy was now reduced to great extremities. He saw the siege of Turin was designed :
he fortified so many outposts, and put so good a garrison in it, that he prepared well for a
long siege and a great resistance. He wrote to the queen for a further supply of 50,000/.,
assuring her, that by that means the place should be put in so good a state, that he would
undertake that all should be done which could be expected from brave and resolute men ;
and so careful was the lord treasurer to encourage him, that the courier was sent back the
next day after he came, with credit for the money. There was some hopes of a peace, as
there was an actual cessation of war in Hungary. The malcontents had been put in hopes
of a great diversion of the emperor's forces on the side of Bavaria, where there was a great
insurrection, provoked, as was said, by the oppression of the imperial officers, who were so
accustomed to be heavy in their quarters, that when they had the pretence that they were
among enemies, it may be easily believed there was much just occasion of complaint, and
that they were guilty of great exactions and rapine. This looked formidably at first, and
seemed to threaten a new war in those parts ; but all was soon suppressed. The peasants
had no officers among them, no discipline, nor magazines, and no place of strength. So they
were quickly dispersed, and stricter orders were given for the better regulating the military
men, though it was not expected that these would be long observed.
While matters were in this disposition abroad, the treaty for the union of the two king-
doms was brought on and managed with great solemnity. Commissions were given out for
thirty-two persons of each kingdom, to meet at London on the 18th of April. Somerset
House was appointed for the place of the treaty. The persons who were named to treat on
the English side were well chosen : they were the most capable of managing the treaty, and
792 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the best disposed to it, of any in the kingdom. Those who came from Scotland were not
looked on as men so well affected to the design : most of them had stood out in a lono- and
firm opposition to the revolution, and to all that had been done afterwards, pursuant to it.
The nomination of these was fixed on by the dukes of Queensbury and Argyie. It was
said by them, that though these objections did indeed lie against them, yet they had such an
. interest in Scotland, that the engaging them to be cordially for the union, would be a great
means to get it agreed to in the parliament there. The Scotch had got among them the
notion of a federal union, like that of the United Provinces, or of the cantons in Switzer-
land. But the English resolved to lose no time in the examining, or discussing, of that
project, for this reason, besides many others, that as long as the two nations had two different
parliaments, they could break that union whensoever they pleased, for each nation would
follow their own parliament. The design was now to settle a lasting and indissoluble union
between the kingdoms, therefore they resolved to treat only about an incorporating union,
that should put an end to all distinctions and unite all their interests. So they at last
entered upon the scheme of an entire union*.
But now to look again into our affairs abroad. The French seemed to have laid the design
of their campaign so well, that it had everywhere a formidable appearance ; and, if the
execution had answered their scheme, it would have proved as glorious, as it was in the
conclusion fatal, to them. They reckoned the taking of Barcelona and Turin sure ; and by
these they thought the war, both in Spain and Italy, would be soon brought to an end.
They knew they would be superior to any force that the prince of Baden could bring
together on the upper Rhine : and they intended to have a great army in Flanders, where
they knew our chief strength would be, to act as occasion or their other affairs should require.
But how well soever this design might seem to be laid, it appeared Providence had another,
which was brought to bear every where in a most wonderful manner, and in reverse to all
their views. The steps of this I intend to set out rather as a meditation on the providence of
God, than as a particular history of this signal year, for which I am no way furnished ;
besides that, if I were, it does not answer my principal design in writing.
The French lay thirty-seven days before Barcelona : of that time, twenty-two were spent
in taking Mountjoy. They seemed to think there was no danger of raising the siege, and
that therefore they might proceed as slowly as they pleased. The town was under such a
consternation, that nothing but the king's presence could have kept them from capitulating
the first week of the siege. There were some mutinies raised, and some of the magistrates
were killed in them. But the king came among them on all occasions, and both quieted
and animated them. Stanhope wrote, after the siege was over (whether as a courtier or not,
I cannot tell, for he had now on him the character of the queen's envoy to king Charles), that
the king went into all places of danger, and made all about him examples to the rest, to be
hard at work and constant upon duty. After Mountjoy was taken, the town was more
pressed. The earl of Peterborough came from Valencia, and was upon the hills, but could
not give them any great assistance. Some few from Gironne and other places got into the
* The commissioners, according to other authorities, Smollett; George Lockhart, of Carnwath ; William
met jvt the Cockpit, for the first time, on the 16th of Seton, of Pitmedden ; John Clark ; Daniel Stewart ; and
April. On the part of England were the lord chancellor Daniel Campbell.
Cowper ; lord high treasurer Godolphin ; the lord presi- The lord chancellor of England Described the feelings
dent ; duke of Buckinghamshire, lord privy seal ; duke of that evidently actuated all the commissioners, when he
Somerset ; duke of Bolton ; earl of Sunderland ; earl of said, they met, having " the general and joint good of
Kingston ; earl of Orford ; viscount Townsend ; lord Whar- both kingdoms solely in view : " and the lord chancellor
toe ; lord Grey ; lord Powlet; lord Somers ; marquis of of Scotland as succinctly described the probable results of
Hartington ; sir Charles Hedges and Mr. Harley, secre- the proposed union, by observing, "we are convinced that
taries of state; Mr. Boyle; lord chief justices Holland an union will be of great advantage to both: the protes-
Trevor; Mr. Northey, attorney-general ; Mr. Simon Har- taut religion will be thereby the more firmly secured,
court, solici tor- general ; sir John Cook, and Dr. Waller. the designs of our enemies effectually disappointed, and
On the part of Scotland were the earl of Scafield, lord- the riches and trade of the whole island advanced." The I
thancellor, duke of Queensbury ; earl of Mar; earl of queen came twice to their meetings, for the purpose of j
£oudon ; e^vl of Sutherland ; earl of Wemyss ; earl of encouraging and promoting the speedy progress of this i
Leven ; earl of Stair ; earl of Rosebury ; lord Archibald great national bond of strength, which was finally effected
Campbell; viscount Dnplin ; lord Rose, lord president of on the 23rd of July. This will be further noticed in a '
session; lord Justice Clerk ; Mr. Francis Montgomery; future page Chandler's Debates, H. of Commons, iii. ;
sir Alexander Ogilvie ; sir Patrick Johnston ; sir James 474 ; Defoe's Hist, of the Union.
OF QUEEN ANNE. 793
town. The Frencli engineers performed their part with little skill and success ; those they
relied most on happened to be killed in the beginning of the siege. The Levant wind was
all this while so strong, that it was not possible for Leak to come up so soon as was desired
to their relief.
But when their strength, as well as their patience, was almost exhausted the wind
turned, and Leak with all haste sailed to them. As soon as the count of Toulouse had
intelligence that he was near him, he sailed back to Toulon. Tesse, with king Philip (who
was in the camp, but was not once named in any action), continued three days before Barce-
lona after their fleet sailed away : they could then have no hopes of carrying it, unless a
storm at sea had kept our fleet at a distance. At last, on the 1st of May, O. S., the siege
was raised, with great precipitation and in much disorder : their camp was left well furnished,
and the sick and wounded could not be carried off.
On the day of the raising the siege, as the French army was marching off, the sun was
eclipsed, and it was total in those parts. It is certain that there is no weight to be laid on
such things ; yet the vulgar being apt to look on them as ominous, it was censured as a
great error in Tesse not to have raised the siege a day sooner ; and that the rather because
the king of France had made the sun, with a motto of Nee .pluribus Impar, his device.
King Philip made all the haste he could to Perpignan, but his army was almost, ruined
before he got thither. There was no manner of communication over land between Barcelona
and Portugal ; so the Portuguese, doubting the issue of that siege, had no mind to engage
further till they saw how it ended ; therefore they ordered their army to march aside to
Oiudad Roderigo, on pretence that it was necessary to secure their frontier by taking that
place : it was taken after a very short siege, and with small resistance. From thence they
advanced to Salamanca. But upon the newrs of raising the siege of Barcelona, they went
on towards Madrid; the duke of Berwick only observing their motions 'and still retiring
before them. King Philip went, with great expedition and a very small train, from Per-
pignan to Navarre, from thence he came post to Madrid ; but finding he had no army that
he could trust to, the grandees being now retired and looking as so many dead men, and he
seeing that the Portuguese were still advancing, sent his queen to Burgos, and followed her
in a few days, carrying with him that which was valuable in the palace. And it seems he
despaired ever to return thither again, since he destroyed all that could not be carried away ;
in which he acted a very extraordinary part, for he did some of this with his own hand : as
the gentleman, whom the earl of Galway sent over, told me was universally believed in
Madrid.
The capital city being thus forsaken, the earl of Galway came to it by the end of June : he
met with no resistance indeed, but with as little welcome. An army of Portuguese, with
a heretic at their head, were certainly very strange sights to the Castilians, who retained all
the pride, without any of the courage, of their ancestors. They thought it below them to
make their submissions to any but to the king himself ; and if king Charles had come thither
immediately, it was believed that the entire reduction of Spain would have been soon
brought about. It is not yet certain what made him stay so long as he did at Barcelona,
"ven from the beginning of May till near the end of July. Those about him pretended it
was not fit to go to Madrid, till he was well furnished with money, to make a decent entry.
Stanhope offered to furnish him with what was necessary for the journey, but could not
afford a magnificent equipage for a solemn entry. King Charles wrote a very pressing
letter to the duke of Marlborough, setting forth his necessities, and desiring greater supplies.
r.- saw this letter, for the duke sent it over to the lord treasurer. But little regard was had
to it, because it was suggested from many different hands that the prince of Lichtenstein was
enriching himself, and keeping his king poor. Others pretended the true cause of the delay
was a secret amour of that king's, at Barcelona. Whatsoever the cause of it might be, the
< -ffccta have hitherto proved fatal. It was first proposed that king Charles should march
through Valencia, as the nearest and much the safest way, and he came on that design as far
> Tarragona. But advice being brought him there that the kingdom of Arragon was in a good
Imposition 10 declare for him, he was diverted from his first intentions, and prevailed on to
go to Saragossa, where he was acknowledged by that kingdom. But he lost much time,
704 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
and more in the reputation of his arms, by delaying so long to move towards Madrid. So
king Philip took heart, and came back from Burgos to Madrid. The earl of Galway was
very uneasy at this slow motion which king Charles made. King Philip had some more
troops sent him from France, and the broken bodies of his army being now brought together,
he had an army equal in numbers to the earl of Galway, and so he marched up to him ; but
since so much depended on the issue of an action, the earl of Galway avoided it, because he
expected every day reinforcements to be brought up to him, both by king Charles and by
the earl of Peterborough from Valencia; therefore, to facilitate this conjunction, he moved
towards Arragon ; so that Madrid was again left to be possessed by king Philip. At last,
in the beginning of August, king Charles came up, but with a very inconsiderable force. A
few days after, the earl of Peterborough came also with an escort rather than any strength,
for he had not with him above five hundred dragoons. He was now uneasy because he
could not have the supreme command ; both the earl of Galway and count Noyelles being
much more ancient officers than he was. But, to deliver him from the uneasiness of being
commanded by them, the queen had sent him the powers of an ambassador extraordinary ;
and he took that character on him for a few days. His complaining so much as he did of
the prince of Lichtenstein and the Germans, who were still possessed of king Charleses con-
fidence, made him very unacceptable to that king. So he, waiting for orders from the queen,
withdrew from the camp, and sailed away in one of the queen's ships to Genoa. Our fleet
lay all the summer in the Mediterranean, which obliged the French to keep theirs within
Toulon. Carthagena declared for king Charles, and was secured by some of our ships : the
fleet came before Alicant ; the seamen landed and stormed the town ; the castle held out
some weeks, but then it capitulated, and the soldiers by articles were obliged to march to
Cadiz. Soon after that our fleet sailed out of the straits : one squadron was sent to the
West Indies, another was to lie at Lisbon, and the rest were ordered home. After king
Charles had joined lord Galway, king Philip's army and his looked on one another for some
time, but without venturing on any action. They were near an equality, and both sides
expected to be reinforced; so, in that uncertainty, neither side would put anything to
hazard.
But now I turn to another and a greater scene. The king of France was assured that the
king of Denmark would stand upon some high demands he made to the allies, so that the
duke of Marlborough could not have the Danes, who were about ten or twelve thousand, to
join him for some time ; and that the Prussians, almost as many as the Danes, could not
come up to the confederate army for some weeks ; so he ordered the elector of Bavaria and
Villeroy to march up to them, and to venture on a battle, since, without the Danes, they
would have been much superior in number. The States yielded to all Denmark's demands ;
and the prince of Wirtemberg, who commanded their troops, being very well affected,
reckoned that all being granted he needed not stay till he sent to Denmark, nor wait for their
express orders, but marched and joined the army the day before the engagement. Some
thought that the king of France, upon the news of the disgrace before Barcelona, that he
might cover that, resolved to put all to venture, hoping that a victory would have set all to
rights : this passed generally in the world. But the duke of Marlborough told me that
there being only twelve days between the raising of the siege of Barcelona and this battle,
the one being on the first of May, and the other on the twelfth, eight of which must be
allowed for the courier to Paris, and from thence to Brabant, it seemed not possible to put
things in the order in which he saw them in so short a time. The French left their baggage
and heavy cannon at Judoign, and marched up to the duke of Marlborough. He was
marching towards them on the same design ; for, if they had not offered him battle on the
twelfth, he was resolved to have attacked them on the thirteenth of May. They met near
a village called Ramillies (not far from the Mehaigne) from whence the battle takes its
name.
The engagement was an entire one, and the action was hot for two hours : both the French
mousquetaires and the cuirassiers were there. The elector of Bavaria said it was the best
army he ever beheld. But, after two hours, the French gave way every where ; so it ended
in an entire defeat. They lost both their camp, baggage, and artillery, as well as all that
OF QUEEN ANNE. 7£5
they had left in Judoign, and in all possible confusion they passed the Dyle, our men pur-
suing till it was dark. The duke of Marlborough said to me, the French army looked the
best of any he had ever seen ; but that their officers did not do their part, nor show the
courage that had appeared among them on other occasions. And when I asked him the
difference between the actions at Hockstedt and at Ramillies ; he said, the first battle
lasted between seven and eight hours, and we lost above twelve thousand men in it ; whereas
the second lasted not above two hours, and we lost not above two thousand five hundred
men. Orders were presently sent to the great cities, to draw the garrisons out of them, that
so the French might have again the face of an army ; for their killed, their deserters, and
their prisoners, on this great day, were above twenty thousand men. The duke of Marl-
borough lost no time, but followed them close : Louvain, Mechlin, and Brussels submitted,
besides many lesser places : Antwerp made a show of standing out, but soon followed the
example of the rest : Ghent and Bruges did the same : in all these king Charles was pro-
claimed. Upon this unexpected rapidity of success, the duke of Marlborough went to the
Hague, to concert measures with the States, where he stayed but a few days ; for they
agreed to every thing he proposed, and sent him back with full powers. The first thing he
undertook was the siege of Ostend, a place famous for its long siege in the last age. The
natives of the place were disposed to return to the Austrian family, and the French that
were in it had so lost all heart and spirit, that they made not the resistance that was looked
for. In ten days after they sat down before it, and within four days after the batteries
were finished, they capitulated. From thence the confederates went to Menin, which was
esteemed the best finished fortification in all those parts : it was built after the peace of
Nimeguen ; nothing that art could contrive was wanting to render it impregnable -, and it
was defended by a garrison of six thousand men, so that many thought it was too bold an
undertaking to sit down before it. The French army was become considerable by great
detachments brought from the Upper Rhine, where mareschal Villars was so far superior
to the Germans, that, if it had not been for this revulsion of his forces, the circles of Suabia
and Franconia would have been much exposed to pillage and contribution.
The duke of Vendome's conduct in Italy had so raised his character, that he was thought
the only man fit to be at the head of the army in Flanders ; so he was sent for, and had
that command given him, with a very high compliment, which was very injurious to the
other officers, since he was declared to be the single man on whom France could depend, and
by whom it could be protected, in that extremity. The duke of Orleans was sent to com-
mand in Italy, and mareschal Marsin was sent with him to assist, or rather in reality to
govern him. And so obstinately was the king of France set on pursuing his first designs,
that notwithstanding his disgraces both in Spain and in the Netherlands, yet (since he had
ordered all the preparations for the siege of Turin) he would not desist from that attempt,
but ordered it to be pursued with all possible vigour. The siege of Menin was in the mean-
while carried on so successfully, that the trenches were opened on the 24th of July, and the
batteries were finished on the 29th ; and they pressed the place so warmly, that they capitu-
lated on the llth of August, and marched out on the 14th, being St. Lewis's day : four
thousand men marched out of the place.
It seemed strange that a garrison, which was still so numerous, should give up, in so
short a time, a place that was both so strong and so well furnished. But as the French were
much sunk, so the allies were now become very expert at carrying on of sieges, and spared
no cost that was necessary for dispatch. Dendermonde had been for some weeks under a
blockade : this, the duke of Marlborough ordered to be turned into a formal siege. The
place was so surrounded with water, that the king of France, having once begun a siege
there, was forced to raise it ; yet it was now so pressed, that the garrison offered to capitu-
late., but the duke of Marlborough would give them no other terms but those of being
prisoners of war, to which they were forced to submit. Ath was next invested ; it lay so
inconveniently between Flanders and Brabant, that it was necessary to clear that communi-
cation, and to deliver Brussels from the danger of that neighbourhood. In a fortnight's
time, it was also obliged to capitulate, and the garrison were made prisoners of war.
During those sieges, the duke of Vendome, having fixed himself in a camp that could not
7'JG THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
bo forced, did not think fit to give the duke of Maryborough any disturbance, while he lay
with his army covering the sieges. The French were jealous of the elector of Bavaria's
heat, and though he desired to command an army apart, yet it was not thought fit to divide
the forces, though now grown to be very numerous. Deserters said the panic was still so
great in the army, that there was no appearance of their venturing on any action. Paris
itself was under a high consternation, and though the king carried his misfortunes with an
appearance of calmness and composure, yet he was often let blood, which was thought an
indication of a great commotion within, and this was no doubt the greater, because it was
so much disguised. No news was talked of at that court, all was silent and solemn ; so that
even the duchess dowager of Orleans knew not the true state of their affairs, which made
her write to her aunt, the electress of Hanover, to learn news of her.
There was another alarm given them, which heightened the disorder they were in. The
queen and the States formed a design of a descent in France, with an army of about ten
thousand foot and one thousand two hundred horse. The earl of Rivers commanded the
land army, as Shovel did a royal fleet that was to convoy them, and to secure their landing :
it was to be near Bordeaux ; but the secret was then so well kept, that the French could
not penetrate into it : so the alarm was general. It put all the maritime counties of France
to a vast charge, and under dismal apprehensions. Officers were sent from the court to
exercise them ; but they saw what their militia was, and that was all their defence. I have
one of the manifestos that the earl of Rivers was ordered to publish upon his landing : he
declared by it, that he wTas come neither to pillage the country, nor to conquer any part of
it ; he came only to restore the people to their liberties, and to have assemblies of the states,
as they had anciently, and to restore the edicts to the protestants ; he promised protection
to all that should come in to him. The troops were -all put aboard at Portsmouth, in the
beginning of July, but they were kept in our ports by contrary winds, till the beginning of
October. The design on France was then laid aside ; it was too late in the year for the
fleet to sail into the bay of Biscay, and to lie there for any considerable time in that season.
The reduction of Spain was of the greatest importance to us ; so new orders were sent them-
to sail first to Lisbon, and there to take such, measures, as the state of the affairs of Spain
should require.
The siege of Turin was begun in May> and was continued till the beginning of September.
There was a strong garrison within it, and it was well furnished both with provisions and
ammunition. The duke of Savoy put all to the hazard : he sent his duchess with his chil-
dren to Genoa, and himself, with a body of three thousand horse, was moving about Turin,
from valley to valley, till that body was much diminished ; for he was, as it were, hunted
from place to place, by the duke of Feuillade, who commanded in the siege, and drove the
duke of Savoy before him ; so that all hope of- relief lay in prince Eugene. The garrison
made a noble resistance, and maintained their outworks long : they blew up many mines,
and disputed every inch of ground with great resolution : they lost about six thousand men,
who were either killed or had deserted during the siege ; and their powder was at last so
spent, that they must have capitulated within a day or two, if they had not been relieved.
The siege cost the French very dear : they were often forced to change their attacks, and
lost about fourteen thousand men before the place ; for they were frequently beat from the
posts that they had gained.
Prince Eugene made all the haste he could to their relief. The court of Vienna had not
given due orders, as they had undertaken, for the provision of the troops that were to march
through their country to join him. This occasioned many complaints and some delay. The
truth was, that court was so much set on the reduction of Hungary, that all other things
were much neglected, while that alone seemed to possess them. A treaty was set on foot
with the malcontents there, by the mediation of England and of the States ; a cessation of
arms was agreed to for two months ; all that belonged to that court were very uneasy while
that continued ; they had shared among them the confiscations of all the great estates in
Hungary, and they saw that, if a peace was made, all these would be vacated, and the
estates would be restored to their former owners ; so they took all possible means to traverse
the negotiation, and to enflame the emperor. There seemed to be some probability of
OF QUEEN ANNE. 79f
bringing things to a settlement, but that could not be brought to any conclusion during the
term of the cessation ; when that was lapsed, the emperor could not be prevailed on to rene w
it : he recalled his troops from the Upper Rhine, though that was contrary to all his agree-
ments with the empire. Notwithstanding all this ill management of the court of Vienna,
prince Eugene got together the greatest part of those troops that he expected in the Veronese
before the end of June : they were not yet all come up, but he, believing himself strong
enough, resolved to advance ; and he left the prince of Hesse with a body to receive the
rest, and by them to force a diversion, while he should be going on. The duke of Vendome
had taken care of all the fords of the Adige, the Mincio, and the Oglio, and had cast up
such lines and entrenchments every where, that he had assured the court of France it was
not possible for prince Eugene to break through all that opposition, at least to do it in any
time to relieve Turin. By this time the duke of Orleans was come to take the army out of
Vendome's hands ; but before that duke had left it, they saw that he had reckoned wrong
in all those hopes he had given the court of France, of stopping prince Eugene's march. For,
in the beginning of July, he sent a few battalions over one of the fords of the Adige, where
the French were well posted, and double their number ; yet they ran away with such preci-
pitation, that they left every thing behind them. Upon that, prince Eugene passed the
Adige with his whole army, and the French, in a consternation, retired behind the Mincio.
After this, prince Eugene surprised the French with a motion that they had not looked for,
nor prepared against, for he passed the Po : the duke of Orleans followed him, but declined
an engagement ; whereupon prince Eugene wrote to the duke of Maryborough, that he felt
the effects of the battle of Ramillies, even in Italy, the French seeming to be every where
dispirited with their misfortunes. Prince Eugene, marching nearer the Apennines, had
gained some days' march of the duke of Orleans ; upon which, that duke repassed the Po,
and advanced with such haste towards Turin, that he took no care of the pass at Stradella,
which might have been kept and disputed for some days. Prince Eugene found no opposi-
tion there ; nor did he meet with any other difficulty, but from the length of the march and
the heat of the season, for he was in motion all the months of July and August
In the beginning of September the duke of Savoy joined him with the small remnants of
his army, and they hasted on to Turin. The duke of Orleans had got thither before them,
and the place was now reduced to the last extremities. The duke of Orleans, with most of
the chief officers, were for marching out of the trenches ; Marsin was of another mind, and
when he found it hard to maintain his opinion, he produced positive orders for it, which put
an end to the debate. The duke of Savoy saw the necessity of attacking them in their
trenches : his army consisted of twenty-eight thousand men, but they were good troops ;
the French were above forty thousand, and in a well fortified camp : yet after two hours'
resistance, the duke of Savoy broke through,' and then there was a great destruction, the
French flying in much disorder, and leaving a vast treasure in their camp, besides great
stores of provisions, ammunition, and artillery. It was so entire a defeat, that not above
one thousand six hundred men of that great army got off in a body, and they made all the
haste they could into Dauphiny. The duke of Savoy went into Turin, where it may be
easily imagined he was received with much joy : the garrison, for want of powder, was not
in a condition to make a sally on the French, while he attacked them ; the French were
pursued as far as men wearied with such an action could follow them, and many prisoners
were taken. The duke of Orleans, though he lost the day, yet gave great demonstrations
of courage, and received several wounds. Mareschal Marsin fell into the enemy's hands, but
died of his wounds in a few hours ; and upon him all the errors of this dismal day were cast,
though the heaviest part of the load fell on Chamillard, who was then in the supreme degree
of favour at court, and was entirely possessed of madam Maintenon's confidence. Feuillade
had married his daughter, and, in order to the advancing him, he had the command of this
siege given him, which was thus obstinately pursued till it ended in this fatal manner. The
obstinacy continued, for the king sent orders, for a month together, to the duke of Orleans,
to march back into Piedmont, when it was absolutely impossible ; yet repeated orders were
sent, and the reason of this was understood afterwards. Madam Maintenon (it seems) took
that care of the king's health and humour, that she did not suffer the ill state of his affairs to
798 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
be fully told him : he all that while was made believe, that the siege was only raised upon
the advance of prince Eugene's army, and knew not that his own was defeated and ruined.
T am not enough versed in military affairs to offer any judgment upon that point, whether
they did well, or ill, not to go out of their camp to fight ; it is certain, that the fight was more
disorderly, and the loss was much greater, by reason of their lying within their lines • in this
I have known men of the trade of different opinions.
While this was done at Turin, the prince of Hesse advanced to the Mincio, which the
French abandoned ; but as he went to take Castiglione, Medavi, the French general, sur-
prised him, and cut off about two thousand of his men, upon which he was forced to retire
to the Adige. The French magnified this excessively, hoping, with the noise they made
about it, to balance their real loss at Turin. The prince of Yaudemont, upon the news from
Turin, left the city of Milan, and retired with the small force he had to Cremona. The duke
of Savoy and prince Eugene marched with all haste into the Milanese. The city of Milan
was opened to them ; but the citadel and some strong places that had garrisons in them stood
out some time ; yet place after place capitulated, so that it was visible all would quickly
fall into their hands.
Such a succession of eminent misfortunes in one campaign, and in so many different
places, was without example. It made all people conclude that the time was come, in
which the perfidy, the tyranny, and the cruelty, of that king's long and bloody reign, was
now to be repaid him with the same severe measure with which he had formerly treated
others. But the secrets of God are not to be too boldly pried into, till he is pleased to
display them to us more openly. It is certainly a year that deserves to be long and much
remembered.
In the end of the campaign, in which Poland had been harassed with the continuance
of the war, but without any great action, the king of Sweden, seeing that king Augustus
supported his affairs in Poland by the supplies, both of men and money, that he drew from
his electorate, resolved to stop that resource : so he marched through Silesia and Lusatia
into Saxony. He quickly made himself master of an open country, that was looking for no
such invasion, and was in no sort prepared for it, and had few strong places in it capable of
any resistance. The rich town of Leipsic and all the rest of the country was, without any
opposition, put under contribution. All the empire was alarmed at this : it was at first
apprehended that it was set on by the French councils, to raise a new war in Germany, and
to put the North all in a flame. The king of Sweden gave it out that he had no design to
give any disturbance to the empire ; that he intended by this march, only to bring the war
of Poland to a speedy conclusion : and it was reasonable to believe that such an unlocked for
incident would soon bring that war to a crisis.
This was the state of our affairs abroad in this glorious and ever-memorable year. At
home, another matter of great consequence was put in a good and promising method : the
commissioners of both kingdoms sat close in a treaty till about the middle of July ; in con-
clusion, they prepared a complete scheme of an entire union of both nations ; some parti-
culars being only referred, to be settled by their parliaments respectively. When every
thing was agreed to, they presented one copy of the treaty to the queen, and each side had
a copy, to be presented to their respective parliament, all the three copies being signed by
the commissioners of both kingdoms*. It was resolved to lay the matter first before the
parliament of Scotland, because it was apprehended that it would meet with the greatest
opposition there.
The union of the two kingdoms was a work of which many had quite despaired, in which
number I was one ; and those who entertained better hopes, thought it must have run out
into a long negotiation for several years : but beyond all men's expectation it was begun and
finished within the compass of one. The commissioners brought up from Scotland, for the
treaty, were so strangely chosen (the far greater number having continued in an opposition
to the government ever since the revolution)t that from thence many concluded that it was
not sincerely designed by the ministry, when they saw such a nomination. This was a piece
of the earl of Stair's cunning, who did heartily promote the design : he then thought that if
* See the speeches of the two lord chancellors and of the queen, on this occasion, iu Chandler's Debates, iii. 477i
OF QUEEN ANNE. 799
such a number of those who were looked on as Jacobites, and were popular men on that
account among the disaffected there, could be so wrought on, as to be engaged in the affair,
the work would be much the easier when laid before the parliament of Scotland : and in this
the event showed that he took right measures. The lord Somers had the chief hand in pro-
jecting the scheme of the union, into which all the commissioners of the English nation went
very easily. The advantages that were offered to Scotland in the whole frame of it were so
great and so visible, that nothing but the consideration of the safety, that was to be procured
by it to England, could have brought the English to agree to a project, that, in every branch
of it, was much more favourable to the Scotch nation*.
They were to bear less than the fortieth part of the public taxes ; when four shillings in
| the pound was levied in England, which amounted to two millions, Scotland was only to
be taxed at 48,000 pounds, which was eight months1 assessment ; they had been accustomed
for some years to pay this, and they said it was all that the nation could bear. It is held a
! maxim, that in the framing of a government, a proportion ought to be observed between
the share in the legislature and the burden to be borne ; yet in return of the fortieth part
of the burden, they offered the Scotch nearly the eleventh part of the legislature ; for the
j peers of Scotland were to be represented by sixteen peers in the house of lords, and the com-
, mons by forty-five members in the house of commons ; and these were to be chosen accord-
I ing to the methods, to be settled in the parliament of Scotland. And since Scotland was to
j pay customs and excises, on the same footing with England, and was to bear a share in
I paying much of the debt England had contracted during the war, 398,000 pounds was to
be raised in England, and sent into Scotland, as an equivalent for that; and that was to be
; applied to the recoining the money, that all might be of one denomination and standard, and
I to paying the public debts of Scotland, and repaying, to their African company, all their
j losses with interest ; upon which that company was to be dissolved, and the overplus of the
I equivalent was to be applied to the encouragement of manufactures. Trade was to be free
[all over the island, and to the plantations ; private rights were to be preserved, and the judi-
catories and laws of Scotland were still to be continued : but all was put, for the future,
I under the regulation of the parliament of Great Britain ; the two nations now were to be one
kingdom, under the same succession to the crown, and united in one parliament. There was
Ino provision made in this treaty, with relation to religion ; for in the acts of parliament, in
both kingdoms, that empowered the queen to name commissioners, there was an express
j limitation tlioi they should not treat of those matters.
This was the substance of the articles of the treaty, which being laid before the parliament
;<»f Scotland, met with great opposition there. It was visible that the nobility of that king-
dom suffered a great diminution by it ; for though it was agreed that they should enjoy all
the other privileges of the peers of England, yet the greatest of them all, which was the
- oting in the house of lords, was restrained to sixteen, to be elected by the rest at every new
parliament ; yet there was a greater majority of the nobility that concurred in voting for the
union, than in the other states of that kingdom. The commissioners from the shires and
boroughs were almost equally divided, though it was evident they were to be the chief
gainers by it ; among these the union was agreed to by a very small majority : it was the
nobility that in every vote turned the scale for the union : they were severely reflected on
by those who opposed it ; it was said many of them were bought off, to sell their country
and their birth-right : all those who adhered inflexibly to the Jacobite interest, opposed
every step that was made with great vehemence ; for they saw that the union struck at the
root of all their views and designs, for a new revolution. Yet these could not have raised
or maintained so great an opposition as was now made, if the presbyterians had not been
possessed with a jealousy, that the consequence of this union would be, the change of church-
government among them, and that they would be swallowed up by the church of England.
This took such root in many that no assurances that were offered could remove their fears :
it was infused in them chiefly by the old duchess of Hamilton, who had great credit with
them ; and it was suggested, that she, and her son, had particular views, as hoping, that if
For the Scotch Jacobinical narrative of the Union, see Lock hart's "Memoirs •" and Swift's " Public spirit of
Whigs;" "The Examiner " may also be consulted.
000 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
Scotland should continue a separated kingdom, the crown might come into their family, they
being the next in blood, after king James's posterity. The infusion of such apprehensions
had a great effect on the main body of that party, who could scarcely be brought to hearken,
but never to accept of the offers, that were made for securing their presbyterian government,
A great part of the gentry of that kingdom, who had been often in England, and had observed
the protection, that all men had from a house of commons, and the security that it pro-
cured against partial judges, and a violent ministry, entered into the design with great zeaL
The opening a free trade, not only with England, but with the plantations, and the protec-
tion of the fleet of England, drew in those who understood these matters, and saw there was
no other way in view to make the nation rich and considerable. Those who had engaged
far into the design of Darien, and were great losers by it, saw now an honourable way to be
reimbursed, which made them wish well to the union, and promote it : but that which
advanced the design most effectually, and without which it could not have succeeded, was,
that a considerable number of noblemen and gentlemen who were in no engagements with
the court (on the contrary, they had been disobliged, and turned out of great posts, and some
very lately) declared for it. These kept themselves very close and united, and seemed to
have no other interest but that of their country, and were for that reason called the
squadrone * : the chief of these were, the marquis of Tweedale, the earls of Rothes, Roxburgh,
Haddington, and Marchmont ; they were in great credit, because they had no visible bias
on their minds ; ill usage had provoked them rather to oppose the ministry than to concur
in any thing, where the chief honour would be carried away by others. When they were
spoken to by the ministry, they answered coldly, and with great reserves, so it was expected
they would have concurred in the opposition ; and they being between twenty and thirty in
number, if they had set themselves against the union, the design must have miscarried : but
they continued still silent, till the first division of the house obliged them to declare, and
then they not only joined in it, but promoted it effectually, and with zeal : there were great
and long debates, managed on the side of the union, by the earls of Seafield and Stair for the
ministry, and of the squadrone by the earls of Roxburgh and Marchmont ; and against it by
the dukes of Hamilton and Athol, and the marquis of Annandale. The duke of Athol was
believed to be in a foreign correspondence, and was much set on violent methods : duke
Hamilton managed the debate with great vehemence, but was against all desperate motions :
he had much to lose, and was resolved not to venture all with those who suggested the neces-
sity of running, in the old Scotch way, to extremities. The topics, from which the argu-
ments against the union, were drawn, were the antiquity and dignity of their kingdom,
which was offered to be given up, and sold : they were departing from an independent state,
and going to sink into a dependence on England ; what conditions soever might be now
speciously offered, as a security to them, they could not expect that they should be adhered
to, or religiously maintained in a parliament, where sixteen peers and forty-five commoners
could not hold the balance against above an hundred peers and five hundred and thirteen
commoners. Scotland would be no more considered as formerly by foreign princes and
states : their peers would be precarious and elective : they magnified their crown with the
other regalia so much, that since the nation seemed resolved never to suffer them to be carried
away, it was provided, in a new clause added to the articles, that these should still remain
within the kingdom. They insisted most vehemently on the danger that the constitution of
their church must be in, when all should be under the power of a British parliament : this
was pressed with fury by some who were known to be the most violent enemies to pres-
bytery, of any in that nation ; but it was done on design, to inflame that body of men by
those apprehensions, and so to engage them to persist in their opposition. To allay that
heat, after the general vote was carried for the union, before they entered on the considera-
tion of the particular articles, an act was prepared for securing the presbyterian government ;
by which it was declared to be the only government of that church, unalterable in all suc-
ceeding times, and the maintaining it was declared to be a fundamental and essential article
and condition of the union : and this act was to be made a part of the act for the union,
* Campbell, in his " Lives of the Admirals," says, " If I might be allowed to translate this word into political
English, T should call them old whigs."
OF QUEEN ANNE. U01
which in the consequence of that, was to be ratified by another act of parliament in England.
Thus those who were the greatest enemies to presbytery, of any in the nation, raised the
clamour of the danger that form of government would be in, if the union went on, to such a
height, that by their means this act was carried, as far as any human law could go, for their
security : for by this they had not only all the security that their own parliament could give
them, but they were to have the faith and authority of the parliament of England, it being
in the stipulation made an essential condition of the union : the carrying this matter so far,
was done in hopes that the parliament of England would never be brought to pass it. This
act was passed, and it gave an entire satisfaction to those who were disposed to receive any,
but nothing could satisfy men who made use of this, only to inflame others. Those who
opposed the union, finding the majority was against them, studied to raise a storm without
doors, to frighten them : a set of addresses against the union were sent round all the countries
in which those who opposed it had any interest : there came up many of these in the name
of counties and boroughs, and at last from parishes ; this made some noise abroad, but was
very little considered there, when it was known by w^hose arts and practices they were pro-
cured. When this appeared to have little effect, pains were taken to animate the rabble to
violent attempts, both at Edinburgh and at Glasgow. Sir Patrick Johnston, lord provost
of Edinburgh, had been one of the commissioners, and had concurred heartily in the design :
a great multitude gathered about his house, and wrere forcing the doors on design, as was
believed, to murder him ; but guards came and dispersed them. Upon this attempt, the
privy-council set out a proclamation against all such riots, and gave orders for quartering the
guards within the town ; but to show that this was not intended t-o overawe the parliament,
the whole matter was laid before them, and the proceedings of the privy council were
approved. No other violent attempt was made after this, but the body of the people showed
so much sullenness, that probably, had any person of authority once kindled the fire, they
seemed to be of such combustible matter, that the union might have cast that nation into
great convulsions. These things made great impressions on the duke of Queensbury, and
on some about him ; he despaired of succeeding, and he apprehended his person might be in
danger : one about him wrote to my lord treasurer, representing the ill temper the nation
was generally in, and moved for an adjournment, that so with the help of some time and
good management, those difficulties, which seemed then insuperable, might be conquered.
The lord treasurer told me, his answer was, that a delay was, upon the matter, laying the
whole design aside ; orders were given, both in England and Ireland, to have troops ready
upon call ; and if it was necessary, more forces should be ordered from Flanders : the French
were in no condition to send any assistance to those who might break out, so that the circum-
stances of the time were favourable ; he desired therefore that they would go on, and not
be alarmed at the foolish behaviour of some, who, whatever might be given out in their
names, he believed had more wit than to ruin themselves. Every step that was made, and
every vote that was carried, was with the same strength, and met with the same opposition :
both parties giving strict attendance during the whole session, which lasted for three months.
Many protestations were printed, with every man's vote : in conclusion, the whole articles of
the treaty were agreed to, with some small variations. The earl of Stair, having maintained
the debate on the last day, in which all was concluded, died the next night suddenly, his
spirits being quite exhausted by the length and vehemence of the debate *. The act passed,
and was sent up to London in the beginning of February.
The queen laid it before the two houses ; the house of commons agreed to it all without
any opposition, so soon, that it was thought they interposed not delay and consideration
enough, suitable to the importance of so great a transaction. The debates were longer and
more solemn in the house of lords ; the archbishop of Canterbury moved, that a bill might
be brought in, for securing the church of England ; by it all acts, passed in favour of our
church, were declared to be in full force for ever ; and this was made a fundamental and
essential part of the union. Some exceptions were taken to the words of the bill, as not so
* John Dalrymple was raised to his earldom by queen Anne, in 1703, being at the same time sworn one of her
pi-ivy council. He had previously filled the offices in Scotland of lord justice clerk, lord advocate, and secretary of
stale.
3 F
802 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
strong as the act passed in Scotland seemed to be, since the government of it was not
declared to be unalterable ; but they were judged more proper, since where a supreme legis-
lature is once acknowledged, nothing can be unalterable. After this was over, the lords
entered upon the consideration of the articles, as they wrere amended in Scotland ; it was
pretended that here a new constitution was made, the consequence of which, they said, was
the altering all the laws of England. All the judges were of opinion, that there was no
weight in this ; great exceptions were taken to the small proportion Scotland was rated at,
in the laying on of taxes ; and their election of peers to every new parliament, was said to
be contrary to the nature of peerage. To all the objections that were offered, this general
answer was made, that so great a thing as the uniting the whole island into one government,
could not be compassed, but with some inconveniences ; but if the advantage of safety and
union was greater than those inconveniences, then a lesser evil must be submitted to. An
elective peer was indeed a great prejudice to the peers of Scotland, but since they had sub-
mitted to it, there was no just occasion given to the peers of England to complain of it.
But the debate held longest upon the matters relating to the government of the church ; it
was said, here was a real danger the church ran into, when so many votes, of persons tied
to presbytery, were admitted to a share in the legislature. All the rigour with which the
episcopal clergy had been treated in Scotland, was set forth, to shew with how implacable
a temper they were set against the church of England ; yet, in return to all that, it was now
demanded from the men of this church to enact, that the Scotch form should continue unal-
terable, and to admit those to vote among us who were such declared enemies to our consti-
tution. Here was a plausible subject for popular eloquence, and a great deal of it was
brought out upon this occasion by Hooper, Beveridge, and some other bishops, and by the
earls of Rochester and Nottingham. But to all this it was answered, that the chief
dangers the church was in were from France and from popery ; so that whatsoever secured
us from these, delivered us from our justest fears. Scotland lay on the weakest side of
England, where it could not be defended but by an army ; the collieries on the Tyne lay
exposed for several miles, and could not be preserved but at a great charge, and with a great
force : if a war should fall out between the two nations, and if Scotland should be con-
quered, yet, even in that case, it must be united to England, or kept under by an army :
the danger of keeping up a standing force, in the hands of any prince, and to be modelled
by him (who might engage the Scotch to join with that army and turn upon England) was
visible : and any union, after such a conquest, would look like a force, and so could not be
lasting; whereas all was now voluntary. As for church matters, there had been such
violence used by all sides in their turns, that none of them could reproach the others much,
without having it returned upon them too justly. A softer management would lay those
heats, and bring men to a better temper : the cantons of Switzerland, though very zealous in
their different religions, yet were united in one general body ; the diet of Germany was
composed of men of three different religions ; so that several constitutions of churches
might be put under one legislature ; and if there was a danger of either side, it was much
more likely that five hundred and thirteen would be too hard for forty-five, than that forty-
five would master five hundred and thirteen ; especially when the crown was on their side ;
and there were twenty-six bishops in the house of lords to outweigh the sixteen votes from
Scotland. It was indeed said, that all in England were not zealous for the church ; to
which it was answered, that by the same reason it might be concluded, that all those of
Scotland were not zealous for their way, especially when the favour of the court lay in the
English scale. The matter was argued, for the union, by the bishops of Oxford, Norwich,
and myself, by the lord treasurer, the earls of Sunderland and Wharton, and the lords Towns-
hend and Halifax ; but above all, by the lord Somers. Every division of the house was
made with so great an inequality, that they were but twenty, against fifty that were for the
union. When all was agreed to, in both houses, a bill was ordered to be brought in to enact
it ; which was prepared by Harcourt with so particular a contrivance, that it cut off all
debates *. The preamble was a recital of the articles, as they were passed in Scotland,
* Simon Harcourt, son of sir Simon Harcourt, the first college, Oxford, and the Inner Temple. From 1690 to
sacrifice in Ireland for Charles the First, was of Pembroke the accession of queen Anne, he was a member of parli»»
OF QUEEN ANNE. 803
together with the acts made in both parliaments for the security of their several churches ;
and in conclusion, there came one enacting clause, ratifying all. This put those upon great
difficulties, who had resolved to object to several articles, and to insist on demanding some
alterations in them ; for they could not come at any debate about them ; they could not
object to the recital, it being merely matter of fact ; and they had not strength enough to
oppose the general enacting clause, nor was it easy to come at particulars and to offer pro-
visos relating to them. The matter was carried on with such zeal, that it passed through
the house of commons before those, who intended to oppose it, had recovered themselves out
of the surprise under which the form it was drawn in had put them. It did not stick long
in the house of lords, for all the articles had been copiously debated there for several days,
before the bill was sent up to them : and thus this great design, so long wished and laboured
for in vain, was begun, and happily ended, within the compass of nine months. The union
was to commence on the first of May, and until that time, the two kingdoms were still
distinct, and their two parliaments continued still to sit *.
In Scotland, they proceeded to dispose of the sum provided to be the equivalent ; in this
l^reat partialities appeared, which were much complained of ; but there was not strength to
oppose them. The ministry, and those who depended on them, moved for very extravagant
allowances to those who had been employed in this last, and in the former treaty ; and they
made large allotments of some public debts, that were complained of as unreasonable and
unjust ; by which a great part of the sum was diverted from answering the end for which
it was given. This was much opposed by the squadrone ; but as the ministers promoted it,
and those who were to get by it, made all the interest they could to obtain it (some few
of them only excepted, who, as became generous patriots, showed more regard to the public
than to their private ends) so those who had opposed the union were not ill pleased to see
this sum so misapplied ; hoping by that means, that the aversion, which they endeavoured
to infuse into the nation against the union, would be much increased ; therefore they let
every thing go as the ministers proposed, to the great grief of those who wished well to
the public. It was resolved that the parliament of England should sit out its period,
which, by the law for triennial parliaments, ran yet a year further ; it was thought necessary
to have another session continued of the same men who had made this union, since they
would more readily consolidate and strengthen their own work. Upon this ground, it
seemed most proper that the members to represent parliament should be named by the par-
liament there : those who had opposed the union carried their aversion to the squadrone so
far, that they concurred with the ministry in a nomination, in which very few of them were
included, not above three of the peers, and fifteen commoners ; so that great and just excep-
tions lay against many who were nominated to represent that kingdom : all this was very
acceptable to those who had opposed the union. The customs of Scotland were then in a
farm, and the farmers were the creatures of the ministry, some of whom, as was believed,
were sharers with them : it was visible, that since there was to be a free trade opened
between Scotland and England, after the first of May, and since the duties in Scotland, laid
on trade, were much lower than in England, that there would be a great importation into
Scotland, on the prospect of the advantage that might be made by sending it into England.
Upon such an emergency, it was reasonable to break the farm, as had been ordinarily done
upon less reason, and to take the customs into a new management, that so the gain to be
made in the interval might go to the public, and not be left in private hands : but the lease
ment for Abingdon, of which town he was also the recorder, most eminent men who have filled the highest legal sta-
Her majesty knighted him, and made him her solicitor- lions in this country. H*e died in 17'27, aged sixty-seven.
general in 1702, and five years afler promoted him to the — Noble's Contin. of Grainger; Hist, of the Harcourt
attorney-generalship. This office he resigned in a few Family.
months by a voluntary surrender enrolled in court; an * The articles of the union, twenty-five in number,
unprecedented act, that has not been imitated. The queen may be seen in Chandler's Debates, house of commons,
recalled him to her service, made him again attorney- iv. 16. They passed this house finally by the votes of
general, raised him to the peerage as baron of Stan ton Har- two hundred and seventy-four, opposed by one hundred
court, and made him lord chancellor in 1712, as will be and sixteen; in that of the peers by fifty-five, against
noticed in another page. George the First continued to twenty-nine ; and on the 16th of March, the queen gave
show towards him the royal patronage. No act of his to it the royal assent,
ordship'a life forbids his bfting considered as one of the
3 F 2
C04 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
was continued in favour of the farmers. They were men of no interest of their own, so it
was not doubted but that there was a secret practice in the case. Upon the view of the
gain, to be made by such an importation, it was understood that orders were sent to Hol-
land, and other places, to buy up wine, brandy, and other merchandize. And another noto-
rious fraud was designed by some in England, who, because of the great draw-back, that was
allowed for tobacco and other plantation commodities, when exported, were sending great
quantities to Scotland, on design to bring them back after the first of May, that so they
might sell them free of that duty ; so a bill was offered to the house of commons for pre-
venting this. While this was going on, Harley proposed the joining another clause, to this
effect : that all goods that were carried to Scotland after the first of February (unless it
were by the natural-born subjects of that kingdom, inhabiting in it) in case they were
imported into England after the first of May, should be liable to the English duties ; and of
this the proof was to lie on the importer. This angered all the Scotch, who raised a high
clamour upon it, and said the union was broken by it ; and that such a proceeding would
have very ill effects in Scotland. But the house of commons were so alarmed with the news
of a vast importation, which was aggravated far beyond the truth, and by which they con-
cluded the trade of England would greatly suffer, at least for a year or two, that they passed
the bill, and sent it to the lords, where it was rejected ; for it appeared plainly to them, that
this was an infraction of some of the articles of the treaty. It was suggested, that a recess
for some days was necessary, that so the commons might have an opportunity to prepare a
bill, prohibiting all goods from being brought to England that had been sent out, only in
order that the merchants might have the draw-back allowed. With this view the parlia-
ment was prorogued for a few days ; but at their next meeting, the commons were more
inflamed than before ; so they prepared a new bill, to the same effect, only in some clauses
it was more severe than the former had been ; but the lords did not agree to it, and so
it fell.
Thus far I have carried on the recital of this great transaction, rather in such a general
view, as may transmit it right to posterity, than in so copious a narration, as an affair of
such consequence might seem to deserve ; it is very probable that a particular journal of the
debates in the parliament of Scotland, which were long and fierce, may at some time or other
be made public ; but I hope this may suffice for a history. I cannot, upon such a signal
occasion, restrain myself from making some reflections on the directions of Providence in this
matter. It is certain the design on Darien, the great charge it put the nation to, and
the total miscarriage of that project, made the trading part of that kingdom see the
impossibility of undertaking any great design in trade ; and that made them the more readily
concur in carrying on the union. The wiser men of that nation had observed long, that
Scotland lay at the mercy of the ministry, and that every new set of ministers made use of
their power to enrich themselves and their creatures at the cost of the public ; that the
judges, being made by them, were in such a dependence, that since there are no juries
allowed in Scotland in civil matters, the whole property of the kingdom was in their hands,
and by their means in the hands of the ministers : they had also observed, how ineffectual
it had been to complain of them at court ; it put those who ventured on it to a vast charge,
to no other purpose but to expose them the more to the fury of the ministry. The poor
noblemen, and the poor boroughs made a great majority in their parliament, and were easily
to be purchased by the court ; so they saw no hopes of a remedy to such a mischief, but by
an incorporating union with England. These thoughts were much quickened by the prospect
of recovering what they had lost in that ill concerted undertaking of Darien ; and this was
so universal and so operative, that the design on Darien, which the Jacobites had set on foot,
and prosecuted with so much fury, and with bad intentions, did now engage many to pro-
mote the union, who, without that consideration, would have been at least neutral, if not
backward in it. The court was engaged to promote the union, on account of the act of
security, passed in the year 1 704, which was imputed chiefly to the lord treasurer : threat-
enings, of impeaching him for advising it, had been often let fall, and upon that his enemies
had set their chief hopes of pulling him down : for though no proof could be brought of his
counsel in it, yet it was not doubted but that his advije had determined the queen to pass
OF QUEEN ANNE. 805
it. An impeachment was a word of an odious sound, which would engage a party against
him, and disorder a session of parliament ; and the least ill effect it might have would be to
oblige him to withdraw from business, which was chiefly aimed at. The queen was very
sensible that his managing the great trust he was in, in the manner he did, made all the
rest of her government both safe and easy to her; so she spared no pains to bring this about,
and it was believed she was at no small cost to compass it, for those of Scotland had learned
from England to set a price on their votes, and they expected to be well paid for them : the
' lord treasurer did also bestir himself in this matter, with an activity and zeal, that seemed
not to be in his nature ; and indeed, all the application, with which the court set on this
affair, was necessary to master the opposition and difficulties, that sprang up in the progress
of it. That which completed all was, the low state to which the affairs of France were
reduced : they could neither spare men, nor money, to support their party, which otherwise
they would undoubtedly have done : they had, in imitation of the exchequer-notes here in
England, given out mint-bills to a great value ; some said two hundred millions of livres :
these were ordered to be taken by the subjects, in all payments, as money to the full value,
but were not to be received in payments of the king's taxes : this put them under a great
discredit, and the fund created for repaying them not being thought a good one, they had
sunk seventy per cent. This created an inexpressible disorder in all payments, and in the
whole commerce of France ; all the methods that were proposed for raising their credit had
proved ineffectual ; for they remained after all at the discount of fifty-eight per cent. A
court in this distress was not in a condition to spare much, to support such an inconsiderable
interest, as they esteemed their party in Scotland ; so they had not the assistance which
they promised themselves from thence. The conjuncture of all these things meeting together,
which brought this great work to a happy conclusion, was so remarkable, that I hope my
laying it all in one view will be thought no impertinent digression.
This was the chief business of the session of parliament ; and it was brought about, here in
England, both sooner, and with less difficulty, than was expected. The grant of the sup-
plies went on quicker than was usual. There was only one particular to which great objec-
tions were made ; upon the great and early success of the former campaign, it was thought
necessary to follow that with other projects, that drew on a great expense, beyond what had
been estimated, and laid before the parliament. An embarkation, first designed against
France, and afterwards sent to Portugal, and the extraordinary supplies that the duke of
Savoy's affairs called for, amounted to about 800,000/. more than had been provided for by
parliament. Some complained of this, and said, that if a ministry could thus run the nation
into a great charge, and expect that the parliament must pay the reckoning, this might have
very ill consequences. But to this it was answered, that a ministry deserved public thanks,
that had followed our advantages with such vigour : if any thing was raised without neces-
sity, or ill applied, under the pretence of serving the public, it was very reasonable to enquire
into it, and to let it fall heavy on those who were in fault ; but if no other exception lay to
it, than because the matter could not be foreseen, nor communicated to the parliament, before
those accidents happened that occasioned the expense, it was a very unjust discouragement,
if ministers were to be quarrelled with for their care and zeal : so it was carried by a great
majority to discharge this debt. All the other supplies, and among them the equivalent for
Scotland, were given, and lodged on good funds ; so that no session of parliament had ever
raised so much, and secured it so well, as this had done. The session came to a happy con-
clusion, and the parliament to an end ; but the queen, by virtue of a clause in the act of
union, revived it by proclamation. Upon this, many of the Scotch lords came up, and were
very well received ; two of them, Montrose and Roxburgh, were made dukes in Scotland * ;
some of them were made privy councillors in England ; and a commission, for a new council,
was sent to Scotland : there appeared soon two different parties among the Scotch ; some of
them moved, that there should neither be a distinct government, nor a privy council con-
tinued there, but that all should be brought under one administration, as the several counties
in England were ; they said, the sooner all were consolidated, in all respects, into one body?
* The Scotch people concluded th.it it was the promise of a dukery that overcame the earl of Roxburgh's objection*
to the union, for he once had said " it should be prevented by the swml, if other means failed."— Grainger.
800 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
the possibility of separating and disuniting them, would be the sooner extinguished ; this
was pressed with the most earnestness by those who were weary of the present ministry, and
longed to see their power at an end ; but the ministry, who had a mind to keep up their
authority, said, there was a necessity of preserving a show of greatness, and a form of govern-
ment in those parts, both for subduing the Jacobites, and that the nation might not be dis-
gusted by too sudden an alteration of outward appearances. The court resolved to maintain
the ministry there till the next session of parliament, in which new measures might be
taken. Thus our affairs were happily settled at home, and the first of May was celebrated
with a decent solemnity, for then the union took place.
The convocation sat this winter ; and the same temper that had for some years possessed
the lower house, did still prevail among them : when the debates concerning the union were
before the parliament, some in the lower house spoke very tragically on that subject : a com-
mittee was named to consider of the present danger of the church, though but a little while
before they had concurred with the bishops, in a very respectful address to the queen, in
which it was acknowledged, that the church was under her majesty's administration, in a safe
and flourishing condition : this was carried by the private management of some aspiring
men amongst them, who hoped by a piece of skill to show what they could do, that it might
recommend them to farther preferment ; they were much cried out on as betrayers of their
party, for carrying that address ; so to recover their credit, and because their hopes from
the court were not so promising, they resolved now to act another part. It was given out,
that they intended to make an application to the house of commons, against the union ; to
prevent that, the queen wrote to the archbishop, ordering him to prorogue them for three
weeks : by this means that design was defeated, for before the end of the three weeks, the
union had passed both houses : but, when one factious design failed, they found out another ;
they ordered a representation to be made to the bishops, which set forth, that ever since the
submission of the clergy in Henry the Eighth's time, which was for a course of one hundred
and seventy-three years, no such prorogation had ever been ordered, during the sitting of
parliament ; and they besought the bishops, that from the conscientious regard which they
doubted not they had, for the welfare of this church, they would use their utmost endeavours,
that they might still enjoy those usages of which they were possessed, and wrhich they had
never misemployed : with this they brought up a schedule, containing, as they said, all the
dates of the prorogations, both of parliament and convocation, thereby to make good their
assertion : and to cover this seeming complaint of the queen's proceedings, they passed a vote,
that they did not intend to enter into any debate concerning the validity of the late proro-
gation, to which they had humbly submitted. It was found to be a strange and a bold
assertion, that this prorogation was without a precedent : their charge in the preserving
their usages on the consciences of the bishops, insinuated that this was a -breach made on
them : the bishops saw this was plainly an attempt on the queen's supremacy ; so they
ordered it to be laid before her majesty ; and they ordered also a search to be made into
the records ; for though it was an undoubted maxim that nothing but a positive law could
limit the prerogative, which a non-usage could not do, yet they ordered the schedule, offered
by the lower house, to be compared with the records ; they found that seven or eight proro-
gations had been ordered, during the sitting of parliament, and there were about thirty or
forty more, by which it appeared, that the convocation sat sometimes before, and sometimes
after a session of parliament, and sat sometimes even when the parliament was dissolved.
Upon all this the queen wrote another more severe letter to the archbishop, complaining of
the clergy, for not only continuing their illegal practices, but reflecting on her late order, as
without a precedent, and contrary to ancient usages ; which as it was untrue in fact, so it
was an invasion of her supremacy : she had shewed much tenderness to the clergy, but if
any thing of this nature should be attempted for the future, she would use means warranted
by law for punishing offenders, how unwilling soever she might be to proceed to such
measures. When the day came on which this was to be communicated to the lower house,
the prolocutor * had gone out of town, without so much as asking the archbishop's leave ;
* This was dean Stanhope.
OF QUEEN ANNE. 807
so a very smal! number of the clergy appeared : upon this signal contempt, the archbishop
pronounced him contumacious, and referred the further censuring him to the day he set for
their next meeting : the prolocutor's party pressed him to stand it out, and to make no sub-
mission ; but he had sounder advice given him by some who understood the law better ; so
he made a full submission, with which the archbishop was satisfied : yet a party continued,
with great impudence to assert, that their schedule was true, and that the queen was misin-
formed, though the lord chancellor, made now a peer of England, and the lord chief justice
Holt, had, upon perusal of the records, affirmed to the queen, that their assertion was false,
and that there were many precedents for such prorogations.
And now I must look abroad into foreign affairs. The French were losing place after
place in Lombardy; Cremona, Mantua, and the city of Milan were the only places that
were left in their hands : it was not possible to maintain these long without a greater
force, nor was it easy to convey that to them. On the other hand, the reducing those
fortresses was likely to be a work of time, which would fatigue the troops, and would
bring a great charge with it ; so a capitulation was proposed for delivering up those
places, and for allowing the French troops a free march to Dauphiny. As soon as this
was sent to Vienna, it was agreed to, without communicating it to the allies, which
gave just cause of offence : it was said in excuse, that every general had a power to
agree to a capitulation ; so the emperor, in this case, was not bound to stay for the consent
of the allies. This was true, if the capitulation had been for one single place, but this was
of the nature of a treaty, being of a greater extent ; by this the French saved ten or
twelve thousand men, who must all have been, in a little time, made prisoners of war : they
were veteran troops, and were sent into Spain, of which we quickly felt the ill effects *.
The design was formed for the following campaign after this manner : the duke of Savoy
undertook to march an army into France, and to act there as should be concerted by the
allies ; some proposed the marching through Dauphiny to the river of the Rhone, and so up
to Lyons ; but an attempt upon Toulon was thought the most important thing that could
be designed ; so that was settled on. Mareschal Tesse was sent to secure the passes, and to
cover France on that side. This winter the prince of Baden died, little esteemed, and little
lamented ; the marquis of Bareith had the command of the army, on the Upper Rhine,
from whom less was expected ; he was so ill supported that he could do nothing. The
court of Vienna was so set on the reduction of Hungary, that they thought of nothing else :
the Hungarians were very numerous, but they wanted both officers and discipline : Ragotzi
had possessed himself of almost all Transylvania, and the Hungarians were so alienated
from the emperor, that they were consulting about choosing a new king.
The eyes of all Europe were upon the king of Sweden, who having possessed himself of
Saxony, made king Augustus soon feel, that now that his hereditary dominions were in his
enemy's hands, he could no longer maintain the war in Poland : so a treaty was set on foot,
with such secrecy, that it was concluded before it was apprehended to be in agitation. King
Augustus was only waiting for a fit opportunity to disengage himself from his Polanders,
and from the Muscovites ; an incident happened that had almost embroiled all again : the
Polanders and Muscovites attacked a body of Swedes, at a great disadvantage, being much
superior to them in number ; so the Swedes were almost cut to pieces. King Augustus had
no share in this, and did all that he durst venture on to avoid it : he paid dear for it, hard
conditions were put on him, to which the necessity of his affairs forced him to submit. He
made all the haste he safely could to get out of Poland ; he resigned back their crown to
them, and was contented with the empty name of king, though that seemed rather to be a
reproach than any accession of honour to his electoral dignity ; he thought otherwise, and
stipulated that it should be continued to him : he was at mercy, for he had neither forces
nor treasure : it was thought the king of Sweden treated him with too much rigour, when
he had so entirely mastered him ; the other was as little pitied as he deserved to be, for by
many wrong practices he had drawn all his misfortunes on himself. The king of Sweden,
being in the heart of Germany, in so formidable a posture, gave great apprehensions to the
* For full information relative to the continental war, the reader may refer to Campbell's Memoirs of Marlborough
an-1 Eugene; Quincy's Histoire Militaire; Limier's Histoire ; Memoires ile la Tones, &c.
808 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
allies. The French made strong applications to him, but the courts of Prussia and Hanover
were in such a concert with that king, that they gave the rest of the allies great assurances
that he would do nothing to disturb the peace of the empire, nor to weaken the alliance :
the court of France pressed him to offer his mediation for a general peace ; all the answer
he gave was, that if the allies made the like application to him, he would interpose, and do
all good offices in a treaty. So he refused to enter into any separate measures with France,
yet the court of Vienna was under a great apprehension of his seeking matter for a quarrel
with them. The czar at this time overran Poland, so that king Stanislaus was forced to fly
into Saxony to the king of Sweden for protection ; both he and his queen stayed there all
the winter, and a great part of this summer. The czar pressed the Polanders to proceed to
the election of another king, but could not carry them to that ; so it was generally believed,
that they were resolved to come to a treaty with king Stanislaus, and to settle the quiet of
that kingdom, exhausted by a long and destructive war. The czar tried, if it were possible,
to come to a peace with the king of Sweden, and made great offers in order to it ; but that
king was implacable, and seemed resolved to pull him down, as he had done king Augustus.
That king's designs were impenetrable, he advised with few, and kept himself on great
reserves with all foreign ministers, whom he would not suffer to come near him, except
when they had a particular message to deliver. Our court was advised by the elector of
Hanover to send the duke of Marlborough to him : it was thought this would please him
much, if it had no other effect ; so he went thither, but could gain no ground on him. He
affected a neglect of his person, both in clothes, lodging, and diet ; all was simple, even to
meanness ; nay, he did not so much as allow a decent cleanliness : he appeared to have a
real sense of religion, and a zeal for it, but it was not much enlightened : he seemed to have
no notion of public liberty, but thought princes ought to keep their promises religiously, and
to observe their treaties punctually ; he rendered himself very acceptable to his army, by
coming so near their way of living, and by his readiness to expose his own person, and to
reward services done him ; he had little tenderness in his nature, and was a fierce enemy, too
rough, and too savage : he looked on foreign ministers as spies by their character, and treated
them accordingly ; and he used his own ministers rather as instruments to execute his orders,
than as counsellors.
The court of France finding they could not prevail on him, made a public application to
the pope, for his mediating a peace : they offered the dominions in Italy to king Charles, to
the States a barrier in the Netherlands, and a compensation to the duke of Savoy, for the
waste made in his country ; provided, that on those conditions, king Philip should keep
Spain, and the West Indies. It was thought the court of Vienna wished this project might
be entertained, but the other allies were so disgusted at it, that they made no steps toward
it : the court of Vienna did what they could to confound the designs of this campaign ; for
they ordered a detachment of twelve thousand men to march from the army in Lombardy
to the kingdom of Naples. The court of England, the States, and the duke of Savoy,
studied to divert this, with the warmest instances possible, but in vain : though it was repre-
sented to that court, that if the duke of Savoy could enter into Provence with a great army,
that would cut off all supplies, and communication with France : so that success, in this
great design, would make Naples and Sicily fall into their hands of course ; but the impe-
rial court was inflexible ; they pretended they had given their party in Naples such assur-
ances of an invasion, that if they failed in it, they exposed them all to be destroyed, and
thereby they might provoke the whole country to become their most inveterate enemies.
Thus they took up a resolution without consulting their allies, and then pretended that it
was fixed, and could not be altered.
The campaign was opened very fatally in Spain : king Charles pretended, there was an
army coming into Catalonia from Roussillon, and that it was necessary for him to march
into that country ; the dividing a force, when the whole together was not equal to the
enemy's, has often proved fatal : he ought to have made his army as strong as possibly he
could, and to have marched with it to Madrid ; for the rest of Spain would have fallen into
his hands, upon the success of that expedition. But he persisted in his first resolution, and
marched away with a part of the army, leaving about sixteen thousand men under the earl
OF QUEEN ANNE. 809
of Gal way's command. They had eaten up all their stores in Valencia, and could subsist
no longer there ; so they were forced to break into Castile : the duke of Berwick came
against them with an army not much superior to theirs ; but the court of France had sent
the duke of Orleans into Spain, with some of the best troops that they had brought from
Italy, and these joined the duke of Berwick a day before the two armies engaged. Some
deserters came over, and brought the earl of Galway the news of the conjunction ; but they
were not believed, and were looked on as spies, sent to frighten them. A council of war
had resolved to venture on a battle, which the state of their affairs seemed to make necessary :
they could not subsist where they were, nor be subsisted if they retired back into Valencia ;
so on the fourteenth of April, the two armies engaged in the plain of Almanza. The English
and Dutch beat the enemy, and broke through twice ; but the Portuguese gave way ; upon
that the enemy, who were almost double in number, both horse and foot, flanked them, and
a total rout followed, in which about ten thousand were killed or taken prisoners. The earl
of Galway was twice wounded ; once so near the eye, that for some time it put him out of
a capacity for giving orders ; but at last he, with some other officers, made the best retreat
they could. Our fleet came happily on that coast on the day that the battle was fought ;
so he was supplied from thence, and he put garrisons into Denia and Alicant, and retired to
the Ebro, with about three thousand horse, and almost as many foot. The duke of Orleans
pursued the victory : Valencia submitted, and so did Saragoza ; so that the principality of
Catalonia was all that remained in king Charles's obedience. The king of Portugal died this
winter, but that made no great change in affairs there : the young king agreed to every
thing that was proposed to him by the allies ; yet the Portuguese were under a great con-
sternation, their best troops being either cut off", or at that time in Catalonia.
Marshal Villars was sent to command in Alsace : he understood that the lines of Stol-
hoven were ill kept, and weakly manned ; so he passed the Rhine, and without any loss, and
very little opposition, he broke through, and seized on the artillery, and on such magazines
as were laid in there. Upon this shameful disgrace, the Gerinans retired to Hailbron : the
circle of Suabia was now open, and put under contribution ; and Villars designed to pene-
trate as far as to Bavaria. The blame of this miscarriage was laid chiefly on the imperial
court, who neither sent their quota thither, nor took care to settle a proper general for the
defence of the empire. In Flanders the French army, commanded by the duke of Vendome,
came and took post at Gcmblours, in a safe camp ; the duke of Marlborough lay at Mel-
dert in a more open one : both armies were about one hundred thousand strong ; but the
French were rather superior to that number.
In the month of June, the design upon Toulon began to appear : the queen and the States
sent a strong fleet thither, commanded by sir Cloudesley Shovel ; who from mean beginnings,
had risen up to the supreme command ; and had given many proofs of great courage, con-
duct and zeal, in the whole course of his life *. Prince Eugene had the command of the
imperial army that was to second the duke of Savoy in this undertaking, upon the success
of which the final conclusion of the war depended. The army was not so strong as it was
intended it should have been : the detachment of twelve thousand men was ordered to march
to Naples ; and no applications could prevail at the court of Vienna, to obtain a delay in
* *' He who enjoys a title by birth, derives it from beloved even by his monarchs. Sir John Narborough
the virtues of his ancestors, but he who raises himself into soon became his patron, and eventually sir Cloudesley
high rank by his merit creates his nobility." Sir Cloudes- married his widow ; such are the strange occurrences in
ley Shovel was of the latter class ; born of obscure parents, this life of incalculable changes. At the time of his death,
and apprenticed to a shoemaker, circumstances did not the melancholy circumstances attending which will be
give a friendly aid to his aspirations for fame. Born and mentioned hereafter, he was rear admiral of England ;
resident in the obscure maritime town of Clay, in Norfolk, admiral of the white; commarrder-in-chief of the fleet; a
his early companions were the fishermen of that dangerous member of the council of prince George, lord high admi-
toast, and from being an auditor and a witness of their life ral ; elder brother of the Trinity House ; a governor of
and doing^, he probably acquired a fondness for the naval Greenwich Hospital ; and member of parliament for
service. He ran away from the lapstone, and volunteered Rochester. " The duties of the husband, the father, the
on board the ship commanded by sir Christopher Mynns. friend, and the relation were excellently performed by sir
To know him, it appears, was a surety that you must love Cloudesley, who always gave in charity more than was
nim ; for from this early period to the latest of his life, he expected, and was munificent to merit even beyond his
was open-hearted, candid, generous, and brave — qualifica- princely income." — Campbell's Lives of the Admirals;
tions that made him the idol of his brother sailors, and Noble's Contin. of Grainger.
810 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
that expedition : there were also eight or ten thousand recruits that were promised to be sent
to reinforce prince Eugene, which were stopped in Germany, for the emperor was under such
apprehensions of a rupture with Sweden, that he pretended it was absolutely necessary, for
his own safety, to keep a good force at home. Prince Eugene had also orders, not to expose
his troops too much : by this means they were the less serviceable : notwithstanding these
disappointments, the duke of Savoy, after he had for some weeks covered his true design,
by a feint upon Dauphiny, by which he drew most of the French troops to that side ; as
soon as he heard that the confederate fleet was come upon the coast, he made a very quick
march through ways that were thought impracticable, on to the river Var, where the French
had cast up such works, that it was reckoned these must have stopped his passing the river;
and they would have done it effectually, if some ships had not been sent in from the fleet,
into the mouth of the river, to attack these wrhere there was no defence ; because no attack
from that side was apprehended. By this means they were forced to abandon their works,
and so the passage over the river was free : upon this, that duke entered Provence, and made
all the haste he could towards Toulon. The artillery and ammunition were on board the
fleet, and were to be landed near the place ; so the march of the army was as little encum-
bered as was possible : yet it was impossible to advance with much haste in an enemy's
country, where the provisions were either destroyed, or carried into fortified places, which,
though they might have easily been taken, yet no time was to be lost in executing the great
design ; so this retarded the march for some days : yet, in conclusion, they came before the
place, and were quickly masters of some of the eminences that commanded it. At their
first coming they might have possessed themselves of another, called St. Anne's hill, if prince
Eugene had executed the duke of Savoy's orders ; he did it not, which raised a high discon-
tent ; but he excused himself by showing the orders he had received, not to expose the
emperor's troops. Some days were lost by the roughness of the sea, which hindered the
ships from landing the artillery and ammunition. In the mean while, the troops of France
were ordered to march from all parts to Toulon : the garrison within was very strong ; the
forces that were on their march to Spain, to prosecute the victory of Almanza, were counter-
manded ; and so great a part of Villars's army was called away, that he could not make any
further progress in Germany. So that a great force was, from all hands, marching to raise
this siege ; and it was declared, in the court of France, that the duke of Burgundy would
go and lead on the army. The duke of Savoy lost no time, but continued cannonading the
place, while the fleet came up to bombard it ; they attacked the two forts that commanded
the entrance into the mole with such fury, that they made themselves masters of them ;
but one of them was afterwards blown up. Those within the town were not idle ; they
sunk some ships in the entrance into the mole, and fired furiously at the fleet, but did them
little harm : they beat the duke of Savoy out of one of his most important posts, which was
long defended by a gallant prince of Saxe-Gotha; who, not being supported in time, was
cut to pieces. This post was afterwards regained, and the fleet continued for some days to
bombard the place : but in the end, the duke of Savoy, whose strength had never been above
thirty thousand men, seeing so great a force marching towards him, who might intercept
his passage, and so destroy his whole army, and there being no hope of his carrying the
place, found it necessary to march home in time ; which he did with so much order and pre-
caution, that he got back into his own country, without any losj ; and soon after his return,
he sat down before Suza, and took it in a few weeks. Our fleet did all the execution they
could on the town ; their bombs set some places on fire, which they believed were maga-
zines ; for they continued burning for many hours ; in conclusion, they sailed off*. They left
behind them a fleet of six-and-twenty ships in the Mediterranean, and the great ships sailed
homewards. Thus this great design, on which the eyes of all Europe were set, failed in the
execution, chiefly by the emperor's means : England and the States performed all that was
expected of them, nor was the duke of Savoy wanting on his part ; though many suspected
him, as backward, and at least cold in the undertaking *. It was not yet perfectly under-
* It would seem that the duke of Savoy was induced by the French and Bavarian ambassadors. — Lambert! s
not to persist in the siege of Toulon, by the representa- Memoircs ; lord Wai pole of Woolerton's Answer to Lord
tions of the king of Sweden, who was prevailed upon to Bolingbroke's Letters on History,
interfere by count Piper, who in his turn was acted upon
OF QUEEN ANNE. 811
stood what damage the French sustained ; many of their ships were rendered unserviceable,
and continue to be so still ; nor did they set out any IJeet all the following winter ; though
the affairs of king Charles in Spain were then so low, that if they could have cut off the
communication by sea between Italy and Spain, they must soon have been masters of aH
that was left in his hands ; so that from their fitting out no fleet at Toulon, it was con-
cluded that they could not do it. When the design upon Toulon was broken, more troops
were sent into Spain : the earl of Galway did, with incredible diligence and activity,
endeavour to repair the loss at Almanza, as much as was possible : the supplies and stores
that he had from our fleet, put him in a capacity to make a stand ; he formed a new army,
and put the strong places in the best posture he could ; Lerida was the most exposed, and
so was the best looked to ; Tortosa, Tarragona, and Gironne, were also well fortified, and
good garrisons were put in them. The attempt on Toulon, as it put a stop to all the motions
of the French, so it gave him time to put the principality of Catalonia in a good state of
defence. The duke of Orleans, being reinforced with troops from France, sat down before
Lerida, in the end of September, with an army of thirty thousand men : the place was com-
manded by a prince of Hesse, who held out above forty days : after some time he was forced
to abandon the town, and to retire into the castle ; the army suffered much in this long
siege. When the besieged saw how long they cotijd hold out, they gave the earl of Galway
notice, upon which he intended to have raised the siege ; and if the king of Spain would
have consented to his drawing, out of the other garrisons, such a force as might have been
spared, he undertook to raise it, which was believed might have been easily done : and if he
had succeeded, it would have given a new turn to all the affairs of Spain : but count
Noyelles, who was well practised in the arts of flattery, and knew how much king Charles
was alienated from the earl of Galway, for the honest freedom he had used with him, in
laying before him some errors in his conduct, set himself to oppose this, apprehending that
success in it would have raised the earl of Galway's reputation again, which had suffered a
great diminution by the action of Almanza ; he said, this would expose the little army they
had left them, to too great a hazard ; for if the design miscarried, it might occasion a revolt
of the whole principality. Thus the humours of princes are often more regarded than their
interest ; the design of relieving Lerida was laid aside. The French army was diminished
a fourth part, and the long siege had so fatigued them, that it was visible, the raising it
would have been no difficult performance, but the thoughts of that being given over, Lerida
capitulated in the beginning of November : the Spaniards made some feeble attempts on the
side of Portugal, with success, for little resistance was made ; the Portuguese excusing them-
selves by their feebleness, since their best troops were in Catalonia.
King Charles, finding his affairs in so ill a condition, wrote to the emperor, and to the
other allies, to send him supplies, with all possible haste : Stanhope was sent over, to press
the queen and the States to dispatch these the sooner. At the end of the campaign in Italy,
seven thousand of the imperial troops were prepared to be sent over to Barcelona ; and these
were carried in the winter, by the confederate fleet, without any disturbance given them by
the French. Recruits and supplies of all sorts were sent over from England, and from the
States to Portugal. But while the house of Austria was struggling with great difficulties,
two pieces of pomp and magnificence consumed a great part of their treasure : an embassy
was sent from Lisbon, to demand the emperor's sister for that king, which was done with
an unusual and extravagant expense : a wife was to be sought for king Charles, among
the protestant courts, for there was not a suitable match in the popish courts : he had seen
the princess of Anspach, and was much taken with her ; so that great applications were
made to persuade her to change her religion, but she could not be prevailed on to buy a
crown at so dear a rate : and soon after she was married to the prince electoral of Bruns-
wick, which gave a glorious character of her to this nation ; and her pious firmness is likely
to be rewarded, even in this life, with a much better crown, than that which she rejected.
The princess of WoKenbuttle was not so firm ; so she was brought to Vienna, and some time
after was married by proxy to king Charles, and was sent to Italy, in her way to Spain.
The solemnity with which these matters were managed, in all this distress of their affairs,
consumed a vast deal of treasure ; for such was the pride of those courts on such occasions,
812 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
that, rather than fail in a point of splendour, they would let their most important affairs go
to wreck. That princess was landed at Barcelona ; and the queen of Portugal the same
year came to Holland, to be carried to Lisbon, by a squadron of the English fleet.
But while matters were in a doubtful state in Spain, the expedition to Naples had all the
success that was expected : the detachment from Lombardy marched through the ecclesi-
astical state, and struck no small terror into the court of Rome, as they passed near it : it
was apprehended some resistance would have been made in Naples by those who governed
there under king Philip ; but the in-bred hatred the Neapolitans bore the French, together
with the severities of their government, had put that whole kingdom into such a disposition
to revolt, that the small party which adhered to king Philip found it not advisable to offer
any resistance, so they had only time enough to convey their treasure, and all their
richest goods to Cayeta, and to retire thither : they reckoned they would either be relieved
from France by sea, or obtain a good capitulation ; or if that failed, they had some ships
and galleys, in which they might hope to escape. The imperialists took possession of
Naples, where they were received with great rejoicings ; their ill conduct quickly moderated
that joy, and very much disposed the Neapolitans to a second revolt : but upon applications,
made to the courts of Vienna and Barcelona, the excesses of the imperialists, who carried
their ravenous disposition with them wheresoever they went, were somewhat corrected, so
that they became more tolerable. As soon as a government could be settled at Naples, they
undertook the siege of Cayeta, which went on at first very slowly ; so that those within
seemed to apprehend nothing so much as the want of provisions ; upon which they sent the
few ships they had to Sicily, to bring them supplies, for all they might want : when these
were sent away, the imperialists, knowing what a rich booty was lodged in the place, pressed
it very hard, and, in conclusion, took it by storm ; and so were masters of all the wealth
that was in it ; the garrison retired into the castle, but they were soon after forced to surren-
der, and were all made prisoners of war. It was proposed to follow this success, with an
attempt upon Sicily ; but it was not easy to supply Naples with bread, nor was our fleet at
liberty to assist them ; for they were ordered to lie on the coast of Spain, and to wait there
for orders ; when these arrived, they required them to carry the marquis das Minas and the
earl of Galway, with the forces of Portugal, to Lisbon, which was happily performed : and
the earl of Galway found the character and powers of an ambassador, lying for him there.
The thoughts of attempting Sicily were therefore laid aside for this time ; though the
Sicilians were known to be in a very good disposition to entertain it. A small force was
sent from Naples to seize on those places which lay on the coast of Tuscany, and belonged
to the crown of Spain : some of them were soon taken, but Porto Longone and Port Hercole
made a better resistance : this was the state of affairs in Italy and Spain all this year, an<?
till the opening of the campaign the next year.
Yillars continued in Germany, laying Suabia under heavy contributions ; and very pro-
bably he would have penetrated into Bavaria, if the detachments he was ordered to send
away had not so weakened his army, that he durst not venture further, nor undertake any
considerable siege. While the empire was thus exposed, all men's eyes turned towards the
elector of Brunswick, as the only person that could recover their affairs out of those extremi-
ties, into which they were brought : the emperor pressed him to accept of the supreme com-
mand ; this was seconded by all the allies, but most earnestly by the queen and the States :
the elector used all the precaution that the embarking in such a design required, and he had
such assurances of assistance from the princes and circles, as he thought might be depended
upon : so he undertook the command : his first care was to restore military discipline, which
had been very little considered or submitted to, for some years past ; and he established this
with such impartial severity, that the face of affairs there was soon changed ; but the ariny
was too weak, and the season was too far spent, to enter on great designs. One considerable
action happened, which very much raised the reputation of his conduct : Villars had sent
a detachment of three thousand horse and dragoons, either to extend his contribution, or to
seize on some -important post ; against these the elector sent out another body that fell upon
the French, and gave them a total defeat, in which two thousand of them were cut off: soon
after that, Yillars retired back to Strasburg, and the campaign in those parts ended.
OF QI'EEX ANNE. 813
I will take in here a transaction that lay not far from the scene of action. There was,
all this summer, a dispute at Neufchatel, upon the death of the old duchess of Nemours, in
whom the house of Longueville ended ; she enjoyed this principality, which, since it lay as
a frontier to Switzerland, was on this occasion much considered. There were many pre-
tenders of the French nation, the chief was the prince of Conti ; all these came to Neuf-
chatel, and made their application to the states of that country, and laid their several titles
before them : the king of France seemed to favour the prince of Conti most ; but yet he
left it free to the states to judge of their pretensions, provided they gave judgment in
favour of one of his subjects ; adding severe threatenings, in case they should judge in behalf
of any other pretender. The king of Prussia, as heir by his mother to the house of Cha-
lons, claimed it as his right, which the late king had, by a particular agreement made over
to him ; so he sent a minister thither, to put in his claim : and the queen, and the States,
ordered their ministers in Switzerland to do their best offices, both for advancing his preten-
sions, and to engage the cantons to maintain them ; the king of Sweden wrote also to the
cantons to the same effect. The allies looked on this as a matter of great consequence ; since
it might end in a rupture between the protestant cantons and France ; for the popish cantons
were now wholly theirs. After much pleading, and a long dispute, the states of the prin-
cipality gave judgment in favour of the king of Prussia ; the French pretenders protested
against this, and left Neufchatel in a high discontent : the French ambassadors threatened
that little state with an invasion, and all commerce with them was forbidden : the canton of
Bern espoused their concern with a spirit and zeal that was not expected from them : they
declared they were in a comburghership with them ; and upon that they sent a body of three
thousand men to defend them. The French continued to threaten, and Yillars had orders to
march a great part of his army towards them ; but when the court of France saw that the
cantons of Bern and Zurich were not frightened with those marches, they let the whole
matter fall, very little to their honour : and so the intercourse between the French dominions
and that state was again opened, and the peace of the cantons was secured. The king
of Prussia engaged his honour that he would govern that state with a particular zeal, for
advaacing both religion and learning in it ; and upon these assurances, he persuaded the
bishops of England, and myself in particular, to use our best endeavours to promote his pre-
tensions ; upon which we wrote, in the most effectual manner we could, to Moris. Ostervald,
who was the most eminent ecclesiastic of that state, and one of the best and most judicious
divines of the age : he was bringing that church to a near agreement with our forms of wor-
ship : the king of Prussia was well set, in all matters relating to religion ; and had made a
great step, in order to reconcile the Lutherans and the Calvinists in his dominions, by
requiring them not to preach to the people on those points, in which they differ ; and by
obliging them to communicate together, notwithstanding the diversity of their opinions ;
which is indeed the only wise and honest way to make up that breach.
The affinity of the matter leads me next to give an account of the differences between the
king of Sweden and the court of Vienna. That king, after he had been a very heavy guest
in Saxony, came to understand that the protestants in Silesia had their churches and the free
exercise of their religion stipulated to them by the peace of Munster, and that the crown of
Sweden was the guarantee for observing this. These churches were taken from them : so
the king of Sweden was in justice bound to see to the observing of that article : he very
readily embraced this opportunity, wrhich had been long neglected or forgotten by his father.
When this was first represented to the court of Vienna, it was treated there with much
scorn ; and count Zabor, one of the ministers of that court, spoke of the king of Sweden in
a style that he thought furnished him with a just pretension to demand that he should be
sent to him, to be punished as he thought fit. This was soon yielded ; the count was sent
to the king, and made such an humble submission to him as was accepted. But the demand
for restoring the churches was a matter of hard digestion to a bigoted and haughty court.
The king of Sweden had a great army at hand, and he threatened an immediate rupture, if
this demand was not agreed to without delay. In this he was so positive, that the imperial
court at last yielded, they being then in no condition to resist a warlike prince, and an army
hardened by an exact discipline and the fatigues of a long war : so that every thing that was
814 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
demanded, pursuant to that article of the treaty of Munster, was agreed to be performed
within a prefixed time. And upon that the king of Sweden inarched his army, under the
most regular discipline, through Silesia, as had been agreed, into Poland. The Jesuits made
great opposition to the performance of what had been stipulated ; but the imperial court
would not provoke a prince, who they thought was seeking a colour to break with them ;
so, by the day prefixed, all the churches were restored to the protestants in Silesia. Upon
this, he was highly magnified, and great endeavours were again used to engage him in the
alliance ; but he was so set against the czar, whom he designed to dethrone, that nothing could
then divert him from it : yet he so far entered into the interests of religion that, as he wrote
to the king of France, desiring him not to oppose the king of Prussia in his pretensions on
Neufchatel, he also wrote to the cantons, desiring them to promote and support them.
The cantons, seeing those characters of zeal in him, sent a French gentleman of quality to
him, the marquis de Rochegude, to let him know what regard they had to his recommenda-
tions, and to desire him to interpose his good offices with the king of France, for setting at
liberty about three hundred persons, who were condemned to the galleys, and treated most
cruelly in them, upon no other pretence but because they would not change their religion,
and had endeavoured to make their escape out of France. He received this message with
a particular civility, and immediately complied with it ; ordering his minister at the court
of France to make it his desire to that king, that these confessors might be delivered to
him. But the ministers of France said that was a point of the king's government at home,
in which he could not suffer foreign princes to meddle. He seemed sensible of this neglect,
and it was hoped that, when his affairs could admit of it, he would express a due resent-
ment of it.
To end all the affairs of Germany, for this year, at once, I must mention a quarrel, raised
in Hamburgh, between some private persons, one of whom was a Lutheran minister, which
created a great division in that city. One side was protected by the senate, which gave so
great a disgust to the other side, that it was likely to end in a revolt against the magistrates,
and a civil war within the town. And it being known that the king of Denmark had for
many years had an eye on that place, the neighbouring princes apprehended that he might
take advantage from those commotions, or that the weaker side might choose rather to fall
under his power, than under the revenges of the adverse party. The kings of Sweden and
Prussia, with the house of Brunswick, resolved therefore to send troops thither, to quiet this
distraction-, and to chastise the more refractory ; while the emperor's ministers, together with
the queen's, endeavoured to accommodate matters, without suffering them to run to
extremities.
It remains that I give an account of the campaign in Flanders. The French kept close
within their posts, though the duke of Marlborough often drew out his troops to see if that
could provoke them ; but they were resolved not to fight on equal terms ; and it was not
thought advisable to attempt the forcing their posts : they lay for some months looking on
one another ; but both armies had behind them such a safe and plentiful conveyance of pro-
visions, that no want of any sort could oblige either side to dislodge. The duke of Vendome
had orders to send detachments to reinforce mareschal Villars, in lieu of those detachments
that he had been ordered to send to Provence. The duke of Savoy seemed to wonder that
the confederates lay so quiet, and gave the duke of Vendome no disturbance ; and that
they could not, at least, oblige him to keep all his army together. At last, the duke of
Marlborough decamped, and moved towards French Flanders. The French decamped about
the same time, but lodged themselves again in such a safe camp, that he could not force them
into any action : nor was his army so numerous as to spare a body to undertake a siege, by
that means to draw them to a battle : so that the campaign was carried on there in a very
inoffensive manner on both sides. And thus matters stood in the continent every where
this season.
France set out no fleet this year, and yet we never had greater losses on that element.
The prince's council was very unhappy in the whole conduct of the cruisers and convoys.
The merchants made heavy complaints, and not without reason : convoys were sometimes
denied them, and when they were granted, they were often delayed beyond the time limited
OF QUEEN ANNE. 815
for the merchants to get their ships in readiness ; and the sailing orders were sometimes sent
them so unhappily (but, as many said, so treacherously), that a French squadron was then
lying in their way to intercept them. This was liable to very severe reflections ; for many
of the convoys, as well as the merchant-ships, were taken. And to complete the misfortunes
of our affairs at sea this year, when sir Cloudesley Shovel was sailing home with the great
ships, by an unaccountable carelessness and security, he and two other capital ships ran foul
upon those rocks beyond the Land's End, known by the name of the Bishop and his Clerks,
and they were in a "minute broken to pieces; so that not a man of them escaped. It was
dark, but there was no wind, otherwise the whole fleet had perished with them : all the rest
tacked in time, and so they were saved. Thus one of the greatest seamen of the age was
lost by an error in his own profession and a great misreckoning ; for he had lain by all
the day before and set sail at night, believing that next morning he would have time
enough to guard against running on those rocks ; but he was swallowed up within three
hours after*.
This was the state of our affairs abroad, both by sea and land. Things went at home in
their ordinary channels. But the conduct, with relation to Scotland, was more unaccount-
jable; for, whereas it might have been 
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